Clearaudio’s Reference Jubilee Turntable Makes Bristol Show Debut

The Reference Jubilee turntable is touted as marrying Clearaudio's "proven state-of-the-art analogue technology with some striking new developments".

The original Reference was Clearaudio's first-ever turntable, launched in the 1980s. Featuring a distinctive boomerang-shaped and resonance-optimised chassis, as noted with the new Reference Jubilee. However, the latest version sports a higher-performing Panzerholz wood and aluminium construction rather than the original's acrylic build.

The new turntable also boasts a 6cm-thick main platter, constructed from highly damped polyoxymethylene (POM), which rotates on a special version of the brand's frictionless Ceramic Magnetic Bearing ('CMB').

Additionally, built into the heavy, 8.5kg stainless steel sub-platter is Clearaudio's 'OSC' Optical Speed Control. Here an optical sensor takes a reading of the sub-platter's rotational speed (with 1,598 impulses per revolution) and delivers that reading to a control unit. The control unit immediately regulates the slightest deviations by adjusting the motor's voltage via an operational amplifier. We're told that this delivers superb speed stability.

Furthermore, a 12-bit DAC generates a motor reference voltage converted using discrete electronics into an analogue voltage signal. Consequently, the digital reference is used only to compensate for slow movements or drifts due to temperature, oil viscosity, belt friction factors, etc. This means that the motor is driven purely by the analogue output stage.

That motor is a high-torque, air-core (non-magnetic) 24-volt DC unit and attaches to the belt drive. The entire motor housing is decoupled from the main chassis, suspended by an elaborate network of rubber 'tightropes'.

The Clearaudio Reference Jubilee can be found in Sound Fowndation's room.

Check out Clearaudio in Room 209 of The Bristol Hi-Fi Show