Goldmund Stereo Amplifier TELOS 200 Review Hi Fi October 2009
User Manual: Goldmund Stereo Amplifier TELOS 200
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SYSTEM REVIEW
Goldmund is a company that’s nothing
if not individual. But this isn’t a case
of different for difference sake. The
distinctive visual identity of its products
reflects their conceptual coherence,
a philosophical identity that’s just as
clearly defined as their stand-apart
aesthetics. So much so that, units that
look off-beat, even odd-ball when seen
in isolation, make perfect sense when
assembled together, underlining the
fact that this, more than almost any
other range I know, constitutes a system
approach. Here, form clearly
follows function.
Beyond the instantly
identifiable appearance,
the one other thing
that most people know
about Goldmund is
that their products
don’t come cheap. The
system assembled here
is no exception, and despite
being drawn from what they term their
High-End Series, represents one step
up from entry level in the Company’s
product line. What does that mean in
financial terms? Think of these units
as costing £8K a box and you won’t
be far off, yet they are smaller and
simpler in appearance than most of
the competition. Just what is it you are
paying for?
To answer that question you first have
to appreciate the Goldmund agenda.
C.E.O. Michel Reverchon (interviewed
back in Issue 51) describes them as
a “fundamental research” company,
pointing to their investigation of both
human hearing response and the
which conceptual thinking informs
Goldmund system designs, the easiest
place to start is the speaker. The Logos
1/2 combination supplied for review is a
modular set-up, consisting of a smallish
two-way, reflex loaded head unit and a
pair of active sub-woofers. The elements
can be bought separately, allowing the
speakers to be assembled over time, but
it is in their full, final form as seen here
that they best reveal their nature. Rather
than a sub-sat system, this is a dedicated
three-way design, mounted in a
purpose built stand. Having said
that, all is not as it seems.
Whilst the stand serves to
lift the bass unit 42cm
off the floor, perching
it at a visually
incongruous height,
and fixes the head
unit around 5cm above
that, supporting those
elements is its sole function.
The speaker cabinets themselves are
constructed from aluminium plates, close
coupled by solid alloy rods that ground
mechanical energy directly into the
floor. Look around the back and you’ll
be in for another surprise. As well as the
expected inputs and controls on the back
of the Logos 2 bass units (level, roll-off
and an RCA analogue socket) there’s
a pair of digital inputs too. Yep, inside
each sub there’s a DAC. You can buy an
active version of the Logos 1 as well, and
that has a digital input option as well. In
fact, every power amp in the Goldmund
range offers the option of digital inputs,
allowing the company to institute
digital signal transfer within the system,
Aiming High...
Goldmund For Beginners
by Roy Gregory
high-tech solutions they’ve developed
in response to their discoveries. For
Goldmund, hi-fi performance rests on
several basic performance parameters –
parameters that are woefully inadequate
in most products on the market. First
and foremost is wide bandwidth, which
in Goldmund speak means not just
passing signal from DC to 3MHz, but
developing amps that deliver full power
across that bandwidth. Then there’s
phase coherence and
minimizing group delay,
followed closely by mechanical
grounding designed to that end. Finally
comes dynamic range. These priorities
are of course, inextricably linked,
but their importance informs every
aspect of Goldmund product design
and development. Look ahead to their
recently revealed Project Leonardo
and you see the use of DSP to correct
phase inaccuracies in passive crossovers
– which might sound simple, but
believe me, it isn’t! The results are also
shockingly audible, but we’re getting
ahead of ourselves…
To really understand the depth to
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SYSTEM REVIEW
eliminating the losses associated with
analogue cabling, as well as harnessing
DSP to provide phase coherent active
crossovers. Of course, digital signal
transfer and DSP don’t exactly have the
best of reputations in high-end audio
circles, where practitioners have
been all too willing to accept
theoretical performance
standards in place of the
real thing, but like just
about everything else
in audio, it’s not just
about what you do,
but how you do it that
matters, and Goldmund
are very, very serious
about their DAC
and DSP technology. How
serious? Serious enough to give the new
Reference record player a digital output!
