Goldmund Telos 690

Can we put the Telos 690's price to one side, just for a bit? We know that's a hard thing to do given just how much Goldmund’s only stereo integrated amplifier costs; but indulge us, if you can.

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Let's dream a little. Imagine for a few minutes that you are lucky enough to have the kind of disposable income that allows you to buy an amplifier like this. Assume that the rest of your system is of the required level and your room is sufficiently well-behaved to reveal the sonic benefits of such a high-end product. Got that in your head? Good.

If you were in that situation, the first thing that might surprise you is just how much choice is available. You could easily buy a plethora of multi-box amplifiers from all sorts of manufacturers without trying hard. These, more than likely, would separate preamplifier and power amplifier sections from each other and probably go further by isolating each power amplifier channel into a monobloc configuration. Even the preamp’s power supply could come in a separate box. Goldmund follows this exact route with its even more extravagantly priced top-end products. The norm at this level is lots of boxes, a wiring loom that looks like a plate of spaghetti and quite the impressive visual spectacle for those into such things.

However, there is another way; and that’s to pack it all into one box. Such an approach is the norm at more real-world price levels because it is cheaper to do. The casework is usually the most expensive part of an amplifier, so reducing the box count to one slashes that build cost. There are other advantages, such as a shorter signal path (due to avoiding the typically long interconnects between the pre and power sections) and the resultant reduction of any cable mess.