GOLDMUND - Swiss Made High-End Audio Equipment

Since 1980 approximately, our company has been continuously confronted with new local regulation covering electronic equipment safety.

The US very serious consumer associations, then the strange English AC line regulations, the CNS in Taiwan, the costly homologation procedure in Korea, the back and forth of Singapore AC regulations, etc..

Each time, we had to check our equipment to be conform and safe. Each time, we had to make small changes in order to match the specifications.

Even if this process was cumbersome and costly, each time we had to admit the safety of our electronics, cables and accessories was improved, which was good for our customers and encouraging for us.

Then came this CEE crazy regulation. This is not only the one we spent the most time on, but also indisputably the first one which will make our products regress in quality AND in safety. Shame !

It took us months to get proper information, thousands of hours in trying to adapt our products, and huge amount of money to get them controlled and approved.

The result is a definitive loss in accuracy in our products time domain, a definitive loss of musical quality for the customer, and NO safety increase. On the contrary, the MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) ratio of some of our electronics decreases, due to the poor quality of the parts requested to satisfy the regulation.

For the sake of our out-of-the-community customer satisfaction, we had to make a tough choice : manufacture different components for the CEE and keep the other ones untouched.

This is what we have decided.

Michel Reverchon

When I joined Goldmund in 1992, my dream speaker was the Apologue. But everybody was speaking about Home Theater. And I discovered soon that the Epilog project was in all the conversations.

Since then, I saw it coming piece by piece, drawing after drawing. I did not figure exactly how it would look until last month, when the leading two project team members met for a real-size model assembly.

It took them a week of patient work to assemble the different elements in a way that could satisfy the pre-defined aesthetics, technical constraints, and production capabilities.

Since then, it is here, standing in our office, and nobody can ignore it anymore.

I took a few pictures to keep a memory of their work. It will show you better how the baby will finally look. But Hold your breath, it’s not here yet. Only the small satellite, visible on some of these pictures, will be available first.

The full system is only planned to become available by the end of 1996. Wait for more information in this Newsletter soon.

The remarkable sonic improvement provided by our Speaker cable has attracted lots of attention from our dealers and customers. However, the luxury of the finish and the high quality of the parts made the price of this accessory dramatically inaccessible for most. In order to satisfy our faithful customers limited within the budget of our Goldmund Entry Line equipment, we recently launched a simplified version of our speaker cable design called the Goldmund SR Speaker Cable.

Using exactly the same principles as our more expensive version, the SR speaker cable is built with a slightly thinner cable, high quality BNC connectors and smaller adapter boxes. New components are used in the adaptation networks to minimize the total cost and the Goldmund bananas have been replaced by a new kind of Copper-Tellurium alloy banana manufactured by the Swiss MultiContact company. The very high quality contact of this banana (thanks to its ultra-low semi-conductor effect) compensates for the more reasonably priced mechanical construction.

Already available in standard 2m50, 3m50 and 6m pairs, the SR Speaker Cable will also be soon available in special lengths.

In order to allow the Mimesis 12+ and Mimesis14 to receive ATT optical fibers, we now propose in option the ATT receiver. It can be mounted inside the unit in replacement for one of the XLR and its cost is reasonable. However, be prudent on the delay, we have more than 2 months lead time by now.

For those who love comfort and were finding the Mimesis 36 a little bit rough, our software engineers have built a new software release, the 2,2. Here are the main improvements that the new release is bringing :

• Provides an improved cover movement, adding softness and liquidity.
• Keeps the “Time”, “Repeat” and “Display” key functions from CD to CD as long as the unit remains powered.
• Softens the sensitivity of the optical suspension adjustment, providing more stability to the adjustment.
• Provides a better handling of the scratched Cds.
• Allows to change from last track to first one by pressing “Next” once instead of pressing several time “Prev”.

This new 2.2 release is built-in any unit sold from December 1st, but is also available for customers who want to improve their machine for a reasonable cost.

All the new units bearing this new software are easily distinguishable from the others by the color of their front panel display digits : orange-red. This new display is the only one available now for all the finish of the Mimesis 36 and it also give a far better noise ratio, i.e. a better sound.

After the success of the SR integrated amp, we received numerous requests for manufacturing separate pre and power amps with a total price in the same range.

So is born the new SR Entry Line most recent extension : The SR Amplifier (SRA) and the SR Preamplifier (SRP).

