Goldring started life in Berlin in 1906 when two Czech born brothers, Heinrich and Julius Scharf, began to manufacture parts for the nascent gramophone industry under the name Gebrüder Scharf. At first the Scharf brothers concentrated on gramophone needles, clockwork motors and governor springs but soon branched out into more sophisticated “sound boxes” – which were the all-acoustic ancestors of the modern magnetic pickup.
Goldring enjoyed great success in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was floated on the stock exchange, moving to a larger premises in Bury St Edmunds in 1974 where we employed nearly 300 people. It was here that the 900 series was designed and manufactured. Advances in magnetic materials allowed tiny, powerful magnets to be fitted directly onto the upper end of the cantilever to form some of the first moving magnet cartridges. The company became Goldring Products Ltd. in the late seventies and was passed on to Gerry Sharp, grandson of founder Heinrich Scharf, as we returned to private ownership.
Thanks to a resurgence of vinyl popularity throughout the early 2010s, a new market began to emerge with a younger generation of consumers turning their attention to turntables and cartridges. Goldring responded by developing the E series, a set of high-quality entry level MM cartridges which were well received by Vinyl enthusiasts. We also pushed ahead with MC cartridge development, making use of emerging technologies to create the Ethos, our highest performing moving coil cartridge, launched in 2018.