Another thing you’ll notice about the
Logos 2 bass units is that despite the
relatively compact dimensions of their
sealed, 35cm cubic cabinets, each one
contains two horizontally opposed,
305mm drivers. This “force-canceling”
arrangement is clearly in line with the
concept of good mechanical grounding,
but the use of such large drivers and their
removal from the benefits of boundary
reinforcement demands the use of a
high-quality, high-powered amplifier to
deliver good linearity and bass depth.
The electronics package in the Logos
delivers 300 Watts with an unusually
low output impedance to guarantee
excellent linearity and control. The twin
drivers help to maintain the sense of
scale and wide dynamic range, while the
carefully chosen pulp-coned midrange
driver and soft-dome tweeter in the
Logos 1 were selected to maintain micro-
dynamic detail and instrumental texture:
Dynamics cut both ways and you need
to be able to do the smallest changes in
level just as convincingly as the widest
ones – at high and low frequencies.
The Telos 200 mono-blocs share many
characteristics with the amps found in the
Logos bass units, including their digital
inputs. These are the smallest incarnation
of Goldmund’s most advanced
amplification circuit, yet are still capable
of delivering 400 Watt peaks into an
8 Ohm load, their high power output
reflecting the importance the company
places on uncompressed dynamics. The
problem is, that the ability to
provide 400 Watts at
3MHz is
potentially lethal
to speakers if anything goes
wrong. Thankfully, the Telos amps
incorporate a parallel fault sensing circuit
that clamps their output in a matter
of nanoseconds – in itself no mean
technical feat. Each chassis is densely
packed, not least by the complex, multi-
stage power supply, while the slab-sided
construction is used to sink mechanical
energy out of the components and circuit
boards. The Telos 200s run noticeably
warm to the touch, three colour coded
LEDs on the front panel showing power
and signal status (including digital
lock) as well as a range of possible fault
conditions. Chunky and solid, their
compact dimensions make them quite
manageable – but only because of their
mono-bloc construction. I wouldn’t fancy
lifting a stereo version!
In comparison to the maps and
speakers, the Mimesis 27.3 analogue
line-stage and Eidos 20 CD/SACD player
seem quite conventional – although
both are considerably heavier than their
appearance suggests. The line-stage offers
four line-level inputs, a tape loop and
two sets of main outputs (essential to
drive the hybrid active/passive speakers).
There are also three digital inputs, which
will feed an optional internal DAC,
although this wasn’t fitted to the review
unit. The large, central display offers
numerical readouts for input and level,
the massive red numerals easily legible
from distance.
The CD player is similarly minimalist,
with just the basic controls represented
on the front-panel, and it is here that
this system is open to criticism. Like all
CD/SACD transports, the one
used in the Eidos 20
is slow to react. What
I don’t understand is
why the display is just
as lethargic. The screen
stays resolutely blank
until the transport
actually reacts, leaving
you wondering if the
machine is even powered
up. What’s more, the small
green numerals clash horribly
with the size, colour and style of
the ones on the pre-amp; definitely a case
of “should do better”. However, once the
disc drawer finally opens, things start to
look up. The normal plastic tray has been
replaced with a beautifully CNCd alloy
slab, much more in keeping with the
inert chassis and surprising mass of the
player. Round the back you get analogue
outputs for stereo and discrete multi-
channel, as well as TosLink and SPDif
digital. Remote is a nasty plastic item,
although thankfully not over-populated
with buttons. In the absence of any
video connections the various on-screen
menu options essential for full SACD
functionality can’t be accessed, whilst
the player has the disconcerting, DVD-
esque habit of returning to the last point
played on any disc, even after its removal
from the machine. Once again, the user
interface is letting the side down; why no
system remote and why no video output?
