Art Audio Composer-Solo in basic mode

As said before the Art Audio composer started life as the Clarity ’09 by Claro Engineering, Tom Willis, the owner and chief designer of Art Audio saw the potential of this design and the company has taken over the turntable and more importantly, its forward development.  The Composer 1 was a strictly limited edition of 30 and there are now only a few left that can be supplied new.  However the development and improvement have continued, with added mass sub platters, improved arm mounts, improvements to the massive foot arrangement, power supplies and crucially decoupling.  The good news is that these are available as upgrades for all owners of these turntables, even ones sold originally by Claro.

Improved foot configuration

Technically the Composer turtables are second to none. They consist of a plinth made from aluminium machined to a tolerance of +/- 0.01mm which is mounted on three machined aluminium feet. We then have the first centrally mounted CNC machined subplatjer this is perfectly concentric and balanced, If desired our second mass sub-plater can be added, this adds mass, improves rotational stability and gives a strobe marking, (ideal for fine tuning speeds when using one of our power supplies). Then you have the  solid “Acetal” acrylic platter, these are machined and polished to give either an  imperfection-free frosted finish or a black version, which ever is chosen.

High mass strobe sub-platter

We have gone further by adding cosmetic upgrades too, we now can offer a clear perspex cover system that literally encapsulates the deck when not it use, protecting it from dust, etc.   In it’s original guise as the Clarity ’09 the deck was highly acclaimed by reviewers with Adam Smith   of Hi-Fi World saying:-

“On first perusal, it is not difficult to work out that a precision engineering company brought it here from the drawing board. Lest we forget, the likes of Avid and SME are also precision engineers who make components for other industries, so the fact that I mentioned Claro in the same sentence as them for their first product is praise indeed. And it is certainly well deserved, as the deck is fabulously finished.

The deck is magnificently designed, built and finished, and this shines through in its sound, which is confident, bold, detailed and never less than captivating“.