A 7-gram Clearaudio moving coil in aged ebony, with gold coils and a boron cantilever. The Absolute Sound singled it out in a Clearaudio front end.
The Stradivari V2.1 uses an ebony body that Clearaudio ages for several months before use. It has Clearaudio's gear-shaped top and a precisely ground twelve-finger platform. Inside are 24-karat gold coils arranged symmetrically about the pivot. Around them is Clearaudio's patented V2 magnet system. A boron cantilever carries a Clearaudio Prime Line diamond, and the finished cartridge weighs just 7 g.
Reviewing a Clearaudio Performance DC Wood with the Tracer arm, The Absolute Sound swapped in the Stradivari V2 and was very taken with it. The whole setup sounded nimble, smooth and quiet, with crisp attacks, natural timbres and a low noise floor. It was set up at Clearaudio's 2.8 g tracking force. Output is about 0.5 mV, so use an MC phono stage with around 60 dB of gain or a step-up transformer. Its medium compliance suits rigid medium-mass tonearms, ideally one with easy VTA adjustment for the line-contact stylus.
| Type | Low-output moving coil (MC) |
| Output | 0.5 mV (5 cm/s) |
| Internal impedance | 50 Ω |
| Tracking force | 2.8 g ±0.2 g |
| Compliance | 15 µm/mN |
| Tracking ability | 80 µm |
| Weight | 7.0 g |
| Stylus | Clearaudio Prime Line |
| Cantilever | Boron |
| Coils | 24-karat gold, pivot-symmetrical |
| Body | Aged ebony with twelve-finger platform |
| Frequency response | 20 Hz – 20 kHz |
| Channel separation / balance | 25–30 dB / <0.5 dB |
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.
