Specials, Passive Speakers Reviews

Goldmund Telos 7 with Kharma Elegance DB7 demo at PUUR audio, video & domotica

Christiaan Punter 14 April 2020 No Comments

As part of the “Private Sessions”, PUUR audio, video & domotica is currently demoing the new Goldmund Telos 7 integrated amplifier together with the Kharma Elegance DB7 loudspeakers. The source in this setup is Roon running on a non-visible server, streaming to the LUMIN Music U1 Mini streamer with an S-Booster power supply. Furutech Reference speaker cables and an AudioQuest USB cable complete the setup. I visited the showroom on Monday 13 April on which the store was open as an extra day for the Private Sessions.

The PUUR audio, video & domotica Private Sessions are an initiative following the current Coronavirus pandemic that allows customers to listen to a great HiFi-system while safely distanced from other visitors and the sales staff. Robert and Daan both are super-friendly but if you are in the mood for listening to some very nice audio equipment without fearing for getting a sales pitch, now’s the time!

The two main components of this system clearly make a very synergistic match, the Goldmund’s tightness and control pairing very well with the slightly rich-sounding Kharma’s while both excel in resolution, delicacy, refinement and transparency. The treble is deliciously airy and very expressive but never hard or forward and the midrange wide-open and communicative while deep, powerful and well-controlled bass complete the sonic picture.

The presentation is very neutral and linear and highly revealing but not at all in a clinical manner. What I hear is music, rather than technical sounds. What likely helps this impression is that the Kharma’s have a subtle inherent richness. I’ve witnessed several occasions at other shows where this richness can become too much, the upper bass and lower midrange turning almost woolly in the process but this does not happen here. The bass here has excellent expression and tightness as it is fast and punchy.

There is a very mild residual sweetness in bass but this is identifiable only because the midrange and treble are so super-neutral. But it is very subtle indeed and this can actually be beneficial in making the system blend in well even in hard acoustical spaces.

I am personally drawn to systems that sound linear, well-controlled and neutral while expressively conveying the soul of the music. Achieving this is more difficult as it seems as the soul can sometimes come across in spades even with very colored systems while the cleanest of systems can sometimes fail to sound in any way musical. This Kharma-Goldmund pairing certainly does not fall for either trap and carefully threads the narrow path between resolution, precision and transparency on one side and musicality and soul on the other side. The result is a musical and easy to enjoy delivery that also ticks all the audiophile parameter boxes.

The Goldmund Telos 7 integrated amplifier is simplicity itself: one rocker switch to select between the inputs and a volume control, that’s it!

The Elegance speakers certainly honor their name by being very sleek and sexy.

The rear side of the Goldmund Telos 7, showing that the brand has finally adopted loudspeaker cable connectors that not only sound good but also look the part.