Powerful Tube Amp for SF Strads?

yes i can imagine the addicton or a love for certain speaker i got the same for my Verity. and the AtmaSphere OTL is known to me to say the least..
it may be worth trying out the Autoformers which will be great for what they do.
i have learnt alot from mixing and matching through the years and made less than happy choices and also found very lucky combinations as per try.
the interesting thing is that combinations which may form a dream team on paper still don't work out in the real world.
maybe that is just the reason there is some many gear for sale again. and nothing wrong with that.

hard to tell which PC may be best for the Gryphon and your situation. it's part of the journey to buy and resell to finally settle on a particular brand and type.
try out the Valhalla PC too.

fwiw: just today my local CD store put out signs at the street with 50% discount on it.
just happened to be at the other side of the street doing a haircut. i walked in and bought 80 CD's for halve price.
reason for closedown of the shop was a downhill on sales due to internet sales and the www downloads.
it felt doublesided, happy to score so much great titles for a 50% discount, but at the same time felt sorry for the shop owner.
as the song goes: 'The times, They are a changing'

So at long last...the Gryphon has landed! She's been running for about 30 min...so far from warmed up. Initial reaction? 1. More detail than my CJ MV60. I now even more fully appreciate how good the CJ was (already left it with London store to sell). The level of detail is greater which I love, but I it is pretty stratosphere levels which aren't necessary to really enjoy your system. CJ had good dimensionality and spaciousness. Gryphon again better but CJ stood up well. 2. Surprising amount of the purity of tone I enjoy about tubes. 3. Now here's the part where the Gryphon struts its stuff...RIDICULOUSLY fun amounts of unadulterated power and control!!!! Wooo hooo! My neighbor 2 floors below came up to say he could "hear and feel" the track in his apartment...oops! Sorry...got a little carried away playing Deep House music! 4. As it nears 45 min from cold start (ie no power at all...not even standby) it continues to gain purity of tone...my Zanden DAC takes almost 4 hours to reach peak so I am used to this. 5. I love this thing. Wow. Back with more later. Gotta change the track and continue testing a bit...

That's awesome, Lloyd. I bet those Strads really shine with the extra reserve power on tap.

Better tell your neighbor to get used to it, because from here out "The House's gonna be rockin"

seems the Gryphon has kissed Lady Stradivari out of her sleep!
it can only get better soundwise, suspect a 3 month period with some nice PC to get it blossoming.
great to read your first impression.
keep us posted. and tell us about the green bias procedure.

Ok...almost 3 hours warmed up, and the Gryphon concedes nothing to the CJ...betters it in every way and I loved the CJ for 9 years. Plus it adds a power thru the mid and upper bass that the CJ had no ability to do.

Notes:
1. The realism has increased...my test for this is to go into the next room and listen. When it sounds like someone is singing next door, that's my "unscientific test".
2. What I find most remarkable about this amp is it truly is as powerful as (at least I) could possibly want. No strain at volumes that punch thru 2 floors of concrete block apartment bldg so the neighbor comes upstairs afters 3 minutes to complain.
3. But it retains the purity of tone which is what I first found so amazing when I first heard tubes (and immediately bought that day in the store...CJ MV60). Many SS amps have great drive, but the uppers have a hardness I could not get used to.
4. I find it hard to dissect the sounds...more focus on the music which I enjoy. I also find it harder to play just the first 30 seconds of a track to test things...instead I want to hear the song.
5. Finally, the amp almost feels like it can do all of this while truly playing different parts of the music in more the way I imagine the artist may have originally played it. For example, bells don't sound like an afterthought anymore...they sound like the artist used them for a reason...to emphasize a passage or a tempo change. I suspect much of this is a combination of much greater dynamic range than the 55-watt tube amp I had (good as it was)...and the added, tremendous control and accuracy that allows the amp to keep all the different instruments going at the same time in their own space, rhythm and relative volume.
7. Overall, this is an amp of remarkable quality. I am grateful for the opportunity to own one (at a good s/hand price) and enjoy music. After all, that's what this is all about in the end.
8. Thank you to every single person who helped shaped my thinking. As you can see, I spent 9 intensive months talking, reading, consulting and listening...and changed my mind from originally wanted powerful tubes (as this forum is titled) to going SS Class A.
I will continue to both post and read throughout AGon. All the best.