Goldmund / Job

[Randy Myers]

How many people have heard of these?

Goldmund appear to be an ultra expensive, high end product out of Switzerland. Job appears to be their US based counterpart, wrapping them in basic cases but with same amps, etc., for a fraction of the price.

Anyone have experience with these?

[Masterlu]

Nada

[Randy Myers]

Goldmund - Swiss Made Luxury Audio Equipment
JOB Audio Hi-Fi Components

I read a few reviews. The Goldmund equipment appears to be ultra expensive. Job appears to be almost the same products, wrapped in basic cases... but at a fraction the price.

Reviews:
JOB Systems 225 Power Amplifier | Hifi Pig
6moons audio reviews: Job Electronics Job 225
Review: JOB 225 Stereo Amplifier | Part-Time Audiophile | By Scot Hull
Review: Job 225 stereo amplifier | Sound & Vision
Job 225 Stereo Amplifier | Ultra High-End Audio and Home Theater Review

[Randy Myers]

Ivan, I just noticed that you have Goldmund listed in one of your manufactures forum, under Ultra High End Equipment.

I just talked to Goldmund USA support. He told me that the JOB products are now built at the Goldmund factory in Switzerland and are express shipped straight from Goldmund now to the US market....

The closest Goldmund model is the Telos 280... which has a bit more power but at 10x the price.
***edit*** got an update, from Goldmund, the closest Goldmund amp to the JOB 225 is the Metis 3, which sells for $10,000. It shares most of the internals but with more of the Goldmund flair!

There is a 130 page thread in another forum about the JOB amp. I know it is not proper to list other forums here so I will leave it at that.

[SteveSem]

The Job website is basic and sparse, but it does mention Goldmund as a licensee of Job technology.

Here's how they describe the JOB Amplifier's Technology on the website. It goes over my head.

"The JOB Amplifier circuit is one of the fastest amp circuit in the world with nearly 3 MHz bandwidth !!!!
Why is that speed so necessary?
Because live music and speech are both essentially made of transients. And transients are only sounding accurate when they are rebuilt into the ear with exactly the time coherence they had initially. Only extra-large amplifier bandwidth can rebuild time coherence accurately.
The audible effect ? A real frequency-balanced time response brings Intelligibility which is extremely important for the ear to recognize musical instruments, and understand speech. This is why it is so essential for Computer Games and Home-Theater applications. You have to understand a whispering voice in the middle of a large explosion!
The JOB Amplifier is DC coupled with a new type of DC Servo Control avoiding any DC offset.
DC coupling is the only way to avoid time error in low frequencies. It avoids the usual boominess of the speakers bass response. So you get Tight Bass.
The JOB Amplifier is very powerful for its diminutive size: 210W on 8 Ohms per channel for the JOB 225. This is the perfect power for a small amp: enough power to respect the High Dynamics of real music and speech. The limited-power amps usually found in computer extensions are not able to reproduce these transients. Neither are the cheap amplifiers used in low-cost Home-Theater equipment. Be careful reading specification. When JOB means power, it's real power, not a marketing argument like it is too often in cheap designs! You know, Swiss are making understatement one of their key marketing arguments.
To achieve these results, JOB uses high-tech solutions, more often used by space or military industry than by hi-fi manufacturers:

JOB uses ultrahigh frequency printed board design with matched lines, constant impedance tracks, etc...
SMD technology components are used as much as possible to shorten the signal path and increase the circuit speed.
A minimum number of components are used in the signal path to minimize components coloration, specific distortion and group delay distortion.
Only top quality or even military grade components are used : Minimelf German resistors, ultrafast capacitors including the latest development for filtering capacitors, etc...
If you are not convinced, look at the measurements. Here are some pictures taken of a high frequency signal reproduced by different amplifiers:

The response provided by a highly-rated luxury Audiophile amplifier costing over $10'000 and weighting over 150 lb.!
The tiny, inexpensive 1996 JOB's response.
The JOB Amplifier has other practical advantages:

A very small size, allowing an easy location anywhere in a room, close to the speaker or on a computer desk.
A light weight, allowing transport in portable systems.
A very low level of magnetic radiation (use of high quality toroidal transformer) so the amp can be located close to a computer monitor or a TV set."

[Randy Myers]

Here is a couple bits from the reviews:
"JOB Systems is a Swiss based company working out of the Goldmund facility and shares the technology and machinery of their legendary manufacturing plant. JOB are however a separate entity and should be looked at as such, but with roots so deep in high end equipment the company really has a strong background and engineering know how."

"A couple of months ago, I was discussing the state of the audio industry with Michel Reverchon, CEO of Goldmund, a super-high-end audio company based in Geneva, Switzerland. Goldmund's products are sold exclusively through a small corps of dealers who are trained in installing the company's ultra-advanced, cost-no-object systems. When I asked Reverchon if he thought his company would ever distribute products through the Internet, he shocked me by saying, 'We already do...'

...The product he was talking about isn't a Goldmund product per se, but it was designed by Goldmund engineers and manufactured in the company's Geneva factory. It's the Job 225, a stereo amp rated at 125 watts per channel into 8 ohms."

[Randy Myers]

I just found this on 6moon.com:

"The honey-I-shrunk-the-sticker shock comes from cutting the fat of importer/retailer margins. In Goldmund's case retailers tend to operate seriously luxurious high-rent establishments to cater to an elite clientele with bespoke install and customization services. Knocking out those middlemen, then transferring scaled-down but bona fide Goldmund circuitry into far simpler enclosures is the secret. Where Goldmund can share core parts—here PCBs—with standard production, scale of operations enables a cost-effective everyman's line. Going back to very early days, CEO Michel Reverchon had taken on a phono stage developed by two US students who stalled at getting it into formal production. Their brand name came with the deal. Job. 30 years later it's been revived."

No advertising, no retail outlets/mark ups; sold only straight from the factory...

Anyway, that is enough information... if anyone interested in getting ultra high end performance and a more affordable price then worthy of looking in to.

[JemHadar]

As "go to market" models go ( no pun intended )...I find this to be a very smart move on the part of Goldmund. The Customer knows exactly what he is paying for and the factory benefits from (modest) economies of scale. Everybody wins... Excellent.

[Randy Myers]

I thought so, that is why I ordered one ....

Teac does similar things (although not to the scale that Goldmund is here)... they trickle down some of the technology from Esoteric into some of the Teac models...

[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by Jem666

As "go to market" models go ( no pun intended )...I find this to be a very smart move on the part of Goldmund. The Customer knows exactly what he is paying for and the factory benefits from (modest) economies of scale. Everybody wins... Excellent.

FYI, JOB products have been available since the mid 90's. Michel played the first integrated for me on Metaphors.