A chapter of HFR’s Complete Buyer’s Guide to High-End Audio
Clearaudio is a family-owned German manufacturer of turntables, tonearms, and cartridges, founded in 1978 in Erlangen by Peter Suchy and run since 2005 by his children. It is one of a small number of high-end analog companies that designs and machines nearly the entire signal chain — platter, bearing, motor, tonearm, cartridge, phono stage — under one roof.
This guide covers Clearaudio’s history, the engineering that defines the line (the Ceramic Magnetic Bearing, tangential tonearms, in-house cartridge design), the current model range from the entry Concept to the flagship Statement, and a buyer’s framework for the used market.
Suchy founded Clearaudio electronic GmbH in 1978, pursuing what he called "musical truth" — reproduction without the quality loss he heard between live music and record playback. The company's first major product was a fully symmetrical moving-coil cartridge system, and Clearaudio was the first company in the world to use boron cantilevers in a phono cartridge.
Clearaudio's headquarters relocated in 2000 from nearby Fürth to a former Siemens facility in a conservation area of Erlangen, where the company remains today.
Clearaudio introduced its three-point "Tri-star" chassis design in the mid-1990s, in a $15,000 turntable called the Master Reference — named because it was built to a standard fit for use as a mastering-studio reference. That chassis geometry has carried forward into every subsequent flagship-tier Clearaudio turntable, including the current Innovation series.
The Statement turntable — Clearaudio's flagship — weighs approximately 350 kg without tonearm or power supply and uses a magnetically driven sub-platter with no physical contact to the main platter, mounted on a stand of Panzerholz sandwiched between aluminum plates. It has been continuously refined since its introduction, now sold as the Statement V2.
Peter Suchy withdrew from active day-to-day management in 2005; his three children — Veronika, Robert, and Patrick Suchy — have run the company since. Clearaudio now sells in more than 80 countries, distributed in the US by Musical Surroundings of Berkeley, California.
Clearaudio's TT-series tangential tonearms trace back to a design, patents, and business the company acquired from American tonearm designer Lou Souther, which Clearaudio then re-engineered with tighter tolerances and better materials — moving to a purely mechanical, dual-bearing carriage running on a polished glass tube, with no servo or air pump. The TT2, for example, takes roughly 40 hours to assemble.
Clearaudio's cartridge range descends from the fully symmetrical MC topology it introduced in 1978, using boron cantilevers throughout the line and, at the top, a 14-karat gold cartridge body and 24-karat gold coil wire on the flagship Goldfinger Statement.
Panzerholz — a densified, resin-impregnated laminated wood originally developed for industrial applications — appears in multi-layer plinth construction on Clearaudio's Reference and Master-tier turntables, sandwiched with stainless steel on the flagship Statement, to control resonance without the ringing a pure-metal chassis can exhibit.
Clearaudio machines its platters, bearings, tonearm components, and cartridge bodies at its own Erlangen facility rather than sourcing from third-party suppliers — the same vertical-integration approach that shaped Suchy's original cartridge and tonearm designs.
The current Statement V2 weighs approximately 350 kg without tonearm or power supply and is priced at $275,000 in the US. It uses the non-contact Magnetic Drive, a pendulum gyroscopic self-leveling base, and a Panzerholz/stainless-steel stand.
Priced from $37,500 for the turntable alone in the US (tonearm and matching stand sold separately), the Master Innovation is a double-stack design supporting up to three tonearms, using CMB bearings supplemented by a flywheel and high-torque DC motor for rotational stability.
Clearaudio's mid-flagship line, using the Tri-star chassis geometry that traces to the 1990s Master Reference, Panzerholz plinth construction, and CMB bearings — the tier at which most serious Clearaudio buyers enter the range.
Limited to 250 units worldwide and priced at $45,000 in the US, the Reference Jubilee uses a POM main platter on a CMB bearing, a new 24-volt air-core DC motor, and Clearaudio's Optical Speed Control.
The original Concept launched in 2009 as a plug-and-play package and has sold roughly 20,000 units. The Concept Signature, a US-market special edition introduced in 2024, adds Tacho Speed Control and an illuminated touch-controller plinth, with tonearm options reviewed at $3,800 (Tracer Black) and $2,800 (Signature Black Satisfy Carbon Fiber).
The TT2 — roughly 2 kg and about 40 hours to hand-assemble — uses a purely mechanical dual-bearing carriage on a polished glass tube. The range also includes the flagship Statement TT-1 and more affordable TT3/TT5 variants.
Clearaudio's current range spans the full analog chain, from the entry-level Concept Signature to the Statement flagship, plus a full line of tonearms (radial and tangential), moving-magnet and moving-coil cartridges, phono stages, record cleaners, and accessories. The exact model lineup changes over time — see Musical Surroundings' current Clearaudio catalog for what's presently in production and North American pricing.
