Beautiful system.Hello everyone,
i am lucky enough to enjoy the new Mimesis 20H DAC
Just wanted to visit the Goldmund Forum here.
Best regards
Florian
Hello,Absolutely magnificent! Congratulations! I can see you are a big fan of Goldmund...I have only heard older, lesser Goldmund but remember being amazed by the lucid, natural and clear-as-a-bell treble...absolutely reference setting at that price point and age for me.
Meanwhile, your entire system is magnificent...your speakers are legendary! Possibly fewer than 25 in the world today?
Can you tell us a little bit more about the 20H...in terms of how it might compare for you relative to other major digital? Enjoy!
I use Magnan Signature and and a Swiss Cable Brand (Symo Reference)May I ask what cables you are using with your Goldmund equipment? Many thanks
Hello,
thanks for the kind words and sorry for the late reply.
Your question is tricky, as the 20H DAC is about 80K $ ; nothing can sound as good as 80K $.
At some point its just rather silly. Having said that, the DAC sounds very similiar to my Goldmund PH 3.8 NextGen DAC (Current Phono Flahship).
It is never harsh or strained on your ears, the sound is like clear water with no effect of any kind. It is now possible to clearly hear the environment in which the single instrument or vocal was recorded in. There are no bad recordings, you simply hear the "style" of the time the recording is made.
Before i switched my entire system (except the speakers) over to Goldmund, i had a lot of Brands in my home. Now, i have no interest in spening my time comparing equipment, that "fad" is now not important anymore, i just listen to my system and enjoy the music Like my Apogee Grands, the Goldmund equipment reduced my desire for anything else to almost zero.
The Grand comes with two amplifiers per side, one for the Subwoofer and another one for the Tweeter. The Subwoofer amp cannot be exchanged while keeping the visuals and constructions of the speaker original. The reason is that at the back of the speaker are outputs from the active crossover for the panel, midrange and tweeter only.Hi Florian,
That is fantastic feedback. How do you power the Apogee Grands...did you replace their internal subwoofer amp with Goldmund as well, or are you still using the original Krell amp that was apparently part of the original design?
Also, have you ever considered moving across to Goldmund Epilogue or other reference Goldumund speakers?
Gotta love your dedication. Keep it up, but above all: ENJOY!The Grand comes with two amplifiers per side, one for the Subwoofer and another one for the Tweeter. The Subwoofer amp cannot be exchanged while keeping the visuals and constructions of the speaker original. The reason is that at the back of the speaker are outputs from the active crossover for the panel, midrange and tweeter only.
In short, I use the build in Krell amplifier for the Subwoofer drivers. I use 2 Goldmund Telos 600 Monoblocks for panel and midrange as well as a Goldmund Telos 200 monoblock for the Tweeter. In total, 8 monoblocks.
This year I tried to switch back to the Krell Tweeter amplifier to generate some cash to ease the payment of the Goldmund 20h NextGen. The system sounded dull, closed in and terribly boring. I was lucky that my dealer kept my Telos 200 monoblocks and I bought them back.
My mind has explored the possibility of trying an Apolouge or maybe a full stack Epilogue. A fully integrated system is much easier and allows more focus on the music. Currently I have 13 dedicated powerlines and have to turn on 15 devices to listen to music, an integrated solution would be quite amazing to own.
I have personally spent seven years restoring my Grands, researching and making contact with the original designers and thought myself Assembler Code to program the software in the speakers as well. The sourcing of original vacuum fluorescent displays took me two years as well. All information on the internet and used by so called Apogee Installers came from my work originally, which I shared for free. So, I am emotionally linked to this speaker. I bought it when I was 20 years old and my entire career, life so to speak was dedicated to giving the speaker what it needs to function, next to my family, career and finally the purchase of our house.
On a note on the speaker. The system is very large, the electronics are great but need hundreds of hours of research, restoration and dedication. The resolution and dynamic capabilities are like a big horn combined with electrostatic abilities. The price and effort required to make it sing, is astonishing and even after I dedicated close to 20 years of work and earnings into it, I feel like I am at maybe 80% of their potential. They are a one off item, and if you love what they do, there is no alternative.
Great. Many thanks for the feedbackI use Magnan Signature and and a Swiss Cable Brand (Symo Reference)
Man, that is some SERIOUS dedication! I have to say, you dedicated 20 years towards truly one of the legendary speakers...and no doubt as you say, there is no alternative if you love what they do. I could believe that.The Grand comes with two amplifiers per side, one for the Subwoofer and another one for the Tweeter. The Subwoofer amp cannot be exchanged while keeping the visuals and constructions of the speaker original. The reason is that at the back of the speaker are outputs from the active crossover for the panel, midrange and tweeter only.
In short, I use the build in Krell amplifier for the Subwoofer drivers. I use 2 Goldmund Telos 600 Monoblocks for panel and midrange as well as a Goldmund Telos 200 monoblock for the Tweeter. In total, 8 monoblocks.
