Crackle in the left channel of my Gryphon Colosseum

[nonesup]

Since December that it was delivered and they begin to repair now on May 24?

 

[LarryK]

They’re backed up, and have been since the start of the pandemic, I believe.

Soundsmith is great. They repaired the amp on one previous occasion.

There aren’t that many repair places around, as far as I can tell.

 

[Alpha121]

Larry,
What's the end of this story? Did they successfully repair your amp, and what was the failure?

 

[LarryK]

Larry,
What's the end of this story? Did they successfully repair your amp, and what was the failure?

I thought you would never ask. Yes, the problem has been fixed. Here is what I have been told:

"It was a thermal design issue that caused premature part failure. The good news is that we have modified the board so this will not happen again to this part of the circuit and did our modification on both channels. It has tested without flaw for over 40 hours."

This is great news! I am happy they found the problem.

Unfortunately, they're still very busy and have to work on my turntable and mate it to my "new to me" Gryphon Pandora preamp.

I'm not too upset, as I am still struggling with hip pain and am not looking forward to the 800 mile round trip that it will take to retrieve my amp.
I am also not enthusiastic about driving on snow and ice.

Perhaps I will get it in the spring.

 

[LarryK]

Speak, Amplifier

Well, yesterday was the day. After a month of cleaning out my parent’s house and overseeing a renovation, I picked up the Gryphon Colosseum from Soundsmith in Peekskill.

The drive from Peekskill to Pittsburgh was difficult. There was fog as I crossed the Bear Mountain Bridge and then torrential rain across Pennsylvania.

It took me over eight hours to make the trip, including the stops for charging my Tesla.

When I got home, I had arranged for two people to help me unload the amplifier from the car. That was no easy feat. Luckily, it was raining lightly.

I was too exhausted to plug the amplifier in but here I am at 2am with it up and running.

Tomorrow or Sunday, I’ll hook up the Pandora preamplifier and turntable. The first is new to me.

The guys at Soundsmith said they had to do a lot of detailed work to stop the amplifier voltages from drifting and that Gryphon was very helpful. I suppose aging components are to blame.

Hey, my hip replacement has certainly caused me to drift.

I’m happy to have the amplifier back up and running. Let’s hope it stays up and running for at least the next ten years.

For me, there is no upgrade path. This is my end stage amplifier.

 

[LarryK]

Ah, that Class A magic is back!

I couldn’t turn it up to a reasonable volume at 2am but now, I can.

It’s obvious what I have been missing.

I can’t wait to see where the Pandora takes me.

One of the repair guys said he had not heard a better amplifier in the shop. He has certainly heard more amplifiers than I have.

 

[LL21]

Congratulations! Enjoy! Gryphon magic is truly unique! I have been a Gryphon owner for 12 consecutive years after CJ tubes. A big fan of their sound!

 

[LarryK]

Congratulations! Enjoy! Gryphon magic is truly unique! I have been a Gryphon owner for 12 consecutive years after CJ tubes. A big fan of their sound!

Thanks! I was beginning to doubt if there was any difference between my backup amp and the Colosseum but there is a lot of difference.

Of course, we all accept the sound we get but it was nice to remember why I bought the Colosseum in the first place.

 

[LL21]

Absolutely! Not surprising at all! Enjoy!

 

[LarryK]

Ok, I’m swapping preamps today, putting in the Pandora to replace the Spread Spectrum Technologies Ambrosia.

I need five shelves in the rack and one on top for the turntable. My rack is nothing special.

Does anybody make a rack like I have for a decent price? I can’t spread out horizontally. As it is, my CD player, which I use rarely, is in a TV stand to the left of my system.

 

[LarryK]

After taking all of my components off of the rack and trying to put it back together, I realize that the threaded rods holding the shelves are not long enough to allow me to fit all of the components.

It will work if I buy threaded rods that are a few inches longer, around 48”

I’m too tired to go to Lowe’s today. Tomorrow.

From the top of the rack, I need to fit:

Denon DN-900R recorder on top of
Accuphase T-1000
—————————————————-
Gryphon Pandora control unit
——————————————————-
Gryphon Pandora power supply
—————————————————————-
Aqua Formula DAC with Mac Mini on top
————————————————————-
Gryphon Cantata bass unit
————————————————————-

the shelves are two 1/2” pieces of plexiglass separated by ball bearings. Even with longer rods, I think some shelves have to be single shelves.

Does the preamp control unit need to be on a double shelf for vibration reasons?

On top of the whole rack I will put my Michell GyroDec.

Yes, I wish I had a better rack.

 

[John T]

After taking all of my components off of the rack and trying to put it back together, I realize that the threaded rods holding the shelves are not long enough to allow me to fit all of the components.

It will work if I buy threaded rods that are a few inches longer, around 48”

I’m too tired to go to Lowe’s today. Tomorrow.