The Mimesis SRA Amplifier is a stereo 2 x 50W unit on 8 Ohms, 2 x 100W on 4 Ohms. Using under license the “Job” circuit, now famous for its small size, unique performance and low price, its front panel will be matching the SR Preamplifier and the future Mimesis 38 small integrated CD player. Its cost should be below half the price of an SR integrated amplifier.

The first units of this unbelievably transparent and dynamic amplifier are already in production and we should have samples in Vegas.

Matching the SRA in looks and size, it will feature the same control as in a Mimesis SR, 5 inputs, one tape loop and a built-in power supply. It should also be available very early in 1996 and will be introduced in Vegas.

To minimize the investment of a Mimesis 39 - Mimesis 14 combo, and keep the performance, we will include a converter inside the new Mimesis 39DA, this converter using the same circuitry as a Mimesis 14. The new CD player will look exactly the same as a Mimesis 39, will keep its digital output, and will be priced only slightly above the Mimesis 39 original unit. This unit should be available very early in 1996.

This is the kit that will provide the necessary parts to upgrade a Mimesis 39 to a Mimesis 39DA. Available at the same time as the Mimesis 39DA, it will have to be assembled by a competent technical department, not by the customer.

Yes, hold your breath…

The beast in its most developed form weights 750 kilos and looks at least as impressive as an Apologue. More, it can play much higher dynamics, is capable of the loudest home theater sonic levels with subtlety, and its sonic accuracy is even higher than the Apologue at low levels.

Using a total of 32 (!) ultra-high speed drivers, its external shape is taller but narrower than the Apologue to match large screen installations in small rooms.

Each of its 4 separate sections is adjustable in position to the millimeter to focus precisely on the listening point.

More, the beast is fully modular. You can start with a pair of satellites, increase the dynamics with a woofer or a subwoofer, used in mono or stereo. Then, you can add the last pieces and finally build a huge system without peer in size and dynamics in the today’s Audio Industry.

Xovers choice can go from passive for the satellite, mixed active/passive for the combination with a woofer, or go to a full digital Xover on DSP with automatic room control. All Xovers units are modules that can be exchanged, selected depending on the kind of use, or updated when needed or when a better version becomes available. Each of the driver section being also modular, one driver can be updated in the future to a better version by a simple 4-screws exchange.

None of the Speaker constitutive parts is made in wood. Most are metal or acrylic (aluminum, brass, bronze, various steel, metacrylate are assembled to guarantee the best possible Mechanical Grounding assembly). They are all machined with precision within the microns range on the best computer-controlled machine-tools in Switzerland.

Even the holding frames and the finishing plates will be available in different look and different finish, to match the taste of the most individualistic customer. We plan to have a finish for the speaker units in Goldmund color metal finish, black metacrylate, lacquered precious wood, etc..

We should be able to deliver the first satellites by early 1996, but you will have to wait for the end of 1996 to see the full components line.

And probably wait till the beginning of 1997 to hear the system in its full size.

But, be prepared for something you will never forget.

Among the requests made by the new CEE norm, the protection for high frequency rejection to the AC line, as it is recommended to implement it, is probably the most detrimental change in terms of sound quality that any new specs has made to our products.

Here is a short explanation :

• Instead of allowing finer and faster power supplies, the new regulation drives to a slow-down of the AC line energy transfer. This will unavoidably be detrimental for the sound of our fastest electronics.
• If the “recommended” AC filters may provide the kind of rejection requested, they have a “slowing” effect we always tried to avoid in our fastest designs. See in the Mimesis 9.4 and 8.4, in which we suppressed them.
• The use of fast rectifiers, favorable for the sound, is now becoming quite impossible, due to the HF noise returned to the line.
• The poor quality of the homologated X2 filtering capacitors specified for filtering the power supplies makes any effort to suppress coloration in the power supply capacitors (bypassing, etc…) useless.

We tried several ways to avoid these worse effects, but some problems will remain in the units we designed to match the recommendation and we will sell inside the CEE.

Please, Europeans, forgive us.

We told you we were working on top-sounding resistors for our future products. Already, we used some special models made under our own specifications in the Mimesis 9.4 and new A2 module.

But the big event is for 1996, with the introduction of our new top resistor, the Goldmund Gold Resistor. First introduced in the Goldmund Mimesis 22 preamplifier, it may look like a Vishay, but is not.

In fact the Goldmund Gold Resistor is even better in many respects. Its lowest voltage distortion and temperature coefficient allow it to respect the most delicate musical signals as no other resistor we know of. Above the level of the most demanding Military specs (MIL-RNC90Y - MIL-R-10509) the Goldmund Gold resistor behavior in audio is absolutely unique.

