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MBL, dCS, Goldmund, Gryphon etc Ultra High End Equipment

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  #1  
Old 09-03-2013, 12:02 PM
TOGA TOGA is offline
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Default Gryphon Pandora and Memphisto

I had a chance to audition to these rare audio eqipments.

I read in catalog, it stated that these are strictly limited edition.
I wonder how limited they are.
Now I have question, how much more the Solo will bring at double the price?
For similar budget, should I get Pandora+Stereo Memphisto, or to get Memphisto Solo and use them with my
Audio Research Ref40 pre amp. It will be easier to answer if one knows which pre amp is the better sounding one.
Here are some photos I took from the showroom.

Toga





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Last edited by Masterlu; 09-03-2013 at 12:10 PM. Reason: ;)
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Old 09-03-2013, 12:20 PM
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jazzhead jazzhead is offline
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The Gryphon pre amps have never been on par with their power amps . I am speaking especially of the Antellion pre-power combo . Having said that , it has been reported that the Pandora is a step in the right direction to balance out the previous mentioned shortfall . If your ARC is compatible with the Mephisto , theARC40 +Mephisto Solo would be the way to go, always nice to have a tube in the chain for that touch of magic . My preference is that the tube rather be in the pre than the power . Depending on how big your room is ,your listening levels are, I am quite certain that a Mephisto Stereo should be sufficient to bear ripe enough fruit , but the Solo it is if you do not want to die wondering Good luck in your quest .
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Old 09-03-2013, 01:14 PM
TOGA TOGA is offline
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My room is large, my speakers are high sensitivity, I play loud. But Anyway Pass Labs XA160.5 drove my Salon2 very well in this same room. 175 Watt from stereo Memphisto will be enough. Just that the mono block has much larger capacitor reservoir. I don't understand why the Pandora is designed to use 2 power cords, as very likely both cords will share same outlets anyway. There is high chance that I will need Pandora as, by spec, my ARC cannot drive low impedance Gryphon very well. But I really don't wanna sell the wonderful Ref40 if possible financially. I agree with you that tube pre amp in a chain will bring some magic. But read somewhere that Gryphon system can make us forget about tube.

Toga
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Old 09-03-2013, 02:55 PM
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Toga , I checked the figures on the ARC Ref40 and it shows output impedance as 600 ohms, the input impedance of the Mephisto is 20kohms . I am using the Wavac Prt-1 pre amp with a similar output impedance to drive the Vitus - ss101mk2 which has an input impedance of 10kohm, to feed a Marten Coltrane 2 . I find no lack of deep bass or other compatibility problems . Mind you the XLR outputs of the WAVAC are transformer coupled and so may be a factor in my case . Best would be to try the pairing at home , I have an inkling that it should work . The only off putting aspect of the Mephisto to me , is the use of dual power cords , all adds up if you are using top line stuff , as will most probably be the case .
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Old 09-03-2013, 08:05 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jazzhead View Post
The Gryphon pre amps have never been on par with their power amps . I am speaking especially of the Antellion pre-power combo . Having said that , it has been reported that the Pandora is a step in the right direction to balance out the previous mentioned shortfall . If your ARC is compatible with the Mephisto , theARC40 +Mephisto Solo would be the way to go, always nice to have a tube in the chain for that touch of magic . My preference is that the tube rather be in the pre than the power . Depending on how big your room is ,your listening levels are, I am quite certain that a Mephisto Stereo should be sufficient to bear ripe enough fruit , but the Solo it is if you do not want to die wondering Good luck in your quest .
I am contemplating the pandora as well. I can sell my Goldmund preamp and geta new pandora with no extra funds required. The pandora is the first preamp I have seen that needs two power cords. In effect you really are buying two separate preamps.

Howie
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Old 09-03-2013, 11:27 PM
TOGA TOGA is offline
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@jazzhead, thanks for nice info. ,in Ref40 spec, it says " minimum load 20kOhm.

And from Stereophile lab test result of Ref3, distortion climbed rapidly as load impedance decreased.

@howiebrau and everyone..
I don' mind two power cords on amp as I am using monoblock already, but see no points on two PC
For pre amp.
The Pandora, I hope it to have all the magical sound the Ref40 has, on user flexibility, I found it flexible in a difficult way.
And in some way, the inflexible Ref40 is easier to use. For example , to dim or off the front display, we have a direct command
On Ref40 remote while we have to do many clicks to get into menu of Pandora. And to operate the menu, you do from front panel only, your have to put finger prints on that nice acrylic touch sensitive panel. ARC also provides direct Home Theater bypass button on remote, on Pandora we have to press up or down on Source select to find bypass mode. There are only
Volume, source up/down,on/off, mute on Pandora remote. This I feel Pandora lacking a bit in user friendliness, despite being microprocessor controlled.
My requirement may be unique among audiophile, I integrated high end system with home theatre , that mean I will use Theatre Bypass and turn off front display routinely.
But the Pandora will be visually matched to the giant Memphisto way better than Ref40 does, which actually doesn't matched at all.
Toga
stand by for further, Gryphon will be delivered on 9, Monday. will report.

Last edited by TOGA; 09-03-2013 at 11:57 PM.
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Old 09-04-2013, 12:56 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TOGA View Post
, Gryphon will be delivered on 9, Monday. will report.
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Old 09-04-2013, 01:09 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jazzhead View Post
The Gryphon pre amps have never been on par with their power amps . I am speaking especially of the Antellion pre-power combo . Having said that , it has been reported that the Pandora is a step in the right direction to balance out the previous mentioned shortfall . If your ARC is compatible with the Mephisto , theARC40 +Mephisto Solo would be the way to go, always nice to have a tube in the chain for that touch of magic . My preference is that the tube rather be in the pre than the power . Depending on how big your room is ,your listening levels are, I am quite certain that a Mephisto Stereo should be sufficient to bear ripe enough fruit , but the Solo it is if you do not want to die wondering Good luck in your quest .
Whilst I would agree that the power amps are very good,I would not discount the Mirage and Pandora preamps.I have had long term loans of quite a few preamps recently including the Mirage which I found to be comfortably better than the Ayre K-XR for example.
I too am looking forward to Toga's review.
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Old 09-04-2013, 02:45 AM
TOGA TOGA is offline
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Please don't expect it to be a review, my English is not that good. All I can do is to
mention how different they are to other gears that I have tried.
and you may visit my newly added album to see what I have tried and/or owned before here
http://www.audioaficionado.org/membe...tml#post527710
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  #10  
Old 09-04-2013, 11:53 AM
Anatta Anatta is offline
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Keep in mind that the Mephisto Solo has a 10kOhm input impedance vs 20kOhm for the stereo version.

What about the Boulder 3060? It's about the same price as a pair of Mephisto Solos and its 200kOhm input impedance should be high enough for the ARC 40. Plus they visually match much better.
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