Gryphon Colosseum Stereo v Antileon Evo Stereo

AJR

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Feb 12, 2018
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What a fantastic post - thank you.

I would also be interested in your thoughts on the Zena v Pandora.
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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View attachment 42849
L - R Antileon EVO, Mephisto & Colosseum

I was fortunate enough the week before last to spend many pleasant hours at The House Of Gryphon in Ry, Denmark with Bjørn Hegelstad (Gryphon's export manager) listening to the Trident 2 driven initially by the Diablo 300, fed by a Mikado CD player. We played the same music throughout the comparison. Subsequently we used the new Zena preamp with the Antileon EVO, then the Colosseum. Afterwards, we compared the Zena to the Pandora preamp using the Mephisto...

Hi Phil,

I saw your comments about 300 to Evo being a much bigger uplift in performance than Evo to Colosseum. How does Colosseum compare with Mephisto? I am interested in the Mephisto but an audition is difficult to do. Thanks for any guidance.
 

LL21

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Hi Phil,

I saw your comments about 300 to Evo being a much bigger uplift in performance than Evo to Colosseum. How does Colosseum compare with Mephisto? I am interested in the Mephisto but an audition is difficult to do. Thanks for any guidance.

Hi Phil,

Just thought I would check in to see if you might have any time in your busy schedule to provide some color here. Great respect your opinions. Thank you!
 

AJR

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Feb 12, 2018
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I and a group of friends staying with me listened to the Antileon Evo stereo power amp and a 2nd hand Pandora preamp yesterday in my system at home. We were all completely blown away. They were all blown away by the Diablo 300 (which they heard for the first time a couple of days ago) and like me were wondering just how much better the pre and power combo could be. It was obvious after about 30 seconds, and from a cold start! After half an hour we were all just looking at each other in stunned silence, with huge smiles on our faces and shaking our heads in amazement.

Here is a quick summary of the general consensus when comparing to the Diablo 300:
- every single sound/note is just dripping in rich, detailed and layered texture
- wider and deeper soundstage
- richer/beefier and slammier bass, and even more detailed
- effortless and non-fatiguing
- attack, attack, attack!
- seemed to really bring the best out of the Magico S3 mk2s - I was delighted that they seemed to easily handle the AE even at very loud volume levels. The bass in particular went so much deeper and not even a hint of distortion

The combo is multiples (price-wise) of the Diablo 300 so this is an unfair comparison and us Diablo owners know that it competes even at price points far higher than the Diablo’s - but it was just astonishing to hear the step up in sound quality.

They aren’t going back to the dealer’s!

Now I need to work out why my MSB Premier and Innuos Zenith won’t work together. In the meantime, my trusted Lumin T1 is doing a great job!
 
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LL21

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Congrats! Great story AJR. Look forward to reading more about your adventures with the mighty Gryphon!
 

flez007

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I am quite familiar with Gryphon amps in particular, and agree on most of Lloyd`s comment in this thread - there is a large improvement over the already great Diablo 300 going up to a pure class A Gryphon Design amp.

The Colosseum sits just in the middle of the slightly mellow-sounding Anthileon and the ultra fast Mephisto beast IMO, I think you can't go wrong.

I have heard many of these amps with relatively low priced speakers as well, as you said you can upgrade later....if you feel the need.
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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I am quite familiar with Gryphon amps in particular, and agree on most of Lloyd`s comment in this thread - there is a large improvement over the already great Diablo 300 going up to a pure class A Gryphon Design amp.

The Colosseum sits just in the middle of the slightly mellow-sounding Anthileon and the ultra fast Mephisto beast IMO, I think you can't go wrong.

I have heard many of these amps with relatively low priced speakers as well, as you said you can upgrade later....if you feel the need.

Fantastic. how do the Colosseum and Mephisto compare? Would love any listening notes or advice!
 

AJR

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Feb 12, 2018
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Anyone else out there who owns/has listened to the Antileon Evo and concluded that classical, jazz and electronica sounds extraordinarily good, but hard rock/grunge/metal sounds very good but not quite as good as the other genres? My AE has about 100 hours of burn in (courtesy of my dealer) so still some way to go yet and maybe the sound will change.

Andrew
 

LL21

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Anyone else out there who owns/has listened to the Antileon Evo and concluded that classical, jazz and electronica sounds extraordinarily good, but hard rock/grunge/metal sounds very good but not quite as good as the other genres? My AE has about 100 hours of burn in (courtesy of my dealer) so still some way to go yet and maybe the sound will change.

Andrew

Very interesting feedback...what in particular was it with rock/grunge that was not quite as good as with other genres? Snarl/Bite in the music?
 

LL21

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I’m still trying to work it out. “Bite” might be it.

Understand...do let us know as you work it out. I am a big Gryphon fan...BUT...ALL systems required time setting up and particularly ensuring it is set up to meet the expectations of the owner. YOU.

In my case, i have found that despite remarkably good build quality, they STILL improve with high quality isolation. I was candidly not expecting this given the heroic build quality. It primarily helped in the areas where it 'normally' does (at least in my experience) which is reducing shimmer/strengthening/concentrating signal density. Not really related to your issues, but nevertheless, i thought i would share.

I actually have the Colosseum up on isolation footers and it helped...thought that could easily be due to the Velodyne DD18+ which is in the same room and shares a floor with it.

my two cents.
 

