"I don't think it's because we limited the bandwidth; I suspect it has to do with adding that extra stage."
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"When we were building different prototypes, we measured this design and it didn't measure great—it measured okay, but nothing spectacular. So we tried putting a source-follower driver stage on the cascode's output and it measured fantastic! The bandwidth went up and HF distortion dropped, but it didn't sound as good. So we scrapped it and came back to this design. How different did they sound? It was like the difference between a mass-market receiver and Jadis separates!
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: MOSFET power amplifier. Power output: 100Wpc into 8 ohms (20dBW), 200Wpc into 4 ohms (20dBW). Voltage gain: 32dB. Input impedance: 10k ohms. Power consumption: 65W standby, 210W operating mode with no signal.
Dimensions: 18" W by 14" D by 5.5" H. Weight: 55 lbs.
Serial number of unit reviewed: 30212.
Price: $3450. Approximate number of dealers: 27.
Manufacturer: Ayre Acoustics, Inc., 2300-B Central Avenue, Boulder, CO 80301. Tel: (303) 442-7300. Fax: (303) 442-7301. Web: www.ayre.com .
Sidebar 2: Measurements
A full set of measurements of the Ayre V-3 was made using its balanced inputs, with selected measurements repeated in the unbalanced mode, as noted below.
Following its 1/3-power, one-hour preconditioning test, the V-3's heatsinks were very hot, though not beyond the normal range for this test. The Ayre's input impedance measured 20.8k ohms (10k ohms unbalanced). As expected from a design with no loop negative feedback, the output impedance was moderately high at a measured 0.33-0.38 ohms up to 1kHz, increasing to 1.14 ohms at 20kHz. Voltage gain into 8…
Fig.6 shows the output spectrum of the V-3 reproducing 50Hz at 134W into a 4 ohm load. The distortion products are predominantly odd-order and moderately high in level, beginning at -49.6dB (about 0.3%) for the third harmonic (150Hz) and -60.6dB (about 0.1%) for the fifth (250Hz). At an output of 91.5W into our simulated real load (visible signs of clipping appeared above this level), I obtained the result shown in fig.7. This is similar to the result of fig.6, though with higher-order artifacts decreasing at a less rapid rate.
Fig.6 Ayre V-3, balanced, spectrum of 50Hz sinewave…
Sam Tellig also wrote about the Ayre V-3 in August 1996 (Vol.19 No.8):
"It's nice that the Ayre V-3 amplifier sounds so tubelike, but why not just buy a tube amplifier?"
Charlie Hansen laughed.
"If you can put up with the high prices and maintenance of tube gear, then go for it. But most people don't want to put up with the expense or the idiosyncrasies of tubes.
"Look," Charlie continued, "great tube amps still have a little bit of midrange magic that no solid-state amp I have ever heard quite gets. But the V-3 does many things better than most tube amps do. It's…
Charlie licked his chops
If I understand Charlie, eliminating noise is a good part of what the Ayre V-3 is all about. The balanced circuitry, lack of feedback, and two-stage power supply are all intended to reduce noise—ie, interference with the musical signal. Perhaps this is what gives the Ayre its air. And not only its air, but also its freedom from graininess, hardness, edginess—all the bad, bad things that transistorphobes associate with solid-state.
If I understand Charlie, eliminating noise is a good part of what the Ayre V-3 is all about. The balanced circuitry, lack of feedback, and two-stage power supply are all intended to reduce noise—ie, interference with the musical signal. Perhaps this is what gives the Ayre its air. And not only its air, but also its freedom from graininess, hardness, edginess—all the bad, bad things that transistorphobes associate with solid-state.
"It doesn't quite sound like a tube amp," I told Charlie, trying to get a rise out of him. I always like to be provocative, but…
I have a confession to make: I play contrabassoon . . . for a living. Now to many this may not seem like such a sin, but within the musical community my instrument is viewed with about as much regard as the common garden slug. This perception is not completely unjustified; often being relegated to roles depicting monsters and evil, along with the occasional digestive grunt, helps perpetuate the general disdain for the contra. However, playing the lowest (non-keyboard) instrument in the symphony orchestra gives me a somewhat different perspective on things, not unlike that of a dwarf in a…
Therefore, I take this opportunity to suggest a practical, if not philosophical, approach to the subject by offering some of the criteria that this musician uses in evaluating high-fidelity components and recorded performances. I certainly don't want to come off sounding pontifical---contrabassoonists should never pontificate---but most of the elements of performance I want to discuss, while familiar and obvious to a musician, may not be so to the average reader.
Presentation of all musical lines with integrity:
In the music business, we have a hackneyed, but all too often relevant…
It should be obvious that if a loudspeaker or other component cannot reproduce these rather substantial differences in attack and tonal weight, the end result is nothing more than a homogenized, bland, and gutless representation of the original. Those who subscribe to this school of living-room sound need not concern themselves with this particular problem, since their musical tastes usually lean toward the repertoire most often heard in elevators.
Musical accuracy of program material:
A can of worms unto itself, and the pet peeve of musicians. Unless the listeners have firsthand…
"Hey, J-10!" John Atkinson called from the hallway outside my office. "I liked your October 'Fine Tunes'!"
"Hey, JA! I wrote it in Paris—whad'dya expect, chopped liver?" I thought I was being clever. A sure sign of senility.
JA's face changed almost imperceptibly and he headed into his office. My, aren't your feet big, Mr. Scull!
But in the spirit of that October "Fine Tunes," I hope you'll use a few of following tweaks from my bulging grab-bag of tweaks to improve your audio system.
The first concerns reader Cyrus Won (who prefers that his e-mail address not be…