Thanks everybody. I’ve seen enough to swap the amp to see what happens. I can’t take any more chances with the monster amplifier. The crackling appears to be happening more frequently now.
I’m not going down the tube road. You guys have convinced me to stay away. 😁
I know the people at Soundsmith will get it fixed. They’re wonderful.
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I ordered an Son of Ampzilla II from SST. It’s more than I wanted to spend but I can pick it up and move it around. It’s a 40lb brick and not a 75lb or 90lb brick. I’m looking forward to seeing how it does. I ran James Bongiorno’s 90lb Class A Sumo Gold for years. I know this is only A for the first ten watts, I believe, and AB for the rest but it is 220w into 8ohms and 350w into 4ohms.
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I’ll have a month with a new amp and my existing speaker cables to see if the crackle comes back. I can’t take any more chances powering on the monster amp.
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Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.
It’s a crackle not rattle and it appears to be at any volume level. When I heard it, I switched sources and it kept happening. I then took the volume level to 0 and there was still some noise on the right channel. When I turned off the amplifier, you could hear a noise in the right channel.
I suppose it could also be the preamp. How do I figure out if it is the preamp?
First, I will swap both ends of end cable from left to right to see if the sound moves to the other speaker.
I’ll tighten all connections. I’m running a big AudioQuest power conditioner. Could it be that? Seems unlikely. It’s either the speaker, amp, or preamp, I think.
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I guess I’ll swap the amp end cables first and then swap both ends with of the cables to see if the cable could somehow be bad.
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I have an update!
I swapped the speaker cables at the amplifier and the crackle moved to the other speaker. This happened after the amp was running for about fifteen minutes. So, I think we can conclude that it is not a speaker problem.
How do I figure out if the problem is in the amplifier, preamp, or interconnects?
I realize that this is a first world problem. Sorry for that. I should have replaced the whole thing with a Bluetooth speaker. :)
Before my hip surgery, I had started Olympic weightlifting. It was kind of a joke for me, but the guy who runs the gym can squat over 500lbs so perhaps I can pay him to loud the amplifier into the back of my car, if it comes to that. That's what I did a few years ago when I needed to get the amplifier fixed. A seatbelt is recommended on a 150lb amplifier, lol.
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Hmmm, so, my preamp allows me to switch LR channels without switching cables. What if I swap the channels there and see if the noise persists in the Left channel, where it has moved to?
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Ok, I swapped the inputs to the amp and the crackle stayed in the same channel as before, so, I guess it is the amp. Sigh. I really wanted an excuse to upgrade the preamp.
I’ve shut down the power to the amp and will see about getting it repaired. I hope Soundsmith is still repairing Gryphon gear.
Now, I need some kind of amp to stand in for the Gryphon
Colosseum. I hate those Class D amps but may have to get one.
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Yes, first I switched the speaker cables and the crackle switched channels. Switching the inputs from the preamp did not move the crackle.
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Does everybody agree with my conclusion?
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Thanks for the help. Yes, I'll have to find some kind of amplifier to stand in while I wait to get the Gryphon repaired. I did this years ago when something else went wrong and the Class D amplifier I bought did not defeat the Colosseum. I guess there is no surprise there.
The only reason I have the Colosseum is that it has a vertical footprint that fits into a rather cramped space. Now, Gryphon has gone away from vertical designs, so, I don't see any replacement in their current amp lineup.
Speaking of tube amplifiers, I thought about trying the Cary CAD-120-S Mk II with its XLR inputs but I have no place to put it and I just know my wife will kick a tube if it is left on the floor, so, I'd better stick to solid state designs, lol.
My friends at Soundsmith got back to me and said they're working through a backlog of repairs. I'll have to figure out when I can strap the Gryphon in the backseat of my car and make the long journey out there.
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That AGD Tempo di Gan does sound interesting but I'm not so sure I can find one for sale. Let me know if you see one.
