Clearaudio Charisma V2 Cartridge
$2000
Promoted as founder Peter Suchy’s “moving-magnet masterpiece,” the Charisma V2 confirms in the listening that this claim is no exaggeration. With a mass-loaded, low-resonance, ebony-wood body, Charisma employs top-notch features like the same boron cantilever and double-polished Gyger S stylus found in the legendary Goldfinger Statement mc. But it’s the raw musicality of Charisma that had me spinning LPs like a demented DJ. Naturalistic and detailed, Charisma offers up classic midrange bloom and image stability, plus a full palette of tonal colors, dynamic electricity, and top-end sweetness. As with its vaunted moving-coil brethren, it resolves even finer gradations of light and air in the upper octaves, all the while maintaining a neutral balance. There are no tonal dead spots, and tracking is unshakably excellent. Costly moving coils tend to grab all the headlines in high-end circles, but their low output generally requires pricey step-up devices, which means your wallet takes an additional hit. However, with its real-world output of 3.6mV, a Charisma means you’re likely good-to-go with an existing phonostage. Charisma…either you’ve got it or you don’t. This cartridge has got it.
By Neil Gader
My love of music largely predates my enthusiasm for audio. I grew up Los Angeles in a house where music was constantly playing on the stereo (Altecs, if you’re interested). It ranged from my mom listening to hit Broadway musicals to my sister’s early Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Beatles, and Stones LPs, and dad’s constant companions, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. With the British Invasion, I immediately picked up a guitar and took piano lessons and have been playing ever since. Following graduation from UCLA I became a writing member of the Lehman Engel’s BMI Musical Theater Workshops in New York–working in advertising to pay the bills. I’ve co-written bunches of songs, some published, some recorded. In 1995 I co-produced an award-winning short fiction movie that did well on the international film-festival circuit. I was introduced to Harry Pearson in the early 70s by a mutual friend. At that time Harry was still working full-time for Long Island’s Newsday even as he was writing Issue 1 of TAS during his off hours. We struck up a decades-long friendship that ultimately turned into a writing gig that has proved both stimulating and rewarding. In terms of music reproduction, I find myself listening more than ever for the “little” things. Low-level resolving power, dynamic gradients, shadings, timbral color and contrasts. Listening to a lot of vocals and solo piano has always helped me recalibrate and nail down what I’m hearing. Tonal neutrality and presence are important to me but small deviations are not disqualifying. But I am quite sensitive to treble over-reach, and find dry, hyper-detailed systems intriguing but inauthentic compared with the concert-going experience. For me, true musicality conveys the cozy warmth of a room with a fireplace not the icy cold of an igloo. Currently I split my time between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Studio City, California with my wife Judi Dickerson, an acting, voice, and dialect coach, along with border collies Ivy and Alfie.
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