Gyphon - New Flagship Speaker - The Pendragon

LL21 · Aug 28, 2012

Gryphon Audio's new Reference Flagship speaker. A panel speaker with a single ribbon that runs from 200hz thru beyond 20khz (ie, no crossovers within this range), with a 525lb self-powered tower sub consisting of 8 woofers...that i believe can be adjusted? The internal amp for the sub is a 1000-watt Gryphon Class A/B amp with 4,000 watt peak.

With Gary's Dragon, Tidal's Sunray and Gryphon's Poseiden and now Pendragon...seems like there is a return to the big 4-speaker SOTA units (like the ML Statements, Wilson WAMM, IRS V?)

LL21 · Aug 28, 2012

From Jeff Fritz at Soundstage...

...The new speaker is a two-way system...that marries a 2m-tall ribbon driver that operates in a dipole fashion...mounted in an open-baffle enclosure...coupled with a second sealed column that houses eight 8" woofers powered by a 70-kilogram Gryphon class-A/B amplifier that is rated to deliver 1000W...(4000W peak). The passive ribbon...is crossed over to the active bass section at 200Hz...The bass section extends the system's frequency response down to 16Hz. The low frequencies can be tailored via remote controllable adjustments that include a Q setting, low cut, and bass level.

The Pendragon's passive crossover network (high pass for the ribbon only) is housed in a separate aluminum chassis that "floats" directly behind the ribbon column...and consists of...the finest Dueland components...The bass section uses an active crossover and is driven directly by your preamp.

The ribbon driver is made of polyester and is mounted in a three-layer steel frame. It is said to produce very wide, even dispersion in the horizontal domain, and very limited vertical dispersion, thereby avoiding a large measure of the floor and ceiling reflections that can plague traditional loudspeakers.

http://www.soundstageglobal.com/ind...agon-loudspeaker&catid=88:features&Itemid=314

trponhunter · Aug 29, 2012

You really need to be at least bi amped if you are truly trying to build a reference level speaker - this speaker looks killer. You cannot get the bass perfect from the same location that the mid and treble are located in a room without some type of active control or correction.

trponhunter · Aug 29, 2012

I should add - you cannot get the bass perfect - in most instances - there is always an exception - but actively bi amping is usually always a food idea, especially for a big , truly full range system. Hence, you see so many people adding subwoofers to large, expensive, supposed full range reference single box, single amped systems - just goes to show that it really needs to be done.

wizard · Aug 29, 2012

More pictures from my blog

LL21 · Aug 29, 2012

wizard said:
More pictures from my blog

Great photos!!! Thanks, Wizard. Have you heard any other feedback from those who have heard it?

flez007 · Aug 29, 2012

I can see Lloyd´s smile on his face!!!

LL21 · Aug 29, 2012

flez007 said:
I can see Lloyd´s smile on his face!!!

A.wayne · Aug 29, 2012

Sweeeeet , love big speakers ...... !!!

LL21 · Aug 30, 2012

trponhunter said:
I should add - you cannot get the bass perfect - in most instances - there is always an exception - but actively bi amping is usually always a food idea, especially for a big , truly full range system. Hence, you see so many people adding subwoofers to large, expensive, supposed full range reference single box, single amped systems - just goes to show that it really needs to be done.

Thanks for that...interesting observation. I myself have used a sub for over a dozen years...my understanding of setting them up has improved a bit as well. I never thought of my 'speaker system of 2.1' as 'bi-amped' in that regard, but i suppose you are right...they are. And as Rasmussen of Gryphon says, an amp designed specifically for a speaker and 'built-in' (ie, active speaker) is going to work better with that speaker than even a somewhat better amp that sits outside and needs to be connected via ICs.

GaryProtein · Aug 30, 2012

lloydelee21 said:
Thanks for that...interesting observation. I myself have used a sub for over a dozen years...my understanding of setting them up has improved a bit as well. I never thought of my 'speaker system of 2.1' as 'bi-amped' in that regard, but i suppose you are right...they are. And as Rasmussen of Gryphon says, an amp designed specifically for a speaker and 'built-in' (ie, active speaker) is going to work better with that speaker than even a somewhat better amp that sits outside and needs to be connected via ICs.

I don't think the part about not needing an interconnect is completely accurate. The amplifier in the active speaker is still connected to the drivers by interconnects. You just don't see them inside the speaker.

trponhunter · Aug 30, 2012

The main advantage about having an amplifier specifically for the driver, located internally is that since the designer knows the specific requirements that the driver needs, he can either optimize the amplifier for that specific driver and task, and /or the amplifier can be made much cheaper than an outboard amp that would need a chassis and also would need to be overbuilt to be able to power many different types of loads. However, placing an amplifier inside a subwoofer enclosure is not the best idea as it is certainly full of vibration. So - there's more than one way to skin a cat -but - basically, the best woofers have external amplifiers and are not small enclosures that require lots of equalization to extend their frequency response down. Small "cube" shaped, powered woofers have taken over the market, but they are far from the best performers available.

