Any Bergmann "Galder" owners here ?

[Philip O Hanlon]

Pulled the trigger and ordered a black velvet & silver Galder with vacuum hold down & the Odin tonearm. Any cartridge recommendations ? How about the second tone-arm ? I have a Van den Hul Colibri platimum that I was thinking of using...

Though the new black & 24k Gold Galder looks stunning, it would look out of place in my system. The black velvet & silver Galder should compliment the black & silver Ethos CD player and of course the rest of the Gryphon electronics. Looking forward to having a reference turntable in the system again. My last reference table was a Brinkmann Balance. I have approx. 7,000 records, so no shortage in the software department.

I have a fully kitted out vintage Luxman PD-444 with a couple of tonearms & various mono cartridges for playing pre RIAA and RIAA reissues through a mono phono stage with variable EQ. So I am set there, thanks.

 

[asiufy]

That's the color combo we have

We have mounted Air Tights, Ortofons, ZYX, all with great success. Curious about that vdH, but you can't go wrong with an Air Tight Opus 1 on it.

 

[Steve Williams]

I am looking forward to hearing it Philip

 

[bonzo75]

Someone told me the softer suspension of vdh might not work with an air bearing arm, no experience myself.

Red sparrow on linear trackers including the Sindre was amazing, but always heard those on SETs horns.

 

[ack]

I love this turntable. What's the MSRP? and with the arm?

 

[hogen]

View attachment 62657

Pulled the trigger and ordered a black velvet & silver Galder with vacuum hold down & the Odin tonearm. Any cartridge recommendations ? How about the second tone-arm ? I have a Van den Hul Colibri platimum that I was thinking of using...

Though the new black & 24k Gold Galder looks stunning, it would look out of place in my system. The black velvet & silver Galder should compliment the black & silver Ethos CD player and of course the rest of the Gryphon electronics. Looking forward to having a reference turntable in the system again. My last reference table was a Brinkmann Balance. I have approx. 7,000 records, so no shortage in the software department.

I have a fully kitted out vintage Luxman PD-444 with a couple of tonearms & various mono cartridges for playing pre RIAA and RIAA reissues through a mono phono stage with variable EQ. So I am set there, thanks.

View attachment 62658

I have the Galder/Odin with the VdH pickup. I think its great. PM me for more if you are interested. Kind regards

 

[bonzo75]

Hogen, did you order it specifically for the Odin?

 

[hogen]

Hogen, did you order it specifically for the Odin?

No I did not, but I will be sending it for the 300h service soon and will then specify the Odin arm.

 

[bazelio]

I think of Mike's CS Port when I look at the Galder. Perhaps the Etsuro Gold is a good choice here, too. I'm very interested in hearing this table as well.

 

[Mobiusman]

Philip,

I have a Bergman Galder/Odin combo. Mine is all black which I feel is the best look for my system and personal taste. In fact I cannot walk by without noting its beauty. I have a ZYX Universe Optimum mounted in the arm which I think sounds amazing. It retains that ZYX warm sound with substantially more detailed imaging and sound stage than I have heard on 12" pivots. I believe that the increased focus and sound stage details is largely attributable the ease of the arm maintaining tangentiality all the way across the record. It has a sound that is very distinctly a straight tracker (my fourth and clearly the best of what I have owned in including a Rockport Sirius 6000 and M&K Rabco (mine is #120/120 meaning it was the most advanced of the series)).t

The overall design of the combo is just is amazing. It is "breataking" from an industrial design perspective and undoubtedly incredibally sophisticated and yet simple in a way that I can only describe as "exquisite". I got mine in early September and am still tweaking, partially because it is new as was my ZYX and thus still breaking in.

I live in a hostile environment with salt water on two sides of my house, which can increase the friction on the arm tube, although Johnny has a clever and easy way to correct for this on the fly by adjusting the arm pressure to insure that the arm sits properly on the tube with no contact on any side of the arm's air bearing so that when that slides on the arm air tube there is always an air gap of 360 degrees between the arm air tube and the air bearing ring at the base of the arm.

