Gryphon Audio. Probably the best gear in town?

Jaws

Jaws

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Copenhagen, Denmark
So, i a land far far away where they drink a lot of Carlsberg beer and make a lot of audio gear,
there is a small company called Gryphon Audio.

http://www.gryphon-audio.dk/

Gryphon Audio Diablo 300. Probably the best integrated Amp in town?
http://www.gryphon-audio.dk/products/integrated-amplifiers/diablo-300.aspx
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/superioraudio/equipment/0814/gryphon_audio_designs_kalliope_dac.htm

The Gryphon Mephisto. Probably the best power amp in town?
http://www.gryphon-audio.dk/products/power-amplifiers/mephisto.aspx
http://www.soundstageultra.com/inde...yphon-audio-designs-mephisto-stereo-amplifier

The Gryphon Kalliope Dac. Probably the best DAC in town?
http://www.gryphon-audio.dk/products/da-converters/kalliope.aspx
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/superioraudio/equipment/0814/gryphon_audio_designs_kalliope_dac.htm

I have only heard Gryphon at audioshow, and it sounded fantastic, and looked amazing.
Anyone heard any Gryphon gear? Is there even any US distributor?

Bo
 
Sometimes in this insane hobby , you come across things that make you wonder how much more zany things can get . I was seriously interested in purchasing a Gryphon system. Discussions with Flemming Rasmussen yielded the following Twilight Zone/Catch-22 moments of hilarity.

"No, we have no US distributor. However we have US Service facilities"

" No, we will not factory-direct sell a product for the North American market"

" No, we will not permit European dealers to order 110V product intended for the NA market"

" You may purchase a new or used 220V product in Europe , then ship it to us for 110V conversion at the factory but we will not ship it to NA, only back to the original dealer in Europe"

Hard to think of an unfriendlier , commercially-oblivious and downright bizarre organization than Mephisto even by the low standards of this industry. Love their stuff but even love has its limits, life is too short for this kind of self-inflicted nonsense.
 
Gryphon's website has the following information posted -

"Country
USA

Distributor
USA DISTRIBUTOR INVITED

Gryphon is seeking a well established, experienced distributor only.

Please contact: [email protected]
Service of Gryphon products is available in USA. Please contact: [email protected] for support.
Gryphon Audio Designs do not sell factory direct."

I personally admire Flemming Rasmussen & his amps, though I think they are being overly restrictive in this case by not offering to atleast refer you to the next nearest convenient Distributor/Dealer to sell you a factory-set 110v product when it's not a territorial issue. I don't know if Flemming reads audio forums, but this isn't good feedback for them.
 
They've had that notice on their website for at least 4 years , so presumably no-one meets their exacting standards . Artistic license and attitude are one thing but emails that border on the rude / arrogant and an unreasonable attitude are something else altogether. What they're implying in a contorted way is that someone determined (crazy) enough to wade into this morass should buy a new or used Gryphon product from Europe or Asia, then arrange to ship it to Gryphon for voltage conversion , then back to the Seller for onward shipment to NA. Let's hope that the Asian buyers who've enabled this ridiculous attitude keep buying.....

There appear however to be chinks in this armour. A Seller on Audiogon has been (desperately) trying to offload a pair of 110V Mephisto amps which belonged to Andy Payor at Rockport. So presumably , depending on the capriciousness of Mr. Rasmussen , 110v NA-spec units can sneak into the US depending upon the moon-phase .....
 
I believe they have distribution in Mexico City and gear sold there is 110V, so that could be another avenue, however, not sure how much customs one will have to pay when unit gets delivered into US from Mexico.
 
Bobolaclune said:
Sometimes in this insane hobby , you come across things that make you wonder how much more zany things can get . I was seriously interested in purchasing a Gryphon system. Discussions with Flemming Rasmussen yielded the following Twilight Zone/Catch-22 moments of hilarity.

"No, we have no US distributor. However we have US Service facilities"

" No, we will not factory-direct sell a product for the North American market"

" No, we will not permit European dealers to order 110V product intended for the NA market"

" You may purchase a new or used 220V product in Europe , then ship it to us for 110V conversion at the factory but we will not ship it to NA, only back to the original dealer in Europe"

Hard to think of an unfriendlier , commercially-oblivious and downright bizarre organization than Mephisto even by the low standards of this industry. Love their stuff but even love has its limits, life is too short for this kind of self-inflicted nonsense.
Click to expand...


I'm sorry , I really dont see the issue , you purchase from one of their Euro dealers , the dealer then sends the amplfier back to Gryphon , who converts it to 110v then ships it back to the dealer who in turn ships it to you ...

Sounds fairly straight forward and reasonable to me , Gryphon dont want their dealers doing the conversion and it also means they cant sell directly to the US without the factory knowing about it...

BTW its better to run the amp and your system in general at 240v, i wouldnt convert the amp, convert your wall outlets instead ...,
 
I guess I'm being fussy insisting on local Dealer support , avoiding a circuitous shipment system ( Gryphon to Dealer to Gryphon to Dealer) with attendant costs (any idea what their gear in wooden crates weighs?) not to mention incremental costs ( you pay for two power supplies). Since few European dealers sell for much less than list the overall landed cost for what is already expensive gear would be prohibitive. No pleasing me I guess....
 
