By Dr. Panagiotis Karavitis
In a “press only” demonstration, Flemming Rasmussen, founder and CEO of Gryphon Audio Designs walked us through his latest creation, the Pantheon Reference loudspeakers. The Pantheon is considered by Gryphon to be their most compact floor stander, measuring 1.48 x 29 x 69cm with two 8” drivers, two 5” drivers and one air motion tweeter (AMT). Guess my personal speakers (1 meter tall) should be classified as mini monitors.
In pure Danish tradition, many of the components are sourced from the internal market including the custom Scanspeak drivers, with Duelund and Jensen capacitors for the 4th-order crossover. Interesting enough, the crossover is pre-biased with a 28V battery which accordingly with Mr. Rasmussen helps creating a more “3D presentation”.
Since Gryphon is among the few companies that produces a complete line of electronics and speakers you would expect them to show off the “house sound”, and you would be spot on. If you are not familiar, let me describe it this way: seamless top to bottom integration, airy sound and one of the most detailed images of the show.
Price for a pair of Pantheons is 35.000 euros + local taxes (okay, not so compact). The Mikado Signature CD player, Kaliope DAC, Pandora reference pre-amp and Mephisto power amp completed the setup.