Goldmund’s insistence that this is a CD
player first, but one that also plays SACD,
might just explain this, but if I was filling
in a report card then the phrase “could
do better” wouldn’t be far away…
In fairness, such operational issues
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SYSTEM REVIEW
are par for the course with much high-
end equipment, but in this case they
do detract from what is otherwise an
astonishingly accomplished system. Be
in no doubt, this Goldmund system’s
musical performance, it’s ability to
sound real – especially on live material
– can teach many a system more than
a thing or two. If you want immediacy
and clarity, look no further. This set up
places musicians, solid and present,
right in front of you, with credible scale
and in a believable acoustic space.
Start with something simple like voice
and guitar and you’ll be astonished at
just how impressive and convincing a
good recording can sound. Whether it’s
majoring on micro-dynamic acoustic
detail or the kind of explosive, almost
percussive pyrotechnics you hear so
often from spot-lit electric instruments
(and their players) this system doesn’t
just rise to the challenge, it encompasses
it without any noticeable effort or strain,
no limits on soaring levels, tiny details or
intimate textures.
Just one track is all it will take you
to realise that this is one of the fastest
systems you’ll ever have heard. It
transits dynamic steps with ease, follows
rhythmic twists and turns like a bob-
sleigh on a gold medal run, leaps giant
buildings in a single bound… Because
this isn’t just speed for speed’s sake; this
is speed harnessed to a purpose, speed
that’s been rooted to solid ground, giving
it the sort of firm footing and traction that
makes for both surefooted agility and
giant steps. Just like a really good dancer,
it combines delicacy with an explosive
power and the ability to bridge gaps
without apparent effort. And just like a
dancer it’s all down to power to weight
ratio. This isn’t the biggest system and it
doesn’t have the deepest or heaviest bass,
but it absolutely makes the most of what
it has. Indeed, in many respects, the real
secret of its performance lies in the way it
delivers low frequencies.
Take one look at those bass boxes,
each with its pair of 12” drivers and the
old volume monster starts to wriggle at
the back of your mind. Read the specs
and experience their considerable
mass and you start mentally rubbing
your hands in glee – mentally because
it doesn’t do to be seen contemplating
the extreme physical abuse of expensive
equipment in front of its owner. And yes,
the Logos speakers will go loud. In fact,
they’ll go VERY loud if you really want
them to. But their bass doesn’t really do
the gut-churning, trouser-flapping thing.
That’s not what it’s about. Instead of
rampaging around your listening room
it stays firmly in the plane of the music,
within the acoustic space, there when
it needs to be, loud when it needs to
be, LOUD when it needs to be – but
otherwise, it’s remarkably
unobtrusive, noticeable
more for the planted
stability it brings to images
and the sense of physical
acoustic boundaries, than
the sort of rumbling,
impromptu eruptions so
beloved of AV
demonstrators.
But fear not,
reach for This
One’s For
Blanton or
Mina Agossi’s
riotous take
on ‘Slap
That Bass’
and you’ll
quickly
appreciate the
tactile qualities,
speed, texture and agility
of this bottom end – the
way it moves along,
setting the
pace,
clearly
defined
in pitch and
progress. The
rapid fingering
of a Ray Brown or
Eric Jacot, so often smudged or blurred
by even the best hi-fi systems, is quick,
clear and articulate, full of shape and
energy, the work they put on notes, the
rhythmic accents and subtle pushes, the
way they stretch the tail of this note or
chop that one.
Part of the clue lies in the sub
settings themselves. Clear of boundary
reinforcement, you’ll find that unlike
most sub-woofers, which you seem to
be constantly turning down, these run at
much higher levels and deliver a cleaner
signal that integrates more readily
and far more meaningfully. Hence
my insistence that the Logos set-up be
considered a three-way design: It’s not
a physical or conceptual thing – more
a question of the way it sounds and the
balance of virtues and issues it brings
to the problem.
Of course, all that
clean, uncluttered
and coherent bass,
matched so
seamlessly to
the mid and
treble, would be
useless without
the amps to
drive it and the
source to deliver
detail (and make
sense of it); which
is exactly where the
Goldmund system
scores. Because
each and every link
in the chain shares
the same concerns
and design criteria,
there’s a balance of
abilities that’s mutually
reinforcing – the complete
opposite of the mix and
match, compensatory
approach adopted by so
many listeners when it comes
to “system matching”.
