Gryphon vs. D'Agostino

I don't know where you're getting your numbers from but the M400 delivers power significantly in excess of that. From the Hi Fi News review:

In practice it bests this by some margin at 430W/8ohm and 810W/4ohm with a dynamic output of 475W, 940W and 1775W into 8, 4 and 2ohm and with a scary 3010W (that’s 55A) into 1ohm

So there's no question about the M400's ability to deliver monster current in excess of the listed specs.

And as you said, if we've not seen independent Gryphon measurements we really have no idea how it stacks up in the real world.

I trust measurements, not specs. I bought the M400s knowing exactly what I was buying.

Here are the actual independent tested results of the D'Agostino's amps

405W into 8 ohms
640W into 4 ohms
1115w into 2 ohms

Not doubling as manufacturer specs want you to believe above, but still every respectable, for an idea of current ability.

These were conducted by John Atkinson, at Stereophile's Test labs.

Cheers George

You are confused.  No point in pushing this in any further.  The M400 more than delivers its rated specs.  It's not a debatable point; it's a fact.

Based on the recent review in Stereophile, I wouldn't touch a D'Agostino at that price point (or maybe any price point TBH).  It took 2 samples before they found one that wasn't broken in some way and, as usual for Stereophile, the clueless reviewer gave a rave review to the broken sample.  The whole thing was shady/inept on both sides.

Our opinions though really don't matter. If you're going to be able to live audition them with the speakers of choice, go with whatever you like...not what some guy on an Audiogon forum says or Stereophile reviewer.

Nevertheless, if you do want other opinions, I can say I've heard all these amps and go to almost all of the shows (recent CES was terrible btw).  Based on my personal experience, I would bet money on most people preferring tube amps (VTL, VAC, BAT or Audio Research) amps with Wilson speakers.  As for SS, I can only speak for hearing Soulution, Spectral, and Halcro amps being something that stood out to me with Wilson speakers.  

I've really wanted to like Gryphon stuff, but it hasn't been as great as I anticipated - both recently and many years ago.  To be fair, my exposure has been limited, and they went many years without a US distributor.  Now that they have a distributor in the US, and I got to hear them at the last RMAF, I suspect they will be at more shows going forward where people will have more opportunities to fairly audition what they are doing.

Please note...I'm not saying everything else is bad or my conclusions are absolute...I'm just sharing which combinations stood out to me consistently.  Without direct/extended analysis everything people say (including me) one way or the other is still based on fairly primitive experience.  Thus, go with your first hand impressions from the upcoming auditions.  Good luck!

First of all no tube amp that I know of can drive a speaker that presents a 2 ohm load in the bass and midrange area. They are not designed for this as you need current. I know I’ve tried many big tube amps including vacs and I still lose information in those areas with my Rockport speakers. So yes you need a high current solid state amp. I too have been to 23 CES shows. I’m not a solutions fan. I would recommend trying Dan deagostino, Nagra, Krell, possibly Gamut, Gryphon, Ypsilon, C H Precision, and Audionet.