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1. The Low Cut filter While playing uneven LPs your playback system might create subsonic noise Since the Cantata has a very high bass performance the subsonic noise will create strong driver move ments potentially affecting the overall performance of the speaker To avoid any such deterioration the Cantata Q Controller is pro vided with a subsonic filter which is activated by pressing Low Cut on the front panel The filter should also be activat ed while playing at high levels Break In Your Cantata requires 200 hours of break in at moderate listening levels to get optimal performance Room placement RW x 447 RW x 276 Do not scale 20 Manufacture and Assembly At our laboratories and manufac turing facilities in Denmark we maintain full control over every aspect of development and pro duction and the members of our conscientious staff diligently fol low each Gryphon model from initial concept to early prototype through to final quality control Printed circuit boards are assembled by a supplier of pre cision military and medical equipment with strict standards of quality control and pre inspec tion of components Chassis parts are manufactured by a specialist chosen solely for the outstanding quality of workman ship In every aspect of every Gryphon product the same stringent standards of excel lence apply 21 Input Connections Balanced mode All Gryphon products use th
2. Unpacking The following items are enclosed in 3 boxes 1 Card box and 2 ply wood crates Card box This user manual 1 Cantata Q Controller 1 Pair of Gloves 1 Acrylic polish 1 DC Bias cable 1 AC Power cords 1 Warranty card Ply wood crate 1 Cantata Reference Monitor 1 Black Aluminium Foot 3 Allen Screws 1 Allen Key 1 Steel Spike Tip If anything is missing or dam aged please contact your deal er immediately Assembling the speaker Remove the speaker gently from its wooden transportation enclosure and carefully place the speaker upside down Then mount the foot with the 3 Allen Screws provided and the steel tip for the spike Connect your speaker cables at the ter minals underneath the speaker The Gryphon terminals accept both banana plug and spades Due to the room adapting design of the Cantata bi wiring or bi amping is not possible The speaker cables should be connected directly to the speak er output terminals of your amplifier Connect the DC cable provided in the Q Controller transporta tion box and the speaker is ready to be raised to an upright standing position Connecting the Q Controller The Q Controllercan be con nected in three ways dependent on your system 1 If CD as your only source Connect between the source and amplifier pre or integrat ed 2 If you have several sources Connect between your pre amplifier and your power ampli fier 3 If yo
3. ing musical illusion Every Gryphon design has been built to cruise effortlessly through even the most demanding musi cal passages regardless of vol ume level with a musical pres entation defined by supreme articulation and immediacy sub tle dynamic shading and razor sharp focus Refinement and delicacy are combined with power and authority for a natu ral involving listening experi ence The Gryphon Master Tape Collection In the Gryphon listening rooms we are fortunate to possess a unique library of more than 1 000 original master tapes of recordings made during the Golden Age of studio engineer ing from 1956 1976 Unlike conventional commercial releases our master tapes cap ture the dynamic contrasts and subtle inner harmonic structure of the musical event forcing us to work to a higher standard in our efforts to maintain the integri ty of the original musical per formance Exterior Design From the very beginning every Gryphon product has offered stunning audio performance sumptuous styling and superb user friendliness catering to the needs of the discerning audio phile who demands musicality convenience and aesthetics all without compromise In every Gryphon product form follows function in a unique syn thesis of aesthetics and practi cality Gryphon stands for sophisticated technology with a high standard of industrial finish that also incorporates the best of handcraftsmanship
4. Since 1986 Gryphon has manu factured some of the finest amplifiers in the world Reviewers often describe Gryphon products as neutral transparent and inherently musi cal the choice for the music lover rather than the tech freak We take pride in this profile Almost all manufacturers dream of creating a complete sound system from the AC cord to the loudspeaker This is the only sense in which we must admit to being like other manufacturers However a great amplifier man ufacturer does not automatically make a great loudspeaker man ufacturer For an outsider it is easy to underestimate the com plexity of loudspeaker design There are so few parts and it is basically a box with a couple of drivers and a handful of crossover components so how hard can it be Indeed it is easy to make a loud speaker that is why there are so many of them and why most are so cheap but it is very difficult and challenging to create a great speaker worthy of the high end tag The paradox is that it is the few parts that make it so difficult There are very few parameters to adjust and the real problem is that almost no drivers are ideal because they essentially are made for the much larger and less demanding market for cheap boom boxes The tiny market for high end drivers is not commercially attractive to the driver manufacturers The Design At Gryphon we have a design tradition of seeking out only the finest components If
