Goldmund Reference Turntable ?


Anyone have any experience with or owns a Goldmund Reference Turntable Original version ? I will be picking one up next week and thats one table I have never played with. It has the T3 tonearm as well. Any tricks to setting it up etc. ?

Not sure what to pay for it anyone know the going price for one is as well ?

Thanks
Kevin
ohjoy40

Showing 1 response by bigaitch

Hello Kevin.

Perhaps if you’ll allow I can shed a little light on this?

During the 1980s I used to sell these in the UK. Terrific sounding deck with an arm that was a NIGHTMARE to set up. This was the T3F arm. Usually with one of the very high end Koetsu cartridges. Yes, the sound was magnificent but the anxiety in the minds of the customers and myself forced me to give up the brand. The massive profit could not compensate for the time and trouble involved. Customers who previously had not exhibited sign of neurosis did very shortly after owing one of these combinations.

All of my sales, without exception, had the T3F leap from the arm-rest like a very hungry greyhound, racing towards the platter – and below it – and about 3mm away would rise like an F-14 with terrain-following capability and drop neatly into the run-in groove. It was very far from amusing for everyone concerned. Neither I nor the importer nor indeed the importer’s hapless technicians every ridded the system of this unintentionally jaw-dropping performance.

My friend Mr. Aikman (founder of SME) had one of these. He had (prior to getting involved in building decks) literally 14 decks in his home system. That system was ARC preamps and Krell KMA-100 mono amps into 2 pairs of Quad ESL 63s. Anyway . . .

He told me the following. First, the deck itself was, when used with his SME V (he had all the engineering know-how and finesses readily to hand to achive this) the most musically credible he had ever heard to date. Secondly, that he was just too much of an English gentleman to comment on the T3F arm!

Incidentally, the closest rival, he felt, performance-wise to the Goldmund with the early SME V was – wait for it – the original Pink Triangle with a SME V. He then chatted amiably about embryonic ideas of offering to build the Pink Triangle for them. He was that impressed.

If it were me, knowing what I know, I’d buy the deck and get a master engineer to interface a Breuer 8-Dynamic with a vintage {genuine} Koetsu Rosewood with it.

Hope this helps

Kind regards

Howard Popeck / Stereonow

http://not-boring-honestly.blogspot.com/