Entertainment Perfection for a Pretty Penny

Besides having the money to get into the game, you need a space large enough to accommodate the techno gadgetry. The company has yet to install its system on a private plane, but yachts are not out of the question as long as they are at least 150 feet long.

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"It's a market that most people are not even aware exists," said Brent Butterworth, who reviews equipment for Sound and Vision magazine and reports on ultra-luxury goods for the Robb Report. "It seems crazy to a lot of people to spend this much money on a home theater system, but people buy $500,000 watches too. In the high-end realm of audio-video manufacturers most are dazzlingly excellent. Most of those companies focus on individual components, and most of them offer components at prices lower than Goldmund's, but the full system integration of Goldmund can't be beat."

Quality Not Bling

Unlike gold teeth, a fur coat or a blinged-out Cadillac, a Goldmund home theater is more about craftsmanship than status. The company's equipment has simplistic European styling, but most of the millionaires who own Goldmund equipment install their systems behind the scenes. One family in the Middle East is currently building a room that will accommodate an unfathomable 500 speakers hidden in the walls.

Customers demand simplicity, like a remote control with just five buttons, and they want correct sound that duplicates realism.

Goldmund's finely engineered audio components are created in its Geneva labs, and when the need for a component that the company doesn't manufacture — an Xbox, a Playstation or a traditional DVD player — arises, they'll buy one off the shelf, tweak it and then install it.

Don't expect to find one of its $300,000 record players or $16,900 High Definition Blu-ray disc players at Best Buy, Circuit City or Amazon.com. There is never a discount on these items, no matter how much customers spend — a nice byproduct of having wealthy customers who only want the best and can afford it.

According to Butterworth, Goldmund has never spared any cost in designing a device, and that expense is passed along to the customer.