5. have keeping its full per formance With the Q adjusted to a very damped room the drivers of the speakers will work harder to create the correct level of bass You should in this case avoid playing at very high levels Speaker set up formulas are courtesy of George Cardas Speaker Placement and Toe in Placement of your Cantata is critical to the quality of your lis tening experience The Gryphon Cantata should be placed free from walls with as little furniture as possible behind the speakers The side walls should be acoustically symmet rical and the wall behind the lis tener should be well absorbing with for instance tapestry The ideal placement in a sym metrical rectangular room see diagram on page 20 The distance from the center of the woofers face to the side walls is Room Width times 276 RW x 276 The distance from the center of the woofers face to the wall behind the speaker is Room Width times 447 RW x 447 Your Cantata is designed to deliver the correct tonal balance and sound image being directed towards the listening position If you are not the only listener and want a broader listening area you can toe out the speaker a little bit 18 The Cantata also allows you to experiment with tilting of the speaker In instances where you have a high listening position you can tilt the Cantata back ward by adjusting the spike underneath the speaker Adjust to level by rotating
6. high performance sound system and for this reason is often referred to as the final frontier Few people have the luxury of a dedicated purpose built listen ing room Most of us listen to music in a room that also serves as the living room There are several ways to address this challenge Here are the most common solutions A The room can be treated in sev eral ways by using passive and or active absorbents bass traps diffusers and other devices Unfortunately these methods are usually expensive an eyesore in the living room and of limited success In most cases they simply change the flavor of the problem B In recent years sophisticated room correction systems have been introduced The term Room Correction is quite mis leading insofar as none of these systems actually correct the room in any real sense They electronically manipulate the sound of the audio system in order to obtain a better meas ured match to the room much like previous generations of equalizers that merely changed the tonal balance of the sound Unfortunately they typically introduced a whole new set of problems and are not usually used in high end sound systems Lastly a number of correction Gryphon Audio Designs in the outskirts of the small town of Ry systems are basically computers that digitally manipulate the sound for the same reasons These systems are more sophis ticated and can address the task with g
7. ideal non resonant home for the elaborate passive crossover The integrated base of the speaker system is a com partment with non toxic materi als providing damping and mass for firm and safe contact to the floor The front spike provides ideal acoustic coupling to the floor while at the same time offering precise vertical adjustment of speaker alignment A stainless steel coaster is provided to pro tect the floor and any covering Speaker connections are the famous Gryphon binding posts that accept bare wire spades or banana plugs In keeping with the clean design philosophy connectors are located under the speaker The active connec tion to crossover biasing is also located here A discrete redLED indicates active bias connection High gloss black Methacrylate and black Nappa are standard finishes The side panels are also available in High Gloss black American Walnut Burl or Black Anodized aluminum Optional finishes include Vavona Veneer Ebony Veneer Perforated Steel black rubber and other exciting finishes All veneers are of course legal and documented For a truly cus tomized finish it is possible to order panels with textiles carpet fur leather or just about anything you can imagine At Gryphon we will be happy to assist you in cre ating a unique personalized Cantata System The Drivers At Gryphon our many years in the amplifier business have taught us that what you don t do can be even mo