LL21 · Aug 30, 2012

trponhunter said:
The main advantage about having an amplifier specifically for the driver, located internally is that since the designer knows the specific requirements that the driver needs, he can either optimize the amplifier for that specific driver and task, and /or the amplifier can be made much cheaper than an outboard amp that would need a chassis and also would need to be overbuilt to be able to power many different types of loads. However, placing an amplifier inside a subwoofer enclosure is not the best idea as it is certainly full of vibration. So - there's more than one way to skin a cat -but - basically, the best woofers have external amplifiers and are not small enclosures that require lots of equalization to extend their frequency response down. Small "cube" shaped, powered woofers have taken over the market, but they are far from the best performers available.

that makes sense, and i think your point is the same one Rasmussen was making as well. As for powered subs, that also makes sense...vibration and small enclosures. What would you consider to be 'big enough'? In truth, unless we are talking about a tower sub...the bass enclosure in a large full-range speaker is often much smaller than a big sub, perhaps even the mighty Rockport Arrakis which i am told needs no sub. The JL Gothams are nearly 3 feet tall, as is the Velodyne 1812...the Velodyne DD18 is 2' x 2' x 2'.

trponhunter · Aug 30, 2012

lloydelee21 said:
that makes sense, and i think your point is the same one Rasmussen was making as well. As for powered subs, that also makes sense...vibration and small enclosures. What would you consider to be 'big enough'? In truth, unless we are talking about a tower sub...the bass enclosure in a large full-range speaker is often much smaller than a big sub, perhaps even the mighty Rockport Arrakis which i am told needs no sub. The JL Gothams are nearly 3 feet tall, as is the Velodyne 1812...the Velodyne DD18 is 2' x 2' x 2'.

The big Rockport does not need a sub - it is designed to be bi amped - so you have one amp and controls on the woofers, and one amp running the "middle" point source array.

Big enough - is pretty big - both the Gotham and Velodyne are not big enough given the driver size versus enclosure size to not require any equalization. A 2 by 2 by 2 enclosure is relatively compact for an 18" driver. The Gotham enclosure is also relatively compact to house 2 drivers in it. The best sub going right now that I know of (in terms of speed, articulation, pitch, extension and output) is the big Wisdom STS woofer - a regenerative transmission line with (2) 15" woofers. It is 18" by 60" by 36" - minus 3db is 16hz with no equalization required. Comparing self powered woofers to this is not really very competitive - but they are smaller and more manageable, and sometimes less expensive. The Wisdom woofer is $10,000 and requires an additional amplifier - it is also 101 db sensitive.

LL21 · Aug 30, 2012

trponhunter said:
The big Rockport does not need a sub - it is designed to be bi amped - so you have one amp and controls on the woofers, and one amp running the "middle" point source array.

Big enough - is pretty big - both the Gotham and Velodyne are not big enough given the driver size versus enclosure size to not require any equalization. A 2 by 2 by 2 enclosure is relatively compact for an 18" driver. The Gotham enclosure is also relatively compact to house 2 drivers in it. The best sub going right now that I know of (in terms of speed, articulation, pitch, extension and output) is the big Wisdom STS woofer - a regenerative transmission line with (2) 15" woofers. It is 18" by 60" by 36" - minus 3db is 16hz with no equalization required. Comparing self powered woofers to this is not really very competitive - but they are smaller and more manageable, and sometimes less expensive. The Wisdom woofer is $10,000 and requires an additional amplifier - it is also 101 db sensitive.

That is certainly a big sub!

trponhunter · Aug 30, 2012

lloydelee21 said:
That is certainly a big sub!

yep- but that's what's needed if you want a woofer in a box to go deep without eq - but - once heard - it's really tough to go back to eq'd subs in small boxes.

wizard · Sep 6, 2012

Total weight pr side will be 400kg.

I've heard Poseidon, and for me it sounded nothing special.
Maybe Pendragon will be better.

wizard · Sep 9, 2012

Pendragon info in the 2012 catalogue

LL21 · Sep 9, 2012

wizard said:
Pendragon info in the 2012 catalogue

Thanks! Have you heard it?

Tubedoctor · Jan 22, 2013

A friend of mine has heard the big Gryphon speaker and he was very impressed

Gyphon - New Flagship Speaker - The Pendragon

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