I have been waiting for this thread for about 5 years. Gryphon is a great brand but is at the very highest price point along with the likes of Halcro, Burmester, Goldmund. I do recall a negative review of one of their older amps in Stereophile many years ago which killed the brand in the US and I think caused them to recede back to Europe. I have heard the new amps and they are excellent, the CD players are great, and they just intro'd a speaker. You have to go out of your way to try these out, but that's also true of the competition. I think that this is a very legitimate brand with staying power and should be seriously considered if you have the cash, but the above posts are right, lack of entry level components may be hurting them.
Gryphon gets no press, but is great.
Gryphon, a product I sold back in the early '90's is magical sounding gear. But according to the Owner Principal designer, he can't get arrested in the U. S. Press. I have emailed an acquaintence (Robert Harley) from my days as Director of Sales for THIEL Audio, about this and he was vaguely aware of some of this, even to the point of saying that he had a memory a negative review. That seems impossible if you read the Worldwide rave press they receive. Plus as an owner of the Callisto integrated, I can verifiy that it runs away from virtually all things (even some separates costing multiples) comparable. Why is it that a product that is so good, from their integrateds, to their separates, doesn't get a better shake in the our country? Marketing has been, in my evaluation poor, and I have shared this with Mr. Rasmussen, but even so, sometimes ground swells of interest have overcome this. Flemming Rasmussen, who is the owner, says, that the U.S. is not a large enough market for "his kind of product", and that Americans may lack the "sophistocation" to appreciate it. He was not being condescendig or vitriolic, just sadly stating his perspective. Of course, seeing all the two channel (brother) audiophiles out there, I can't believe that. What is up, other than poor marketing choices?
Any ideas and thoughts from current or previous owners would be good input. Frankly, while traveling all over the U. S. I never saw it in stores. That is sad given its performance.
Any ideas and thoughts from current or previous owners would be good input. Frankly, while traveling all over the U. S. I never saw it in stores. That is sad given its performance.