PS Audio Ships Power Director

March 18. 2002

PS Audio has begun to ship the Power Director, the latest in its growing family of power delivery systems. The Power Director is a power management device designed to perform all the necessary switching and network command functions that are needed for a custom home audio/video system or rack-mount environment. Equipped with 12 outlets (six receptacles) and four dedicated 20-amp Ultimate circuits, the Power Director performs AC conditioning, surge and spike protection, non-current limiting, and communication and switching interfaces. The Power Director is conditioned by PS Audio's exclusive Ultimate Outlet circuitry, which eliminates common and differential mode noise, protects equipment from surges and spikes, and reduces the output impedance of AC power from the wall outlet by a factor of three.The Power Director is designed to work independently or with PS Audio's Power Producer, the first A/V-ready Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) device designed exclusively for the high-end A/V market. The Power Producer, available later in 2002, regenerates AC power into a clean, pure energy stream that helps connected equipment achieve peak performance. It delivers up to 1500 watts of pure sine wave power in the event of a power loss, and provides a series of key power services that include high- and low-level voltage regulation and protection against blackouts, brownouts, power surges, and all other types of power interruption. The Power Director performs the switching and network command functions required by today's sophisticated, highly demanding custom home A/V environments. The Power Director enables installers to preset the input voltage before any protection circuitry is activated, and adjust the delay time before the unit resets itself and powers back up.The Power Director features four 20-amp precision-wound baluns -- highly efficient transformer cores with identical, balanced windings wrapped around each half of a donut-shaped toroid. Wound with extremely heavy gauge pure copper wire and terminated in a network of Class X2 and Class Y2 film capacitors, the baluns lower overall output impedance by a factor of three. Each 20-amp Power Director circuit can be dedicated to a particular class of products, such as digital, video, amplifiers, and the like. The Power Director is completely modular and upgradeable, and includes one input module and three output module slots on the rear panel. The simple, interchangeable modules allow installers to change the type of AC plug and the voltage received by that plug. The plugs can be PS Audio Power Ports, standard-grade U.S. 110/220 V outputs, U.K. outlets, or Shuko sockets. Smart circuitry automatically switches internal voltage to accommodate the specific plug or plugs being used. The board for the Power Director's main input module includes three CATV inputs and CATV outputs for cable and antenna protection, one phone input and two outputs for telephone protection, four slide switches to control the output delay, a 15-amp circuit breaker with reset capability, a 15-amp IEC input, a 12-volt external trigger input, a PS bus that serves as a communication link for all PS Audio components, and a Panja Crestron interface slot for an off-the-shelf Panja card that allows customers to interface with CE-bus equipped products.A four-digit LED readout on the front panel displays settings for voltage, wattage, and power factor correction. It can be turned off completely in media room applications. Infrared receivers and transmitters enable the Power Director to be used with handheld learning remotes, as well as hard-wired touch-panel systems, such as those by AMX and Crestron. The Power Director's internal input power supply can accept 90-300 volts with no user switching necessary. The Power Director employs triply redundant AC protection using a microprocessor control as the first line of defense. When the input AC voltage exceeds a preset limit, the outputs simply switch off and connected equipment is protected. When the voltage returns to normal, the outputs turn back on, again according to their sequenced instructions. If the first line of defense fails, a second line of defense kicks in, using PS Audio's proprietary Tranzorber circuitry. In the unlikely event the Tranzorbers are asked to absorb too much power, an internal fuse opens, completely shutting off the outputs, protecting connected equipment.The Power Director can be mounted on a rack, with optional and removable rack mounting ears, and includes a detachable power cord on the front panel for simple rack and cabinet accessibility. The Power Director is available now at a suggested price of $1,495. For additional information, visit PS Audio's Web site at www.psaudio.com.

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