8. is only valid in the country where the product was purchased All claims under this warranty must be made to the distributor in the buyer s country by returning the unit securely packed in the original box with all accessories postage freight pre paid and insured The unit will be repaired or replaced at no charge for parts and labor This warranty remains valid only if the serial number of the unit has not been defaced or removed and if repairs are per formed only by authorized Gryphon dealers or distributors It does not cover damage due to misuse accident or neglect This warranty is not valid if the oper ation voltage of the product has been changed The distributor or manufacturer Gryphon Audio Designs Denmark retains the exclusive right to make such judgement on the basis of inspection The retailer distributor or manu facturer of the Gryphon shall not be liable for consequential dam age arising from the use misuse or failure of this product includ 23 ing injuries to persons or proper To qualify the enclosed warranty registration card must be filled out and returned to the manufac turer within 10 days of purchase Alternatively you may choose to register your Gryphon on our website www gryphon audio dk Thank you The Gryphon Team wishes to expess our gratitude and respect to Mr Steen Duelund that has served as an endless source of inspiration All Mr Duelunds ideas may not be of this w
9. move ment of large amounts of air in the room There is little to be done about these physical facts as long as we look at the loud speakers in isolation Another often overlooked fact is that although a speaker may be capable of extended deep bass performance its performance can be easily compromised by adverse room conditions This is a fact that cannot be changed and when a large speaker is used in a room that is too small room overload occurs and the compressed air expands like waves in water This is caused supported by an acoustic phenomenon called room gain the room s automat ic amplification of lower frequen cies by 12 dB per octave The result is what is generally termed standing waves This acoustic amplification of bass is heard as an overwhelming emphasis on the lower frequen cies In audio lingo it is referred to as a boomy bass This type of bass may impress some friends and annoy neigh bors but it can hardly be described as high end sound and is certainly not acceptable to the educated listener Smaller Speakers Many people prefer compact speakers because they usually do not suffer from these prob lems but only because their small enclosure and drivers can not generate enough energy to provide deep bass and conse quently excite the room The smaller speaker often has supe rior midrange and high frequen cy response simply because the smaller enclosure provides ideal
10. was replaced with a very rigid light weight alternative to prevent deformation or break up under stress On general principles we even added an extra set of ter minals to the cone for perfect weight and piston symmetry The cast magnesium basket was designed with maximum ventila tion between cone and spider to prevent compression of trapped air The spider is extremely flexi ble The magnetic system can only be described as generous with 3 4 times the power normal ly required The back of the mag netic assembly is vented for zero back compression The end result is a highly efficient driver with an extremely low Q with every performance parameter mechanically and electrically optimized The oil cooled tweeter employs a textile dome and is housed in a integrated 1 kg baffle CNC machined from a solid billet of aluminum to a specific shape selected after numerous experi ments with clay and plaster mod els A specially designed stain less steel surround was devel oped for a seamless connection between dome and baffle A small removable steel bar pro vides mechanical protection of the semi soft dome Because the well documented and rightly feared dramatic break up modes characteristic of Titanium and other metal domes typically require extensive crossover intervention such drivers are not employed in the Gryphon Cantata maintaining the pristine simplicity of its design 14 Cantata set up amp user guide
11. THE GRYPHON VE NES Cantata Owner s Manual Can ta ta A musical composition often using sacret text comprising recitatives arisa and choruses Table of Contents Introduction anssen 3 The Gryphon 3 The Man cccceeseeeeeereees 4 Made in Denmark 4 Musical Objectives 5 The Gryphon Master Tape Colle Ction cccseeeeeeeenes 5 Exterior Design 5 Cantata design story 6 The BaSSiisscciisctasceteeissgectevts 7 The smaller speakerv 8 The Gryphon Cantata 8 The design 9 Choice of Cables 9 A long process 9 The Cantata Q Controller 10 Best of both worlds 11 The Cabinet cccceceee 11 The DriverS cccccssceeeeses 13 Set UP eena angia t 15 Assembling the Speaker 15 Connecting the Q Control 16 Cantata and the listening room 17 Speaker placement 18 Selecting the Q Factor 19 Bre ak in ccccceceeeeeeeeeeees 19 Room placement 0 20 Manufacture and Assembly 21 Choice of cables 21 Care and Maintenance 22 Tweak Alefrt ccccccecees 22 Warranty c ccccceeeeeeeeeeee 23 Specifications cccee 24 Introduction Welcome to the global family of proud owners of fine audio com ponents from Gryphon Audio Designs of Denmark Your new Gryphon unit has been painstak ingly designed to re creat
