Gryphon’s tribute to Joe Riedeger
Denmark-based Gryphon Audio Designs has dedicated a special limited edition of its Antileon amplifier to Australia’s Josef Riedeger, who died at the end of last year. Gryphon’s founder and designer Flemming E. Rasmussen remembers Riedeger as a good friend as well as Gryphon’s Australian distributor for 33 years, while few Australian hi-fi lovers can have failed to encounter this giant of the industry, who set up his retail business Audio Connection in Bankstown in 1987, before enquiries from overseas companies saw him embark on dual distributorships Kedcorp and Advance Audio Australia. He was king of the trade-in — if we had a dollar for every time we’ve heard “I got it from Joe as a trade-in at a great price”, we might just be able to afford a Gryphon ourselves. We recognised him with a Sound+Image Lifetime Achievement Award back in 2008.
He was also renowned within the audio industry for his prodigious work ethic, a famous example of which occurred in 2002 when Riediger had a heart attack and was rushed to hospital for a heart bypass operation. Just three days after surgery, and against medical advice, he checked himself out of hospital, jumped into a taxi and went straight to his office, still in his hospital gown.
Gryphon’s tribute is the magnificent Antileon Anniversary amplifier pictured above, celebrating 25 years since the original
Antileon, now a 2×150W with 670,000μF power capacity, with the fundamental philosophical foundation remaining extreme wide bandwidth, maximum channel separation and exceptional peak-to-peak current capability to ensure compatibility with even the most viciously reactive loudspeaker loads. The 25th anniversary edition will comprise a special numbered series of 25 stereo versions and 25 monoblock pairs, each set coming with a reproduction of the original Antileon EVO artwork and a special owner’s manual with a historical introduction to every Antileon generation, written by Rasmussen. A milled slot on top features this gorgeous golden Gryphon figure.
For more informaition on the Antileon Anniversary, contact www. kedcorp.com.au