I believe that Johnny's design of using a fairly long air bearing tube at the base of the arm means that as it moves along the air bar there are more jets within, than if the tube was shorter as is the case with my Rockport. It seems like it also helps insure tangentiality at all times. There is abolutely no image shift as the arm progresses as is the case with most straight trackers, which I believe is helped by its width and the absense of minor lacks of tangentiality and the drive system then shifting it back to tangential

The only thing I am not fond of is adjusting the counter weight, because the arm is so light that miniscule changes to with counter weight can easily make a bigger tracking force change greater than desired. So what that means is patience is necessary to get the force just right, compared to a unipivot where the total arm mass so much bigger that counter weight changes do not impact tracking to the extent that they on the Bergmann.

I live at the Jersey Shore about an hour from NYC and just a bit further to Philly. My entire system is new with everything breaking in and thus fluctuating sound, plus several electrical and vibration issues that are being resolved. While it usually sounds pretty amazing, it still has it's days. The system design is essentially a younger sib of the Von Schweikert/VAC system that always wins best of show, with me having VSA Ultra 9's instead of Ultra 11's and less VAC power.

If this peaks your interest, let me know and we can figure out a visit.

 

[marmota]

That's one of the best looking turntables out there, just gorgeous!
Bergmann also offers a 40kg (that's 90 pounds!) copper platter upgrade (3400€), which IMO looks even better than the aluminum one

 

[tima]

I first thought the Galder was direct drive, but when I read about it on the Brinkman Web site, there was not much information on the drive system (or I missed it.) Would those with knowledge pls explain.

 

[bonzo75]

I first thought the Galder was direct drive, but when I read about it on the Brinkman Web site, there was not much information on the drive system (or I missed it.) Would those with knowledge pls explain.

This is Bergmann, not Brinkmann.

 

[Mobiusman]

BTW, I forgot to mention that my Bergmann sits on a Vibraplane, on a 700 pound granite isolation table. Providing that the tracking force is correct, the suspensition is much more effective than you might guess based on its weight. A real test will occur on Monday when my Taiko SGM Extreme arrives and gets connected to my MSB Refrence DAC, connected by a MasterBuilt Ultra USB cable. I will let you know how the Bergmann fairs against this fairly heavy weight music source.

 

[bazelio]

I need to visit @asiufy for a listen. This table checks all the boxes for me. Multiple arm capable, belt-driven massive platter, air bearing, vacuum hold down, linear tracker. I haven't thought about a TT upgrade since getting the Stabi M years ago, but now.... that copper platter might just be the final straw.

 

[marmota]

The only thing I don't like about the turntable is the air pump box, I wish they could put it in a "fancier" box that shares similar dimensions with the turntable, like Techdas is doing.
To illustrate:

Of course, minor nitpick, but that would take it from 9.5/10 to 10/10 aesthetically IMHO

 

[gian60]

I know one in Rome that write in Italian forum,that tried for one week Galder with Odin,and a second week AF3P with Graham Elite 12 "
and bought AF3P and told me was much better for him.
Now better i can understand,much better seems too much

 

[bonzo75]

My interest in Galder (i have no judgement myself though I recently heard it at an audiophile's place with different carts) is to have red sparrow on linear tracker. For me it is a cheaper option than Vyger. For other carts and pivots Brinkmann balance to me is the more sensible option.

Fremer has reviewed both and he answers queries over stereophile.

I know one in Rome that write in Italian forum,that tried for one week Galder with Odin,and a second week AF3P with Graham Elite 12 "
and bought AF3P and told me was much better for him.
Now better i can understand,much better seems too much

 

[Folsom]

The only thing I don't like about the turntable is the air pump box, I wish they could put it in a "fancier" box that shares similar dimensions with the turntable, like Techdas is doing.
To illustrate:

Of course, minor nitpick, but that would take it from 9.5/10 to 10/10 aesthetically IMHO

It'll also probably make the price 10/10.

 

[asiufy]

bazelio,

I know the Kuzma well, and this is on another level. A Kuzma 4point on the Galder, along with the Odin, will likely be lotsa fun!

marmota,

Maybe you can ask Johnny, perhaps he'll entertain designing you a properly acoustically silent, fancier looking box!

I personally like it the way it is, as it just reinforces the Galder's fantastic price x performance ratio, and I mostly leave ours off to the side of the room anyway. But I do understand people wanting more pizzazz out of their audio gear