The AX-5 Story from Ayre Acoustics t: 01727 865488 e: info@symmetry-systems.co.uk March 2014 w: www.symmetry-systems.co.
Page 2 Ayre AX-5 Introduction Featuring Ayre's new Diamond output stage, their exclusive EquiLock circuitry, and a Shallco solid-silver contact switch for gain control, this fully-discrete, fullybalanced, zero-feedback integrated amplifier provides a complete solution for your modern music system. TYPE: Reference class integrated amplifier The key to perfecting the AX-5 was to incorporate the Variable Gain Technology (VGT) of the award-winning Ayre KX-R preamplifier into the power amplifier section.
Page 3 The AX-5 Story from Ayre Acoustics maximum. When you turn the volume control down, the output signal is reduced, but the noise of the circuitry remains the same -- therefore the S/N ratio becomes worse and worse as the volume is lowered. Since most preamps are used anywhere between -10 dB to -40 dB for an average listening level, this means that the S/N ratio in actual use will be 10 to 40 dB worse than on the spec sheet.
Page 4 The AX-5 Story from Ayre Acoustics March 2014 " I am confident of this to the point that I consider any product that uses relays in the audio signal path to be unusable as a reference-quality device. At Ayre we use them to short out the signal for he mute function in some products. But that is as close as they ever come to the signal path of even the lowest priced of Ayre equipment. " using gold plated contacts. This wouldn't be too bad if it were just gold.
Page 5 The AX-5 Story from Ayre Acoustics in long interconnect cables (the reason why balanced equipment is standard in all recording studios., but rather because just as the balanced circuit can reject hum and interference on the input cables, it can also reject any interference in the units power supply. When the day comes that a totally perfect power supply is developed, there will be no more need for using balanced circuitry in home-use applications.
Page 6 The AX-5 Story from Ayre Acoustics DIAGRAM 1 March 2014 DIAGRAM 3 DIAGRAM 2 t: 01727 865488 e: info@symmetry-systems.co.uk w: www.symmetry-systems.co.
Page 7 The AX-5 Story from Ayre Acoustics March 2014 " What is different about the diamond buffer from a typical output stage is that after the signal has been split into two halves to send to each output device, is that the two half signals are rejoined at ONE single point. There is NOTHING in between these two half signals. " Diamond buffer Back to the “Diamond” buffer.
Page 8 The AX-5 Story from Ayre Acoustics To address the first problem means that the amplifier needs to be larger and heavier, with a more powerful power supply. To address the second problem means that one needs to use a more powerful driving source than the typical amplifier uses.
Page 9 The AX-5 Story from Ayre Acoustics With a push-pull amplifier, the input signal is split into two halves with opposite polarities with a stage called a “phase-splitter”. Then each output tube amplifies one half of the signal, and these two “half-signals” are recombined by the output transformer. When solid-state came out, they were able (eventually) to make two devices that were opposite and (approximately) equal.
Page 10 The AX-5 Story from Ayre Acoustics March 2014 In this simplified schematic (see diagram 5) from the DartZeel website, I have drawn a red box around the Diamond output stage (identified as the “Third Stage” at the bottom of the diagram) and two green boxes around the two half-stages that amplify the “bottom” and “top” halves of the signal, using a feedback loop around the three transistors in each state (identified as the “Second Stage” at the bottom of the diagram).
Page 11 The AX-5 Story from Ayre Acoustics tens of amperes to loudspeakers is not conducive to high performance. Similarly, putting complex digital circuitry in the same box with analog circuitry is going to cause problems. The RFI from the digital circuits is going to contaminate the analog signals.
Page 12 The AX-5 Story from Ayre Acoustics March 2014 “ I guess the bottom line is that to me, what you are asking for is not really an ‘integrated amp’ so much as an “integrated system. ” a performance compromise than having one box for digital and one for analog. I think that combining the volume function with a DAC can make a lot of sense for an all-digital system, but not so much if one has any analog sources.
Page 13 The AX-5 Story from Ayre Acoustics truly revolutionary in its concept and execution. We have described how the input selector works and why we have chosen FET switches (properly implemented) to achieve the most transparent input selection short of the Shallco rotary switches but managed to save thousands of dollars off the retail price by making only a *very, very* small sacrifice in the sound quality.
Page 14 The AX-5 Story from Ayre Acoustics Ease of use To simplify the use of the system, the inputs may be named - either from an extensive list of pre-loaded names, or by generating a custom three character name. Each input is only active when it is named. In this way the customer need not scroll through several unused inputs to reach the desired one, as the inactive inputs are simply skipped over.
Page 15 The AX-5 Story from Ayre Acoustics may need. Next, there are two connectors on each unit. Each connector has both an input and an output, so they are completely interchangeable. The system is connected in a “daisy-chain” fashion, and the component that generates the command transmits it on both connectors. As it travels down the line, any component that is supposed to react to the command does so and re-sends the command down the line.
Page 16 The AX-5 Story from Ayre Acoustics March 2014 9 Features AX-5 Specifications - VGT for "Variable Gain Transconductance" circuit Power Output 125 watts per channel continuous into 8 ohms 250 watts per channel continuous into 4 ohms - Ayre’s new Diamond output stage - Ayre’s exclusive Equilock circuit - Linear analog power supply - Zero-feedback, fully-balanced discrete circuitry - High-speed circuit board material - Custom developed audio-grade resistors - Ayre Conditioner power line RFI filte
