Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement v2

[Mike Lavigne]

Hi Mike,

Been about a week now...how many hours do you estimate? Curious if any thoughts at this point...

PS love the pic of your barn !!

Yes, I love your avatar too Mike.

thanks Guys.

this week I've been off, and I've stayed home......a 'stay-cation'. what a cool thing to have some extra time. so I did a few things I seem to never have time to do. I selected an Avator......found a pic of the barn at a snowy dawn with the sun on the ridge. the colors in reality are stunning. in the mountains we get amazing sunrises. glad you like it.

I also listed my gear in my Signature, never got around to doing that before.

as far as the GFS, I'm at about 45 hours now. yesterday afternoon, as the delta between the Anna and the GFS was increasing anyway, I switched the GFS from the standard Telos tone arm to the Telos Sapphire. which jumped things further. I had never had the opportunity to really understand what the difference between the tone arms was before.

there are things we don't know. my Anna has likely 600-800 hours on it. what might that mean? my personal opinion is that it is as good as it ever was, and up till now my personal reference. I've heard the Anna in other local friends systems, as well as various shows, and mine is every bit what i hear in those spots.

i'll likely need to pull out the big guns (my tapes) to truly know just what is what.

Wednesday morning Jazdoc and Joel Durand came over to hear the GFS and then today Ki Choi was over for a couple of hours. very positive reactions.

been a fun week.

 

[rockitman]

enjoying your on going report. Gorgeous backdrop where you live Mike. Great avatar !

 

[Mike Lavigne]

enjoying your on going report. Gorgeous backdrop where you live Mike. Great avatar !

thank you Christian.

full disclosure; it's likely rained 3-4 inches this week. I mean it's raining all the damn time. and I love the rain......but this is crazy.....when the rest of the country is having summer time weather. mostly listening to music when it's raining and stormy has a certain 'zen' quality to it so I do like it.....but still......

 

[NorthStar]

Your's isn't so bad either compared to a barn of course I'm speaking to the Cello...

Except that Mike owns that barn. :b

 

[Mike Lavigne]

at about 65-70 hours so far. moved it to the Telos Sapphire from the Standard Telos at about 50 hours.

I'm in new territory and have to say that the GF Statement is stellar. I'm hearing detail resolved beyond previous experience. the focus and ease is something to behold. these issues are beyond my Anna.

I've had a number of visitors and none have left less than taken with the GFS.

I'm told that the bass and body does not fully come in until around 100 hours, so that is likely in a week or so. right now I prefer it's overall bass performance to the Anna in articulation and texture but the Anna has a bit more overall bass energy. or another way to put it would be that the Anna rounds things more and so it has that fullness compared to more information. but also the GF Statement's bass has varied during break-in so we have to wait for the final picture. and since things are changing getting VTA and VTF exactly right is a moving target. right now I'm tracking 2.88 grams and the rear very slightly down.

what is interesting is the varied feedback from GFS users as far as where they view the GFS. I suspect that it's more than just a matter of set-up. I think that not every arm is up to dealing with the 16 grams of weight of the GFS and also not every phono is ideal for .6mv of output. I'm guessing my extremely robustly built and heavy base Durand Telos Sapphire and dart phono with a 57db output choice allows for the GFS to really strut it's stuff without limitations. understand that this cartridge is designed and built to be optimized for the big bad Clearaudio linear tracking arm.....so it likely is more challenging than most to mate with the right arm.

 

[Folsom]

I certainly wouldn't say it's anything but a wonderful performer even pre-100hrs. But I suppose I can imagine very low frequency bass coming in a little more. Honestly, I don't know what more you could ask for in a cartridge. The last thing I was thinking about was if there could be improvements from the turntable and cartridge.

 

[Ron Resnick]

After listening for two days to the Goldfinger Statement at Mike's it is clear to me that I was wrong to assume I would find the GFS to be overly detailed or analytical sounding. So I am starting with a clean slate on the cartridge selection process for my second tonearm/cartridge combination, with the GFS at the top of the list.

Has anyone compared directly the Goldfinger Statement with an Air Tight Opus 1?

Has anyone listened to music with a Goldfinger Statement mounted on a Schröder LT linear tracking tonearm?

 

[Tango]

Has anyone compared directly the Goldfinger Statement with an Air Tight Opus 1?

Has anyone listened to music with a Goldfinger Statement mounted on a Schröder LT linear tracking tonearm?

Gian has both GFS and Opus1 in his system. Ked also listened to both carts at Gian’s. They sure can describe the differences.

Since Ked writes very well, goes to many live events and have listened to many carts and arms in many different systems , you can get many good info from him. In the future you likely will read what he writes about the Schröder LT with GFS and other unique carts too.

Kind regards,
Tang

 

[Ron Resnick]

Thank you, Tang; I should’ve remembered that. I just cannot keep up with your and Gian’s audio purchases!

 

[bonzo75]

After listening for two days to the Goldfinger Statement at Mike's it is clear to me that I was wrong to assume I would find the GFS to be overly detailed or analytical sounding. So I am starting with a clean slate on the cartridge selection process for my second tonearm/cartridge combination, with the GFS at the top of the list.

Has anyone compared directly the Goldfinger Statement with an Air Tight Opus 1?

Has anyone listened to music with a Goldfinger Statement mounted on a Schröder LT linear tracking tonearm?