Coherence is the watchword
here: conceptual, technological
but above all, musical. Really
successful musical reproduction relies
first and foremost on presenting the
Reproduced from Hi-Fi+ Magazine, Issue 60
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SYSTEM REVIEW
performance as a piece, cut from one
cloth and it’s here that the Goldmund
excels. The binding element
here is that sheer speed
of response across the
system’s bandwidth
and the impressive
dynamic range that
results. This set-up
could never be
described as warm
or cuddly and those
who bask in the cozy
glow of traditional
tube amps will blanch at
its self-effacing clarity and
unashamed precision. This
is the epitome of the ultra transparency,
almost hyper reality that many listeners
have come to associate with high-end
performance. This is one system for
whose performance you will never have
to explain or apologize to the uninitiated.
Its qualities are starkly, almost smack
you in the face apparent – never more
so than with a live recording; whether it’s
the funky, up-beat groove (and incidental
noise) on the opening of Art Pepper’s
Besame Mucho, or the immediacy and
presence, the sudden dynamics and
“right there” feel of Jackson Browne’s
solo acoustic recordings.
The clarity isn’t just about detail
either; it’s about musical purpose too.
Comparing the differences between
CD and SACD versions of the same
recording, the superiority of the high
definition format is obvious, be it
the Pixies’ Doolittle and
the texture and tactile
quality of the bass,
the way the system
sorts out and layers
the dense mix, adding
clarity and focus
without dismantling the
driving rhythms and edgy
feel, or Reiner’s reading of
the New World, the SACD
adding transparency,
acoustic space, separation
and dynamic range.
Difference
between performances are
just as apparent, so that comparing
Piatigorsky and Starker in the Dvorak
Cello has rarely created a more dramatic
contrast, while ushering Queyras into
the equation underlines both his lack of
power and lyrical sweep in the opening
movement, but his poise and total
mastery of the second.
The beauty of a true system is that the
whole is greater than the sum of the parts
– and this is a system in the truest sense
of the word. It’s also a system that never
forgets that the musical whole is more
important than the parts that reproduce
it. Whilst the Goldmund approach
could never be described as devoid of
character, I can’t imagine anybody being
less than captivated by its musical insight
and authority, its ability to conjure the
spirit and life
from even
the most
dire recording. In that regard –
and in its unflinching clarity
and linearity – it reminds me
of the Lavardin amplifiers,
which is praise indeed,
especially given the
scale and bandwidth
of which it’s capable.
Michel Reverchon’s
systems are never less
than musical – and this one
is no exception.
But the really exciting thing is that
this is only the first step on the journey.
Active versions of the Logos 1 and the
introduction of the Mimesis 30 Universal
(digital) pre-amp promise significant
advances in performance over these
already impressive results – without
significant increase in cost and with a
reduction in the number of boxes and
the resultant domestic impact. As many
people who have tried to do “B&O for the
customer where musical quality counts”,
Goldmund have delivered the first
solution that really scores in that regard.
Unashamedly post-modern aesthetics,
unequivocally impressive performance
and remarkable system versatility
constitute a powerful and striking
package – and one that gets bigger and
better from here. I can’t wait to take that
next step…
Eidos 20 CD/SACD Player: £7495
Mimesis 27.3 Line-stage: £6495
Telos 200 Mono-bloc: £5995 ea
Logos 1 Loudspeaker: £3495 ea
Logos 2 Bass-units: £5495 ea
Logos Frame: £1195 ea
UK Distributor:
Symmetry Systems
Tel. (44)(0)1727 865488
Net. www.symmetry-systems.co.uk
Manufacturer:
Goldmund
Net. www.goldmund.com
Reproduced from Hi-Fi+ Magazine, Issue 60
www.hifiplus.com
