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  #11  
Old 06-19-2022, 09:56 PM
NZ421291 NZ421291 is offline
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Love the set-up- outstanding!!!
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  #12  
Old 06-20-2022, 12:35 PM
Charles Charles is offline
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Eric, I love the story. It's an absolutely beautiful system. Congratulations on the gorgeous new amps and the lovely sound.

Best

Charles
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  #13  
Old 06-20-2022, 03:40 PM
sandecker sandecker is offline
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Congratulations with superb Gryphon gear, and a great story [emoji2] thanks for sharing
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  #14  
Old 06-21-2022, 02:53 AM
Solartiger Solartiger is offline
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Thank you very much for the kind words. There is still some work to do, I need dedicated power lines and granite slabs and better cables and ...

I love the sound and couldn't be happier.

Best regards,
Ecki
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  #15  
Old 06-22-2022, 08:11 PM
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80B 80B is offline
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Congratulations - that is a great story, and an amazing system both visually and acoustically. Speaking of listening with one's better half, mine has a real preference for vinyl; have you thought about a TT with your rig?
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Sources: Vinyl: Clearaudio Innovation Wood turntable with 9" Universal tonearm, Da Vinci V2 cartridge, Stillpoints SS & Stillpoints clamp, McIntosh MVP 901, Apple Mac mini via Benchmark DAC 1, Aurender N100C via Schiit Yggdrasil
Control: McIntosh C1100, Mcintosh MX151
Power: Mcintosh MC2301s (front), McIntosh MC501 (center), Mcintosh MC402 (rear)
Speakers: Sonus Faber Amati Futura (front and back), SF Vox center
Power/connections: PS Audio Power Port receptacles, RGPC 400 pro (2) WireWorld interconnects and speaker cable
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  #16  
Old 11-14-2022, 02:31 PM
Solartiger Solartiger is offline
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Power

Now that I had all these wonderful components, there were a few important problems to solve: power and audio cabling. Let me start with power.

Gryphon suggests to use their power amplifiers without any power conditioner. In my previous setup I had a dedicated power line from the DB board supplying my power conditioner directly. This had to be changed. My idea was to build a mini DB board behind the system, where the power cords for the power amplifiers and the power conditioner would be directly connected.



To the right from bottom to top: power feed from main DB (2x phase and neutral, one pair used and one spare), power cord for amplifier right, earth connection, breaker.

To the left from bottom to top: power cord for amplifier left, power cord for power conditioner (for preamp, CD-player and digital player), earth connections for the components.

For the Gryphon Antileon and the Pandora I am using Gryphon VIP reference power cords, the Aurender and the CD-player get the even better Evotech Ascension cable.


Audio

With the power supply question out of the way it was time to care for audio cables. I had a pair of 2.5m in-akustik Air Reference speaker cables with a bi-wiring ending. The Antileon have output posts for 2 loudspeakers per amplifier and my KEF Blades have bi-wiring / bi-amping connectors. After a short talk with the friendly head of development from in-akustik, I sent my old cables back to Germany to be changed into two shorter sets. This was great service and very fairly priced.

Unfortunately I needed two long NF cables from the preamp to the two mono amplifiers. This was a bit of a challenge as South Africa is not the place where many high end audio cables are sold and therefore the dealer scene is rather poor compared to the US. I could however, compare some cables:

Gryphon VIP reference: very smooth and nice but a bit on the dark side.
Shunyata Sigma V2: much brighter and airy than the Gryphon VIP, a bit sharp here and there though.
in-akustik Reference LS-2404 Air Pure Silver: similar to the Shunayta, maybe a bit smother but less defined in the lower frequencies.

All of these I had given some weeks of listening, avoiding A/B/C tests of cables. Somehow none of these interconnects sounded like the perfect solution. Although the Gryphon was a bit dark in comparison, we listened to more music when it was installed. We always remarked how much brighter and more transparent (?) it got with the Shunyata and the in-akustik - as if this was a improvement. But with both of them we switched off earlier most evenings!

Then we got another cable, a Tara Labs The Muse. I have a little playlist of some songs where I have special moments that I find noticeable (special drum sound, voice etc etc). When I started my playlist with the Tara Labs cable, there was a "wow" moment after 10 seconds. Bright and airy, transparent, with a lot of bass pressure. Not sharp or edgy at all, very smooth but powerful and controlled.

The final audio cable configuration is as follows:

Aurender N30SA --> in-acoustic AES silver reference air --> Gryphon Ethos --> Tara Labs the Muse --> Gryphon Pandora --> Tara Labs The Muse --> Gryphon Antileon --> in-akustik air reference bi-wiring --> KEF Blade --> amazing music!



This picture shows the construction of the rack. It needs the blinds to be stable, the blinds provide the structural strength and hide the cables plus the small DB-board box.



Components ready to be installed.




Cables disappeared.


I think that's it. I am very happy with the sound and the system.

Cheers,
Ecki
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  #17  
Old 11-14-2022, 02:59 PM
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Formerly YB-2 Formerly YB-2 is offline
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Congrats. Beautiful system. Blades always seem (to me) much more imposing in pictures than they do in 'real life'. They fit well in the couple of rooms I've seen them in.