AJR

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Feb 12, 2018
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Thanks for these comments. I should add that I have borrowed a cheap-ish XLR to connect the Pandora to the AE. My MIT XLR is connecting my DAC to the Pandora and is a much better cable. So I need to buy another MIT XLR. I also need to buy another AQ Tornado power cable for my DAC. Those tweaks plus burn in time should help I would hope. Will have a think about isolation once my bank account has recovered from this latest bashing!
 
What a fantastic post - thank you.

I would also be interested in your thoughts on the Zena v Pandora.

Hi Phil,

Just thought I would check in to see if you might have any time in your busy schedule to provide some color here. Great respect your opinions. Thank you!

Mephisto Vs Colosseum or Antileon EVO
The Mephisto really is a different league to its smaller siblings. I concur with flez007 that The Colosseum sits just in the middle of the slightly mellow-sounding Antileon EVO and the ultra fast Mephisto beast. The Mephisto has an Irish mile more resolution than its siblings. It might be too much of a good thing with forward sounding speakers. However with full range speakers, the bass is exceptional and will put a fantastic foundation underneath the music; giving music a gravitas where appropriate. The Mephisto is the natural partner for the Pandora and really showcases the amount of information that is available. Also the Green Bias is of huge interest considering the amount of power consumed & heat generated by this serious class A amp.
 
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LL21

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Mephisto Vs Colosseum or Antileon EVO
The Mephisto really is a different league to its smaller siblings. I concur with flez007 that The Colosseum sits just in the middle of the slightly mellow-sounding Antileon EVO and the ultra fast Mephisto beast. The Mephisto has an Irish mile more resolution than its siblings. It might be too much of a good thing with forward sounding speakers. However with full range speakers, the bass is exceptional and will put a fantastic foundation underneath the music; giving music a gravitas where appropriate. The Mephisto is the natural partner for the Pandora and really showcases the amount of information that is available. Also the Green Bias is of huge interest considering the amount of power consumed & heat generated by this serious class A amp.

Sounds amazing...thanks Philip!!!
 

AJR

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Feb 12, 2018
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I have worked out how to get the “crunch” and “bite” sound for crunchy guitar tracks like “The Grudge” by Tool. I just need to switch the Class A bias mode on the Antileon Evo from “full” (ie 300W p/c into my 4 ohm speaker load of pure Class A) to “medium” (200W p/c Class A and remaining 100W p/c Class A/B) or, even better, to “low” (100W p/c Class A and the remaining 200W p/c Class A/B).

Phew!

I find that all other genres sound best in “medium” or (when I crank it) “full” mode.

Am now very, very happy with the Pandora + Antileon Evo combination.

Still can’t get the MSB renderer to work. A new one is being sent out.
 

AJR

Well-Known Member
Feb 12, 2018
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Another update:
- Still using my Lumin. Tried a firmware update to get the MSB renderer module working but no luck.
- The Gryphon combo is just sounding better and better. You know that feeling you have the day after a really good live concert when you can’t get the music/feeling out of your head? It is like that.
- I swapped out the XLR interconnects (from Pandora to AE) on loan from my dealer for some MIT SL Matrix XLR 36 interconnects to match my existing set (Lumin to Pandora). A noticeable step up in SQ even with no burn in, particularly LF and HF. I didn’t take note of what the the loaned set was but dealer said they are about half the price of the MITs.
- The 3 different Class A bias modes are an awesome feature. It is like having 3 amps in one, although I find I have no need for “medium”. The “low” bias is very much like the Diablo 300 but a touch better and as mentioned above is good for crunchy/distorted guitar music. Then as you move up to “medium” then “high” bias it just gets better and better for all other genres.

Am in music heaven.
 
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LL21

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Another update:
- Still using my Lumin. Tried a firmware update to get the MSB renderer module working but no luck.
- The Gryphon combo is just sounding better and better. You know that feeling you have the day after a really good live concert when you can’t get the music/feeling out of your head? It is like that.
- I swapped out the XLR interconnects (from Pandora to AE) on loan from my dealer for some MIT SL Matrix XLR 36 interconnects to match my existing set (Lumin to Pandora). A noticeable step up in SQ even with no burn in, particularly LF and HF. I didn’t take note of what the the loaned set was but dealer said they are about half the price of the MITs.
- The 3 different Class A bias modes are an awesome feature. It is like having 3 amps in one, although I find I have no need for “medium”. The “low” bias is very much like the Diablo 300 but a touch better and as mentioned above is good for crunchy/distorted guitar music. Then as you move up to “medium” then “high” bias it just gets better and better for all other genres.

Am in music heaven.

Congrats and great to hear how you are getting to know truly one of the world's masterpiece amps by a designer with a 30+ year track record.

I look forward to hearing how you continue to finetune your set up as you experiment.

FWIW, as massively well built as the Gryphon amps are...perhaps because we have wooden floors over 19th C frame and a big Velodyne DD18+, we were surprised to find the Gryphon does respond well to floor isolation in our home. Due to weight and practicality, we ended up using Ultra 6s which have been great in clearing up even a bit more all across the spectrum, particularly bass and lower mid delineation. Enjoy!!!
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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How close are you to pulling the trigger on the Mephistos?

Serious intent. Would prefer to sell the Colosseum first.
 

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