Gryphon Audio Designs Commander Preamplifier

By Jacob Heilbrunn

Danish Magic

In the film Caddyshack, the character Ty Webb (played by Chevy Chase) is an affable businessman and crack golfer who even plays well when blindfolded. At one point, he undertakes to give some free advice to the ambitious teenage caddy named Danny (Michael O’Keefe). As the duo survey the course at the venerable Bushwood Country Club, Webb recites a saying that he fancifully attributes to the famous seventeenth-century Japanese philosopher and haiku poet Matsuo Basho: “A flute with no holes in it is not a flute. A donut with no hole is a Danish.”

So, what does that make the Danish Gryphon Commander—a black aluminum two-chassis design with no external knobs or switches that essentially does almost nothing to the audio signal? I’m no philosopher, but I can attest that it makes the Commander not just a preamplifier but something of a magical instrument.

Your eyes will tell you a lot of the story. Put bluntly, the Gryphon Commander preamplifier is a commanding…