The J. Sikora room (TT/TA) at the Capital Audiofest this past weekend had a big Gryphon amp (not sure of the power, but was very large physically) driving a pair of Marten Parker speakers (the pre-diamond tweeter model) and the sound was excellent. Much better than the sound in the E.A.T. - Marten room with the newer Parker II.
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Clearaudio SM Pro Focal Bathys JLA 10" Dominion Kuzma Stabi S w/MC & MM Magnepan 1,7i McIntosh MA8950 Oppo 203 Roon Nucleus Rose Hifi RS150B Shunyata Gemini-4 Sony ST-A6B, TA-F6B & PS-X75 Sorane SA1.2 & TA-1L Stillpoints LP1v2 WW Pt, Au & Ag

Last edited by Formerly YB-2; 11-14-2022 at 11:02 PM.
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  #18  
Old 11-14-2022, 06:33 PM
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bart bart is offline
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Well done Ecki!
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AV: Hegel C-53, Marantz AV8802A, Oppo BDP-203EU, Pioneer Kuro 60", Vivid Audio C1 & V1w's, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse, SE & E
Second system (veranda): Halgorythme preamp and monoblocks, Burmester 061, Avalon Avatar, Sharkwire & Wireworld cables
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  #19  
Old 11-14-2022, 08:14 PM
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Very nicely done, big congrats!
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Joe
Great Room: 2 Channel System
Amplifier: McIntosh MC312
Preamp: McIntosh C22 Mk V (Gold Lion Tubes)
DAC/CD/SACD: McIntosh MCD12000
Streaming Source: Aurender N10; UpTone Audio EtherREGEN Switch; AfterDark Project Clayx Giesemann OCXO 10MHz Reference Queen Master Clock w/ Black Modernize LPS x 2 Giesemann OCXO 10M Edition
Speakers: Canton Reference 3K
Power: 2x Dedicated 20 Amp Breakers + Whole House Surge Protection
Power Outlets: PS Audio Power Ports
Power Resonators: ADD-Powr Sorcer x4 (at service panel); ADD-Powr Wizard; ADD-Powr eau2; ADD-Powr Symphony (in network closet)
Power Distribution: Shunyata Denali 6000/S v2
Power Cables: Shunyata Delta v2 XC (Denali v2 to dedicated 20A Outlet); Shunyata Venom NR v10 (Amp to Denali v2); Shunyata Delta v2 NR (Preamp to Denali v2); Shunyata Alpha v2 NR (DAC to Denali v2); Shunyata Venom NR v12 (Wizard to dedicated 20A Outlet); Shunyata Venom V14 Digital (Streamer and Master Clock LPS to Denali v2)
Speaker Cables: Shunyata Sigma v1; Shunyata Sigma v1 Jumpers
Audio Cables: Wireworld Silver Eclipse 8 XLR (Preamp to Amp); Wireworld Gold Eclipse 8 XLR (DAC Tube and Solid State Outputs to Preamp); Shunyata Sigma USB (Streamer to DAC); Shunyata Sigma v2 AES/EBU (Streamer to DAC); Shunyata Venom Ethernet (Wall Wart to EtherREGEN); Shunyata Sigma Ethernet (EtherREGEN to Streamer); Wireworld Platinum Starlight 8 75-Ohm BNC (AfterDark Queen Master Clock to EtherREGEN); Wireworld Platinum Starlight 7 S/PDIF (Streamer to DAC)
Isolation: Stillpoints Ultra SS (Under Speakers); Stillpoints Ultra Mini's (Under Preamp and DAC); HRS E1 Isolation Platform w/G7 Feet and G-Links (Under Amp and Master Clock/LPS); HRS E1 Isolation Platform w/G7 Feet (Under Streamer); Shunyata DarkField Suspension System and DarkField Mini Elevators (Under Speaker Cables); IsoAcoustics Iso-Pucks (Under EtherREGEN)
Noise Reduction: HRS DPX-14545 Damping Plate (On Amp and Preamp); HRS DPII-14545 Damping Plate (On DAC)
Grounding: Shunyata Alpha v3 CGC/SGC Ground Cable (DAC to Denali v2); Shunyata Delta v2 CGC/SGC Ground Cable (EtherREGEN to Denali v2)
Rack: Quadraspire SVT


Sun Room
Wireless Speaker: McIntosh RS200
Power Resonator: ADD-Powr Symphony Pro
Power Distribution: Shunyata Venom PS8 w/ Venom Defender
Power Cables: Shunyata Delta NR (Venom PS8 to Wall Outlet); Wireworld Silver Electra 7 (RS200 to Venom PS8)
Isolation: IsoAcoustics Iso-Pucks
Rack: Pangea Audio Vulcan
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  #20  
Old 11-14-2022, 10:24 PM
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Antonmb Antonmb is offline
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Congratulations Ecki, beautiful system and well-executed.
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D'Agostino Momentum S250 MxV & HD pre; Linn Klimax Organik DSM, SonicTransporter, EtherRegen; Acoustic Signature Typhoon Neo, Koetsu RSP, Boulder 1108; Sf Il Cremonese; Shunyata Everest, Altaira, Sigma & Alpha v2
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