Probably moving to Europe, how do I change my system?

[LarryK]

It looks like we will be moving to Europe.

I can’t convert the voltage on my Gryphon Colosseum so I will be selling it.

I can convert the Pandora but I might sell it and buy the Diablo 333 to simplify.

My wife is adamant about pushing my speakers up against the wall in a new apartment so I think I will have to sell the Cantatas.

Which speakers should I get that will work against the wall? I suppose I’d like to stay with Gryphon.


Thanks,

Larry

 

[ssfas]

Europe is a big place. We have audio stores and all sorts of hifi to suit all sorts of different building construction.

 

[Thundersnow]

In Europe it’s customary to bring your own classical quartet to parties. Voltage does not apply unless they play bad.

 

[LarryK]

In Europe it’s customary to bring your own classical quartet to parties. Voltage does not apply unless they play bad.

Hahaha, I have found my utopia!

I used to attend GroupMuse concerts in NYC. It was so much fun going to an apartment and sitting next to the harpsichordist.

In America, we bring a symphony orchestra.

Ok, it’s France, we are most likely moving to France.

 

[TooCool4]

Audio Note speakers are designed to work in the corners against the wall, but if you insist in keeping with Gryphon if feel they will be too much power for the Audio Note. Audio Note requires very little power.

 

[ssfas]

In Europe it’s customary to bring your own classical quartet to parties. Voltage does not apply unless they play bad.

I have a Gryphon Diablo. I briefly had a girlfriend called Pandora but failed to convert her.

Ok, it’s France, we are most likely moving to France.

France is pretty big as well. It's OK if you have a chateau (big house with turrets and a moat) in the the countryside, but in Paris most people live in shoebox sized apartments with incredibly small elevators unsuitable for hifi - and then go to their chateaux for the weekends and August.

Some of these may come in handy.

 

[LarryK]

Audio Note speakers are designed to work in the corners against the wall, but if you insist in keeping with Gryphon if feel they will be too much power for the Audio Note. Audio Note requires very little power.

I don’t think I have to put them in corners but I have to put them against a wall.

I’m a high power Class A kind of guy.

I don’t play loud but I like the smoothness of Class A.

 

[LarryK]

I have a Gryphon Diablo. I briefly had a girlfriend called Pandora but failed to convert her.


France is pretty big as well. It's OK if you have a chateau (big house with turrets and a moat) in the the countryside, but in Paris most people live in shoebox sized apartments with incredibly small elevators unsuitable for hifi - and then go to their chateaux for the weekends and August.

Some of these may come in handy.
View attachment 141469

Thanks.

We don’t want for a chateau.

It’s looks like 80-110 square meters in Lyon.

Paris would be more challenging, and much more expensive. My wife studied there not long ago. I know those shoebox apartments.

 

[ssfas]

Thanks.

We don’t want for a chateau.

It’s looks like 80-110 square meters in Lyon.

Paris would be more challenging, and much more expensive. My wife studied there not long ago. I know those shoebox apartments.

Lyon is big, busy and convenient if you like skiiing. Lots of hifi stores and a short drive to Geneva with lots more hifi. But Audio Note from here in the UK are a go-to flat-against-the-wall speaker.

Chateaux are difficult for echo. Best to avoid them.

Trenner & Friedl are also apparently very good for placing near walls and corners, and very pretty. They tend to be 91-93dB sensitivity, so a nice Class A SET ... ?

 

[Gregm]

Europe is a big place. We have audio stores and all sorts of hifi (...)

...Including Gryphon which is made in Europe. Are you sure you can't get it easily converted to 230V? Alternatively, you could get yourself a 230-120V transformer: on the positive side it will output the right voltage for a reasonable price and also do some filtering. On the negative side you'll have some losses and you'll need extra power cables.
I don't know what the high-end scene is like in Lyon, but the food scene is excellent!

 

[LarryK]

...Including Gryphon which is made in Europe. Are you sure you can't get it easily converted to 230V? Alternatively, you could get yourself a 230-120V transformer: on the positive side it will output the right voltage for a reasonable price and also do some filtering. On the negative side you'll have some losses and you'll need extra power cables.
I don't know what the high-end scene is like in Lyon, but the food scene is excellent!

I talked to SoundSmith, who has repaired my Gryphon gear, and they talked to Gryphon, and Gryphon said no.

The Pandora can be converted, but I think I’ll simplify with the Diablo 333.

 

[aangen]

I am smitten with the new Gryphon EOS 5 speakers. My oh my!

 

[LarryK]

I am smitten with the new Gryphon EOS 5 speakers. My oh my!

That’s an option. How close do you have them to the wall?

Which amplifier/preamplifier are you using to drive them?

I told my wife that the Cantatas do not want to be six inches from the wall and that I might have to buy new speakers.

She’s accepting but I never mention prices.

We will be going car-free. That will save money.