Clearaudio services its own products from the Erlangen facility and through its distributor network. Because the platter, bearing, tonearm, and cartridge are all made in-house, there's no third-party parts supplier that can disappear and leave an owner stranded — cartridges are rebuildable at the factory, and bearings, motors, and platters are available as service parts.
In North America, service and support are coordinated through Musical Surroundings, based in Berkeley, California. Confirm specific warranty terms and registration requirements with your dealer or Musical Surroundings directly — they vary by product tier and have changed over time.
With roughly 20,000 units sold since 2009, used Concepts and Concept Signatures are widely available. A well-cared-for used Concept is a genuinely capable turntable; look for a factory-installed cartridge still in good condition as a sign of gentle use.
A used Clearaudio package often includes a factory-fitted Clearaudio cartridge with unknown hours on it. Cartridges have a finite service life regardless of manufacturer. Ask the seller for approximate playing hours and factor a factory rebuild into your budget if the number is high — Clearaudio can rebuild most of its own cartridges.
The Ceramic Magnetic Bearing is low-wear by design, but older Clearaudio turntables that predate CMB used conventional bearings that do wear over decades. Listen for audible motor or bearing rumble at moderate volume with no record playing.
Clearaudio's tonearms are specified for particular cartridge weight ranges. A heavy cartridge like the Goldfinger Statement needs a comparably high-effective-mass arm; confirm compatibility before assuming a used-market cartridge upgrade will work with an existing tonearm.
Inspect Panzerholz plinths on Reference- and Master-tier turntables for water damage, edge chipping, or delamination at layer joints — cosmetic damage on Panzerholz is difficult to repair outside the factory.
At roughly 350 kg, the Statement requires a floor structure that can support the load and a dedicated installation. Used units are rare, and factory re-setup after any relocation is essentially required.
Concept-tier turntables hold value well relative to their entry-level price and move quickly on the secondary market given the volume Clearaudio has sold. Mid-tier Innovation and Master Innovation turntables follow a fairly normal high-end depreciation curve. Flagship Statement, Reference Jubilee, and Master Jubilee turntables transact rarely enough on the used market that individual sales, not trend lines, are the meaningful comparison — the Jubilee editions in particular were limited to 250 and 45 units worldwide respectively, so used examples are genuinely uncommon.
Cartridges depreciate faster than turntables because of wear. A used Goldfinger Statement with unknown or high hours should carry a real discount off current retail; a factory-rebuilt or low-hours example is worth closer to new.
Yes. Peter Suchy founded Clearaudio in 1978 and remained its technical lead for decades. He stepped back from day-to-day management in 2005, and the company has since been run by his three children — Robert, Patrick, and Veronika Suchy. It has never taken outside private-equity or venture-capital investment.
Erlangen, Germany. The company moved its headquarters to a former Siemens facility in a conservation area of Erlangen in 2000; every current Clearaudio product is designed and built there.
Clearaudio’s patented main bearing system, used across the turntable range. The main platter and an upper drive platter are supported on a magnetic field generated against a lower drive platter, so the assembly floats with no point of physical load, wear, or friction — reducing rotational noise compared with a conventional bearing.
A tangential (linear-tracking) tonearm moves the cartridge in a straight line across the record instead of an arc, matching the geometry the record was cut with and eliminating lateral tracking error. Clearaudio didn’t invent the concept — its TT-series tonearms descend from a design, patents, and business Clearaudio acquired from American tonearm designer Lou Souther, which the company then re-engineered with tighter tolerances and better materials.
Musical Surroundings, based in Berkeley, California, is Clearaudio’s US distributor.
Different tiers. The original Concept (2009) sold roughly 20,000 units and is widely available used at accessible prices — a genuinely capable plug-and-play turntable. The Innovation series uses the Tri-star chassis geometry, Panzerholz plinth construction, and CMB bearing that define Clearaudio’s mid-flagship sound. If budget allows, the Innovation gets closer to what the brand is known for; if you want a low-risk, well-supported entry point, a used Concept or the current Concept Signature is the safer first purchase.
Clearaudio's dealer network in North America is coordinated through Musical Surroundings. Only authorized dealers can provide new-product warranty registration and factory-supported service.
No authorized Clearaudio dealers are listed on HFR yet. Check back as HFR’s dealer network grows.
For the full authorized dealer network worldwide, see Musical Surroundings (US) or Clearaudio's own site.
A curated bibliography of the sources cited throughout this Buyer’s Guide chapter. All specialist reviews and manufacturer materials referenced in the sections above are indexed here.