The concave front baffle gives away the design brief at a glance: all five drivers are positioned so that their acoustic centres sit at exactly the same distance from the listener – a time-aligned system in the tradition of the Danish house of Gryphon. The pair offered here is a special edition with appointments of rare precious woods and piano lacquer; depending on finish, the manufacturer's list price ranged from 40,000 to 68,000 euros.
The drivers come from Danish production and were developed to Gryphon's specifications: two 8-inch woofers work in a precisely tuned bass-reflex chamber, while two 5-inch midrange units with an ultra-linear triple-magnet system and layer-damped fibreglass cones handle the midband. Above them, a highly efficient 30 mm ceramic dome by Thiel Accuton radiates cleanly up to 32 kHz. The acoustic crossover points are 250 Hz and 2,500 Hz (fourth order); sensitivity is 90 dB/2.83 V into a nominal 4 ohms, with a frequency response of 25 Hz to 32,000 Hz (-3 dB, room-dependent).
A special feature is the battery-assisted, hand-adjusted crossover: selected film capacitors and low-loss inductors are joined by pre-biased electrolytics in the impedance-correction network, designed to eliminate crossover distortion around zero potential. The cabinet is heavily braced, damped with a blend of natural and synthetic materials and rests on massive feet; connection is via Gryphon's own binding posts. At 1,180 mm tall, each speaker weighs a good 85 kilograms.
The pair comes from its first owner and presents in like-new condition, both cosmetically and technically, without flaws or damage. Original packaging, serial number and brochure are present, along with two original Gryphon dust covers. We are happy to arrange a listening session by appointment.