12. The peerless finish build quality ergonomics and pride of owner ship that contribute to the totality of the Gryphon concept can only be fully understood and appreci ated up close and in person Rasmussen s background in fine arts and industrial design gives every Gryphon product a distinc tive luxuriant finish which arises organically out of the audio cir cuit design and the user inter face for a truly unique integration of form and function Cantata prototype Cantata design story As with all things known to man loudspeakers are subject to the laws of physics and to the limita tions of human perception We may bend manipulate or mask or exploit these laws and limita tions but we cannot ignore them In the quest for the finest speak er music lovers audition numer ous models and finally settle on what they believe to be the best speaker What else can you do But is the best speaker truly the best speaker If you are lucky you will end up with a speaker that is the best match for a particular room a speaker that might be a complete disas ter when set up in a different room This explains the differ ences in opinion about speaker performance The perform ance quality of any given speak er changes radically depending on its environment In general a loudspeaker can be no better than the listening room allows it to be Therefore the listening room is the most important element in a
13. e AES standard for balanced con nections 1 Ground 2 Positive 3 Negative Single endede mode The Encore has selectable RCA and XLR inputs at the rear panel We recomend that you switch off or mute the amplifier before changing the input settings Factory setting is XLR Balanced recommended Choice of Cables Because your Encore is a high resolution Gryphon audio device it will immediately reveal the characteristics and possible limitations of the other compo nents in your system as well as those of the interconnects and loudspeaker cables used to con nect your system Wiring should never be utilized as equalizers to correct errors elsewhere in the system Instead any error should be cor rected at the source so that interconnects and loudspeaker cables can be selected solely on the basis of sonic neutrality For this reason we employ Gryphon s own range of inter connects and cables in every stage of the design of every Gryphon product Care and Maintenance Gryphon products are handcraft ed by individuals who take great pride in the high level of fit and finish which we achieve To maintain your Gryphon compo nents in pristine condition please follow these simple instructions Metal surfaces may be cleaned with a damp cloth Some product made for treatment of vinyl inte riors in cars may be useful Test the product on a non visible sur face before using any fluids Acrylic surface
14. e the sound of live music taking place in its original recorded space Every Gryphon product is designed to cater to the needs of the most discerning music enthusiast with sumptuous styling and superb user friendli ness which elevate it above the mundane world of con ventional audio compo nents As audiophiles the members of the Gryphon design team are con stantly reminded to keep their priorities straight We are not involved in hi fi for its own sake but strictly as a means to an end in the service of our life long love of the live music expe rience in all its sonic and emo tional glory Our higher goal is to bring to the listener a You Are There sen sation In taking up this chal lenge the Gryphon designers go back to basics to analyze the essential nature of the live music experience For us an aware ness of soundstaging ambience and concert hall dimensions are necessary components Dynamics and an unambiguous sense of instrument location even in the loudest passages are also high priorities To achieve these objectives Gryphon products offer excep tional speed and agility along with seamless coherence in the time domain Since 1985 Gryphon Audio Designs has quietly gone about the business of creating fine home audio components We know that you will appreci ate and enjoy the benefits of our accumulated expe rience and share our abid ing passion for music The Gryphon In Gr