 

[aangen]

I heard them in a small hotel room at Axpona last April. at least two feet from the sidewalls and 3 feet from the back walls. Driven buy a Diablo 333, source was an Ethos Transport DAC, in addition they used a PowerZone. The legend is you cannot get good sound in a hotel room. This proved not to be true. No sound absorbers / diffusers, just bare walls. In the center chair the EOS 5 speakers vanished. The sound was remarkable. I visited the room many times and loved each visit.

I own mostly Gryphon gear, but my speakers are Vivid G1 Spirits. I love the idea of a 100% Gryphon system so who knows. Hear the EOS 5 speakers!
(By the way, they EOS 2 speakers are quite a surprise as well)

Here is the room:

 

[LarryK]

I heard them in a small hotel room at Axpona last April. at least two feet from the sidewalls and 3 feet from the back walls. Driven buy a Diablo 333, source was an Ethos Transport DAC, in addition they used a PowerZone. The legend is you cannot get good sound in a hotel room. This proved not to be true. No sound absorbers / diffusers, just bare walls. In the center chair the EOS 5 speakers vanished. The sound was remarkable. I visited the room many times and loved each visit.

I own mostly Gryphon gear, but my speakers are Vivid G1 Spirits. I love the idea of a 100% Gryphon system so who knows. Hear the EOS 5 speakers!
(By the way, they EOS 2 speakers are quite a surprise as well)

Here is the room:
View attachment 141511

I have read that they can be placed 5-6 inches from the wall but I don’t know if the source is Gryphon. Does anybody know?

I asked a human data labeler:

https://www.perplexity.ai/search/can-the-gryphon-eos-5-speaker-gpDZymICRx29ijBQRraeow

I am tempted to buy a pair of EOS 5s, especially if I can get my Colosseum and Pandora converted to European voltage.

 

[Yeti]

My speakers (Naim NBL, now long out of production) are designed to go against the wall but a solid wall with plaster rendered directly on to brick or something similar. When I moved to my current house in the south of France all the walls were plasterboard with a layer of foam insulation before you reach anything solid and even then the bricks are full of holes, done to keep the heat out rather than in. I wasn’t expecting my NBLs to work and in their usual position ~2” from the wall there was no bass but with some experimentation I found a distance further out where they work just fine, though the tolerance isn’t very wide. Here they need just over a foot between their backs and the wall. You might want to find somewhere with at least one solid wall to back up the speakers to. I’ve not heard their speakers but Synthèse Haute Fidelity near Strasbourg have a boundary design that might be worth a look.

The idea of Audionotes (such as their reworking of the Snell type E) might still work but placement will still be critical and will probably in volve a fair bit of toe in. If your wife insists the speakers have fit in with her interior design ideas you’re on to a loser. Best to get the system sorted and build the decor around its requirements or you’ll end up looking for digital room correction to mask the problems.

Another approach is to try to sell her on something that would be a room feature and could stand proud in its place rather than just a square box, Vivid Giya perhaps, or maybe some omnis like German Physics Borderlands.

 

[LL21]

I have read that they can be placed 5-6 inches from the wall but I don’t know if the source is Gryphon. Does anybody know?

I asked a human data labeler:

https://www.perplexity.ai/search/can-the-gryphon-eos-5-speaker-gpDZymICRx29ijBQRraeow

I am tempted to buy a pair of EOS 5s, especially if I can get my Colosseum and Pandora converted to European voltage.

I wonder if the Bang & Olufsen speakers allow for any different placement. Some find them beautifully sculptural as well. While the audiophile pursuit might not find them value for money...I have heard very good things about their most recent offering of speakers. What I dont know is if they were designed for more flexible placement as well or not.

 

[TooCool4]

LL21 Bang & Olufsen are active speakers with DSP, so unless LarryK wants to give up on his Gryphon amps then they are a no go.

 

[LarryK]

I heard them in a small hotel room at Axpona last April. at least two feet from the sidewalls and 3 feet from the back walls. Driven buy a Diablo 333, source was an Ethos Transport DAC, in addition they used a PowerZone. The legend is you cannot get good sound in a hotel room. This proved not to be true. No sound absorbers / diffusers, just bare walls. In the center chair the EOS 5 speakers vanished. The sound was remarkable. I visited the room many times and loved each visit.

I own mostly Gryphon gear, but my speakers are Vivid G1 Spirits. I love the idea of a 100% Gryphon system so who knows. Hear the EOS 5 speakers!
(By the way, they EOS 2 speakers are quite a surprise as well)

Here is the room:
View attachment 141511

Vivid G1 Spirit, wow, what a cool speaker!

How do they sound?

 

[Ron Resnick]

it’s France, we are most likely moving to France.

If you are resolved to get new loudspeakers, then it's probably best to get loudspeakers from a French speaker brand, so there is no translation problem when you listen to your stereo.