Experience with Tannoy Westminster Royal Gold Reference

hddg, First of all, Is Jeff Fritz and this loyal followers the "many" people to which you refer who prefer the Mephisto solo amps over the Vitus MP-M201 mono’s? Lol! I like Jeff, but let’s just say you only have half the story. There is a very specific reason why JF doesn’t review or praise any Vitus products, but I’m not going to go into that here. Let’s just say that his views on Gryphon vs Boulder are not objective.

Re: The release of the SM-103 monos, yes they incorporate much of the Masterpiece series technology, but also some new technology which is now being ’filtered up’ to the MP series. Hence the Masterpiece series will still remain VA’s flagship line.

Pass XS series is good, but they are not on the same level as Vitus or Gryphon.

No I have not personally heard the Gryphon Mephisto solo amps. Nor have you heard the Vitus SM-102 monos or MP-S201. But we can agree MSRP does not dictate how musical an amplifier may sound in a given setup.

I am not a follower of Jeff Fritz, or not really anyone for that matter. I was not born yesterday, and very well know that reviewers may have interests here and there, if not their own good taste.
As said in my introduction, i take things all over the whole wide world, with as much discernment as possible, then i make a synthesis of it and get my end result, which in any case is not the best, but just maybe one of the best possibilities!!!
Everyone's sensible opinion counts, and I again thank you most sincerely for having helped me a lot in that project. You made me think and progress. We agree on very much the same things in the end anyway, and even if it was not the case, we can agree to disagree, even more so for the sake that we all love a good music with the best possible sound.
Enjoy life and the music!

HDDG 10-14-2016
My preamp output impedance is 500 ohms, would an amp input of 10K ohms be fine??

The Coincident Statement Line Stage has transformer coupled outputs, and no capacitors in the signal path.  Therefore it will avoid the large rise in output impedance at deep bass frequencies that occurs in most tube preamps due to the use of a coupling capacitor at their outputs, which can result in the deep bass rolloff Dover referred to earlier if power amp input impedance is low.

However it is conceivable to me that other adverse sonic effects might occur, at least to a slight degree, if the CSLS is loaded with a low impedance such as the 10K input impedance of the Gryphon Mephisto Solo.  So I would suggest contacting Mr. Blume of Coincident and asking what minimum load impedance he would recommend for use with the CSLS.

Good luck.  Regards,
-- Al

hddg, if you pick up the pair of Mephisto amps up FS on the ’Gon right now, you will do very well. They are great amps as I said & will sound great for many years to come. I just had to correct some apparent misconceptions about Vitus amps which I know are equally, if not even better engineered than the Gryphon amps & have equal merit depending on one’s tastes and equipment of course.

JF runs a business, and as you correctly pointed out, some reviewers ’get in bed’ with manufacturers for what I would describe as mutual back scratching. Nuff said. Enjoy the Gryphons!

I don't think it would be wise to spend lots of money on amplifiers for speakers that you are not sure you like. Here is a review on the Sophia Electric 300B amplifiers paired with a pair of the large Tannoy's. Not sure you could do much better for any price. 

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue53/sophia300b.htm

Good luck
Jim