Crafted as part of Clearaudio’s 40^th birthday celebrations, the Jubilee MC cartridge “performs an astounding juggling act,” says Ken Kessler. It’s also “deliciously schizophrenic, sounding both cutting edge and vintage,” and thus offers the perfect solution for those who can’t decide between “the rosy warmth of the vintage” and “the hyper-detail or precision of the modern.”

Clearaudio has 16 MC cartridges in its catalogue, several of which feature a distinctive ‘flower top’ body design. Since each of these models features “the same long, exposed boron cantilever and ‘Fine Line’ stylus, they provide an opportunity to compare how body construction can influence sound,” writes Kessler.

Here, the body construction features a ‘bullet-proof jacket’, in the form of a Panzerholz ‘overcoat’. Panzerholz is a high tech natural wood augmented by a production process that increses its hardness. It also offers excellent handling of unwanted resonance.

Listening to Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy, “the sound has so much weight that the notion of Led Zeppelin as rock’s heaviest juggernaut was reinforced in spades, and the Jubilee MC’s forensic abilities worked wonders in alllowing me to zoom in on Bonham’s most complex passages, for better appreciating his mastery of outré patterns. But it was the vocals which made it all fall into place.”

“This cartridge performs an astounding juggling act, the three balls in the air being deep, tight, extended bass, contrasted with fast-enough highs – both of which are modern sonic preferences – but a warm, lifelike midband.”

“Clearaudio has much to celebrate. Not just its anniversary but the Jubilee too.”

Read Ken Kessler’s review in full online or in the November issue of Hi-Fi News

Find out more about the Jubilee MC phono cartridge at www.clearaudio.de/en and track down your nearest retailer via UK distributor www.soundfowndations.co.uk