15. eek mythology A fabled creature half lion and half eagle combining the power of the King of Beasts with the grace of the King of Birds The guardian of the source of gold and protector of the Dionysian cup of infinite wealth In the real world An acclaimed Danish audio engineering com pany employing cutting edge technology and common sense in the pursuit of the purest musi cal experience We feel that the gryphon is an appropriate sym bol for our high sonic goals Flemming E Rasmussen painting 1967 The Gryphon Head Amp 1985 The Man Gryphon Audio Designs is the brainchild of Flemming E Rasmussen and the fulfillment of a lifelong dream to allow the purest essence of the live music experience to be recreated in the home environment Rasmussen holds a degree in painting and graphic arts from the Aarhus Art Academy Denmark During his studies Rasmussen developed close relationships with the local music community and designed many LP covers and concert posters After graduation he taught pho tography and painting and designed textiles before found ing 2R Marketing which quickly became Denmark s leading High End audio import company Gryphon Audio Designs was founded in 1985 as an offshoot of 2R Marketing The first prod uct the now legendary Gryphon Head Amp grew from a one off spare time project developed only for the designers own home systems Although the Gryphon project was
16. etrical vertical array in the Cantata are angled towards an imaginary centerline extending from the direct firing tweeter at the center of the front baffle Imagine that the three drivers are narrowbeam lasers angled in such a way that the three beams intersect at exactly the same point The three drivers are also situated on the same vertical axis so that the distance from the center of each drive to the ear is identical The angling of the bass drivers requires a smooth baffle with no protruding edges that would cause diffraction edge reflections that can create smearing in the time domain To ensure a clean transition between the Cantata tweeter and the bass drivers a 1 kg block of aircraft grade aluminum is machined to house the tweet er and provide ideal time align ment to the other drivers The use of Nappa and Grand Piano felt contributes to a construction with minimal diffraction From the front of the speaker to the sides an aluminum extru sion provides a smooth transi tion The unique shape of the cabinet and the use of many dif ferent materials result in a soni 12 cally invisible housing for the drivers Extensive internal brac ing and bitumen damping are combined with patented manu facturing techniques to create a cabinet with extreme rigidity and high inner damping The bottom section of the speak er system employs the same assembly techniques and painstaking attention to detail and is an
17. he tape monitor function of your inte grated amplifier Connecting the Q Controller to the Cantata Reference Monitor Finally you must connect the DC cables for left and right channels to the proper DC Output connections on the back of the Q Controller A light in the lower part of the speaker will indicate that the DC connection is working properly The Q Controller is designed to work only with the Cantata sys tem and can not be used with any other speaker system as it may severely damage the speakers The Cantata and your lis tening room Dimensions In a listening room with dimen sions less than ideal so called standing waves is the problem of concern 17 The Cantata has been designed to reduce the standing waves to a minimum with its closed enclosure design and the unique Q Controller to make the speaker perform better in a non ideal sized room For the discriminate listener the optimal placement of the speak er in a rectangular room should be according to Diagram A on page 20 Damping As described elsewhere in this manual damping of your room is the most critical quality of your listening room With your new Gryphon Cantata system the damping becomes less of a problem due to the ability to adjust the so called Q of speak er to the Q of your listening room As a rule of thumb you should avoid very lively rooms because there are physical lim its to how low a Q the speaker can
18. initially strictly a hobby not an actively pursued commercial venture demand generated by reviews and word of mouth led to the formal estab lishment of Gryphon Audio Designs as a separate corporate entity Following the immediate suc cess of the Gryphon brand all import business was phased out in 1993 so that Rasmussen could dedicate his efforts entire ly to Gryphon Made In Denmark Every product from Gryphon Audio Designs is designed and built in Denmark This is much more than just a geographical fact It is also a seal of approval a stamp of quality Living in a region with no natural resources no oil coal precious metals etc the Danes have learned to rely on their quick wits and skilled hands Innovative tech nology beautiful craftsmanship pride in one s craft and a keen eye for attractive design are some of the long standing Danish traditions which are dis tilled to their finest essence in every unit that bears the Gryphon name Musical Objectives While scientific method and sophisticated technology play an important role in our electronics design work at Gryphon we never lose sight of the fact that the keen ears of an experienced listener are the most crucial cal ibration tools Therefore every Gryphon is located in beautiful tranquil sur roundings Gryphon product exists for one simple purpose to bring the user closer in the never ending quest for a more natural and convinc
