Gryphon Atilla User Manual
Atilla
Owner´s Manual
Table of Contents:
Introduction....................... 3
The Gryphon....................... 3
Atilla................................ 4
The Man.............................. 4
Made in Denmark............... 4
Musical Objectives............... 5
The Gryphon Master Tape
Collection............................ 5
Design Principles................ 5
Exterior Design................... 7
Manufacture and Assembly. 8
Using Your Gryphon......... 8
AC Voltage.......................... 8
Burn-in and Warm-up.......... 9
Placement........................... 9
Menu Activated
functions.............................. 9
Balanced Connections......... 14
Choice of Cables................ 14
Care and Maintenance....... 14
Warranty.............................. 15
Safety Instructions.............. 16
Introduction
Welcome to the global family of
proud owners of fine audio components from Gryphon Audio
Designs of Denmark. Your new
Gryphon unit has been painstakingly designed to re-create the
sound of live music taking place
in its original recorded space.
Every Gryphon product is
designed to cater to the needs of
the most discerning music
enthusiast with sumptuous
styling and superb user-friendliness which elevate it above the
mundane world of conventional audio components.
As audiophiles, the
members of the Gryphon
design team are constantly
reminded to keep their priorities
straight. We are not involved in
“hi-fi” for its own sake, but strictly as a means to an end, in the
service of our life-long love of the
live music experience in all its
sonic and emotional glory.
Our higher goal is to bring to the
listener a “You-Are-There” sensation. In taking up this challenge, the Gryphon designers go
back to basics to analyze the
essential nature of the live music
experience. For us, an awareness of soundstaging, ambience
and concert hall dimensions are
necessary components.
Dynamics and an unambiguous
sense of instrument location
even in the loudest passages
are also high priorities. To
achieve these objectives,
Gryphon products offer exceptional speed and agility along
with seamless coherence in the
time domain.
Since 1985, Gryphon Audio
Designs has quietly gone about
the business of creating fine
home audio components. We
know that you will appreciate
and enjoy the benefits of our
accumulated experience
and share our abiding
passion for music.
The Gryphon
In Greek mythology: A fabled
creature, half-lion and halfeagle, combining the power of
the “King of Beasts” with the
grace of the “King of Birds”. The
guardian of the source of gold
and protector of the Dionysian
cup of infinite wealth.
In the real world: An acclaimed
Danish audio engineering company employing cutting edge
technology and common sense
in the pursuit of the purest musical experience. We feel that the
gryphon is an appropriate symbol for our high sonic goals.
3
The Man
Gryphon Audio Designs is the
brainchild of Flemming E.
Rasmussen and the fulfillment of
a lifelong dream to allow the
purest essence of the live music
experience to be recreated in the
home environment.
Rasmussen holds a degree in
painting and graphic arts from
the Aarhus Art Academy,
Denmark. During his studies,
Rasmussen developed close
relationships with the local music
community and designed many
LP covers and concert posters.
After graduation, he taught photography and painting and
designed textiles, before founding 2R Marketing, which quickly
became Denmark’s leading High
End audio import company.
Gryphon Audio Designs was
founded in 1985 as an offshoot
of 2R Marketing, The first product, the now legendary Gryphon
Head Amp, grew from a one-off
spare time project developed
only for the designers’ own home
systems. Although the Gryphon
project was initially strictly a
hobby, not an actively pursued
commercial venture, demand
generated by reviews and wordof-mouth led to the formal establishment of Gryphon Audio
Designs as a separate corporate
entity.
Following the immediate success of the Gryphon brand, all
import business was phased out
in 1993, so that Rasmussen
could dedicate his efforts entirely to Gryphon.
Made In Denmark
Every product from Gryphon
Audio Designs is designed and
built in Denmark. This is much
more than just a geographical
fact. It is also a seal of approval,
a stamp of quality. Living in a
region with no natural resources
(no oil, coal, precious metals,
etc.), the Danes have learned to
rely on their quick wits and
skilled hands. Innovative technology, beautiful craftsmanship,
pride in one’s craft and a keen
eye for attractive design are
some of the long-standing
Danish traditions which are distilled to their finest essence in
every unit that bears the
Gryphon name.
