Any Ayre VX-5 Twenty owners yet?

joeinid

joeinid

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Looking forward to your opinions?

Thanks.

Ayre_VX5_20.jpg
 
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KeithR said:
only had the original VX-5 in for demo, sorry :(

i do think Ayre and SF is a good match.
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Joe, I just received the upgraded VX-5 Twenty back from Ayre and the results are very, very good.

The Twenty is not even played-in yet but I am already enjoying it a lots. Have owned a bit of gear and heard a lots of it and I can now absolutely wholeheartedly recommend the Ayre five series Twenties. The difference compared to pre-upgrade really is significant.

What happened to me, was that I upgraded my preamp first from the mellifluous K-5 xe MP to the bigger brother KX-5 Twenty, running it with the VX-5 in a first step. As a matter of fact I was not entirely happy with the pairing, as I felt the slightly warmer K-5 xe MP was a better pairing with VX-5.

Then over summer I got the upgrade slot from Ayre and was able to send in my power amp for the Twenty treatment. I received it back recently and it has not even yet ran the 500 hours break-in you need with Ayre gear. Results are however already kicking in, big time.

I have a pair of pretty neutral Magico S3s I run with the Ayres and never thought any amp would ellicit such a pallette of colours, solid bass and wonderful tonality from the Magicos. While details were good pre-upgrade, paired with a stronger and deeper bass, richer tonality and the microdetails both the amps and speakers can do I am pretty much blown away. It is now so clear that the speakers just pass through how good your amplification is or even insn't. This is now a very strong match.

I am pretty much a Jazz and Rock guy and like small ensemble, artistic voices etc. But with the Twenty upgrades in da house, I just cannot stop listening to classic, as the set really amazes me. The richness of piano and violins are just mind blowing. What they say about the S3 is that its greatest achievement is the midrange enclosure (also featured in the newer S7), which lifts the mids to a level of clarity not heard in previous Magico S series models. I am now able to take advantage of all of that (not that any other areas wuld be lacking). The Twenty upgrade also provides the VX-5 with a significant bass improvement (heft, depth).

Coming back to my pre-upgrade, I now understand and hear the KX-5 Twenty is a significant step-up from the still 'Stereophile Recommended Component' rated K-5 xe MP pre, in terms of micro details, airinessand, microdetail and resolution, but pre-upgrade the the VX-5 was just not able to get the most out of it. Now I am in audiophile heaven.

I gather you are a fairly seasoned audiophile, who has seen and heard a lot. In case you have a chance, check out the Ayre VX-5 Twenty (or the KX-5 Twenty/ VX-5 Twenty combo for that matter). I would be rather surprised if your conclusion would be you wasted your time. And I would be interested to hear you opinion and get a feeling for whether I am smoking something, just because I happen to have the gear, or if they actually are rather exceptional.

Talking about the VX-5 Twenty, in a summary I feel like I sent in some hi-fi for upgrade to Ayre and got some hi-end back.
 
Kuoppis,

Thank you so much for the update. I am glad you are happy. I've been thinking about the Ayre gear for a while. Now you got me thinking again .....
 
joeinid said:
Kuoppis,

Thank you so much for the update. I am glad you are happy. I've been thinking about the Ayre gear for a while. Now you got me thinking again .....
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Looking at your setup Joe, you have a fairly exquisite taste and for sure know what's good. With the Twenties I would say Ayre has gone from good to great and might be worth a listen, even for more seasoned audiophiles.
 
Kuoppis said:
Looking at your setup Joe, you have a fairly exquisite taste and for sure know what's good. With the Twenties I would say Ayre has gone from good to great and might be worth a listen, even for more seasoned audiophiles.
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Thank you for the kind words. I think I need to pare my gear down and simplify but it's difficult. A friend introduced me to Ayre and I was surprised how nice it sounded. I know the new Twenty series is a major step up.
 
cmalak said:
What do the KX-5 Twenty and VZ-5 Twenty retail for?
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Hi cmalak,

I think they typically retail for about $10K each in the US and in Europe a bit more at about €11K each, no idea about Asia - that is after the new pricing was introduced in Feb with the Twenty editions. But in case you're interested, you could do what I did and just check with your local dealer.

There might however be a little bit of a waiting time to get Twenty versions though. In my case, to get a new pre delivered and the power amp upgraded and shipped, took altogether about nine months.

And then there is about 500 hours of play a pop to burn them in :).

/Kuoppis
 
I've spent a good amount of time with the VX-5 Twenty. Kuoppis pretty much nailed it with his explanation. I will also echo that the upgrade to the Twenty is tremendous. I really liked the amp when we first got it. Once upgraded it was in a whole new league. If I had to describe it in just a few words they would be. Tight clean bass, beautiful mid's and uber-detailed top end.
 
BobNY said:
I've spent a good amount of time with the VX-5 Twenty. Kuoppis pretty much nailed it with his explanation. I will also echo that the upgrade to the Twenty is tremendous. I really liked the amp when we first got it. Once upgraded it was in a whole new league. If I had to describe it in just a few words they would be. Tight clean bass, beautiful mid's and uber-detailed top end.
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+1.
 
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