His curiosity aroused, he persuaded Flemming to hook them
up for an off the record listening session with the clear under-
standing that this was not a commercial product.
To make a long story short, the reviewer had a revelatory ex-
perience and rumours quickly began to circulate about a my-
stery speaker that Gryphon were keeping to themselves.
Despite the unique quality of the project, Rasmussen decided
not to pursue it as a commercial venture, using the loudspea-
kers only as a valued tool in the company’s electronics devel-
opment work. The decision was based on the fact that the
many hand-tweaked, non-standard components made it a slow,
expensive and exceedingly complex system to build. Too
many of its geeky, off-the-wall solutions were conceived and
executed without regard for the real-world problems of consi-
stent, day-to-day production and long-term reliability. More-
over, this was at a time in the High End industry when
electronics manufacturers and speaker makers politely played
in their own sandboxes, rarely invading each other’s turf.
Today, things have changed considerably.
The Cantata Reference Monitor System
By the millennium, Gryphon had become firmly established as
a major international player with a range of amplification com-
ponents and CD players widely regarded as among the very
best in the esoteric world of High End audio.
Gryphon innovations included the world's first single-chassis
CD player with onboard upsampling and critical system en-
hancements such as the acclaimed Exorcist, the world's first
system demagnetizer, as well as a range of cables and acces-
sories.
Still, demand for a Gryphon loudspeaker continued to grow, as
distributors, dealers and enthusiasts wanted to share in the
great secret. Electing not to fall into the same trap as so many
others who rush to market with a “me, too” loudspeaker sy-
stem in an attempt to cash in on the goodwill of an established
electronics brand name, Rasmussen decided to address an
unacknowledged problem that he had frequently observed:
Most audiophiles select loudspeakers that are simply too large
to work well in their room and wind up fighting a losing battle
against room acoustics with inadequate tools.
Rasmussen already knew what they would have to learn from
bitter, expensive experience: Not even the best amplifier and
room treatments can turn things around once you have instal-
led the wrong speaker in the wrong room. To help enthusiasts
with limited living space overcome these obstacles, a more
compact loudspeaker became Gryphon’s top priority, because
it was felt to fill the greatest need.
The Gryphon Cantata
