Ayre KX-5 Twenty and VX-5 Twenty

Mike

Mike

Audioshark
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Sarasota, FL
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Liquidity liquid sound!


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Damn, never should have parted with the KX5-20. Congrats Mike!
 
Wow Mike....that looks like a sweet combo. Can you reveal the price of those two? Any pic of the remote?

If I ever sell my stuff...I could be interested in that combo.;)
 
'cisco said:
Wow Mike....that looks like a sweet combo. Can you reveal the price of those two? Any pic of the remote?

If I ever sell my stuff...I could be interested in that combo.;)
Click to expand...

Thanks. They are:

KX-5 Twenty - $8950
VX-5 Twenty - $8950
 
Congratulations Mike. I love that combo. Great quality at a reasonable price.
 
'cisco said:
Thanks Mike and Thank you for the pic of the remote!
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You have to hear this combo. So liquid sounding. Oozes musicality and the bass! Wow. It does not sound like SS at all. There are zero transistor artifacts in the sound. Incredible with my Magico M3's.
 
Mike said:
You have to hear this combo. So liquid sounding. Oozes musicality and the bass! Wow. It does not sound like SS at all. There are zero transistor artifacts in the sound. Incredible with my Magico M3's.
Click to expand...

That is an atypical combination. The KX-R/20 and MX-R/20 must be something else if the 5 series are this good.
 
Devg said:
Mike, how would you compare them to the PS Audio stack ?
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Depends on the speakers, depends on power requirements, depends on whether you want a stereo amp or monos, etc. But both are wonderful. If you're ok with a Stereo amp and slightly less power, I would try the Ayre. If you need more dynamic headroom and you want some tube goodness in the system, I would give the big PS Audio amps a try and rolling tubes in the PS Audio amps makes a big difference. As good as the PS Audio preamp is, the Ayre is very special. Ayre makes excellent SS Preamps.

(That's my politically correct answer and I'm sticking to it. [emoji6])
 
Mike said:
You have to hear this combo. So liquid sounding. Oozes musicality and the bass! Wow. It does not sound like SS at all. There are zero transistor artifacts in the sound. Incredible with my Magico M3's.
Click to expand...

Mike.....I'm gonna have to stay away from this thread. :) :(
 
I use the KX5 20/VX5 20 combo with dCS Rossini DAC/ clock and WA Alidas in my study. Highly recommended.

My my main system steps up to KXR 20/MXR 20 with dCS Vivaldi 2.0 and WA Alexia.

I am am interested in hearing the QX5 to be used to replace a Naim NDS in my cabin system...although curious if a R version is forthcoming

interesting that the remote in the picture is different than mine. I have the larger remote that comes also with KXR....new remote seems more similarly styled with the QX5 remote

as a long time tube lover (cabin system is ARC ref 40/ref 150), the Ayre preamps/amps are part of a small set of SS options that seem to keep the air and palpability I love about tubes while adding a firm control of bottom end. For awhile I had a ARC Ref 250s and the MXRs in main system switching between the two. Found over time I was using a MXRs more, especially after I upgraded to the 20s. Ref 250s eventually were sold
 
enatai252 said:
I use the KX5 20/VX5 20 combo with dCS Rossini DAC/ clock and WA Alidas in my study. Highly recommended.

My my main system steps up to KXR 20/MXR 20 with dCS Vivaldi 2.0 and WA Alexia.

I am am interested in hearing the QX5 to be used to replace a Naim NDS in my cabin system...although curious if a R version is forthcoming

interesting that the remote in the picture is different than mine. I have the larger remote that comes also with KXR....new remote seems more similarly styled with the QX5 remote

as a long time tube lover (cabin system is ARC ref 40/ref 150), the Ayre preamps/amps are part of a small set of SS options that seem to keep the air and palpability I love about tubes while adding a firm control of bottom end. For awhile I had a ARC Ref 250s and the MXRs in main system switching between the two. Found over time I was using a MXRs more, especially after I upgraded to the 20s. Ref 250s eventually were sold
Click to expand...

Well said. Good description of Ayre sounds. I have the QX5 on order.


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Mike said:
Depends on the speakers, depends on power requirements, depends on whether you want a stereo amp or monos, etc. But both are wonderful. If you're ok with a Stereo amp and slightly less power, I would try the Ayre. If you need more dynamic headroom and you want some tube goodness in the system, I would give the big PS Audio amps a try and rolling tubes in the PS Audio amps makes a big difference. As good as the PS Audio preamp is, the Ayre is very special. Ayre makes excellent SS Preamps.

(That's my politically correct answer and I'm sticking to it. [emoji6])
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike. I expect no less quality for any products from Ayre. It seems like KX-5 20/VX-5 20 is indeed a very especial combo.
 
I'm at about 100 hours on this pairing. If there's a better combo under $20k, tube or SS, I haven't heard it. People always ask about Solid state amps that have tube like qualities and are as engaging as some of the best tube amps. This combo gets you there.


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Mike said:
I'm at about 100 hours on this pairing. If there's a better combo under $20k, tube or SS, I haven't heard it. People always ask about Solid state amps that have tube like qualities and are as engaging as some of the best tube amps. This combo gets you there.
Click to expand...

Sounds awesome. Perhaps I should try to convince my boss to upgrade our test/demo setup. :lol:

I came across a technical explanation of why it sounds good, direct from the designer:
http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/vt.mpl?f=amp&m=185887&VT=T
 
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