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Gryphon gets no press, but is great.

Gryphon, a product I sold back in the early '90's is magical sounding gear. But according to the Owner Principal designer, he can't get arrested in the U. S. Press. I have emailed an acquaintence (Robert Harley) from my days as Director of Sales for THIEL Audio, about this and he was vaguely aware of some of this, even to the point of saying that he had a memory a negative review. That seems impossible if you read the Worldwide rave press they receive. Plus as an owner of the Callisto integrated, I can verifiy that it runs away from virtually all things (even some separates costing multiples) comparable. Why is it that a product that is so good, from their integrateds, to their separates, doesn't get a better shake in the our country? Marketing has been, in my evaluation poor, and I have shared this with Mr. Rasmussen, but even so, sometimes ground swells of interest have overcome this. Flemming Rasmussen, who is the owner, says, that the U.S. is not a large enough market for "his kind of product", and that Americans may lack the "sophistocation" to appreciate it. He was not being condescendig or vitriolic, just sadly stating his perspective. Of course, seeing all the two channel (brother) audiophiles out there, I can't believe that. What is up, other than poor marketing choices?
Any ideas and thoughts from current or previous owners would be good input. Frankly, while traveling all over the U. S. I never saw it in stores. That is sad given its performance.
lrsky
gregger
36 posts
 
We at Stereotimes.com will be reviewing the Encore amp, Prelude preamp as well as the new CD player. I have spent time with the Ecore in my system, and whoa, what a piece.
Hooked up to the new Talon Firebirds(Chekthe site for a very exiting review on a killer speaker) fronted by the Linn Sondek cd12, a Rowland Coherence pre all lashed together with the Silversmith Palladium cables (review up before CES).

It was tough to get the gear as they are very skittish, but they have a trully great line of products that embodies the true nature and spirit of high-end.
bombaywalla's avatar
bombaywalla
1,958 posts
 
I have read this thread w/ some interest last year but could make no intelligent comments. I finally heard some Gryphon gear!

The gear was:
Wadia 861 CDP
Gryphon CDP
Gryphon Allegro Sonata 2-chassis preamp
Gryphon Antilleon Signature Stereo power amp - 150W/ch pure class-A operation
Dynaudio Confidence 5 floor standing speakers - these are no longer in production but were $10,000/pair when manuf. They use a (natural) silk Esotar tweet, (natural) silk dome mid & an isobaric 8" woofer. The drivers arrangement is inverted i.e. the tweet is the lowest, above it is the mid & the top-most is the woofer. Time-aligned & 1st order electric xover.
Interconnects were Argento VDM
Speaker cables were Argento VDM
Power cords were a mixture of VdH & Jorma (Swedish)

The sound of this system using the Gryphon CDP was exemplary & made me cry! It was so emotional & musically satisfying. Fantastic timbral accuracy, excellent soundstaging, hours of listening without any fatigue, plenty of details without being analytical & most of all emotionally very satisfying.

I flet that I had reached 1 level of sonic Nirvana when I listened to the Gryphon-Confidence 5 system!!
denf
241 posts
 
I remember sometime back in the mid to late 80's, Gryphon was just beginning to advertise and "get a good head of steam" when they were literally shot-down by a scathing review (amp I think) in Stereophile.

Never seemed to recover from that mortal blow.
bombaywalla's avatar
bombaywalla
1,958 posts
 
Our loss here in the USA (& not Gryphon's) & it once again shows Stereophile's myopic view!!
Their gear is very musical, true to the recorded music & very refined in its sound. It is also freaking expensive! OTOH, there are people paying insane prices for Tenor, Lamm, Goldmund, Nagra, AirTight, Accuphase just to name a few. Gryphon is in that same price range & can be equally justified, IMHO.
lrsky OP
1,118 posts
 
Bombaywalla,
You are truely an interesting person, with real perspectives. I too am moved to tears with the right music; to me, therein lies the magic.
Gryphon is wonderful. There is too another magical product that I have come to be very familiar with which carries that special "magic" held by a select few. That is the Halcro. A good and great friend of mine who recently passed away suddenly, purchased the Halcro, (I assisted him in acquiring it). On his first listen, he was moved to tears. Admittedly I was too. It is that superior to the typical, flavor of the month difference so often experienced by hopeless dreamers like myself. Even my wife, who could not really care much less, was stunned into silence, only later remarking that in 25 years of listening to my gear, she had Never heard anything like it. Wow.
So thanks Gryphon, and Halcro, two very special products.
Best,
Larry
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