Bob,

Im not discounting your concerns , i just dont find the procedure unreasonable, its actually pretty easy to resolve as the dealer is the one doing all the leg work , if you buy from a dealer close to the factory you will save on freight and if you take the 240v version , its pretty straight forward and no different from buying any speciality item where you are the importer.


Regards
 
Anatta said:
..Also running a dedicated 240V circuit for your audio toys is a good idea. If I remember correctly Boulder's big amps are 240V only.
Click to expand...
..Or you could just move to Australia where we have standard 240v power ;)
 
From Shodhan's experience, sure sounds like the Company is not motivated to enter the Canadian/US market. Shooting themselves in the foot it seems, as i imagine there are other potential buyers that are uninterested in running 240v systems or tracking down dealers to ship back and forth. Agree that VAT free pricing can be attractive but US landed pricing to a distributor would likely be much less so they have a worthwhile margin.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I've heard an all Gryphon system twice for an extended listening session. Once was when the system was in front of Martin Logan Summit X speakers that I was auditioning, the other was the Kharma Classique speakers. Gryphon gear is exceptional & has everything going for it, imo. I also heard the Kharmas through a Pass XP 20 pre-amp as well, I bought a Soulution preamp
 
According to 6moons, they have a bad and expensive experience with the us market before.

From 6moons testing the Gryphon Diablo:
If that weren’t enough to make Flemming Rasmussen careful about anything connected to US business, he also recalls a painful experience where his refusal to give away a DM100 power amplifier under review translated into a less than flattering write-up by a US based journalist. Although the reviewer later apologized, the damage for the US market was done and Gryphon lost its then distributor.

Maybe thats part of the explanation.
 
Their website says:

"Distributor
USA DISTRIBUTOR INVITED
Gryphon is seeking a well established, experienced distributor only.

Please contact: [email protected]
Service of Gryphon products is available in USA. Please contact: [email protected] for support.
Gryphon Audio Designs do not sell factory direct."

If this is true, why hasn't any "well established U.S. distributor" picked them up?

I remember years ago reading about very long wait times for Gryphon gear. Perhaps this has something to do with a lack of interest from a well established U.S. Distributor?
 
Mike said:
Their website says:

"Distributor
USA DISTRIBUTOR INVITED
Gryphon is seeking a well established, experienced distributor only."

If this is true, why hasn't any "well established U.S. distributor" picked them up?

I remember years ago reading about very long wait times for Gryphon gear. Perhaps this has something to do with a lack of interest from a well established U.S. Distributor?
Click to expand...
From Jaws comments above, it could be a case of once bitten, twice shy :doubtful:. I personally admire Flemming Rasmussen and his creations & hope he can find a good partner in the US. We have an Oz distributor, though my Dealer doesn't carry their gear.
 
Tom Z said:
From Jaws comments above, it could be a case of once bitten, twice shy :doubtful:. I personally admire Flemming Rasmussen and his creations & hope he can find a good partner in the US. We have an Oz distributor, though my Dealer doesn't carry their gear.
Click to expand...

It's definitely long overdue. I'll do it! [emoji870]
 
A small company with a big product made in Denmark (i.e. not a cheap place to operate ) If I was in Denmark and trusted the Dealer I would put it on a short list.

But the manufacture has removed them selfs from the customer warranty is only thru the dealer and warranty is only for the original owner.

It looks like a great product with a very narrow minded view of the world. But it seems to work as well as they want it to. I would want to see a lot better warranty and service .

The product and quality is well above home made the business plan is very Kitchen Table IMO
 
I first saw and heard Gryphon at the 1990 Chicago CES, i thought then as now how beautiful crafted and built their products looked , it was the era of Apogee and Krell , Apps were everywhere and if you wanted to sell amplifiers you better can drive them.

Gryphon if memory serves me were using Duntech Sovereigns , a speaker also favored by Manny Huber (FMA) as he had also used them himself for show Demo's, they were Huge and expensive , BTW did i say it was the era of Apogee .. :)


There was one famous reviewer who like to or could hold manufactures ransom and did at times , fortunately we now have the internet or companies like Gryphon would have faded away, the gate keepers cant swing that bat like they used to ...




Regards
 
Garth with respect, the Product and the Business-Marketing plan are two entirely separate things. "Well above home made" ?? This stuff is built to the nth degree , better than anything else I've come across in terms of attention to detail, build quality , component usage , etc. This is world-class gear pretty much at the pinnacle of what's being done. And a one-year non-transferrable warranty ? Pretty much standard operating terms I think. Very few manufacturers offer Pass or Bryston-like transferability....certainly no-one at the Gryphon quality level. Vitus, VAC , Magico, Esoteric, dCs..... zero transferability. And service FYI is available in NA for anyone that owns Gryphon product - either Legacy models or voltage-converted units.
 
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