Goldmund Reference II Turntable

As much as I love my Goldmund Studio turntable, the new Reference II looks amazing (some pictures are posted below) -- though for reasons discussed below ($$), I'll never consider purchasing one.

Technical description

Supporting table of extreme rigidity and inertia (250kg) with 100cm platter height for easy manipulation
Dynamically balanced 20 kg platter with level and concentricity calibration to <1/100mm
5-layer platter design (3 metacrylate and 2 brass) with 12 lead damping inserts
Ultra-high precision Swiss-made axis using the 25-years experience in Reference rotational parts design
Cog-free motor with lowest electrical and mechanical noise, shielded and dampened by 15kg of brass
Liquid-nitrogen-rectified belt, as the original Reference - Servo speed capture by optical encoder
Touch controls integrated in the tabletop for the turntable (33 / 45 / 78 rpm) and the T8 tone arm
3 optional pivoting tone arm supports at 120 deg (supports even the 12" SME tone arm)
Specially designed new Goldmund T8 straight-line tone arm with total weight of 7 kg
Using the revolutionary Goldmund "Spherical inserts" (Goldmund patent) for zero-play and zero-vibration
Ultra-precise ball-circulation Linear carrier with zero-play and micron precision
Stylus, pivot and counterweight perfectly aligned for optimal dynamic balance
Universal joint machined from a block with Mecasyl-lubricated zero-play ultra-precise ball bearings
Hyperbolic tracking correction using endless speed-adjusted translation with 1 micron precision
7-layer tone arm tube with progressive lengths, including custom ultra-thin carbon tube
3 built-in Teflon tubes carrying signal wire with no vibration and no magnetostriction effect
Unique hardened-Aluminum headshell especially designed and machined in 3D for zero-resonance
The headshell holds the cartridge and the preamplifier first stage to increase the noise-floor ratio
Motor-driven VTA adjustment with remote-control, allowing height calibration within 1/10 of a millimeter
Calibrated micro-metric Azimut adjustment and electronic stylus alignment
2-layer Titanium counterweight with 2-step adjustments, auto-locked for perfect Mechanical Grounding
Off-angle measurement by progressive analogue optical detector without Led avoiding radiated noise
Exclusive integral limited edition Phono PH8 Preamplifier using the new Goldmund 140dB A/D circuit
Analogue output using the latest new Goldmund Alize 6 D/A circuit with 140dB of dynamics
Digital output using "Swiss Chrono" zero-jitter 96kHz 24 bit connection to Universal Preamp
Built-in digital processor providing RIAA correction, and complete time/phase cartridge compensation
Protected by the Goldmund GPS (Goldmund Parallel Suppressor)
Each turntable installed by a Goldmund Team, with complete calibration included
Limited edition of 25 units only sold on subscription with a maximum production of 5 units per year

For more information, see http://www.goldmund.com/products/reference/

OK, it's obscenely expensive. At a reported $300,000 (half of which is apparently payable with your order!), it makes the Continuum Caliburn look like a Rega P1. (Mikey Fremer is going to go nuts.) But don't gripe about the cost. If you're an equipment person, you can simply enjoy the beauty of the product.

 

Goldmund

I didn't think that there were any Goldmund owners on this forum. I don't use their turntables but I have their integrated amp, the SRI-2. I'd love to replace it with their new integrated, the Memisis 330.

Scott

 

Wow, that's a COOL turntable...

And the price is no big. I bet with all the labor to make that thing
and attention to detail, they probably aren't making much money
on them, it's probably just a statement of their engineering prowess!

No V15 on that baby!!

Would love to hear that one!!

Say, if you have time in the next week or two, PM me, Id like to chat
with you about your table...

 

Really cool. I posted a thread on this a while back. I'm sure it is amazing but $300K buys a very nice record collection.

 

Hell, it would buy a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano plus some gas. I think the Reference II is made only for those folks who can afford both.

BTW, I understand that the first year's production on the Reference II has been sold out. (There's also a two year wait for the Fiorano).

 

This kind of reminds me of the ridiculously expensive speakers that were advertised in the forum a couple months ago.

The logical thing to do, at least in my opinion, would be skip the car and the turntable, donate $250,000 to cancer research or something along those lines, and settle for a $50,000 turntable/car. I guess it's easy for me to say when I don't have anywhere near that kind of dough.

 

I agree that charitable giving should have a higher priority. Of course, you might still have some money for toys after making generous contributions......

 

Dang, how am I going to spend my bonus check now?

 

??? I'm confused

Exclusive integral limited edition Phono PH8 Preamplifier using the new Goldmund 140dB A/D circuit

Analogue output using the latest new Goldmund Alize 6 D/A circuit with 140dB of dynamics

Digital output using "Swiss Chrono" zero-jitter 96kHz 24 bit connection to Universal Preamp

Built-in digital processor providing RIAA correction, and complete time/phase cartridge compensation

 

Sounds like the ultimate needledrop rig but I'll take my vinyl pure analog thank you.

 

No autochanger, no deal!

 

I can appreciate the quality and craftmanship but.........it's just so over the top in apperance to me. Give me a nice Luxman or classic Pioneer with some wood

 

I visited Goldmund's showroom in NYC recently & they told me about this. I thought the first one was a linear tracking turntable, and I thought this one was going to be as well...

 

If I understand the specs, there will be a new linear tracking arm but it is not in the pictures.

I wonder if the new arm would fit on an old Studio?

 

I agree. The last TT I saw on sale at ebay for $50,000 was one similar to this:


Analogue all the way, also Swiss designed though built in Germany, and I´d risk to say it sounds every bit as good as the Goldmund. Scarce as hen´s teeth for only about 100 were ever made

 

I come from a manufacturing background, and can see little in these "designer assemblies" (read: custom tuntables) that justifies the price they sell them to the suckers....er.... high end audiophiles.

Materials such as "brass", aluminum and titanium (currently around $17.50 a lb for aircraft quality alloy: 6AL4V) are hardly expensive in the the amounts used here. "Liquid nitrogen rectified belt"??? - sounds like something designed to fail (what is the rectified material - rubber, polymer? - seems that would make it rather brittle). The tolerances specified are pretty tight, but no more so than aerospace manufacture (which also uses 3D solid model enginering - not as big a deal as it sounds in the above).

So in that $300 K turntable - what are you actually paying for?

1. The engineering costs - someone has made a design that tests the limits of commercial manufacturers ability to hold the tolerances. An aerospace machine shop could make all of those parts - with the require precision - at 1/10 of the cost, but would require production quantities to hold the costs down.

2. The scrap rate - low production and tight tolerances probably result in a high scrap rate - an 0.5% rate is acceptable in aerospace production - I'll bet you have a 30% scrap rate here. You are paying for the parts thrown away. Even those Swiss precision manufacturers anticipate manufacturing several thousand parts with the precision required which holds costs down - here we are talking - a few hundred? Maybe?

3. Calibration. Calibration adds 40% (yes - 40%!!) to the cost of most precision instruments. Why? Because the lab shows no preference, and it's buisiness is it's credibility. Calibration not only reveals the quality of manufacturing, but the quality of the assembling of the detail parts. Dis-assembly for units that fail reveals more scrap and additional cost - as well as re-calibration.

This is not to say that the turntable is not SPECTACULAR - I'll bet it is. It's just that you are not getting value for your money, you are paying for an over-designed contraption that exceeds the state of the art for manufacturing. If they cold find a way to sell 20,000 units - you could probaly reduce the cost 95%.