News

The Eagle Has Landed: Phoenix Engineering's High Power Digital Turntable PSU

Michael Fremer  |  Dec 26, 2014

Phoenix Engineering, manufacturer of the Falcon Digital Turntable PSU and Roadrunner Tachometer today announced the new High Power Eagle PSU designed to work with both VPI's higher powered motor equipped 'tables and those with dual motor/flywheels—as well as with any A.C. synchronous motor of 15 or fewer watts.

The new Eagle includes all of the Falcon's operating features: 0.01RPM speed adjust resolution, soft start, calibration mode as well as 50/60Hz and 115/240V operation. Like the Falcon, the Eagle is compatible with Phoenix's tachometer (a separate Phoenix Engineering product) as reviewed on analogplanet.

The Eagle includes the same small footprint digital readout and control box supplied with the Falcon. Retail price is $525. Can Falcon owners who buy a turntable upgrade with a higher powered motor buy just the Eagle power supply for a reduced price? We're checking and will update this news item as soon as we hear back.

Update: There is no upgrade path from Falcon to Eagle. According to Phoenix Engineering's Bill Carlin: "Although the Falcon and the Eagle controller look identical, they are not interchangeable. The Eagle controller has all of the high power and HV parts removed so it only outputs 5VPP for the amp. We've had a number of people ask about upgrades, but we really aren't in a position to take back trade ins. The good news is most of them have been able to sell the Falcons on the used market for $300."

COMMENTS
marmaduke's picture
Submitted by marmaduke on Fri, 2014-12-26 17:39

For me as a soon to be Avenger buyer the real question is how this stacks up with the VPI SDS as there seems to be some question of whether or not the MSRP of the Avenger includes and SDS or not.

phoenixengr's picture
Submitted by phoenixengr on Mon, 2014-12-29 13:44

You can download the datasheet for the Eagle here:

http://www.phoenix-engr.com/#!/page_Eagle

At the bottom of the scrolling text, there is a link. The data sheet has a comparison chart.

watchnerd's picture
Submitted by watchnerd on Sat, 2014-12-27 05:39

It's petty, but I wish they offered a version with blue LED counters. I'd even pay extra for it. I know it's silly, but all my other electronics have blue LEDs (the trend these days).

phoenixengr's picture
Submitted by phoenixengr on Mon, 2014-12-29 13:36

Both the Falcon on Eagle controller use a 3 digit LED display from Liteon (PN LTC-2721-G). They make a Red, Yellow and Blue display in the same footprint. The LTC-2721-B is about 6x the cost of the Green and I haven't found anyone that stocks them (minimum order). If you can find the Blue display, they just plug in.

PeterPani's picture
Submitted by PeterPani on Sat, 2014-12-27 07:43

that one should work for a Thorens TD124, too - I guess. Instead of the heavy mechanical switching from 33 to 45 by pressing a button. Would be nice to have a switch for 78 rpm, too...

akovo's picture
Submitted by akovo on Mon, 2014-12-29 08:52

I'm using the Falcon with good results right now. Would there be any additional improvement by upgrading to the more powerful unit?

phoenixengr's picture
Submitted by phoenixengr on Mon, 2014-12-29 13:40

The only advantage of the Eagle over the Falcon is the power output (in case you upgraded to a higher power motor/table someday). Because the Falcon uses a directly coupled amp (the Eagle uses a xfmr in the output) it actually has better performance. There is almost no voltage sag with the Falcon output and the SoftStart (frequency ramp) starts lower than what we can do with the Eagle.

Other than that, the operation is identical.

nelg's picture
Submitted by nelg on Thu, 2015-01-15 09:58

hello there analog lovers, i am quite new at this forum so i was wondering if there is such a device for my Michell gyro se TT .the Michell has a dc sync motor. Do you guys know any upgrades for the Michell???
Regards,
Nelg.

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