19. ller adjusts the Q of the speaker system to match the room The Q controller is devel oped by the award winning design team behind the Gryphon preamplifiers and amplifiers and is totally transparent and pro vides only the Q interface The Q controller offers multiple options to match rooms from small to mid sized and features both sin gle ended and balanced connec tions The frequency and phase response of the Q Controller matches the high performance of Gryphon amplification and the very best from other manufactur ers The flexible unit can be interfaced with the sound system in many ways and can work per fectly with integrated amplifiers without preout main in connec tions via the tape loop Best of Both Worlds The result is amazing ground breaking performance from a speaker this size The Cantata combines the best of both worlds all of the recognized virtues of the small speaker with out the constricted low end out put The Cantata offers refer ence class real articulated deep bass response The smooth controlled frequen cy roll off of the speaker also provides excellent phase char acteristics the fundamental ele ment in obtaining realistic sound stage reproduction and in addressing perhaps one of the most acute human senses our instinctive ability to locate objects in three dimensional space based on sound alone The Cabinet In many ways the cabinet design of a speaker is a night mare of co
20. mpromises and the ultimate challenge to both audio designer and furniture stylist To perform at its best a tweeter 11 should ideally be the size of a pinhead and suspended in free air while a woofer requires a large volume enclosure the larger the better To design a cabinet to optimally accommo date both drivers is simply impossible To design a cabinet with acceptable compromises is very difficult and finally to achieve a result that is visually pleasing is the greatest chal lenge of all We see many interesting speakers with obvious emphasis on the sculptural aspect We even see ingenious devices dis guised as paintings plants rocks organ pipes and other shapes Camouflaging speakers to be unrecognizable usually means that the sounds they make are also unrecognizable as music On the other hand we find many no compromise speaker sys tems where emphasis is placed solely on performance in a take no prisoners attitude These are often large strange contraptions that require a dedicated listening room or a tolerant family with a profound acceptance of offen sive furniture In the modern home an expen sive speaker system should pro vide the highest quality of sound and at the same time also be worthy of its prominent place as a visually attractive element in the living environment in terms of shape colors and materials The bass drivers positioned above and below the tweeter ina symm
21. orld but his visionary mind and calling to explore unchartered territory serve as an inspiration to us all A special thank you goes to Mr Lars Matthiesen for making the bridge between theory and realism Technical specifications Frequency Response in Room 24 22 kHz 3 dB with Q Controller 35 22 kHz 3 GB with Q Controller bypassed Impedance Min 3 4 ohms Max 7 8 ohms Crossover Frequency 2 kHz Power Handling 200 W per channel Sensitivity 90dB Dimensions Cantata each Speaker H W D 120 x 40 x 45 cm Weight 80 kgs Shipping weight 125 kgs each Shipping dimension 74 x 39 x 136 cm 24 Dimensions Q Control H W D 13 x 48 x 38 Weight 9 kgs Shipping weight 13 kgs Shipping dimension 26 x 56 x 50 cm Products features and specifica tions are the most recently available at the time of publication and are subject to change without notice Gryphon Audio Designs reserves the right to make changes and improvements in our products peri odically without incurring the obliga tion to install such improvements and changes on equipment or items
22. re important than what you do Elegant sim plicity is generally the best solu tion but often the most compli cated objective to achieve We also found that in speaker design an alarming number of crossover components is often used for the sole purpose of compensating for poor driver design We have to face the fact that high end audio is a very small and unattractive business for most large driver manufactur ers and that some of the require ments of high end manufacturers are often deemed unrealistic or perhaps even controversial as they may challenge conventional 13 wisdom As a result many speaker man ufacturers use the same drivers while exerting great effort to opti mize their performance and gloss over their inevitable short comings In the Cantata we chose not to follow this well trodden path in keeping with our uncompromis ing design philosophy we placed sharp focus on driver perform ance outside their main frequen cy range It soon became obvi ous that we had to make our own bass drivers A leading Danish manufacturer had some good basic elements and was pre pared to collaborate with us in refining them Together we cre ated a 5 inch driver with a coat ed Kevlar cone and a uniquely shaped rubber surround for a perfect transition between cone and baffle preventing the usual turbulence from surrounds that are merely a circular rubber gas ket around the driver The con ventional soft dust cap
