MUSICAL OBJECTIVES
Let us make one thing perfectly clear:
The sound of live music must be the ultimate reference in the design of any audio playback system.
Of course, there is an endangered species of »techno-freaks« who seriously maintain that the concert hall experience is
irrelevant to the hi-fi experience. The techno-freak finds live music in real space duller than the thrill of hi-fi, lacking the »
ultra sharp focus « on instruments. The predominance of reflected sound in the concert hall also takes the »edge« of live
music for the techno-freak.
The sole purpose of every Gryphon product is to recreate as accurate an illusion of the live music experience as is
humanly possible. We are successful only if our endeavors move you not to say »What a wonderful amplifier«, but to say
instead, »What marvelous music«.
THE GRYPHON CREW
The exterior design, ergonomics and basic philosophy behind every Gryphon project are the brainchild of Gryphon
founder Flemming E. Rasmussen.
More often than not, a full line of audio products is conceived and designed by a single person whose lack of overall
expertise is revealed by the fact that a fine power amplifier is followed by a mediocre preamplifier or that the phono stage
in an otherwise excellent preamplifier is not up to the same standard.
The Gryphon design team consists of two permanent members to ensure a consistent standard of performance,
ergonomics and styling. They are assisted by a strong line-up of specialists who provide additional know-how and
creativity for each individual project.
T H E G R Y P H O N D E S I G N G O A L S
One immediately obvious aspect of Gryphon products is the dual mono concept which is carried to its ultimate extreme in
the topology of every Gryphon design in order to achieve minimal crosstalk, maximum channel separation. The use of
large, separate power supplies and multistage AC regulation and filtering are also Gryphon trademarks. Simplicity is the
watchword in Gryphon circuit design, with painstaking attention to the layout of grounding paths. Even the earliest
version of the Gryphon Head Amp in 1984 featured true star grounding. The presence of the MUTE function on the
program selector switch is just one example of our deceptively simple approach to maintaining the shortest possible
signal path.
What is left out in audio engineering is every bit as important as what is put in.
Too many audio engineers use large numbers of mediocre components in a vain effort to compensate for fundamental
shortcomings in circuit design, resulting in overly-complex products with textbook specifications, yet mediocre sound
quality.
Equally irrelevant to the quest for realistic home music reproduction is the school of thought which subscribes to the
indiscriminate use of only the »best« and most »fashionable« components, »dream caps«, »superresistors«, etc. This
approach guarantees nothing but a very high price.
The Gryphon design team employs premium grade components, some of which are very expensive, others of which are
less well-known in consumer audio but held in high regard in the computer industry and other professional applications.
Rather than view these components in isolation, the interface and synergy of every part of the whole is carefully
scrutinized.
Because Gryphon products are designed with careful attention to the true relationship of measured performance to
subjective sonic performance, the Gryphon Preamplifier XT is an ideal tool for the evaluation of other components.
To Next Page
Loading...
Need help?
General
