Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement v2

jfrech

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In April this year I purchased a Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement v2 (GFS from here on out). It was a struggle at first.

I loved my Lyra Atlas, had a few friends that owned them also so got to hear in a variety of systems. And the Atlas was my 5th ! Lyra over the years, Lydian Beta, Helikon, Skala (x2 a oops moment) then the Atlas. I had zero complaints about my Atlas until my dealer brought a Allaerts MC2 Finish over one day. The beauty and speed it posssed along with just killer ability to unravel things got me wondering. I went back and for from the Atlas and Allaerts over about a 3 year period. Would listen to one for 6-8 months and swap to the other. My Nagra VPS barely able to amplify the Allaerts properly (.2mv) vs the Atlas at .54mv.

Early this year my dealer brought a GFS buy my home. It was his demo unit and at .6mv I was thinking a great match for my phono stage. The Nagra has been tough to replace...other things beat it here and there...but it somehow wins out when you add everything up. I think I've had the Nagra for 8 years now? It's been quite a stretch...Back to the GFS. At first I didn't' like it. Felt like it had the beauty but was missed the deep bass explosion of the Atlas...and just sounding thin. I sent it back.

My dealer was surprised.

He talked me into a 2nd audition. Tweaking the setup a bit more. I still reacted the same way. Then when he came to retrieve it, and hearing the same things as I was...started checking everything. Turns out the Spiral Groove Pivot to spindle gauge was off a touch (~2mm) and that required us to drill a new armboard. Also, having Transparent cabling, I knew my phono interconnects were tuned for the Lyra vs the GFS...so off those went and I borrowed my dealers Opus Phono tuned to the GFS (vs my Magnum Opus tuned for the Lyra)

So first goes in the new arm board, and proper alignment. We were able to get proper alignment before via a Fieckert Protractor, it just never looked right in headshell. Now with the spindle to pivot right, perfect alignment, I began to hear what others have discussed on the GFS. Just a killer inner resolution, a beauty that's hard to to match, deep extended and very textured bass and imaging that is wide deep and unravels better that the Allearts.

I was also hearing the "tuning" of the Transparent cables...when my cables came back, the flesh, meat on the bones and the better Magnum Opus wire began to shine.

So I ordered it. Musical Surroundings has a neat supply chain...more centralized, so dealers usually don't have to wait more than 48 hours for delivery (a big deal I think)

Takes about 100 hours to settle down. Is tight and lean at first...but over the course on the break in period...begins to shine, relax and has that rare combination of beauty, hi rez and unravels better than anything I have heard so far.

Very happy GFS owner ! Ne Plus Ultra in Austin, Tx is my dealer.

PS, I had posted here and elsewhere during the audition that I wasn't totally sold on the GFS...time to set the record straight. The GFS is fantastic and the cartridge I've yet owned !
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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Good story and another example of the importance of setup! Enjoy!
 

jfrech

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Good story and another example of the importance of setup! Enjoy!

Totally ! I was a little surprised how one sounded sublime (the Atlas), but the other wasn't happy (the GFS) with that same spindle to pivot...guess it was just more finicky...
 

Mike Lavigne

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Apr 25, 2010
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I purchased a Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement v2 a couple days ago and it is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. hopefully i'll get it installed tomorrow night. it will join my Ortofon MC Anna on my NVS tt on my 'other' Durand Telos (the Miyajima Premium Be Mono which had previously been mounted there will be on the shelf for now).

i had seen John's GFS listed on his sig line but also read his provisional conflicted feedback related to the Atlas. so i PM'd him and he brought me up to speed on what he related above as far as his preference for the GFS.

thank you John for the feedback (and a few other's feedback too) and I'm excited to hear what you are hearing from this wonderful cartridge.
 
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rockitman

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Sep 20, 2011
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Most likely the next cart I will try when I'm in the mood for a change. Perfect output match for my Lamm low output transformer. Thanks for the write-up.
 

JackD201

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Apr 20, 2010
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I had the same initial experience with my GFS. It really is very finicky especially when it comes to VTF and SRA as I suppose all long cantilever designs are. Get it right and the thinness and etch are exorcised. Congrats jfrech!
 

Frank750

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Jul 8, 2011
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I purchased a Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement v2 a couple days ago and it is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. hopefully i'll get it installed tomorrow night. it will join my Ortofon MC Anna on my NVS tt on my 'other' Durand Telos (the Miyajima Premium Be Mono which had previously been mounted there will be on the shelf for now).

i had seen John's GFS listed on his sig line but also read his provisional conflicted feedback related to the Atlas. so i PM'd him and he brought me up to speed on what he related above as far as his preference for the GFS.

thank you John for the feedback (and a few other's feedback too) and I'm excited to hear what you are hearing from this wonderful cartridge.

Is there in fact a V2 version of the Goldfinger Statement available? I can't find any indication of a V2 anywhere on the internet, whether it be the Clearaudio website or the various sellers of the cartridge. The only places I see Statement V2 mentioned is here on WBF and EBay.
 

Mike Lavigne

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Apr 25, 2010
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Is there in fact a V2 version of the Goldfinger Statement available? I can't find any indication of a V2 anywhere on the internet, whether it be the Clearaudio website or the various sellers of the cartridge. The only places I see Statement V2 mentioned is here on WBF and EBay.

no. technically there is no 'v2' version of the Goldfinger Statement. it's simply the 'Goldfinger Statement'.

however; since it is a variation of the Goldfinger v2, many times it is referred to (in various places) as the Goldfinger Statement v2 to clearly show it's the next model from that Goldfinger v2 model. otherwise some would assume it's somehow not as advanced as the 'v2' version of the regular Goldfinger.

http://www.tonepublications.com/review/clearaudios-new-goldfinger-v2/

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/art...tridge-double-matrix-record-cleaning-machine/

since jfrech used that name I wanted to be consistent.

if you go to the Clearaudio OEM website you only see 'Goldfinger Statement', not any 'v2' attached. the packaging (which I've only seen pictures of so far) does not have any 'v2' on it. (added note; I see jfrech just responded that the owner's manual has a 'v2' on it......go figure.....I've not yet seen the owner's manual).

naming protocols can become confused sometimes.
 
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jfrech

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I had the same initial experience with my GFS. It really is very finicky especially when it comes to VTF and SRA as I suppose all long cantilever designs are. Get it right and the thinness and etch are exorcised. Congrats jfrech!

That long cantilever is a bit disconcerting at first. I was afraid of a accident. But you get used to it...thanks !!
 

jfrech

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Sep 3, 2012
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Is there in fact a V2 version of the Goldfinger Statement available? I can't find any indication of a V2 anywhere on the internet, whether it be the Clearaudio website or the various sellers of the cartridge. The only places I see Statement V2 mentioned is here on WBF and EBay.

Good question. You had me wondering for a minute. I just opened my GFS box. On the cover of the owners manual is says Moving Coil V2...then a few of their models such as the GFS.
 

Mike Lavigne

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Apr 25, 2010
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I had the same initial experience with my GFS. It really is very finicky especially when it comes to VTF and SRA as I suppose all long cantilever designs are. Get it right and the thinness and etch are exorcised. Congrats jfrech!

That long cantilever is a bit disconcerting at first. I was afraid of a accident. But you get used to it...thanks !!

I've owned 7 vdH Colibri's which are even much worse as they hardly even have a body to hold (the magnet structure is exposed) in addition to the naked cantilever. mounting those was a 'sweaty palms' affair for sure.
 
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jfrech

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Most likely the next cart I will try when I'm in the mood for a change. Perfect output match for my Lamm low output transformer. Thanks for the write-up.

Christian, are you still digging your Lamm LP1 phono? Been a longer term now...are you using it and the Allnic about equally? And yes, I think the loading on the MC2 input of your LP1 is about spot on at 430 ohms. I'm running my Nagra at 470 ohms.
 

JackD201

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Enough to give one a nervous breakdown LOL
 

MadFloyd

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That long cantilever is a bit disconcerting at first. I was afraid of a accident. But you get used to it...thanks !!

Does the GFS have a longer cantilever than the Ortofon A95?
 

gian60

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Apr 17, 2016
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I have Goldfinger statement since 1 year on Bergmann Sindre and i think is the best cartridge i listen.
I know very well Kondo IOM,Atlas,Koetsu Jade,Air tight pc1,Audio Tekne,ecc,but this is really incredible.
All my friends with top cartridge find this cartridge the best and all would like to buy.
Regards
Gianluigi
 

rockitman

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Sep 20, 2011
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Christian, are you still digging your Lamm LP1 phono? Been a longer term now...are you using it and the Allnic about equally? And yes, I think the loading on the MC2 input of your LP1 is about spot on at 430 ohms. I'm running my Nagra at 470 ohms.

yes..I do use both phono stages. I have the AF1 stereo arm plugged into the Lamm Hi Output transformer. I found the low output input to have a bit too little gain for my Koetsu Coralstone cart. I feel the dynamics suffer a bit...although I am not 100% sure of this phenomena. The Clearaudio master Innovation stereo arm is plugged into the Allnic. It's has a Ortofon A90 on it. Finally, my mono arm with a Lyra Olympos Mono SL is plugged into the Allnic. In terms of which one I prefer, I still can't answer it. They are both great phono stages. They are used pretty equally.
 

MadFloyd

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yes..I do use both phono stages. I have the AF1 stereo arm plugged into the Lamm Hi Output transformer. I found the low output input to have a bit too little gain for my Koetsu Coralstone cart. I feel the dynamics suffer a bit...although I am not 100% sure of this phenomena. The Clearaudio master Innovation stereo arm is plugged into the Allnic. It's has a Ortofon A90 on it. Finally, my mono arm with a Lyra Olympos Mono SL is plugged into the Allnic. In terms of which one I prefer, I still can't answer it. They are both great phono stages. They are used pretty equally.

That's great that you can cycle between those variations and enjoy them all!
 

rockitman

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Sep 20, 2011
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That's great that you can cycle between those variations and enjoy them all!

It also allows me to use my second TT w/o having to unplug wires. Prior to the Lamm, I hardly ever listened to the Clearaudio table. It is a great sounding table worthy of being played.
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
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I have Goldfinger statement since 1 year on Bergmann Sindre and i think is the best cartridge i listen.
I know very well Kondo IOM,Atlas,Koetsu Jade,Air tight pc1,Audio Tekne,ecc,but this is really incredible.
All my friends with top cartridge find this cartridge the best and all would like to buy.
Regards
Gianluigi

Gianluigi,

thank you for the feedback about your preference for the Goldfinger Statement, particularly relative to those other outstanding cartridges.

Mike
 

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