Musical
Objectives
While scientific method and
sophisticated technology play an
important role in our electronics
design work, at Gryphon we
never lose sight of the fact that
the keen ears of an experienced
listener are the most crucial “calibration tools.” Therefore, every
The Gryphon Head Amp 1985
4
Flemming E. Rasmussen
Gryphon product exists for one
simple purpose: to bring the user
closer in the never-ending quest
for a more natural and convincing musical illusion.
Every Gryphon design has been
built to cruise effortlessly through
even the most demanding musical passages, regardless of volume level, with a musical presentation defined by supreme
articulation and immediacy, subtle dynamic shading and razorsharp focus. Refinement and
delicacy are combined with
power and authority for a natural, involving listening experience.
The Gryphon
Master Tape
Collection
In the Gryphon listening rooms,
we are fortunate to possess a
unique library of more than
1,000 original master tapes of
recordings made during the
Golden Age of studio engineering from 1956-1976.
Unlike conventional commercial
releases, our master tapes capture the dynamic contrasts and
subtle inner harmonic structure
of the musical event, forcing us
to work to a higher standard in
our efforts to maintain the
integrity of the original musical
performance.
Design Principles
With state of the art technical
equipment and some of the
finest minds in the audio engineering field at our disposal, the
Gryphon brand name continues
to define the highest audiophile
standards of subjective and
technical performance.
The dual mono configuration
radically eliminates any possibility of crosstalk or other interference between channels and provides infinite channel separation
which contributes to the ability to
create space, focus, depth and
transparency.
Because the electrical power
coming out of your wall fluctuates wildly in terms of voltage
and distortion, Gryphon incorporates heavily regulated multistage power supplies that act as
effective mains conditioning filters. Displays and control circuits are fed by a separate
power supply to isolate any digital noise artifacts and effectively
prevent them from contaminating the signal path.
While the printed circuit boards
in more conventional audio prod-
5
Gryphon is located in beautiful tranquil
surroundings.
ucts utilize conductor tracks a
mere 35 um thick, Gryphon
employs at least 70 um traces of
the highest purity.
Beginning with our very first
product, “The Head Amp” all
Gryphon products have featured
extremely wide frequency bandwidth, because the ability to
reproduce ultra-sonic frequencies with no difficulty ensures linear phase across the audible frequency range.
The implementation of circuits
with wideband frequency
response is a painstaking
endeavor in which the actual layout and ground pattern of the PC
boards are crucial to the
achievement of superior sonic
performance with no loss of
inherent stability.
Wideband frequency response
ensures the high slew rate
essential to the realistic handling
of the ultra-fast transients which
routinely occur in live music and
is crucial in recreating the natural decay of musical instruments.
Wide bandwidth also improves
phase characteristics, for more
correct soundstaging and imaging.
All Gryphon designs are realized
with an absolute minimum of
negative feedback, which when
present in large amounts can
actually increase TIM distortion.
All Gryphon preamplifiers are
designed with zero negative
feedback. Gryphon power amplifiers apply negative feedback
judiciously for improved linearity
and bandwidth.
Gryphon research into the detrimental effects of magnetically
induced distorted (MID) has led
to the elimination of magnetizable materials wherever possible. To eliminate the effects of
stray magnetic fields, non-magnetic materials are employed
throughout, with the unavoidable
exception of the transformer
shield box.
The mechanical design of the
cabinet and assembly methods
are all carefully calculated to
ensure minimal resonance,
either through the use of
mechanically grounded high
mass or decoupling. Vibrationsensitive components, capacitors in particular, are thus guaranteed a non-resonant environment.
The heavy, thick chassis offers a
vibration-proof environment for
the sensitive electronics inside
and provides crucial shielding
from a polluted world of low and
high-frequency radio waves,
power-line radiation and other
6
Typical Gryphon module
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