Gryphon + Cardas

joeling · Apr 13, 2014

I have just taken delivery of a Mephisto Stereo paired with Gryphon Pandora pre.

Strangest of things occurred when my dealer tried to hook up my Cards Clear speaker wires. The main power fuse blew on one side of the Mephisto. I gave another different older version of Cardas clear to try. Same thing. I took my Golden cross out of storage & both main fuses blew. Hooked up a cheap Chord speaker cables all is well. Tried Kimber 8TC that was lying around all clear. Took out ancient Tara Labs also ok.

What could be happening ?

Right now my dealer's top of the line Chord is doing speaker cable duties while he checks with both manufacturers what's up.

Prior to that the very same Cardas cables were being used on the Antileon Sig without problems. Check continuity & any shorts all ok.

Fuse rating on both amps are the same slow blo 5A

Anyone have any experience like this ? Care to enlighten ?

flez007 · Apr 13, 2014

Congrats on the Mephisto! - not a clue on why that happened with the Cardas strips...I used Siltech AC powercords with my Anthileon and no issues....but don't try to use a power conditioner on those..I blew mine on the try.

microstrip · Apr 13, 2014

joeling said:
I have just taken delivery of a Mephisto Stereo paired with Gryphon Pandora pre.

Strangest of things occurred when my dealer tried to hook up my Cards Clear speaker wires. The main power fuse blew on one side of the Mephisto. I gave another different older version of Cardas clear to try. Same thing. I took my Golden cross out of storage & both main fuses blew. Hooked up a cheap Chord speaker cables all is well. Tried Kimber 8TC that was lying around all clear. Took out ancient Tara Labs also ok.

What could be happening ?

Right now my dealer's top of the line Chord is doing speaker cable duties while he checks with both manufacturers what's up.

Prior to that the very same Cardas cables were being used on the Antileon Sig without problems. Check continuity & any shorts all ok.

Fuse rating on both amps are the same slow blo 5A

Anyone have any experience like this ? Care to enlighten ?

This is probably an indication of self-oscillation of the amplifier when connected to these medium capacity, low inductance speaker cable. You should contact Gryphon giving them the Cardas Clear parameters : Capacitance: 278 pf/ft, Inductance: .0176 uh/ft .

LL21 · Apr 13, 2014

Congrats indeed! As to the problem, I cannot add anything here...sorry. Hopefully, they sort it out. Micro's suggestion is a sound one. Very strange otherwise that only Cardas cables seem to causing the problem. I use Transparent...both on my old Antileon and our current Colosseum...no problems.

zztop7 · Apr 13, 2014

Were the amplifiers seeing a proper load?

A thought:
The 4 Ohm tap on the back of an amplifier can be connected to a 4, 8, 16 Ohm speaker.
The opposite is not quite true.
The 16 Ohm tap on the back of an amplifier should > NOT < be connected to a 4 or 8 Ohm speaker.
The amplifier should always see an equal or higher Ohm load.

Were the amplifiers seeing a proper load?

zz.

LL21 · Apr 13, 2014

zztop7 said:
A thought:
The 4 Ohm tap on the back of an amplifier can be connected to a 4, 8, 16 Ohm speaker.
The opposite is not quite true.
The 16 Ohm tap on the back of an amplifier should > NOT < be connected to a 4 or 8 Ohm speaker.
The amplifier should always see an equal or higher Ohm load.

Were the amplifiers seeing a proper load?

zz.

The Gryphon Mephisto has multiple taps for speakers on the back? Wow...I have not seen this on any of their other amps...DM100, Antileon, Antileon Sig or Colosseum.

joeling · Apr 13, 2014

Thanks guys. Microstrip, i will pass the parameters to my dealer to be brought up to Gryphon.

LL21, u r right, no multi taps for SS amps.

So, any suggestions for Cardas Clear equivalent but not a Cardas ?

More neutral than other cables in the Cardas line but with a touch of warmth.

zztop7 · Apr 13, 2014

LL21 said:
The Gryphon Mephisto has multiple taps for speakers on the back? Wow...I have not seen this on any of their other amps...DM100, Antileon, Antileon Sig or Colosseum.

I went to their www.
No multiple taps.
They must just keep the Ohms low enough[?] for all speakers to present a proper load.
Thank you for bringing that up.

zz.

LL21 · Apr 13, 2014

zztop7 said:
I went to their www.
No multiple taps.
They must just keep the Ohms low enough[?] for all speakers to present a proper load.
Thank you for bringing that up.

zz.

Gryphon input impedance is about 20kohms and output about 0.023 ohms

LL21 · Apr 13, 2014

joeling said:
Thanks guys. Microstrip, i will pass the parameters to my dealer to be brought up to Gryphon.

LL21, u r right, no multi taps for SS amps.

So, any suggestions for Cardas Clear equivalent but not a Cardas ? More neutral than other cables in the Cardas line but with a touch of warmth.

I like the higher grade Transparent RefMM (MM2) levels a lot, and I know all the TA cables I have ever used work well with Gryphon. I know a lot of people like Echole's higher grade stuff but I don't know their impedance levels. For neutral but good tonal qualities, perhaps Argento?

flez007 · Apr 17, 2014

LL21 said:
I like the higher grade Transparent RefMM (MM2) levels a lot, and I know all the TA cables I have ever used work well with Gryphon. I know a lot of people like Echole's higher grade stuff but I don't know their impedance levels. For neutral but good tonal qualities, perhaps Argento?

I use Echole Passion and Signature AC cables, I think you won't have an issue trying them!

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Gryphon + Cardas

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