Clearaudio's entry moving coil, with a boron cantilever and Micro Line stylus and a noticeably more open top end than Clearaudio's entry moving magnet.
The Concept MC was built to bring moving-coil performance to Clearaudio's Concept turntables, and it works just as well on other decks. Clearaudio kept it simple. The body is a light aluminum-magnesium alloy with a ceramic coating, about 8 g in all. Inside, copper coils sit in a magnet arrangement that Clearaudio credits for much of its performance at this price. Up front is a boron cantilever with a Micro Line diamond. It comes in silver or black, and there is also a Concept MC Signature with tighter channel matching.
Stereophile's Erick Lichte compared it directly with Clearaudio's Concept MM and heard a more open, extended and refined treble. He also found more detail and presence in the midrange and slightly deeper, more neutral bass. On a carbon-fiber Satisfy arm, Stereophile found it clear, dynamic and transparent. At 0.4 mV, it needs an MC phono stage with about 60 dB of gain or a step-up transformer. Its compliance is on the low side, so pair it with a medium-mass tonearm and track it at about 2.2 g.
| Type | Low-output moving coil (MC) |
| Output | 0.4 mV (5 cm/s) |
| Internal impedance | 11 Ω |
| Tracking force | 2.2 g ±0.2 g |
| Compliance | 9 µm/mN |
| Tracking ability | 80 µm |
| Weight | 8.0 g |
| Stylus | Micro Line diamond |
| Cantilever | Boron |
| Coils | Copper |
| Body | Aluminum-magnesium alloy with ceramic coating; silver or black |
| Frequency response | 20 Hz – 20 kHz |
| Channel separation / balance | >28 dB / <0.5 dB |
| Also available | Concept MC Signature (>30 dB separation, <0.3 dB balance) |
Pearl Audio is an authorized Clearaudio dealer. Call or visit our Portland showroom to talk about matching a cartridge to your tonearm and phono stage.