From the top of the rack, I need to fit:

Denon DN-900R recorder on top of
Accuphase T-1000
—————————————————-
Gryphon Pandora control unit
——————————————————-
Gryphon Pandora power supply
—————————————————————-
Aqua Formula DAC with Mac Mini on top
————————————————————-
Gryphon Cantata bass unit
————————————————————-

the shelves are two 1/2” pieces of plexiglass separated by ball bearings. Even with longer rods, think some shelves have to be single shelves.

Does the preamp need to be on a double shelf for vibration reasons?

On top of the whole rack I will put my Michell GyroDec.

Yes, I wish I had a better rack.

Larry don't stack the Pandora. You want them on separate shelfs. (pre/power supply) Several advantages by not stacking, including better music separation. Rune at Gryphon made this very clear to me...

 

[LarryK]

Larry don't stack the Pandora. You want them on separate shelfs. (pre/power supply) Several advantages by not stacking, including better music separation. Rune at Gryphon made this very clear to me...

The Pandora is not stacked. The power unit and control unit are on different shelves. The dashed lines are shelves.

I am wondering if I should use a double shelf for the control unit.

 

[John T]

The Pandora is not stacked. The power unit and control unit are on different shelves. The dashed lines are shelves.

I am wondering if I should use a double shelf for the control unit.

Good got it. Can't hurt to use a double shelf. Stiffen things up a bit...

 

[LarryK]

Good got it. Can't hurt to use a double shelf. Stiffen things up a bit...

Ok, will do. I believe I can fit a double shelf for the control unit.

Any thoughts on a better rack that would fit all of my gear?

 

[LL21]

Hi Larry,

Depending on your budget, I originally was going to hold out for a great rack, but the costs were too high, and I ended up with a solution that has lasted for some time. What I like to call 'isolation sandwiches'...I put footers underneath each component on our 'regular rack' and put damping plates on top...sometimes with just plain dead weight on top of the plate to add further mass.

Is it the same as going with an all out HRS rack? Possibly not...perhaps even probably not. But it is darned good...I hear every change even with the amount of weight being added on top of a damping plate, and it has now served the system for 14 years or so. Yes, with changes to the footers from time to time, but generally very stable and very happy.

Power and power supplies first. The one exception is that the Gryphon amps generally tended to benefit much much less from isolation having been built extremely well.

After taking all of my components off of the rack and trying to put it back together, I realize that the threaded rods holding the shelves are not long enough to allow me to fit all of the components.

It will work if I buy threaded rods that are a few inches longer, around 48”

I’m too tired to go to Lowe’s today. Tomorrow.

From the top of the rack, I need to fit:

Denon DN-900R recorder on top of
Accuphase T-1000
—————————————————-
Gryphon Pandora control unit
——————————————————-
Gryphon Pandora power supply
—————————————————————-
Aqua Formula DAC with Mac Mini on top
————————————————————-
Gryphon Cantata bass unit
————————————————————-

the shelves are two 1/2” pieces of plexiglass separated by ball bearings. Even with longer rods, I think some shelves have to be single shelves.

Does the preamp control unit need to be on a double shelf for vibration reasons?

On top of the whole rack I will put my Michell GyroDec.

Yes, I wish I had a better rack.

 

[John T]

Ok, will do. I believe I can fit a double shelf for the control unit.

Any thoughts on a better rack that would fit all of my gear?

I make all my own racks, so not very familiar with brands. Without seeing your stand/rack it's hard for me to suggest anything. If possible, glue, wood for bracing, and clamps can work wonders. (strategically placed) Also, if you're going to use what you have place rubber or some other material under the legs/frame of your rack...

 

[John T]

As Lloyd shared chassis weights certainly help with isolation. Living in a log home provides me with the liberty of attaching brackets, etc. to the 6" thick wall without finding studs. That long oak shelf sits on 2 huge industrial brackets lagged into the log wall. The only components that make contact with the floor are my concrete platforms under the Extreme and Mephisto. My network rack sits independent on another rack I built...It all works in my rustic decor, in a contemporary home, not so much...

 

[John T]

This gives a better look at the brackets I mentioned...The network rack sits to the right, which isn't very visible in the pic...Somewhat of a different approach...

 

[LarryK]

Thanks for your thoughts, John and Lloyd. Nice work building your own racks!

Here is my rack. There is a heavy steel plate on top and thin metal rods are threaded through a nut.

The plate is supposed to be lifted in the air by inner tubes but the tubes don’t hold air so I don’t use them.

I’ll go out and buy new threaded rods today and hopefully find some way of putting an extra nut on the top of the rod, for insurance.

Thoughts?

One other thing. My floor has no subfloor. That’s what they did in 1925 and there is no easy way to fix it. So, the room is quite lively.