Напольная акустика — Gryphon Audio KODO

The Kodo is a four-way twin-tower loudspeaker system from Gryphon Audio of Denmark, introduced at High End Munich in 2016 at EUR 220,000, a price that included a 10-year warranty and setup by the factory. It later rose to EUR 260,000 or USD 390,000. Gryphon groups it with the Trident II as a statement system, and each channel consists of a passive mid and high frequency tower and an active bass tower, 38 drivers in total.

Key specs that matter

Each bass tower carries eight custom 8-inch woofers and a built-in Gryphon Class AB amplifier rated at 1,000 W continuous and about 4,000 W peak. Each mid and high frequency tower uses one Mundorf AMT tweeter, four ScanSpeak Illuminator midrange drivers and six Gryphon mid-bass drivers, which together cover 200 Hz to 25 kHz. The system response is 16 Hz to 25 kHz within ±3 dB. Sensitivity of 96 dB at 2.83 V and 1 m applies to the passive tower, and its impedance never falls below 4 ohms. The bass tower is 54 cm wide, 237.5 cm high and 88 cm deep, the mid and high tower 44 x 232 x 66 cm, and the complete system weighs about 1,360 kg.

Engineering and use context

The bass amplifier weighs 70 kg per tower on its own and uses Sanken bipolar output transistors, a linear power supply and no negative feedback. An active analogue crossover feeds it, while the upper tower has a hand-adjusted passive network with Duelund air-core inductors, Jensen inductors and Duelund graphite resistors, following the Duelund Constant Phase principle of keeping all drivers in phase at every frequency. The AMT tweeter has a folded Kapton film diaphragm with aluminium traces and a sensitivity of 100 dB, and its level can be set to -1, 0 or +1 dB by exchanging resistors. The front baffle is concave and time-aligned, and each driver sits on its own isolated baffle section. Cabinets are built from MDF modules with 8 mm aluminium supports, bitumen-damped HDF outer shells and solid aluminium bases with adjustable feet. A remote control sets bass level, bass Q through an active Linkwitz-Greiner Q control, low cut and mute, and the master tower passes commands to the second tower over a data cable. The bass towers have XLR and RCA inputs and loop outputs and a 12 V trigger link. Finishes are made to order, with detachable wings often in carbon fibre.

Pairing

The passive mid and high towers need an external stereo power amplifier, and their high sensitivity allows moderate power. The system requires a very large room.

Alternatives

The Gryphon Trident II is a three-way tower with an AMT tweeter, four 8-inch woofers per channel and a built-in 500 W bass amplifier.