Gryphon Mephisto Solo vs Stereo

[joeling]

I have been offered an opportunity to trade in my Mephisto Stereo for the full price I paid for it to acquire a new pair of Mephisto solo at double the price I paid for the stereo.

Anyone has made any comparison between solo & stereo ? Worth the effort ?

I really like the stereo. Does the solo make a big improvement ?

Regards,
Joe Ling

 

[analog brother]

if you can swing it, why not?

 

[LL21]

You surely have an incredible system. Do you think your ProAc's will put the monos to good use, or do you think the Mephisto is more than able to carry them effortlessly? I don't know your speakers at all.

I have heard the Antileon monos are very different from the Antileon stereo, the Colosseum stereo v mono not as much. I somehow 'guess' the Mephisto monos might be more like the Antileons for some reason...pure guess... Again, however, since the Mephisto is true dual mono (all the way to 2 having 2 power cords)...with the only shared element being the casework...I wonder if your ProAcs will use the additional amp or not.

With an Apogee Grand, ML Statement or Arrakis, I can imagine they will continue to eat up greater and greater current. But these are massive speakers that have big load requirements/capacities, I believe.

 

[joeling]

My speakers are 91dB/m 4 ohm so not power hungry monsters.

 

[LL21]

My speakers are 91dB/m 4 ohm so not power hungry monsters.

My sense was that they would not necessarily respond to double the Mephisto. Double of a lot of amps, yes, probably. But double the Mephisto?

That said, there are speakers which are also measuring 91db and 4 ohms that might react well to double Mephisto...the Rockport Arrakis...but it weighs nearly 450 kg each speaker, is 2.1 meters tall and has 7 cones (2 of which are 15" woofers). And most people use 3 sets of monos...Gryphon or VTL in many cases.

 

[Rocco I.]

My speakers are 91dB/m 4 ohm so not power hungry monsters.

Hi.

For your fantastic ProAc I would keep the Mephisto stereo.

 

[nirodha]

BIG money = big DEMAND to try at home ;-) The monos don't even have to warm up properly for you to discover if they give you the extra "slam-dunk" experience. Good luck!

 

[audioblazer]

Try Vitus MPS as well

 

[joeling]

It seems that the input impedance of the stereo & mono is different. Mono's input Z is only 10K, half of the stereo. Output impedance of the ref 40 is 600homs.

While the normal rule of thumb says 10 to 1 ratio is ok, I am kind of uncomfortable given the potential outlay.

Regards,
Joe Ling

 

[trueblue]

What does the dealer , AR og Gryphon say ?

 

[LL21]

What does the dealer , AR og Gryphon say ?

Good point. Joeling - if you ask to speak with Niels in Service at Gryphon, he is EXCELLENT. he will no doubt be able to answer your question. My CJ GAT is SE only but 100ohms output, and he was very helpful in talking me thru my options. (ie, do I use an Interocitor to convert SE to balanced...in the end Niels convinced me that if all is perfectly silent even with 95 db speakers...leave it alone...which I have done for years now and been extremely happy.)

 

[LL21]

It seems that the input impedance of the stereo & mono is different. Mono's input Z is only 10K, half of the stereo. Output impedance of the ref 40 is 600homs.

While the normal rule of thumb says 10 to 1 ratio is ok, I am kind of uncomfortable given the potential outlay.

Regards,
Joe Ling

Hi Joe,

I was just going thru some of the older threads and noticed that you went Naim Statement...wow. That is fantastic. And you have Focal Stella's on the way too. I have heard the Naim Statement with the big Focal Grande Utopia EMs with Gerard Chretien hosting a few years ago. Quite a remarkable evening.

Since this was originally a Gryphon Mephisto Stereo v Mono thread...very curious as to what led you to Naim Statement? How does it compare with your original Gryphon Stereo?

 

[joeling]

Hi,

The Gryphon & Naim co-existed for a while. I ran either one depending on my mood. With ProAc, I could easily live with both. Unfortunately, I live in the tropics & heat from Mephisto may have a factor to cause a failure. The unit broke down twice so I decided to give up the unit & traded in for another Class A amp - the Accuphase. Well, not to my taste. So in the end, decided to focus on the Naim. After a few auditions, Focal seemed to be the best match. The story so far.

 

[LL21]

Interesting...had the Gryphon been able to survive the heat, would you have stuck with it over the Naim Statment?

 

[joeling]

I am happy to keep both to get different flavors. Naim is strong & fast while the Gryphon has the edge on sweetness but less slam.

 

[LL21]

Wow...Gryphon has LESS slam? That is the very first time I have ever heard that! I was impressed by the Naim Statement with the big Focals when I heard them, but was not able to compare with Gryphon. I did get the sense of your speed observation, and am not surprised by sweetness comment. Thanks for the quick feedback. Do not know Accuphase well but have heard some time ago...good to get your impressions.

 

[Vienna]

I am happy to keep both to get different flavors. Naim is strong & fast while the Gryphon has the edge on sweetness but less slam.

I am surpised too about the Mephisto slam.... my Mephisto never dissapointed me on slam

 

[ChristopherBell]

Hi,

The Gryphon & Naim co-existed for a while. I ran either one depending on my mood. With ProAc, I could easily live with both. Unfortunately, I live in the tropics & heat from Mephisto may have a factor to cause a failure. The unit broke down twice so I decided to give up the unit & traded in for another Class A amp - the Accuphase. Well, not to my taste. So in the end, decided to focus on the Naim. After a few auditions, Focal seemed to be the best match. The story so far.

Joeling,

Curious, did you consider the ProAc K10? I own a pair of K6 Sig's powered with Naim 500 series source/pre/amp.

 

[plasmod3]

Curious guys, the Mephisto has been out there for many years, i imagine they would have had incremental upgrades along the way to the innards - as existing owners were any of the upgrades passed on as opportunities to do the same post purchase?

 

[LL21]

Interestingly, Gryphon have historically not done lots of interim updates. Like Boulder, some of their models have been quite longstanding. The Antileon has been around for something like 20+ years with only 3 versions...Original, Signature and now Evo. Mephisto was introduced around 2011 and to my knowledge has never had any updates which would open a unit to an 'upgrade' option.