Specifications

DIAGRAM 4
DIAGRAM 5
In this simplied schematic (see diagram 5) from the
DartZeel website, I have drawn a red box around the
Diamond output stage (identied 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 (identied as the “Second
Stage” at the bottom of the diagram).
No feedback
Of course at Ayre, we absolutely avoid the use of
feedback in everything that we do. Feedback can only
attempt to correct an error *after* it has happened. It
works great on paper and can be mathematically shown
to be sound (as long as certain rules or guidelines are
followed).
" But to my ear, there is something more
natural and musical about an amplier that
does not use any feedback whatsoever. "
So we developed a special buer stage to go in between
the front end circuitry and the Diamond output stage
that has a directly coupled input *and* a directly coupled
output.
In any event this works quite well, as the AX-5 is perhaps
the nest sounding product that Ayre has ever made.
The Integrated Approach
There are lots of possible variations on combining
separate functions into one box. Some make more sense
to me than others.
In the old days receivers were quite popular, but now
radio is kind of a dead medium. And of course no receiver
could ever match the audio performance of good
separate components.
I think that putting too many things into one box (eg,
phono stage, DAC, preamp, and power amp) would lead
to a product that would be relatively expensive *and*
degrade the overall performance. Amplifying microvolt
level MC phono signals in a box that is also delivering
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Page 10
The AX-5 Story
from Ayre Acoustics March 2014