I don't know if I'll ever swap out the Colosseum to listen to something else, to be honest. With that said, it would be nice to have something that I enjoy listening to. I'm thinking that I might go to $3k. I'm sorry that that is so cheap.
I don't upgrade very often and so I am wondering what would move the needle the most in terms of sound quality. I was thinking that breaking the bank on the Gryphon Pandora preamp would make a noticeable difference but now I have to pay for an amplifier repair.
So it goes.
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Ok, well, I’ll buy a replacement amplifier, swap it in, and see if the crackle comes back. I don’t want to take any more chances with the monster amp.
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Before the preamp are my sources, and switching between them did not get rid of the crackle. Hopefully, I’ll have a new amp to try within the week to see what happens. I’m not going to be able to move the monster amp for probably a month or more.
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I switched the speaker cables and the crackle went to the other speaker.
I'd go for a Son of Ampzilla II for around $1500. I missed one on Reverb. 220 watts into 8 ohms, 350watts into 4 ohms. A 20lb transformer is a good start. James Bongiorno always tried to provide a lot of bang for the buck.
I probably won't be happy with any Class D in my price range and might be somewhat happy with Class AB. For me, Class A is the destination.
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The Gryphon Colosseum can produce 1250w at 1ohm and 5400w at 1/2 an ohm. The capacitors are huge. The amp has plenty of power and can handle far larger speakers than the Cantatas.
See here:
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The amplifier is Class A the whole way. There are some low, and medium bias modes of 30w Class A and 70w Class A but I never use them.
The manual Is here:
the front and rear edges of the amplifier are heat sinks and, yes, they get hot. The amplifier wastes a watt in heat for every watt it produces in sound but it is a sweet sound.
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I think my system sounds good and has life. Here is an iPhone video of one minute of Dame Janet Baker singing Where Corals Lies from Elgar’s Sea Pictures:
Elgar video
I hope this works. It’s hosted on Imgur. You may need to turn the sound on by hitting the speaker icon in the upper right.
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The specs are here:
Gryphon Colosseum Specs
in the right column. The whole system is on a dedicated 20a line and the amplifier is plugged into a high current plug on an AudioQuest Niagara 5000.
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Who makes a good 150w into 8ohms Class AB amplifier for about $3k? I need to be able to lift the thing. It has to have balanced inputs. No tubes.
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I swapped the speaker cables at the amp and the crackle moved. It’s a channel on the amp.
I was excited about the Benchmark until I realized that the speaker binding posts will only take small spades. My Gryphon speaker cables have huge spades. To make matters worse, the Benchmark puts the speakers posts above the XLR inputs, almost guaranteeing that they’ll block my input cables. Sigh.
The reviewer of the Benchmark in Stereophile mentioned that he was looking for lighter amps because he could no longer lift or move heavier amps. I’m in the same boat, at the moment.
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Gryphon Colosseum Binding Posts
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Gryphon speaker cable spades
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It’s true. There is no worthy substitute in my price range. My requirements are, it needs to take my large spades, have XLR inputs, and I have to be able to lift it.
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So, you don’t think it means anything when I switched the speaker cables and immediately moved the crackle from the right channel to the left channel? The left channel has never had a crackle until I swapped the speaker cables. It’s hard for me to believe that both speaker cables have somehow gone bad, and that one of them hid its fault.
Yes, I will get the Gryphon repaired. It will take months, months waiting to drive it to the repair shop, months waiting for the repair to be done, and months to find the time to go back and get it. I have the airline shipping crate but it is expensive to ship the amp by truck and there is a risk that the amp gets damaged.
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I didn’t move the cable, I just swapped what channel on the amp was connected to which cable. Both speakers are still connected with the same cables.
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No worries!
There must be an amp that would work for me.
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Thanks for the suggestion of the spade to banana adaptors. That will help. And, yes, I will dislike anything that I buy, lol. I was trying to minimize the amount of dislike. I’m in the grieving stage. I’ll have to live with the replacement for months.
Getting an amp I can lift is probably the most important requirement.
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