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Ayre DPS turntable - Comments by Hansen/Silberman

Posted by restock (A) on January 27, 2008 at 21:24:58

As a DPS owner, I was very stumped to read the following stereophile blog about news that Ayre will be distributing the DPS table in North America and manufacturing the power supply for the North American market:

The Superiority of Ayre Power
Ayre's Der Platen Spieler

I find there is lots of misleading information propagated in that article and it certainly does not give the original design of the DPS its due. I was shocked to read such misrepresentation of the original design of the DPS and its power supply, especially since it comes from such highly regarded people as Charles Hansen and Steve Silberman. While it is not clear to me whether the misrepresentation here is due to editing by Sterophile, which shows bad background research by Wes Phillips, or due to actual comments made by Charles Hansen and Steve Silberman.

Here as some of the original quotes and my comments and corrections:

1) Well, to correct Stereophile, the table is called DER PLATTENSPIELER (DPS). Here is the original website:

DPS turntable German site

There is an excellent review of the original (not Ayre) 3-phase powersupply DPS in Hifi+ this month.

2) 3-Phase Power:

The three-phase power supply is pure Ayre. There are three amplifiers, one for each phase. "Essentially, they are mini-MXRs," said Silberman

The original idea for the 3-phase power supply is by Willi Bauer and by Martensen and is already available worldwide in form of the DPS 3 table. Martensen seems to be a well known designer and got excellent review for his phonostage in Hifi+ as well. The 3-phase power for the DPS is certainly not Ayre's idea as Silberman makes it sound.

3) Quality of the power supply

Hansen said. "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."

Well, here is a quote by Charles Hansen in the same Stereophile blog:

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

Keeps me wondering how Charles Hansen could determine that the original power supply is substandard if they never listened to the original 3-phase powersupply!! The only correct statement seems to be that mass production was not possible for Martensen and that slow deliveries seemed to limit production somewhat.

4) Turntable construction:

"We don't need mass for rotational stability," said Silberman, "because the motor is so controlled and smooth."

Again, a statement that shows little insight in the DPS design (possibly because Stereophile cut the comment short). The reason why the platter can be light has to do with the friction bearing which simulates a high mass design (as far as I heard an original idea by Frank Schroeder). Together with the high torque motor, the DPS has an excellent rotational stability.

Nevertheless, It’s nice to see that DPS gets more attention in North America. I am also looking forward to hearing the new Ayre powersupply. I would love to try one out and would let myself get convinced that way that Ayre’s comments were no completely out of line.

With best wishes,

Rene

Die gefährlichste Weltanschauung ist die Weltanschauung derjenigen, die die Welt nicht angeschaut haben.
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859)

Edits: 01/27/08 01/27/08

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