23. reat precision However many critical listeners agree that the digital conversions and extensive signal manipulation involved have a high price and not just the one on the price tag C The most popular solution is to experiment and mix products with different flavors and espe cially to seek out a speaker that has a complementary sonic sig nature to that of the listening room At best neutral perform ance is obtained by forces react ing in different directions hoping for tonal equilibrium This is an art approaching alchemy and the proud owner s fragile house of cards collapses if any of the components especially the lis tening room is changed For many audiophiles this ongoing quest to find the sonic Holy Grail through constant experimenta tion is what it is all about Most music lovers simply want to listen to great music with great sound without needless hassle The Bass The most severe problems usu ally occur in the bass region typ ically due to designers over imaginative attempts to circum vent the laws of physics Most people prefer a speaker with full frequency response from the delicate high frequency shimmer of a triangle to the lowest notes of a church organ All speakers should ideally provide superior high frequency performance but speakers with full output at low frequencies require large drivers and consequently large cabinets with huge internal volume Low frequencies also require
24. s should only be wiped with a very soft dry cloth Small scratches may be removed with fiberglass polish Fingerprints may be removed with a damp cloth Do NOT use spirits or paper tissue 22 Tweak Alert In the best Gryphon tradition we have spent a huge amount of time with our prototypes before we release a new product We are obsessed with what we do and consider ourselves to be open minded and are fascinated by the Grey area between logi cal technical facts and things we just hear that make no obvious technical sense We will imple ment them as long as it does not sacrifice safety or reliability In the Antileon design a number of tweaks can be found and the result is a fine balance that can easily be disturbed We strongly advise against any alteration of the original design it will void the warranty and most certainly only provide a diffence not a real improvement of musi cal realism We are fully aware of the fun of playing with AC conditioners bricks platforms cables and so on We appreciate much of it but please listen to our intentions before you go ahead and if you do do yourself and us the favor of now and then going back and listening to the naked design as it was intended Enjoy Warranty The Gryphon Cantata is warrant ed against failures arising through faulty workmanship and materials for a period of 2 years from date of purchase The war ranty is not transferable This warranty
25. that works with the room rather than against it The well documented effect of bass amplification due to room gain was a force that could be exploited rather than contained To put it simply we wanted to make the room take over when the speaker let go Room gain amplification increases as frequency goes down This is exactly the opposite of all speakers that generate decreasing ener gy as frequency goes down If the roll off of the speaker s energy is an exact mirror of the rooms increased energy the result is near linear amplification in theory all the way down to DC This is only true for a sealed enclosure The starting point frequency for room gain depends on the indi vidual room Every room has an 10 acoustic profile defined by differ ent parameters in this case the crucial parameter is the acoustic Q of the room The acoustic Q is the result of the low frequency damping of the room Expressed in the reverbrattion time A loudspeaker also has an acoustic Q defined as the match between the acoustic Q of the speaker and the acoustic Q of the room that is the basis for the ideal interface between speaker and room Sometimes this happens by luck simply by accidentally find ing a speaker that SEEMS TO meet the criteria set by the room The Gryphon Cantata Q Controller The Cantata provides a clever solution as an integral part of the Cantata speaker system The sophisticated Gryphon Q con tro