And to answer an already frequent question (a FAQ as they say here on the Web !), no, we won’t sell them separately..

You already know our CD Table, produced last year. With its quality recognition in the The Absolute Sound Mimesis 36 review we sold plenty, especially to support the Mimesis 36. However, customers kept complaining about the shelves distance, the external size, etc, never fitting their need.

So, now, we introduce the modular Goldmund table.

Essentially, the table is built with any combination of these parts :

• the 9cm (3.5”) high shelf module
• the 18cm (7”) high shelf module
• one top finish :
• either: 4 top corners.
• or a table top as in our previous design.

The two kind of shelves may be assembled on top of each other in any kind of combination. Two or more assemblies can be made contiguous to build a low table of unlimited length or depth.

A special module for video projectors will be available for the best today’s projectors size.

The Mechanical Grounding transmission between the stacked shelves is made by the 4 feet using pointed screws inserted in the top of the bar located below. The lowest shelf’s feet are the grounding final point.

We expect these new tables to be available in early 1996.

Our production delivered between June and November may suffer of a production failure, which makes the cable very fragile. By studying the solutions to overcomne this problem, we decided to make a small change to the cable.

In order to correct for the fragility of our interconnects, especially when plugged and unplugged very often (typical of the demos cables used by our dealers, very often breaking after few months of use), we decided to increase the length of the plug cover incorporating the damping network. So, the compound used to mold the cable inside the plug will hold a longer part of the wire and keep it from turning inside the plug, minimizing the risk of breaking the connection.

Very low price units, factory revised, of the previous Meta Research CD transport are available in small quantity for you to offer as cheap-cheap bargains for poor audiophile’s Xmas. Please contact us.

Our suite in Vegas

As last year, we will be present in Vegas in a suite at the Treasure Island. We will receive our friends and display some of our new products there. Please call us on the lobby phone when you reach the Treasure Island or reach us before to know our suite number.

Please also invite the best among your top customers. We usually have a very relaxed time there and it is the best chance they have to speak with us.

We told you how much we were impressed by the first amplifier produced under this name. The company behind it (we discovered it after our last article) is not a real company but in fact a group of young students from the Zurich university. They developed the amp as part of a project for the Swiss professional audio companies (Nagra, Studer or similar, they won’t comment…)

Their mono amp, the one we heard in the first place (and also measured in our lab since then), is a tremendous technical achievement. Extremely small (20x15x5cm), delivering without stress 200W on 4 ohms, with a 1.5 Mhz bandwidth, DC coupled, it is achieving performances matching those of our best amplifiers. But the surprise is the price, ridiculously low : $1000 retail. The message seems to have touched quickly the most voraciuous audiophiles in Europe. The product is nearly impossible to get, and consequently very hot !

Recently, the same team showed us a stereo version within the same box and with similar performance, with a power of (only!) 100W on 4 ohms per channel.

This baby was so much better than anything we could have dreamed of for our SRA project that we immediately requested a license right. And there is a good chance we will get it.

When you get your first SRAs, have a look inside. If we won, you won’t believe the size of the circuit ! And listen to it. You won’t believe your ears either.

We vigourously encourage the dealers around the world to open their own homepage on the Net. A link in their page to ours will be the best chance for us to be visited, and, of course, we will give also their Net address in our pages. So please contact us if you plan to open your own homepage. Linking manufacturers with their dealers is the best chance for all the Hi End Hifi to be better known.

Among the successful Goldmund dealers in Europe, Multifoon is in many ways exemplary.

Fanatic of the Goldmund sound, but reasonable in its approach, Tom Gosselaer, the owner, has made a wonderful job selling affordable but extremely musical electronics (and especially our SR integrated amplifier) to his dedicated-to-music customers. Once record dealer, Tom knows, as no other dealer can, sell music rather than audiophile components. His service quality is without paar and he is among the people we like the most to help.

A special word on the very sophisticated marketing tools Multifoon is using for its customers. Instead of spending large amounts of money in local advertising, Tom Gosselaer is offering to his thousands of customers and friends an annual concert with top notch musicians in the wonderful concert hall of the Doele Center in Rotterdam. This year, we had the pleasure to be guests of honor at the piano recital of Eliane Rodrigues, a remarkable south-American pianist that Tom discovered. The musical experience was a sheer delight. No doubt all the invited customers will remain faithful to such an attentioned dealer.