Clearaudio " Innovation" - What?
Rockitman posted some pictures in another forum of the Clearaudio Master Innovation "magnetic-drive" turntable, ie, a belt-drive turntable's platter is driving a turntable above it via magnetic coupling. It's a doubledecker! Clearaudio Master Innovation pix It's a noncontact approach. A belt is compliant and so is magnetic force so it's a double compliant system. Why not simply drive the platter with magnetic force using some ironless & coreless coils underneath it and tweak the magnetic force/compliance via precision electronics..... oh, voila, it's a coreless direct drive motor. Oh my god, it's a direct drive turntable! Who wants that?! :-D P.S. My concern with the Clearaudio approach is the top deck's bearing. To allow the driven platter underneath the top platter the bearing shaft has to protrude down to hold a platter so naturally it cannot allow for single ball bearing well and my guess is a type of angular contact bearing --similar to the EAR Disc Master turntable-- that has more contact point than a simple one baller. To gain no contact on the platter you have to add more contact points on the bearing. You gain something, you lose something. No free lunch. _______ |
Chris Brady of Teres Audio responded in a forum thread about "magnetic drive" of the type by Clearaudio, EAR, or Transrotor, etc..., here's what he had to say: "Magnetic drive is a more ambiguous term. Every electric motor in existence is has magnetic drive. The rotor of the motor is driven by magnetic pull from the stator. And just like the coupling methods used by EAR and Clearaudio this magnetic coupling is "stretchy" much like a rubber belt. The compliance of the field in the motor is directly proportional to it's torque capability. I don't see how using a powerful motor connected to an EAR type magnetic coupling scheme would be any different than just using a weaker motor without the magnetic coupling. Please correct me if I am missing something. So magnetic coupling is also a marketing term for a scheme that adds a layer of magnetic compliance in series with the motors internal magnetic compliance. Much like a stout rubber belt driving another more stretchy rubber belt.... The EAR approach has the common characteristic with direct drive of no physical contact. But I think that the resulting sound would be much more like belt drive than direct drive." Lewm is correct about magnetism that it is NOT a rigid system otherwise there would be no isolation of vibration and I have to assume that's what the Clearaudio Master Innovation or Statement is trying to do. In the Master Innovation, it is essentially one turntable stacked on top of another, the bottom belt-driven table is driving the top table via magnetic force and I understand the isolation advantage of such method. After all the motor is isolated by a belt and the top platter is isolated by magnetic force so it is compliance after compliance. It ought to be quiet. I get that. But if you focus just on the bearing of the top table and how it is set up, it is not likely the bearing is a shaft in a hole with a single ball at one end type. Is it? If it's not a single ball type then it would have to be multiple balls around the shaft so the bottom end can hold the platter with the magnets. Typically manufacturers would use a kind of "angular contact bearing" a la EAR and such bearing may not be as quiet as a single ball type bearing. Maybe Clearaudio's design comes up with some innovative ideas in dealing with that. That's what engineering is all about. You're right; it's all speculations. When you get the table, please let us know its performance. I look forward to a sonic report. PS. Here's another conceptual game. Just imagine the bottom table is eliminated and is replaced by a series of coils (stator) generating a magnetic field to drive the magnets (rotor) above. And, voila, it is a direct drive turntable, the original magnetic drive system. _______ |
