hi, sorry I don't quite get what this product is. is it a power supply that can be purchased separately for ayre products that one can plug their amps into? how many outputs does it have?

The power supply goes with the turntable.

In general, belt drive turntables use either a DC motor or a synchronous motor. Most synchronous motors are 2-phase designs. The first phase can either be supplied by the AC mains or a dedicated oscillator. The second phase is generally created by running the first phase through a capacitor to get a 90 degree phase shift. The dps turntable (and the SME, and possibly a few others) use a 3-phase synchronous motor. The advantage of a 3-phase over 2-phase is that (theoretically, at least) all of the torque variations (ie, "cogging") and vibrations cancel to zero. The disadvantage is that it's not easy to build a 3-phase power supply. But we've come up with a nice pure-analog design that we like. (The one in the photo is just a prototype, which is why it looks a little "sloppy" compared to our normal products.) Hope this helps, Charles Hansen Ayre Acoustics, Inc

I had the same question as Simon, but here's another: what of the KX-R? Is it showing at CES?

The KX-R is here in Vegas and is even cooler than I anticipated—but my beat is source components. Bob Deutsch will be blogging about the KX-R, not to mention all other amps and pres.

Mr. Hansen, What is the difference between the 3 phase power supply of the DPS-3 and the 3 phase power supply manufactured by Ayre?

I really don't know, because I haven't ever seen the 3-phase power supply that dps provides. The original impetus for Ayre to design a power supply was simply the cost. The dps 3-phase power supply basically doubles the price of the turntable compared to the standard 2-phase power supply. I figured that we could make a good 3-phase power supply for a lower cost than the dps 3-phase supply. I started researching it, and it turns out to be fairly tricky to make a nice 3-phase analog oscillator. (It's trivial with digital technology, but then you introduce a whole host of other problems.) When we were satisfied with the oscillator design we combined it with our zero-feedback power amplifiers to drive the motor. It improves the sound over the 2-phase power supply quite dramatically. My understanding is that Willi Bauer (the dps designer) will evaluate our supply. If he prefers it to his current 3-phase supply, he will include it with his product outside of North America. As usual, everything is subjec

"The Superiority of Ayre Power"-"The three phase power supply is pure Ayre."-"But the power supply, while having some innovative ideas, was not up to the standard of the DPS itself—and slow deliveries of the PS were keeping the table from gaining traction. So I said, we can make a better PS—that's what we're good at." These claims seem to be bit of an overstatement. The idea of using a 3-phase power supply for the DPS is certainly not new. And to simply discard the current power supplies as low quality without listening(!!) is unjustified. Martensen, who does the current power supplies, is certainly not a bad designer (see the excellent review of his phonostage in Hifi+). I would have hoped Charles Hansen would be more thoughtful and considerate in his statements. Nevertheless, as a current DPS2 owner, I am looking forward to hear Willi's comments on the Ayre version of the 3-phase power supply or to listening for myself. If Ayre lives up to the high staked clai

As published, this article makes little sense, having no introduction or context. Could you please re-work it so readers can better understand the purpose of this device. For example, what is the turntable mentioned so referred to, etc.?