Driving MBL 121: Accuphase or Gryphon

Bob,

Wow! I wish I can afford your system. The quest for the absolute sound continues. Just curious, what do you use for your music source, digital or analog? I am not into analog because of the extra hassle. But the current digital state-of-the-art comes rather close to analog nowadays.

I use digital...I have a Meridian G-98 running thru the hd621 switch, which conveys some of the new aphodizing filtering; which makes my CD's sound much better, then back thru into a Meridian 861 v4.2. I also have Qsonix music server running digital out into the 861; the new hi resolution 24/96kz downloads from HD tracks played thru the Qsonix is actually better quality than red book cd as described above; but standard cd's thru the qsonix is just a slight step back from the g-98/hd621 sound..but it's all good. I also use the sony 5000es for Blue ray discs and home theater; the BD player handles the new HD audio info; and it gets run into the hd621 switcher; then into the Meridian 861 processor for awesome hd audio quality thru 5.1 speakers...I've not tried analog with my digital Meridian gear..it converts all signals into the digital domain anyway; but it also lacks a two channel audio bypass; so I can't get benefit from external dacs...

Other MBL owners have switched to the Bryston amps; see Dev's posts; with good results; and less expense than using MBL amps..the Bryston 14's or 7's might be a good match; but it seems that you found great synergy with the Pass 350.5...in an apartment; you seem to have your system now dialed in pretty well...

I wonder if digital amplifiers in the vein of Nuforce or Bel Canto would also mate well with the MBL. As I -right or wrong- associate the 121 with lushness and strength "in a velvet glove" (sorry literaly translated from French) and the Nuforce/Belcanto of this world with sharp/crystal clear sound and high dynamics , I figure that the association could work well, couldn't it?

F

Having owned the Nuforce SEV2's for the past 2 years, then switching to the Pass 350.5, I doubt the Nuforces could drive the MBL's 121's. The Nuforce amps are great IMO. The Pass feels twice better at twice the price. That being said, the Nuforce seem to struggle with the Dynaudio Confidence C1's, an easier drive at 85db efficiency than the MBL's 82db or lower efficiency.

I recently moved back to using solid-state integrated and was fortunate enough to have a larger budget ($5k - $10k) during my selection process.

There is a guy down in New Zealand who did some pretty thorough listening to a lot of powerful / high-end integrated amps (Gamut, Gryphon, Plinius, etc). He eventually settled on the Gryphon Diablo.

For my own search, I had to go on the "house sound" that I was aware of for each of the brands I was entertaining (Gryphon, Pass, Gamut, Accuphase, etc), because auditioning was not always an option.

I eventually settled on the Gryphon Diablo also. I decided against Accuphase because there are too many gray-market Accuphase products on the used market. The Gryphon gear is hard to find on the user market too (especially the American used market), but after about 4-5 months of looking I was able to find a new Gryphon Diablo, that was used only as a demo in a showroom and at shows, and strike a good deal.

To be honest, I might have jumped at the chance for the Gamut or Pass first, but having a phono stage in the integrated was a big deal for me. Not many of the really high-end integrated amps have phono stages. The Gryphon Diablo does (as an option), and so do the Dartzeel, but the Dart was wayyy out of my price-range on the used market.

It sounds like one of the biggest criteria for you is having the power to drive those MBL speakers. I think the Diablo would do it (800 watts down to 2 ohms). However, like somebody said a bit earlier, you may want even more power than that. Even if you did like the Accuphase sound better than Gryphon, I still dont think the Accuphase integrateds would be able to really meet the true power needs of the MBLs.

Is there an integrated amp out there that even dishes out 1000 watts? Maybe that big Krell FBI (unfortunately, I dont know the stats off-hand)?

Personally, I'm incredibly happy with the Gryphon Diablo. It sounds great, the ergonomics are nice, it looks cool, the price was right on the used market, it meets my phono-stage requirement (with aplomb, btw), and it comes from a very reputable company that has been around for a long time that is known for their no-compromise style of engineering and highly-regulated manufacturing process with strong quality-control.

In summary, if I were you, I would go with Gryphon. You'd probably be very happy with the Accuphase at low-levels, but I dont think it could hang with the MBLs when at a higher volume.

But with all of this said, you may want to look for an even more powerful integrated. There are not many out there that are more powerful than the Gryphon Diablo, but there are some.

Good luck.