Pure Science. Pure Audio™
|
|
Pure Science. Pure Audio™ |
HOME PRODUCTS ZUS AUDIO ENGINE TECHNOLOGY SEARCH CONTACT US ORDER NEWSLETTERS
http://www.zusaudio.com/newsletter/n1jun2006.htm
Written by Russell Torlage, President
Thank-you! Many of you have been interested in ZUS Audio's products since we first created our website. We were not yet prepared to launch our products since we knew of the many obstacles we had to surmount in order to properly prepare. In addition, we also faced numerous set-backs that were tragic in some cases (one of our audiophile "golden ears" was killed in a motorcycle accident), and wholly unforeseen in other cases. However, we still wanted to at least give you a glimpse of what might be coming so we decided to launch this website yet do no advertising that ZUS Audio was up and running yet. So, we sincerely thank-you for your patience and interest in our products. We have had to push our product launch date now to early 2007.
Mr. Randy Slone: As you may know, Mr. Randy Slone is the Design Consultant behind all of our products. When SEAL Electronics stopped selling audio kits directly to the public, ZUS Audio was formed. ZUS Audio's task is to bring Randy's unique and groundbreaking audio technology to the public; not in kit form but in fully assembled and tested units. Designing and creating new completely finished products has been quite a challenge. We wanted to incorporate the highest level of quality, workmanship, reliability and performance possible in a no-compromise approach to audio product design. In an unexpected turn of events, on March 15, 2006 Randy had to undergo emergency heart surgery. I know that many of you have in the past conversed with Randy either through e-mail or by telephone and have come to know Randy well. After many weeks in the Intensive Care Unit, Randy has slowly started to regain his health. It was touch-and-go for a while, but Randy has a strong spirit and he pulled through like a trooper. We are grateful that Randy is recovering and will continue to do so over the next 6 months to a year. Of course, we have had to re-shuffle our product launch date to allow Randy to heal.
Patents: We are applying for 4 original US Patents on our technology. Once the patent status has been verified we will be able to start offering our products. We are very excited about the opportunity to receive one or more patents on our technology as it is rare to see new and innovative design ideas relating to linear class audio amplifiers.
Audio Power Amplifier:
Early March, 2006 we finally got the first prototype pre-production amplifier up
and running. The amplifier chassis was built out 10 gauge (AWG) steel. The
heatsinks were CNC machined out of huge billets of solid aluminum. The amplifier
pictured here with Randy and myself (on the left) weighs in at over 80 lbs.
Russell Torlage and Randy Slone
Prototype Amplifier - Front View
Prototype Amplifier - Rear View
This prototype was built to demonstrate a 6-channel version of the amplifier as
well. You can see this from the rear view. The completed
amplifiers and pre-amplifiers will have a more "traditional" look to them as
opposed to the proposed "artist's rendition" shown here:
Early Artist's Concept
The reason for the change is that a very expensive die-cast mould is required for making the front panel and heat sink assembly for this particular design. We wanted to keep the costs down on our initial release of our products as well as not tying ourselves to a specific "look". We then made the decision to introduce our products using a traditional yet very functional rack-mount chassis design. Later, we may consider tooling up for the original concept as we really think this design is unique (and very cool). The amplifier in the photos is a 4U high chassis. A "U" is 1.75" high. Thus a 4U is 7" high.
As for performance, we were really "blown away" by the test results using our bench equipment. We needed to verify the performance when all parts have been assembled and wired up in an enclosed chassis. You can never confirm performance until the unit is in its production state. Why? Because a certain wire run might interfere with another wire run, resulting in degraded performance or instability. Incidentally, the amplifier (and pre-amplifier) performed flawlessly on the first try. That tells us our design is extremely stable and not subject to exterior influences. These are tell-tale signs of engineering done right. Kudos to Randy.
Audio Pre-Amplifier: As with the power amplifier, we also performed pre-production assembly and testing on our pre-amplifier (photos will be posted later). The pre-amplifier will be housed in a 1U chassis. Again the audio performance was staggering. Once again, we have proven the design in a fully assembled and wired unit housed in a chassis.
AC Power Filter (PowerPure™): We have also built a new product we call the "PowerPure™". The PowerPure™ is a high performance AC power line filter. This unit is intended to filter and clean the AC power prior to your audio gear. The unit (photos will be posted later) is housed in a 3U rack-mount chassis and has 6 x AC receptacle "outlets" on the rear. You simply plug the PowerPure™ into the wall outlet, and then plug your audio gear (amplifiers, pre-amplifiers, etc.) into the PowerPure™. The PowerPure™ has a 2,000 VA toroidal transformer powering it, so it can output many watts for running your audio gear. One of the unique features is each AC outlet on the PowerPure™ has built-in "soft-start". What is soft-start? Most high-powered linear audio amplifiers have huge reservoir capacitors that get charged rapidly upon applying power to the amplifier. A very large in-rush of current takes place (your lights may dim, etc.) when first powered up. This is very demanding and could even reduce the reliability of a power amplifier. You might also hear the "thump" in the loudspeakers as the amplifier powers up; again not desirable. (Note, all our ZUS Audio Power Amplifiers already have soft-start built in so this is not an issue for us.) The soft-start system is by-passed after 10 seconds, so it does not in any way hinder the power delivery during normal operation. We hope to offer remote control on the PowerPure™ as well. Clean AC will greatly enhance your audio experience.
What's Next?: Although our production schedule has been pushed back a few months, we will continue to work diligently to ready our product line for launching in 2007 (or sooner). The Potential for Patents will take much of our time at present. We are very excited about releasing an "e-booklet" in the near future (we will announce when it is ready). This e-booklet is intended to be a guide in helping you to understand how to choose truly high-end audio equipment by helping you understand electrical audio specifications, what to look for and what to avoid. We hope the e-booklet will also help de-mystify all the mis- and dis-information being disseminated in the audio world.
That is it for now. As we reach new milestones, or have any breaking news here at ZUS Audio, we will continue to inform you through our newsletters.
Sincerely,
Russell J. Torlage,
President
ZUS Audio Inc.
ZUS Audio Inc. Penticton, BC Canada
Tel: 1-250-770-2022, Fax: 1-250-770-1999
Copyright (C) 2007, ZUS Audio Inc.