Thread: new pre

After a few months of messing around ( I even ordered a week or so ago and then cancelled ) I finally ordered an Ayon Auris 2 pre amp . I typically don't like the same manufacturers' equipment feeding each other as , to me , it seems to reinforce the "house sound" most times. Anyway , I finally pulled the trigger and the Cary is sold , unless I send the Ayon back . I have 15 days to figure it out , it should be here on Wednesday . Two features I had to have are switchable gain and remote .

Thanks guys , I appreciate it . This thing had better be mind blowing or it's going back .

Originally Posted by BlueFox

Just curious, but why do you have a space before punctuation symbols (comma, period)?

Karen , It's a bad habit I have and will try to do better . Please don't turn me in to the site admin .

Originally Posted by stereogeek

Karen , It's a bad habit I have and will try to do better . Please don't turn me in to the site admin .

Nah, don't sweat it.

Life's too short...

Thanks 'Cat I certainly won't sweat it . The Ayon came in today and I got it installed in the system . This thing is way bigger and heavier than I thought it was going to be , not sure why I didn't look at the physical specs a bit closer . It will only fit on the top shelf of my Adona rack so I put the player ( a top loader ) on the second shelf after I lowered the shelf about 6 inches . I wasn't going to listen too much to it over the first few days or so but this thing is mind blowing . It's more extended and detailed at the extremes , the midrange is more defined and more natural and can you say imaging? It has only been on for about an hour so hopefully all this won't change ( knowing my luck though...). Keep in mind the Cary is the original SLP-05 ( with new stock tubes last year ) and without the Ultimate Upgrade . Also , everything is system dependent, therefore , the Cary could sound better than the Ayon in other systems .

Randy , you are obviously a bunch smarter than me and have it all figured out . Will you please forgive me for pretending I bought a new preamp ? I was just trying to be one of the boys....

Randy, I was just giving it back to you a bit. Anyhow, last night it did change a bit. It got a bit brighter (probably the 6h30's doing their thing) and the bass got a bit stronger. I changed out one of the interconnects from a set of Tara Labs to Cardas. It did take a bit of the highs away and it increased the bass a bit. It is still very 3d like with a huge sound stage . These 3 components running in class A are really heating up my space. It's only about 180 square feet, it is upstairs in loft style home . The good news is it is a very odd shape which really helps with smoothing out the bass. You can move about the room and the bass sounds perfect almost everywhere. I still have some room treatments to install in the form of two bass traps and 4 panels for the 1st reflection points and the back wall. I'm not sure I will even install the bass traps. I am putting the Tara interconnects back in to keep it more consistent. BlueFox, I really tried to keep the punctuation correct this time. I have a bad habit of hitting that dang space bar. Cheers.

I can say without reservation that this Auris 2 is one very nice piece. Unlike a bunch of preamps you can use almost the full range of the volume control instead of just the first 30% or so. This thing is very musical and throws a wide and deep sound stage. It has a presentation that is smooth , dynamic and gets the midrange right ( the most important thing , IMO ). Here is a pic of my modest ( and quite dynamic ) system . BTW, don't laugh at my speakers, they sound much better than they look, lol.thumbnail_IMG_20200801_151538883.jpg

Sold the Cary and the CJ amp last weekend , both to the same guy. He is very pleased with the Cary and not pleased with the amp. Here are pics of both along with possibly the worst sounding rack I have ever heard. Once I get my room organized it will be a glorified CD holder. There is a thread regarding this rack and my new Adona rack. Please keep in mind everything is system dependent and this maple rack might sound great in other systems. !cid_6c46f95e-7312-4542-8cb6-fc42c709fba6.jpg

I am using a First Watt F6. I change speakers quite often and I wanted to make sure I had enough "pop" at 4 ohms. My buddy bought the CJ amp primarily to flip, he is not a CJ fan. It's funny how our expectations are when you change components on a system. We can expect one thing and be very surprised by something else, it is part of the fun.

I had these in one of my past lives. Had it matched with a Solution 501 preamp. My god as a system it was good with any music....

AYON Epsilon_KT150_34L.jpg

Those are sweet mono blocks for sure , 100 watts each of pure single ended triode juice . I have been eyeing the Crossfire mono amps for a while as I only need about 20 - 30 wpc . The Auris 2 has about 60 hours on it now and has settled in quite nicely . The rhythm and pace ( boogie factor ) makes you want to tap your feet which is always a good sign .

The Auris 2 preamp has settled in quite nicely and performs well above the price point. No regrets. I do have a story to tell about the Cary SLP-05 that I just sold. I bought the preamp new from a dealer in Sarasota ( Not Mike and NOT Sunshine Stereo ) about 7 years ago. I even called Cary about buying from him ( as he is not an official Cary dealer ) they said he was ok to buy from. I paid for the preamp and it was drop shipped to me direct from Cary. After a few days of use I noticed a bit of the silk screening on the faceplate was a bit off, I didn't think much about it as the preamp was sounding very good and you had to look really close to notice the blurring. The guy I sold the preamp to is a real stickler on details. When he was inspecting the box he noticed there was another shipping label underneath mine. The preamp was originally sold to a guy in Kentucky and somehow was returned to Cary. Maybe it was due to the sloppy silk screening? We thought maybe just the box was switched but the serial number on the box matches the unit. So, I paid for a new unit and it appears I received a "B" stock and/or used piece. Kind of a shame in a way as I represented the piece as one owner and purchased new from Cary, the guy who bought it is still ok with his purchase. Buyer beware.