GOLDMUND - Swiss Made High-End Audio Equipment

see our explanation in the Goldmund Technology Pages

From the research made by Goldmund engineers for the Goldmund Reference Turntable, the Goldmund Mechanical Grounding principle is now very well known and applied by several High-end Audio manufacturers.

Because it controls the mechanical vibrations inside the equipment the most important field of application is in the speakers.

All Goldmund speakers are built with taking the Mechanical Grounding in serious consideration. However using them improperly may avoid this advantage to develop and should be avoided.

The speaker location on the floor is the key problem. On a very rigid floor the Mechanical Grounding will work perfectly. On a flexible one it will be useless.

The key is to find a position of the speaker where the floor is the most rigid : upon a strong beam, closer to a wall, etc.. will bring improvement.

Adding a stone or rigid plate below the speaker will not since the coupling to earth is not improved. And do not be tempted to think that a very heavy stone could do better. It is quite easy to shake a 200kg (350lbs) stone with an Epilogue 1 and the improvement such an adjunction may bring will be negligible. Worse, in many cases it will make the whole shake even more….

The CD transports, like the turntables of the past, are extremely sensitive to spurious vibration. The Goldmund CD transports and CD players are all built taking a great care of a proper Mechanical Grounding construction.

To benefit of that construction you must always use them on an extremely rigid support. Most of the existing stands are going in that direction but all of them are still too flimsy to insure a perfect Mechanical Grounding of the equipment.

Making a strong assembly of steel feet and steel supports for the evacuation feet of the unit is the good solution. Try to pick the closest resembling solution you may find. But remember, rigidity is everything, not weight. You are connecting your CD player to the building frame and earth. You are not trying to replace earth weight…

Succeeding in choosing the good support is your chance to discover the real quality of the Goldmund CD machines.

The power amplifier is certainly less subject to vibration than a CD transport or a speaker, but the effect could be even more pernicious. The top Goldmund power amplifiers are built in such a way they may cancel the microphonic effect created on the input circuitry by the output stage. This, as before, is mechanical vibration. So it must be evacuated.

Again, the construction of the amplifier is such that this advantage is only present if the amplifier is properly and rigidly coupled to mechanical earth, which means a very rigid support. Not a table, not a stone, but the floor may provide the necessary evacuation if of sufficient rigidity. If the power amplifiers are not put on the floor, the support must be of extreme rigidity as explained before.

If a rigid support is also needed for such devices, the problem of evacuation is less critical and there is a possible alternative : the Goldmund Cones.

When the stand where the equipment is put is not rigid enough, when the construction is too light to be rigid enough or simply because the proper equipment location is not good for rigidity, the Cones are a solution. Using 3 under a piece of electronics is usually helping dramatically. You may even use that solution under a CD Transport or CD player if you have no other solution.

But remember, the cones are not The solution to everything. They will not replace a perfectly rigid support and floor. They may only help you when you are desperate..

An interesting experience, by the way is to try the cones under any piece of electronics or transport, just to see if the support you picked is good enough. If it is, the cones will simply not improve the sound.. If they do, your support is not rigid enough, keep the cones !