The Bayadere 3 comes from the Serbian company Auris Audio as a belt-driven record player sold complete with its own W9 tonearm and an EON power supply. Its styling takes inspiration from the Devadasi tradition of Indian temple dancers, and the plinth is built up from layers of aluminium set with dark, glossy Kerrock elements meant to recall the coloured stripes of Indian silk. Auris offers it in black, white and red, and it ships without a cartridge or record clamp.
Key specs that matter
Speed selection covers 33.3 and 45 rpm, and Auris quotes speed variance of plus or minus 0.11% at each. The platter is a 299 mm aluminium disc. A synchronous AC motor running from 24 V turns it through a belt. The plinth measures 385 x 300 x 132 mm and the complete deck weighs 14 kg. The supplied W9 arm is a 9 inch gimbal design with an effective length of 229 mm, an effective mass of 12 g and an overhang of 18 mm, and the maker lists a tracking force range of 5 to 40 mN. Auris states that cartridges weighing from 8 g to 15 g can be fitted.
Engineering and use context
A ceramic ball rides on a Widia thrust plate inside a bronze bearing cylinder, the plate rated above 80 on the Rockwell hardness scale. Beneath the main platter sits an aluminium sub-platter with a chrome ground shaft and a cemented carbide plate of roughly 90 Rockwell, and the hub runs in bronze for a long service life. Rubber rings isolate the bearing assembly from the base, and the deck stands on feet made from a special rubber compound that can be adjusted in height for levelling. Auris chose a synchronous motor for its speed accuracy and stability, and the design leaves room for a later electronic speed control upgrade. The W9 arm is built from carbon fibre and milled aluminium, runs on six ball bearings, and includes an anti-skating system, a tilt angle of 24 degrees and 10 mm of VTA adjustment. Its internal wiring comes from Van den Hul.
Pairing
The only item left to choose is the cartridge, and the 12 g effective arm mass together with the stated 8 to 15 g cartridge weight window frames that choice, with the required tracking force falling inside the 5 to 40 mN range of the arm. A separate phono stage is needed, because no phono preamplifier is integrated into the plinth or the power supply.
Alternatives
The Auris Bayadere 5 sits above this model in the Bayadere range, with a 40 mm thick solid aluminium platter and a synchronous motor in its own enclosure driven by a linear power supply with a 32 bit DAC for speed control.