Gryphon Colosseum User Manual

OWNERS MANUAL

Gryphon

COLOSSEUM

Vers. 1.1

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 “hi­fi” 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 half-eagle, 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.

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.

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 Gryphon product
exists for one simple purpose: to
bring the user closer in the never­ending 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 razor-sharp focus. Refinement
and delicacy are combined with
power and authority for a natural,
involving listening experience.

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 word-of­mouth 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

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 multi-stage 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 prod­ucts utilize conductor tracks a mere
35 micron thick, Gryphon employs
at least 70 micron 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 ultra­fast transients which routinely occur
in live music and is crucial in recre-

ating 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 distortion (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. Vibration-sen­sitive 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, power­line radiation and other electrical
interference. Meticulous attention to
such issues makes a significant
contribution to the relaxing, open
and transparent Gryphon sound.
Unique, non-invasive protection cir­cuitry offers reliable, fuss-free pro­tection without compromising signal
purity and signal path simplicity,
with no conventional relays in the
signal path to degrade or compress
sound.

The ground path has been carefully
laid out in order to achieve superior
sonic performance with no loss of
stability. Component layout has
been designed to ensure the short­est conceivable signal path.

Exhaustive investigation underlies
the selection of every component
part and many original, proprietary
components are custom-built exclu­sively for Gryphon. Because what is
left out is just as important as what
goes in, an absolute minimum of
internal wiring is included.

By lavishing attention on each
aspect of the circuit and fully under­standing the purpose and behavior
of every single part of the whole,
our designers can optimize per­formance in each section, before

moving on to the next step. This
ensures simplicity, a short signal
path and a unity of purpose with a
single, well-defined objective: musi­cal purity.

In the interest of ultimate fidelity,
tone controls, balance controls and
other unnecessary components
have been banished from the signal
path.

Exterior Design

From the very beginning, every
Gryphon product has offered stun­ning audio performance, sumptu­ous styling and superb user-friendli­ness, catering to the needs of the
discerning audiophile who
demands musicality, convenience
and aesthetics, all without compro­mise.

In every Gryphon product, form fol­lows function in a unique synthesis
of aesthetics and practicality.
Gryphon stands for sophisticated
technology with a high standard of
industrial finish that also incorpo­rates the best of handcraftsman­ship.

The peerless finish, build quality,
ergonomics and pride of ownership
that contribute to the totality of the
Gryphon concept can only be fully
understood and apprecited up close
and in person.

Rasmussen’s background in fine
arts and industrial design gives
every Gryphon product a distinc­tive, luxuriant finish which arises
organically out of the audio circuit
design and the user interface for a
truly unique integration of form and
function.

Manufacture and
Assembly

At our laboratories and manufactur­ing facilities in Denmark, we main­tain full control over every aspect of
development and production, and
the members of our conscientious
staff diligently follow each Gryphon
model from initial concept to early
prototype, through to final quality
control.
Printed circuit boards are assem­bled by a supplier of precision mili­tary and medical equipment with
strict standards of quality control
and pre-inspection of components.
Chassis parts are manufactured by
a specialist chosen solely for the
outstanding quality of workman­ship. In every aspect of every
Gryphon product, the same strin­gent standards of excellence apply.