26. the spike until the tweeter is pointed directly towards your eyes Adapting the Cantata to your Listening Room Your Gryphon Cantata is designed to adapt to your listen ing room The damping of the room is the most significant factor influenc ing on the behaviour of a speaker By adjusting your Cantata to the actual damping of your room you can extend the bass reproduction in your listening position far below what is normal for a speaker the size of the Cantata An added bene fit is the absence of boom bass so common when speak ers and room are not aligned See Case Story section for more information Selecting the Q factor On the front panel your Cantata comes with 3 standard settings 1 personal setting and a Bypass option Q1 for lively rooms Q2 for normal damped rooms Q3 for well damped rooms Q4 your personal setting Bypass for playing loud To determine the right setting you simply try the three stan dard settings These settings will cover most situation For the discriminate listener Gryphon will provide a personal Q setting board to be inserted into a vacant slot on the main board of your Q Controller For your personal Q setting Gryphon Audio Designs has configured a number of boards with different Q settings all allowing the Cantata speaker to deliver its full performance Your personal Q setting is activated by pressing Q4 Contact your dealer for further information 19
27. u use an integrated amplifier Connect via the tape loop 1 Connecting between source and amplifier You can connect either bal anced XLR or single ended RCA Remember to adjust the switch XLR RCA on the back of Q Controller dependent on your choice of cabling In bal anced mode the signal can be inverted by pressing Invert on the front panel For each channel Input of the Q Controller is connected to Output of the source The Output of the Q Controller is 16 connected to the Input of your pre amplifier or integrated amplifier 2 Connecting between pre and power amplifier You can connect either bal anced XLR or single ended RCA Remember to adjust the switch XLR RCA on the back of Q Controller dependent on your choice of cabling In bal anced mode the signal can be inverted by pressing Invert on the front panel For each channel Input of the Q Controller is connected to Output of the pre amplifier The Output of the Q Controller is connected to the Input of your power amplifier 3 Connecting via the tape loop You can connect with a RCA cable single ended Remember to adjust the switch XLR RCA on the back of Q Controller to RCA For each channel Input of the Q Controller is connected to Output of the tape connection of your integrated amplifier The Output of the Q Controller is connected to the Input of your tape connection Remember to turn on t
28. we cannot find them we make tem rather than settle for second best Now we have applied this experience and uncompromising approach to loudspeaker design We assembled a team of experi enced speaker designers with original design ideas never real ized before We gave them free reins to design special drivers as required to meet our ideal speci fications A highly respected Danish driver manufacturer agreed to collabo rate with us both as a learning experience and because of the prestige involved We knew that the audiophile community s expectations for a Gryphon speaker would be high and next to impossible to meet A Long Process Few people know that this proj ect started in 1995 and has gone through different stages but always based on the same design philosophy and theories The Cantata design team is the original team from 1995 Virtually stacked foil capacitor in totally reso nance free construction for loudspeaker crossover filters designed by Steen Duelund The Cantata is the fruit of all our experiments and accumulated observations a floor standing speaker with a small footprint and daring contemporary design achieved at no compromise in performance We chose to build a small speaker but developed exclusive drivers and patented technologies to provide impres sive bass performance while at the same time diminishing the adverse effect of the listening room by basically designing a speaker
29. working conditions Smaller speakers also often offer a superior soundstage allowing the speaker to disap pear as the sound HIGH BURTY COPPER EOI AND stage extends well beyond the PAPER WOUND WAX IMPREGNATED physical positions of the speak AIR CORE INDUCTOR DESIGNED BY ers STEEN DUELUND The generally smaller drivers are faster and reproduce transients and details without the delay and overhang often found in larger drivers Again there are no free lunches and the trade offs with the small speaker are reduced bass and lower maximum output than larg er speakers Critical listeners with vast experi ence in listening to different speakers often comment that they wish that they could com bine the soundstage disappear ing act and speed of the small speaker with the bass response of the larger speaker The Gryphon Cantata At Gryphon we have over the years made similar observations and faced the challenge of small rooms at shows and elsewhere We are often asked what speak ers we use and which speakers we recommend Our answer has always been that we recom mend the speaker that sounds best in the room in which it will be used When we use the term best we mean correct and real istic in musical terms essentially neutral but with all the dynamics and excitement of listening to live music We find headroom ambience and tonal coherency to be key elements in the live music experience

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