Goldmund Telos 9800 Mono Amp Costs More Than Most Ferraris

Goldmund’s Telos 9800 monoblock amplifier delivers 1560 watts into 8 ohms and carries a $500,000 price tag per chassis. That figure already clears the starting cost of most new Ferraris and lands the pair near or above $1 million before cables or speakers.

The Swiss maker calls it its most advanced amplifier ever. The claim rests on a new platform that physically separates the power supply from the amplification stages for the first time in any Goldmund amp.

The Two-Chassis Split Changes the Rules

Power supply and amplification now live in interconnected but separate units. Goldmund says this lets each section run under optimal conditions while keeping mechanical and electrical integrity intact. A proprietary power-management system and the company’s largest capacitor bank ever (648 mF) back the design, along with custom capacitors, transformers and next-generation power boards.

The result, per the company, is greater stability and exceptional loudspeaker control even into 1-ohm loads. Connections include XLR and RCA analogue inputs, digital S/PDIF in and out, multiple binding posts and a ground-lift switch. Gain is adjustable in 3 dB steps around a 35 dB centre.

• Fully analogue signal path with thermal and short-circuit protection
• 10 kVA transformer capacity feeding the big capacitor bank
• Output noise floor under 3 μV
• Damping factor of 900 at 1 kHz into 8 ohms

Each chassis measures roughly 50 × 136.7 × 50 cm and weighs 360 kg. A stereo pair therefore tips the scales past 700 kg before stands or isolation platforms.

1560 Watts Meets a 360-Kilogram Frame

Headline power sits at 1560 Wrms into 8 ohms at 1 % THD. Dynamic range reaches 117 dB (22 kHz bandwidth). THD+N stays under 0.005 % from 20 Hz to 20 kHz at 30 Vrms. Maximum output before clipping hits 375 Vpp.

The step up from the Telos 8800 predecessor is clear in stored energy, damping and sheer mass. Both earlier models already sat deep in the ultra-high-end bracket.

How Leonardo and Telos Tech Work Together

The amplifier incorporates Goldmund’s Leonardo processing. The Leonardo time-correction algorithm digitally realigns frequencies to cut phase distortion. Better time alignment is meant to sharpen imaging, tighten bass and improve overall realism. Leonardo 2 already appears across the current speaker range; its presence here extends the same correction into the amplification stage.

Core Telos® circuitry, refined since the 1990s, runs Class A/B with high bandwidth and very low output impedance. Separate input and output stages reduce feedback. Mechanical Grounding™ feet and heavy aluminium chassis drain vibration. The company has long argued that raw power alone is useless without this level of driver control, especially on large woofers.

Key claimed figures

• 1560 W continuous into 8 ohms
• 648 mF capacitor bank, largest Goldmund has built
• 900 damping factor at 1 kHz
• <3 μV noise floor

All of it stays fully analogue from input to output once the digital correction is applied.

Cécile Barani’s Aluminium Restraint

Exterior design came from a collaboration with designer Cécile Barani, the same French industrial designer who shaped Goldmund’s Gaia speakers. Precision-machined aluminium surfaces meet discreet gold signatures. The two-box form itself becomes the visual statement: function and exterior now match.

Barani has spoken of balancing the immaterial presence of sound against the physical bulk of the object. Aluminium was non-negotiable for both acoustic and structural reasons. The Telos 9800 continues that language in a more architectural, less traditional Goldmund silhouette.

Where Half a Million Sits Against Ferraris and Rivals

List pricing runs CHF 400,000 / £370,000 / €430,000 / $500,000 per monoblock. A pair therefore approaches or exceeds $1 million depending on taxes and options. Entry-level new Ferraris such as the Amalfi or Roma start near $270,000-$280,000. Higher models and the Ferrari Luce EV at $640,000 sit in the same neighbourhood as a single Telos 9800; the amp pair outruns most of the road-car range.

Inside audio the competition is sparse. Dan D’Agostino’s Relentless Epic 1600 monoblocks have been quoted near $385,000 per pair. Boulder’s 3050 sits in a similar $300,000-$500,000 pair band. CH Precision’s M10 lands lower. Goldmund’s own current Telos mono lineup now tops out here after the 8800 and 4800. The Telos 690 integrated that What Hi-Fi called “heinously capable” yet “hideously expensive” last year cost roughly $36,000. The 9800 multiplies that by more than ten.

• Single 9800 ≈ mid-to-upper Ferrari money
• Pair 9800 ≈ two or three high-spec Ferraris or one Luce-plus-change
• System with matching Goldmund passives easily clears several million

At this altitude the amp stops being a component and becomes a statement comparable to the scarcity plays that still fill the Luce order book reality despite public grumbling.

Hong Kong Rooms Needed Four of Them

The world premiere took place at the Hong Kong High-End Audio Visual Show from 7-9 August 2026. Distributors ran multi-system rooms with Kharma Enigma Veyron speakers. One prominent booth used four Telos 9800 units in bi-amp configuration alongside a Wadax digital front end. Local coverage converted the pair price to roughly €1.084 million or nearly 200 million yen and simply photographed the towers.

香港オーディオショウは Goldmund Telos 9800 をバイアンプで！！！ なんとパワーアンプだけで 4億円です！！

That post from Japanese high-end account @avcat_jp captured the prevailing reaction: pure scale shock. Four chassis already demand industrial floor loading and dedicated power. Show demos therefore treat the amp as a multi-unit installation rather than a living-room pair. The same posts show the aluminium faces under bright lights with no attempt to hide the bulk.

Goldmund history since 1978 has always chased extremes, from early turntables and Mechanical Grounding to the 5000-watt Telos 5000 in 2009 and the NextGen series. Founder Michel Reverchon, who moved the company to Geneva and built its precision culture, died in October 2025. The 9800 arrives as the clearest expression yet of that unbroken line: if the engineering target is absolute control, cost and size become secondary variables.

Whether any private room will ever host a pair the way the Hong Kong booths did remains an open practical question. The numbers, the weight and the price already answer it for almost everyone else.