Gryphon Mephisto Stereo Reference power amplifier

GRYPHON

MEPHISTO STEREO REFERENCE POWER AMPLIFIER

With bold lines, custom Mephisto heatsink profiles and the unmistakable shine of its brushed aluminum body, the Gryphon Mephisto reveals itself with unmatched surgical precision while remaining musically true to the heart and soul of the performance. Without ever losing sight of the finest nuances and micro-details, Mephisto keeps a tight grip on coherence, timbre and the overall musical event.

Dynamic Integrity

The Gryphon Mephisto power amp is in a class of its own: it's designed to handle even the most modern loudspeakers. It is thus able to handle enormous current peaks and, just as important, to do so at very low impedances without losing composure.

Since the Mephisto's perfectly linear output impedance unconditionally preserves the integrity of the audio signal, regardless of frequency and signal level, the amplifier's exceptional load tolerance makes it an ideal partner for the best loudspeakers.

In keeping with the long-standing Gryphon tradition, the sound quality of the Gryphon Mephisto is completely level-independent. It's a huge amp that can do its best at any volume setting, from background noise to full throttle.

To generate and control this pure power, each Mephisto channel is equipped with separate AC inputs and individual, specially designed Holmgren transformers with generous filtering capacity, well suited to the delivery of high impulse currents. The fully regulated gain stage power supply ensures long-term reliability and safety.

Pure current input, pure current output

Since the function of a power amplifier is to modulate the mains current from the wall outlet, even minute amounts of noise in the mains voltage can prevent a system from operating at its full potential. Gryphon Mephisto's carefully regulated and filtered power supply removes harmful high-frequency interference and transients without sacrificing current capacity. Complete elimination of mains hiss improves focus, immediacy, transient sharpness and soundstage depth for a passionately immersive listening experience.

The Gryphon Mephisto was designed with no global negative feedback to meet the dynamic demands of the best analog and digital source components. The exceptional bandwidth of the Gryphon Mephisto - beyond 350 kHz - is achieved despite the complete elimination of feedback.

Perfect precision

Each circuit board of the Gryphon Mephisto is designed to allow precision mounting and assembly to set a new standard for mechanical and electrical stability.

Ideal, constant and safe operating conditions for all transistors in all amplifier stages ensure consistent performance, regardless of temperature or signal level fluctuations.

Only the best components are used throughout for optimal electrical and sonic performance, including Japanese-made Takman resistors, dual Class-A J-FET transistors in the input buffer for speed and clarity, and a balanced differential input circuit based on a single carefully selected dual bipolar transistor based. The voltage boost stage uses Zetex high-speed surface-mount transistors with minimal capacitance and high DC gain (Hfe), and the output stage uses high-speed Toshiba driver transistors.

A fully balanced, regulated, low-noise power supply was used for all voltage boost sections. Eight 56,000 microFarad low ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance) capacitors for a total capacitance of 448,000 microFarads/100V smooth the voltage to the output supply. A static shield isolates the primary and secondary windings in the massive Holmgren twin transformers, specially designed and built for the Gryphon Mephisto.

By eliminating the output relays, the Gryphon Mephisto achieves an exceptionally low output impedance. Most importantly, output relays that can handle large constant currents tend to have poor signal transfer at low to medium currents, so the best relay is quite simply not a relay at all.

The Mephisto is equipped with effective protection against overheating, DC input offset, short circuit, HF and incorrect power supply. The slow turn-on circuitry analyzes and confirms the status of the transformer, bridge rectifier, power supply, storage capacitors, and amplifier circuitry prior to full turn-on and before accepting an input signal.

Because the advanced Mephisto protection circuitry is outside the signal path, full protection is achieved without sacrificing sound quality.

The Mephisto terminals are specially designed, solid, gold-plated connectors that ensure safe power transmission with speaker cables of any diameter.

Weighing in at 108kg, the Gryphon Mephisto is a unique design concept that goes straight to the emotional essence of music.

Paired with the equally uncompromising Gryphon Pandora preamp and connected to advanced Gryphon interconnect and speaker cables, the Gryphon Mephisto will continue to define the state of audio art well into the future.

Technical details

• Pure Class A operation 2 × 175 W (8 O), 2 × 350 W (4 O), 2 × 700 W (2 O) effective continuous power
• Pure dual mono configuration with separate AC inputs
• No global negative feedback
• 40 high current bipolar output transistors
• 500,000 µF capacitor bank
• DC servo coupling
• Gryphon internal wiring
• Output coupling via solid copper rails
• No output relays
• Decoupled transformer housing
• Military-grade double-sided circuit boards
• Shortest possible signal paths through optimal switching geometry
• Two separate Holmgren toroidal transformers with internal magnetic shielding
• Separate power supplies for amplifier and digital circuits
• Gold-plated XLR input sockets from the Swiss manufacturer Neutrik
• Gold plated custom Gryphon binding posts
• Backlit front panel touch controls
• 12 V remote switch for automatic switching on
• Automatic green bias adjustment or manual low/mid/high adjustment
• Non-invasive protection device
• Developed and manufactured in Denmark
• Dimensions: H 34.0 cm, W 52.0 cm, D 71.0 cm
• Weight: 108kg
• Color finish: black