The Goldbug

In 1979-1981, in my University days, the most revered High-End turntable ( among our group of rabid audiophiles ) was the Linn LP12 , with a Breuer Tonearm and a modified EMT XSD15 cartridge ( naked and with a Dr. Weinz Paroc diamond tip , on a Boron cantilever ). The other impossible 1979 French dream being the Goldmund T3 tonearm on a “La Platine Verdier” motor deck, both featured in the “L’Audiophile” magazine that year. Later on, the T3 got its matching motor deck and became the Goldmund Studio and the Verdier “La Platine” bloomed at its best with the Morch 12” tonearms.

In those years, the most popular cartridge “Hot-Roddings” ( i.e. upgrade modifications ) , were done by A.J. Van den Hull in the Netherlands . However, I and our little group of Audio Illuminati, by far preferred the sound of the Paroc profile as invented by Dr. Weinz and manufactured at his WEKA works, in Idar-Oberstein. The VdH , while being very detailed , had a tendency to emphasize the “Vinyl Hiss” ( = surface noise ) and had an overbright sonic edge. The Paroc profile was far more musical, still being very detailed and articulate, but also kind with “older” LPs. The Paroc diamond was also made popular by the Garrott Brothers in Australia ( as Paratrace ) . It was also available on a not so expensive MM cartridge, OEM made by Excel Sound in Japan as Parotronic 77 , A&R P77 and Garrott 77. This inexpensive MM cartridge is still available ( but without the Paroc needle ) as the Sumiko Pearl/Black Pearl , Shelter 201 , Vertere Sabre etc… after 47 years !

For my music listening, of course a student did not have the needed cash for such expensive products, I had an “old” ERA MK6 turntable (a J.C. Verdier previous design ) , with a Morch UP4 tonearm and an electrostatic/capacitor pick-up ( with its dedicated modulator/amplitude RIAA preamp ) , of course modified with the Paroc/Boron upgrade. This was my “Track Day” set up, to be used on “Special & Good” days….

Nowadays there is a lot of talk about optical cartridges (these were already available at the end of the 60s , see the Trio Supreme etc… ) , but if you look at microphones , only the CIA and the KGB use “optical” ones . For high quality music recordings, everybody prefers electrostatic/condenser mics: Neumann U47, U67, AKG C12 etc…

My everyday “heavy duty” turntable was an original Rega Planar 3, with the Koshin Rega R200 Japanese made “S” tonearm, with an EMT XSD15 Tondose (the classic studio sme integrated head shell version), again, with the Paroc/Boron upgrade. This turntable could be used also by “close friends”, due to the uncomplicated set up (worst mishap case, I would resend the cartridge to Dr. Weinz, for repair…).

Now, since I wanted to augment the number of my “Special & Good” days – Electrostatic/Capacitor cartridges are like ELS speakers; while being unique, they react temperamentally to humidity and other ambient/surrounding conditions – I had to find the best candidate to fulfil my needs.

The cartridge that best matched my extreme sonic requirements was the Goldbug Mrs. Brier!

However, since again, the Mr or the Mrs Brier were out of reach financially, after some technical sleuthing, I found out that the MC motor was identical and common to all models, so I started to “hunt” for a less expensive Goldbug Clement….

I luckily found one I could afford, with a broken cantilever, bought it and of course sent immediately to Dr. Weinz for the Paroc/Boron upgrade! I used it for many years in the “naked” form, procrastinating the wooden body for the “future” …Or more exactly did not find anyone wanting to carve one by hand for me! The hot-rodded Clement is still there, in my pick-up harem, in its “naked” beauty!

Now after many decades of music listening, I was nostalgic about the unique qualities (a rare combination of lush sweetness and preternatural detail) of “my” Mrs. Brier’s Goldbug….

One thing leading to another one, I resurrected “The GoldBug”. I found the right accomplice in Lalo Schall , originally a classical music Tonmeister ( specialising in professional acoustic instrument recordings in Austria and Germany ) , now a “secret” designer of ultra-performing and ultra-expensive Swiss and other cartridges. His skills are at par with those of the best Japanese Masters….

The Paroc (now called Paratrace Plus) diamond on the boron cantilever remain, of course. The MC motor has been improved with today’s new materials and the Briar wood body has been changed into Ebony (this leading to even darker silences). The chassis’ metal parts are machined from a Bronze/Aluminium alloy, to keep the harmonic richness of the timbral balance. The generator coils are wound on a square former, taking inspiration from some secret sauce winding techniques learned from the long experience with the EMT MCs. The coils are wound with high spec linear crystal 7N copper wire, silver not being an option for the possible excessive shrill tonal quality. Instead of the now popular Neodymium, we have opted for Samarium Cobalt, for a richer sound structure. The internal impedance has been set to an uncritical 8 Ohm, too low or too high would have created problems for the following preamplifier and/or step-up transformer. This cartridge will work well starting from a Rega RB300 , up to an SME V , but it will shine on a Moerch tonearm.