Gryphon Colosseum Solo - Manual (Page 12)

overload. Each of the 48 transistors
is bypassed with individual film
capacitors. The separate driver
section has its own supply from
individual windings on the custom-
made toroidal transformers. Unique
mechanical design ensures optimal
thermal tracking between drivers
and output devices. The driver sec-
tion features its own generous bank
of proprietary Gryphon capacitors.
The power capacitor bank is an
astounding 400,000 uF array of
capacitors.
Negative feedback is not used and
DC coupling employs DC servo cir-
cuitry. Internal wiring in the signal
path is kept to an absolute mini-
mum. The input wiring is Gryphon
Guideline Reference gold-embed-
ded silver cable. Only balanced
inputs are provided.
In the best Gryphon tradition, the
Gryphon Colosseum utilizes a com-
pletely independent transformer
and power supply for display and
control circuits, effectively prevent-
ing digital noise generated by these
circuits from reaching the amplifier
circuits.
Gryphon proprietary speaker termi-
nals accept bare wire, spade lugs,
banana connectors or any combi-
nation.
Class A
True Class A operation has always
been a Gryphon benchmark, simply
because nothing in our experience
can match the sonic glories of pure
Class A.
Unfortunately, true Class A is even
rarer today than when we intro-
duced the DM100. Rising consumer
awareness has forced some manu-
facturers to stop making outra-
geous unsubstantiated claims of
Class A power ratings that only
exist in the fevered imagination of
some marketing "expert".
Still, there is a growing number of
so-called "new" Class A topologies
based on automatic biasing which,
simply explained, somehow allow
the amplifier to sense when the bias
should increase to ensure constant
Class A performance!
If such thing were to actually work
as claimed, it would be tantamount
to a re-writing of the laws of
physics. In order for an amplifier to
be able to increase bias and stabi-
lize thermally to instantaneously
track the dynamics of the input, it
would have to be able to predict
what is going to happen next on the
recording. Auto-biasing can by
nature only respond to something
that has already happened and the
bias will rush up and down in a des-
perate attempt to follow the last
note.
Put bluntly, there is no such thing as
a free lunch when it comes to pure
Class A, so we repeat with no
apologies: TRUE PURE CLASS A
means heavy transformers, very
large heatsinks, lots of heat, lots of
electricity, expensive parts and
costly assembly.