If you want to hear the GFS like you heard at Mike's, get the Durand and Mike's help in set up. If you want a Schroeder LT made by Schroeder himself (for which waiting time is 2 to 3 yeare), Steve Dobbins takes Schroeder's parts and makes his own. I don't know the sonic differences and possibly only Frank Schroeder knows

 

[Ron Resnick]

I will wait to see if Mike puts the Telos with the GFS on the American Sound.

 

[bonzo75]

And yes, in Gian's system Opus sounds better. It does a much more front to back depth, denser image with flow, more natural tone. But in his system, or the Doehmann + TAD of Tbzc, the GFS sounds different to what it does in Mike's.

So best way for you to answer this is to buy the Opus and send to Mike. Check compared to GFS there as well.

If Opus is better, keep it.

Next, buy the LT and have it set up. Then ask Mike to come over with his Durand, set it up, and see if you still prefer the LT.

If yes, keep it, else it will be snapped up pronto in the used market

 

[Tango]

And yes, in Gian's system Opus sounds better. It does a much more front to back depth, denser image with flow, more natural tone. But in his system, or the Doehmann + TAD of Tbzc, the GFS sounds different to what it does in Mike's.

So best way for you to answer this is to buy the Opus and send to Mike. Check compared to GFS there as well.

If Opus is better, keep it.

Next, buy the LT and have it set up. Then ask Mike to come over with his Durand, set it up, and see if you still prefer the LT.

If yes, keep it, else it will be snapped up pronto in the used market

Mike’s System is a league of his own. Something works in his system could very well doesn’t work in others. I also doubt my GFS sounds the same in my system to his even when on the same American Sound. Some tweak works marvelously in his also doesn’t work in mine although we use the same things. His system is like Superman. Mine maybe a tiny Spiderman . At this level everything counts, the phono, the arm, the cable. In the end, the best is to make friend with people who has the cart you want to hear and ask them for cart loan and audition in your own system.

Kind regards,
Tang

 

[bonzo75]

I agree. But that's the easy way out. This hobby should be all about search, research, trying out different things and then finding the best one. If nothing works, you make friends with people who have a good cart and ask them to come set it up

 

[bonzo75]

In your case tango differences from Mike will alse be running triode horns which leads to a very different way of creating realism

 

[Tango]

Next, buy the LT and have it set up. Then ask Mike to come over with his Durand, set it up, and see if you still prefer the LT.

If yes, keep it, else it will be snapped up pronto in the used market

Come to think about it, the tangential could be a headache to set up right. The Telos seems a lot easier.

Tang

 

[jfrech]

After listening for two days to the Goldfinger Statement at Mike's it is clear to me that I was wrong to assume I would find the GFS to be overly detailed or analytical sounding. So I am starting with a clean slate on the cartridge selection process for my second tonearm/cartridge combination, with the GFS at the top of the list.

Has anyone compared directly the Goldfinger Statement with an Air Tight Opus 1?

Has anyone listened to music with a Goldfinger Statement mounted on a Schröder LT linear tracking tonearm?

I've been very happy with GFS after years with a Lyra Atlas and a Allaerts MC2 Finish. The latter I had both mounted on a LT arm...I've only ran the GFS mounted to a Spiral Groove Centroid

Glad you were able to hear the GFS. It's definitely a top rung cartridge, nothing really better, a few that are in this same class but just a diff sound

 

[PeterA]

And yes, in Gian's system Opus sounds better. It does a much more front to back depth, denser image with flow, more natural tone. But in his system, or the Doehmann + TAD of Tbzc, the GFS sounds different to what it does in Mike's.

So best way for you to answer this is to buy the Opus and send to Mike. Check compared to GFS there as well.

If Opus is better, keep it.

Next, buy the LT and have it set up. Then ask Mike to come over with his Durand, set it up, and see if you still prefer the LT.

If yes, keep it, else it will be snapped up pronto in the used market

Ked, did you compare Mike's GFS to his other cartridges when you heard his system?

I like the suggestion to Ron to get the Opus and send it to Mike. If Ron does not like it, I'd be happy to buy it from him at a nice discount.

 

[PeterA]

I've been very happy with GFS after years with a Lyra Atlas and a Allaerts MC2 Finish. The latter I had both mounted on a LT arm...I've only ran the GFS mounted to a Spiral Groove Centroid

Glad you were able to hear the GFS. It's definitely a top rung cartridge, nothing really better, a few that are in this same class but just a diff sound

John, Allowing for the fact that the GFS and Atlas were in different arms in your system, could you describe the differences? MadFloyd is considering each of these for his system and I am curious about the differences you heard.

 

[jfrech]

John, Allowing for the fact that the GFS and Atlas were in different arms in your system, could you describe the differences? MadFloyd is considering each of these for his system and I am curious about the differences you heard.

Hi Peter, I had the Atlas, Allaerts and the GFS mounted in the Centroid. Just not the GFS in the LT arm. The GFS has the power and drive of the Atlas, the midrange beauty of the Allaerts but with even more resolution and spacial finesse. The resolution is one of those those things that is presented with a touch of warmth...no etch. The GFS just has a uncanny way at unraveling how each instrument sounds and places it in it's own unique area on the sound stage. Like how a wooden stick hits a cymbal and then the cymbal splashes across the sound stage. You can hear each distinct sound, the unraveling, but it's still totally stitched together and continuous.

I mostly listen to Jazz and Chamber music. Lots of piano, Cello, Violin, drums, sax etc

All 3 are great cartridges. And your phono stage, music choice and arm may tilt your choice in a different direction.