This year I tried to switch back to the Krell Tweeter amplifier to generate some cash to ease the payment of the Goldmund 20h NextGen. The system sounded dull, closed in and terribly boring. I was lucky that my dealer kept my Telos 200 monoblocks and I bought them back.
My mind has explored the possibility of trying an Apolouge or maybe a full stack Epilogue. A fully integrated system is much easier and allows more focus on the music. Currently I have 13 dedicated powerlines and have to turn on 15 devices to listen to music, an integrated solution would be quite amazing to own.
I have personally spent seven years restoring my Grands, researching and making contact with the original designers and thought myself Assembler Code to program the software in the speakers as well. The sourcing of original vacuum fluorescent displays took me two years as well. All information on the internet and used by so called Apogee Installers came from my work originally, which I shared for free. So, I am emotionally linked to this speaker. I bought it when I was 20 years old and my entire career, life so to speak was dedicated to giving the speaker what it needs to function, next to my family, career and finally the purchase of our house.
On a note on the speaker. The system is very large, the electronics are great but need hundreds of hours of research, restoration and dedication. The resolution and dynamic capabilities are like a big horn combined with electrostatic abilities. The price and effort required to make it sing, is astonishing and even after I dedicated close to 20 years of work and earnings into it, I feel like I am at maybe 80% of their potential. They are a one off item, and if you love what they do, there is no alternative.
I spoke to Mike Daniel's (ex Product Manager of Apogee), Andy Lewis (Project Lead of the Grand), Bill Ordner (Bill of Materials, Software and Schematic) as well as Dan D'Agostinos son, who unfortunately passed away at a young age. From his son I learned that he, his father and Jason Bloom spent many hours listening to resistors, cables and other component changes. In an interview with Dan D'Agostino I read, he mentions the upgrade of the Subwoofers with servo controls. He did do this upgrade on his pair, which has now been sold to Brazil I belive (a long time ago).Man, that is some SERIOUS dedication! I have to say, you dedicated 20 years towards truly one of the legendary speakers...and no doubt as you say, there is no alternative if you love what they do. I could believe that.
Of all the discussions over the years about repairing, improving these magnificent speakers...did you ever speak with Dan D'Agostino to see what he thought might be 'upgraded' in those built-in amps? Just curious.
Super-thorough! Great work! Thanks for that update. What a great story.I spoke to Mike Daniel's (ex Product Manager of Apogee), Andy Lewis (Project Lead of the Grand), Bill Ordner (Bill of Materials, Software and Schematic) as well as Dan D'Agostinos son, who unfortunately passed away at a young age. From his son I learned that he, his father and Jason Bloom spent many hours listening to resistors, cables and other component changes. In an interview with Dan D'Agostino I read, he mentions the upgrade of the Subwoofers with servo controls. He did do this upgrade on his pair, which has now been sold to Brazil I belive (a long time ago).
Personally I am happy that they did not. Mike Daniel told me that the drivers are made in house and not bought by Vifa, like in the smaller Studio Grand. The woofer drivers were made so that they match the harmonic distortion charactereristics of the panel. The Grand is designed with very shallow crossovers (6db per octave). Since all drivers share the same type of distortion its important for the sub to do the same. A servo would change that characteristic.
The only tuning I did was to recut hundreds of threads from imperial Format to Metric.
PS: I attached a picture of the units (front)
Florian ,Hello,
thanks for the kind words and sorry for the late reply.
Your question is tricky, as the 20H DAC is about 80K $ ; nothing can sound as good as 80K $.
At some point its just rather silly. Having said that, the DAC sounds very similiar to my Goldmund PH 3.8 NextGen DAC (Current Phono Flahship).
It is never harsh or strained on your ears, the sound is like clear water with no effect of any kind. It is now possible to clearly hear the environment in which the single instrument or vocal was recorded in. There are no bad recordings, you simply hear the "style" of the time the recording is made.
Before i switched my entire system (except the speakers) over to Goldmund, i had a lot of Brands in my home. Now, i have no interest in spening my time comparing equipment, that "fad" is now not important anymore, i just listen to my system and enjoy the music Like my Apogee Grands, the Goldmund equipment reduced my desire for anything else to almost zero.
Hello to NYCFlorian ,
A great system!! I 'm curious if you have had a chance to try the new Nex Gen line of Goldmund monoblock amplifiers (Next Gen 1000/2500, etc) in your system, and compared them with the Telos 600 & 200 units? You are obviously keeping in touch with newer products development from the Goldmund, and given that you have one of the few, true "reference" speakers ever made, it would be very illuminating to hear about you experience in the field! Kind regards from NYC
I did not know the Grand are using a different ribbon lay out... Live and learn! I have been wanting to get the Divas myself, but due to logistical domestic issues have not, but soon I hope!PS: Every unit i own has its own dedicated circuit and is run of a 20KW Solar Grid, no worries on power bills
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