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As is standard for tweeters whose sensitivity is higher than the mid/woofers chosen to accompany them, the Mojo's AMT needs resistive padding. To afford some user control over relative level without switches or rheostats, Gryphon has made the resistors externally accessible. Encased in thin cardboard tubes to look like cigarillos, the Duelund graphite resistors snap into place with convenient rear-panel clips, then connect with their original leads to little screw terminals. The default setting is neutral and runs 10Ω and 22Ω units. The -0.5dB low setting inverts their position with the 22Ω resistor on top. The high setting swaps in a 5.6Ω unit included with the gloves while the four original resistors go back in the box.


I most fancied the added transient energy from the high setting - see above.

The optional Mojo stand comes disassembled and uses texture-paint MDF plates with synthetic wrap on the hollow MDF center column which should be filled with lead shot or sand. Inserts in the bullnosed four-pronged bottom plates receive spikes, provided floor protectors are optional. Compared to Track Audio's recently reviewed 'ultimate' Precision 600 stand, Gryphon's seems decidely more fashion statement. It's less extremely engineered and still subscribes to the old floor coupling rather than more current decoupling paradigm.

At €13.900/pr with matching stands and €15.500/pr in the upgraded finish supplied for review, Gryphon's Mojo is dearer than my $13.800/pr Mark+Daniel Fantasia S floorstander. That too embraces air-motion transformer technology, albeit taken down to 400Hz with a proprietary widebander augmented by a >7kHz upfiring paralleled small omni AMT and 8-inch long-throw woofer loaded into a downfiring 28Hz port in dense 3-piece modular synthetic marble cabinetry. I could carry the Mojo under one arm. I can't carry the Fantasia in two without a strong helper. On perceived value and delivered bandwidth the luxury monitor from Denmark found itself overshadowed by the overachiever from Shanghai.


Swiss Gryphon importer Marcel Müller of Müller Trading who facilitated the review loaner had sold the very first Gryphon Cantata ever to an as it happened Danish customer. He still remembers the Cantata with fondness even though its price then was twice what the Mojo's is now and he never had any love for its external Q controller which he felt "made no difference whatsoever". Of all brands the now semi-retired Müller has carried over his career involving a very popular dealership in Zürich, he's held on only to Gryphon.


While luxury hifi sales in today's economy have crashed even in Switzerland, Marcel simply can't bring himself to fully retire just yet and jump Gryphon's viking ship. In fact he had himself booked for a quickie one-day stint to the May 2011 Munich show to learn what new things Gryphon might introduce as Rasmussen was playing stumm even with his oldest importer/dealer. Once a Gryphonite always a Gryphonite?

Without pressing the point, to the public at large and even its dealers the actual engineering team at Gryphon remains obscured behind the personality cult around Flemming Rasmussen. Gryphon isn't operated by an engineer but business man. Part of this package entails a luxury tax. This you don't pay with Mark+Daniel for example. On the other hand audiophiles who habitually rotate through equipment rely strategically on resale values which are not based on raw performance alone. They also ride on intangibles like prestige, longevity, market penetration, recognizability and such. That's what the luxury tax buys. How much one values such intangibles is utterly personal and beyond the scope of certainly my review commentary.

Griffins at Persepolis
   To conclude a brief competitive detour, the Fantasia's resolution was superior, likely due to the far broader bandwidth over which its very dynamic AMT operates. Its benefits were most apparent during low-level listening. As you'd expect bass extension and weight were superior too as was top-end air as the domain of that omni tweeter. On raw performance in my 5.5 x 12m room investing into the Mark+Daniel speaker would thus net higher returns. As a juxtaposition of Danish-built maxi monitor versus PRC-built hi-tech floorstander such a conclusion was nearly inevitable. That said the engineering focus (sonic school, design priorities) was coincident and as such distinct from two other recent review subjects, Aurelia's Graphica and Living Voice's OBX-RW. M+D and Gryphon both are about needle-work exactitude and obvious but unforced speed.

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