To judge from the $6400 Mimesis 8, Goldmund walks its own way when it comes to power amplifier design. High-end solid-state amplifiers from US companies like Krell, Mark Levinson, Threshold, and the Jeff Rowland Design Group marry massive power supplies to large numbers of output devices (these often heavily biased to run in class-A), built on chassis of such…
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The Swiss Goldmund company (footnote 1) is perhaps best known for its turntables, but recent years have seen them introducing a line of amplification and digital playback components, as well as an idiosyncratic line of loudspeakers.
The same was true of a superbly real-sounding CD of the viola versions of the two Brahms clarinet sonatas that I bought on impulse from the Berkshire Record Outlet (Bridge BCD 9021, footnote 4). No way could the viola's characteristically weak-fundamentaled tone be mistaken for either a small cello or a large violin. And again, the Mimesis-driven WATT/Puppies hung the instrumental images unambiguously between and behind the loudspeakers with an excellent degree of palpability.
This sense of spatial realism was repeated with Stereophile's Intermezzo LP. Again the Steinway just hung at…
Sidebar 1: Review system context
Loudspeakers used during the evaluation of these amplifiers were mainly the Wilson WATTs and Puppies and KEF R107s, though Avalon Eclipses, Acoustat Spectra 1100s, MB Quart 490s, and Epos ES11s also made appearances. Front-end components consisted of a Linn Sondek/Lingo/Ekos/Troika setup sitting on an ArchiDee table to play LPs, a Revox PR99 to play 15ips master tapes, and, at various times, a Meridian 208 CD player, the Stax DAC-X1t and VTL Reference D/A processors driven by Meridian 602 and Wadia WT-3200 transports, or the Krell MD-1/SBP-64X combination…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
The Goldmund's rated power specification leaves me a bit puzzled, as it is an unusual, current-limited amplifier that delivers the same output power into 2, 4, and 8 ohms. That this is not true of the Mimesis 8 is shown by fig.1, which plots the distortion and noise against output power for a 1kHz signal into 8, 4, and 2 ohm loads with one channel driven. The 1% distortion point was reached at 185W into 8 ohms (22.7dBW), 260W into 4 ohms (21.1dBW), and 305W into 2 ohms (18.8dBW), revealing rather a higher power-supply impedance than the Levinson No.23.5. With both…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description: Solid-state stereo power amplifier. Rated power output: 125Wpc into 2 to 8 ohms (15–21dBW), 100Wpc into 1 and 16 ohms (11 & 23dBW), 250Wpc into 3 ohms (maximum) (19.7dBW), both channels driven. Maximum voltage swing: 45V peak, both channels driven. Maximum current swing: 30A peak, both channels driven. Transient Intermodulation Distortion (TID): less than 0.01% (–80dB) up to 25V output into 8 ohms. Total Harmonic Distortion (THD): less than 0.01% (–80dB) up to 25V output into 8 ohms. Frequency response: DC–100kHz, ±0.1dB; DC–400kHz, ±1dB; DC–…
In our December issue, I write about the Emotiva ERC-2 CD player, which, at $449, brought me many hours of listening pleasure. Stereophile editor John Atkinson will describe the player’s measured performance in an upcoming issue. In January, I’ll write more about the Emotiva, and, in February, I’ll discuss NAD’s affordable ($300) C 515BEE CD player.
Obviously, I’ve been listening to a lot of CDs lately; and, while I have started to long for my LPs, I haven’t really gone crazy or anything. Listening to CDs can be fun, too—especially when the discs hold music by the likes of…
Most jazz musicians who try to rock out come off lame. Most rock musicians who dig into jazz sound pathetic. Medeski Martin & Wood have long straddled both camps with authenticity. Or actually "fused" is the better word; in fact, they're among the very few rock-jazzers, another being Miles Davis at the top of that game, who turn "fusion" into a tasty term.
On their latest album, the trio are joined by guitarist John Scofield, not as a sideman (as MMW were on his A Go Go from 1998) but as a fully insinuated member of the band, which is thus called MSMW. The double-disc album's (…
Bill Frisell All We Are Saying . . .
Bill Frisell, guitar; Jenny Scheinman, violin; Greg Leisz, pedal steel guitar; Tony Scherr, bass; Kenny Wollesen, drums
Savoy Jazz SVY17836 (CD). 2011. Lee Townsend, prod.; Adam Blombert, prod. asst.; Adam Munoz, eng.; Greg Calbi, mastering. AAD? TT: 68:12
Performance ****
Sonics *****
Bill Frisell, guitar; Jenny Scheinman, violin; Greg Leisz, pedal steel guitar; Tony Scherr, bass; Kenny Wollesen, drums
Savoy Jazz SVY17836 (CD). 2011. Lee Townsend, prod.; Adam Blombert, prod. asst.; Adam Munoz, eng.; Greg Calbi, mastering. AAD? TT: 68:12
Performance ****
Sonics *****
How do you escape the pressures that come with making a record of well-known John Lennon tunes, many of them from archetypal Beatles songs? Convene a quartet of longtime bandmates, each a skilled instrumentalist with whom you've played this material…
On this page in the May 2011 issue of Stereophile, Steve Guttenberg became the latest in a long line of prophets of doom who periodically announce that jazz is deceased. Guttenberg argued that "Digital audio mortally wounded recorded music's creative mojo in 1982" and was "stifling creativity in rock and jazz."
I bring glad tidings to Stereophile readers. When it comes to jazz, Guttenberg is dead wrong. The jazz art form today is rich, diverse, deep, and international.
Digital audio could not kill jazz even if it wanted to. Digital technology has made jazz albums easier and…
What makes one particular hi-fi component stand apart from all others in its class? In this issue's "The Entry Level," I state that an outstanding hi-fi component will fuel the listener's desire to explore new music. If a component does not achieve that fundamental goal, it has failed altogether and should be passionately heaved from the nearest listening-room window to hit the unforgiving asphalt with a definitive, satisfying boom (or traded on one of the online auction sites). But that rule is most pertinent when the discovery of new music is the listener's only goal. Most of us want our hi…