Gryphon Pandora Preamplifier
Description
Overview
Since Gryphon’s founding in 1985, the company’s philosophy has remained constant: the relentless pursuit of sonic perfection without compromises in design, construction or cost. The culmination of Gryphon’s four decades of design and engineering expertise are fully realized in Commander: the most advanced preamplifier ever made.
The Drive
Launch Pad for Commander was Gryphon’s brilliant Pandora, widely regarded as one of the world’s finest preamplifiers. Commander shares Pandora’s Dual-Mono layout with four separate chassis—two apiece for signal and power supply circuits—single-ended Class A input buffer (which passes the signal through the fewest possible parts) and zero global negative feedback. These designflourishes yield a sound that is exceptionally transparent, fast, natural and open: qualities that achieve their highest expression in Commander.
Naturally, Commander embodies major engineering advances including a high-precision voltage reference which delivers approximately 50 times lower noise than Pandora. A pair of fully discrete, linear power supplies (one per channel) are dedicated to analog circuitry while a third feeds the digital control circuits, maintaining absolute mechanical separation and electrical isolation between digital and analog sections. Weighing over 50 kilos, Commander’s dual-mono power supply chassis includes four custom-made toroidal transformers engineered for minimal noise. Two of these (one per channel) power the dual-mono preamplifier circuits while the second pair are reserved for upcoming Gryphon source components, ensuring a future-proof upgrade path.
Extensive use of aluminum chassis components lays a solid foundation for performance, yielding non-resonant enclosures that minimize both mechanical and electrical degradation, providing optimal working conditions for Commander’s finely-tuned amplifier circuits. Unique among preamplifiers, Commander’s constrained-layer-damped bottom plate—a “Sandwich” of three individual layers of Kerrock, bitumen and steel—reduce vibrtation to an absolute minimum. All amplifier and analogue power supply circuit boards float above these bottom plates on purpose-engineered isolators. A quartet of Gryphon Atlas Spikes under each chassis move resonance control even closer to theoretical perfection.
Needless to say, every part of Commander is the finest available: from the Charcroft Audio ultra-precision resistors used in our volume control to the premium, oversized Mundorf MCap® ZN foil capacitors specified for local power supply decoupling to the four custom-made 36VA toroidal transformers, no expense has been spared ensuring performance and build quality that defines the state-of-the-art.
Eternal Beauty
The “Nordic Noir’ design ethos, created for Gryphon by Flemming Rasmussen, reaches its zenith in Commander and its siblings, the Apex Power Amplifier and Diablo 333 Integrated Amplifier. The distinctive finish of these components, combined with the powerful imagery of their large triangular displays, conveys the authority and vitality of their music reproduction.
Presented in an extra-thick, 4mm glass window, Commander’s 4.3” TFT touch-sensitive display ensures an utterly intuitive user interface. In a unique design flourish, Commander’s display changes with the listener’s distance from the system, enabling Volume and other settings to remain perfectly legible regardless of listening position. The massively thick, hard-anodized aluminum chassis reinforces the impression of power and authority, a sculpted Gryphon crowning each chassis. The result is a preamplifier as beautiful to the ear as it is to the eye, a classic whose style and sophistication will stand the test of time.
With the Commander, you’re in control. Take command of the world’s finest audio system: only from Gryphon.
Features:
- Exterior design by Flemming E. Rasmussen
- Electronics design by Tom Møller
- True Dual Mono configuration
- Zero global negative feedback
- Microprocessor-controlled 85-step relay, volume attenuator featuring Charcroft Z-Foil Audio ultra-precision resistors and ultra-low capacitance relays for best sonic performance.
- Super-fast discrete Class A input buffer developed for best possible sonic performance
- Fully discrete balanced dual differential Class A line stage circuitry followed by a very fast symmetrical current amplifying Class A stage
- DC servo coupling
- Fixed-level AV throughput bypasses volume circuit for seamless integration with surround systems
- Premium massive Mundorf MCap® ZN capacitors used for local power supply decoupling.
- MCap® ZN’s loss factor is ten-times lower than of metallized polypropylene-film capacitors. Additionally, the mass inertia of the tin foil prevents oscillations in the benefit of transparency and spatial recreation
- 4-layer printed circuit boards with pure copper traces up to 70my thickness
- Minimal internal wiring
- Four separate custom made 36VA toroidal transformers, two for each channel
- Massive power supply capacitor bank for each channel; total of 2 x 90.000uF
- Separate linear power supply for both digital and individual left/right channel analogue circuits
- Fully regulated extremely low noise power supply for all voltage amplifying stages
- Local shunt regulators which ensure low noise over a large frequency bandwidth
- Commander Power Supply chassis with additional DC voltage outputs for future external Gryphon sources.
- Gold-plated Neutrik XLR sockets for four balanced (Source) inputs and two (Main) outputs
- Gold-plated Gryphon RCA phono sockets with Teflon insulation for 2 (Source) inputs, one Tape Output and one single-ended preamplifier (Main) output
- Standby current consumption ≤ 0,5W
- Adjustable channel balance, source level matching, start-up volume and maximum volume level
- 12V Link In/Out for remote power On/Off control
- Green Bias control for Gryphon power amplifiers
- Large 4,3” TFT capacitive touch information screen for intuitive control, presented in 4mm glass
- Firmware upgrades easily via USB stick through rear panel
- Separate mechanical chassis for Power Supply and Amplifier circuits
- Decoupled Kerrock™, bitumen and steel sandwich “Constrained Layer” chassis bottom isolates and damps sensitive amplifier and power supply printed circuit boards. Prevents smearing of the fine audio details.
- Designed and built in Denmark
Specifications: