I got mine for $300 less than that via fatwyre.com (subsidiary of the cable co). Like nearly everything these days, I looked for it on amazon and this deal revealed itself, with free shipping via prime.

And, I love it.

***CARE*** From personal experience I have doubts about ClearAudio & their quality control.

After a lot of research, I recently purchased the ClearAudio Smart Matrix Record Cleaning Machine , replacing a basic Nitty Gritty machine that after 28 years of use, finally couldn't suck anymore.

Unfortunately there are small design faults with the Clearaudio machine
(basically ergonomic) and I had problems with it from day one, see below.

The Good:

- The machine looks great & has a high quality finish- looks the business.
- The packaging is first rate.
- Powerful suction, & with reverse mode, excellent cleaning results. A massive improvement over the old Nitty Gritty.
- Not as noisy as the old Nitty Gritty, and its actually fun to use!
- Most parts of the machine seem to be of good quality, with qualification- see below.

The Bad:

- as delivered, the cleaning platter was very badly warped & needed replacement as it made cleaning & vacuuming the record properly difficult.
- Replacement platter took over 2 weeks!!! to be shipped from Germany; the excuse given was that Clear Audio was busy preparing for the Munich Show- a terrible excuse, lets spend a fortune to get new clients, while p*ssing off our existing clients- makes no sense to me?
- New platter is also slightly warped. Reason (excuse) given was that the platters are made out of an anti-static plastic which tends to warp during manufacture- I have my doubts, but at least the warp is minor & I can clean records properly.
- After fitting of new platter- a day later the platter became loose & wobbled all over the place. Back to the serviceman- a lock nut had not been tightened correctly- an easy fix. Basic errors like this shouldn't happen- or am I being too tough?

Ergonomic Issues:

- Dust cover just sits on top of the machine- really there should be some way of making sure the dust cover is secure. Even a groove around the machine top would be better than nothing- as you quickly find that the dust cover damages the finish of the top of the machine- I fixed that by adding plastic stick down pads to protect the machine surface.
- Nowhere to place the screw down weight when you turn the record over or when placing or removing the record- placing the weight on the machine top has the potential to damage the surface- I fixed that by adding a stick down pad used to protect wooden flooring from damage from furniture feet.


Summary: As far as cleaning records- the machine does a great job, adding a few pads or a groove to secure the dust cover is a no-brainer. (for a machine that costs almost $2000 NZD, I feel they should have been provided).

The warped platter calls into question their quality control & the delay in providing a replacement is terrible customer service.

On the top of my list for a new turntable was a Clearaudio Innovation Compact turntable black acrylic w/ Magnify carbon tonearm.

Sadly given my experience above, I'm very reluctant to purchase another piece of equipment from this company.

Maybe I'm being too tough & just had some bad luck & purchased the one machine that slipped past their quality controllers?

NZ
Thank you for sharing your personal experience with the CA RCM. I will be doing a hefty due diligence prior to making my next choice. I am hoping Gayle with Nitty Gritty will step up and do the right thing. I have been having a healthy streak of bad luck lately with my gear.

I have the Clear Audio Innovation (started out looking at the Compact, but upgradeitis got me), and it is perfect. Let's hope your experience was the exception rather than the rule. All I can say is that my experience with CA was just what one would have expected.

I also own the Audio Desk RCM, and while I had one minor minor hick-up with it, it's also as expected at this price point.

Maybe you should offer J3brow some cash for his 16.5 and call it a day.

Best sir,

Bob

I have owned all 3 of the current top RCM's (Clearaudio DM Sonic, Klaudio and the AudioDesk). I kept the first 2 and ditched the AudioDesk. Both the CA and the Klaudio do a great job, but the edge goes to the CA. I had an early machine from CA and do to issues it was replaced with a updated/tweaked (rev'd) model. I have had this for close to a year now and no issues at all.


B

I have never felt the velvet lipped machines could get deep into the grooves. As good of a review as the 16.5 gets the overall 'quality' of the MDF shell and jar tank has me wondering if, at best, I would be making a lateral move with the 16.5.

In the VPI the velvet lips are just to cushion the vacuum tube for the vacuum drying process, not intended to clean. The cleaning is done by brushes, in the case of the 16.5 you hold the brush yourself and can use different brushes if you like.

^ Thank you for that bit of insight and information