Ayre K-XR Pre and M-XR Monoblocks -- Who's heard them?

[Hopstretch]

since hookers provide no satisfaction, that should be easy.

You're doing it wrong.

[guzziguy]

It's no problem, he has a money tree out back at the Mayberry Compound.

Al wishes that was the case. Actually it's much more embarrassing, money out the wazoo!

[grawk]

You're doing it wrong.

Or you are...

[Voltron]

Going to hear these beasts on Friday afternoon. Trying to figure out if bringing JP#s would be a good reality check or whether he would just be whispering DEW EET! in my ear the whole time.

[luvdunhill]

do it (then send me high rez photos) oh and I call dibs if you need to move them quick and cheap (really cheap) for some sort of tax reasons, or mafia "reasons", or divorce settlement, or whatever..

[luvdunhill]

The Ayre KX-R provides two tape outputs per channel,

allowing connection of the selected source component to a

recording device, headphone amplifier, or secondary sound

system.

my brain has been missing the last few weeks. I thought you were implying that you could run headphones right off the tape loop... I didn't see the "amplifier" part

[Voltron]

Yeah, I was trying to figure what got your back up.

[Pars]

<snip> suggestion that a balanced tape out could be used for a headphone amplifier made my heart go pitter-pat.<more snip>

my brain has been missing the last few weeks. I thought you were implying that you could run headphones right off the tape loop... I didn't see the "amplifier" part

Yeah, I initially took it that way as well (read it as used as a headphone amplifier).

I run my HP amp right off the tape outs on my pre (SE) as well, works great; even better with mine in that the pre doesn't have to be on.

[n_maher]

Trying to figure out if bringing JP#s would be a good reality check

I'm sorry, did you say "jp#'s" and "reality check" in the same sentence?

[guzziguy]

Going to hear these beasts on Friday afternoon. Trying to figure out if bringing JP#s would be a good reality check or whether he would just be whispering DEW EET! in my ear the whole time.

You should definitely bring him along. After he starts saying how good they are, you can start saying DEW EET to him. Then you could buy them from him in 6 months when he sells them. To really improve your chances of getting them cheap, you should fly Mike in for the listen too. If John won't buy them Mike probably will. Then you have the same scenario. Either way, you'd save a lot of money.

[luvdunhill]

even better with mine in that the pre doesn't have to be on.

yup, I love this feature, my BAT preamp was the same way. In fact, you could use the solid-state phono stage card through the tape loop without firing the tubes up, which was *really* nice

[luvdunhill]

is that Huffie the Towl?

[deepak]

You should definitely bring him along. After he starts saying how good they are, you can start saying DEW EET to him. Then you could buy them from him in 6 months when he sells them. To really improve your chances of getting them cheap, you should fly Mike in for the listen too. If John won't buy them Mike probably will. Then you have the same scenario. Either way, you'd save a lot of money.

I like this train of thought

[n_maher]

is that Huffie the Towl?

List of other South Park residents - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

cue Dan saying this information is not factually accurate

[jp11801]

Going to hear these beasts on Friday afternoon. Trying to figure out if bringing JP#s would be a good reality check or whether he would just be whispering DEW EET! in my ear the whole time.

Time and place please, I am the voice of reason!

[Dreadhead]

:: De Weet :: Het mooiste dierenmagazine voor het hele gezin.

[Voltron]

So far, all the Voice of Reason has done is add a couple of other really expensive options to the mix! I will try to audition some Shindo gear, which I have been meaning to do anyway. And it turns out that the White Unicorn of tube line/phono preamps is available in SF new but at a used price because it was traded in before being used. Same dealer as Shindo, so maybe two birds will be killed with one visit. This is nuts!

[guzziguy]

If you are going to open it up to other brands, maybe you should ask John Tucker to ship you an XP-2 demo unit so you can compare it too.

[Voltron]

I actually don't want to open it up generally speaking, but there you have it. The Doshi White Unicorn may already be sale pending and the dealer won't open the box because he thinks the value will plummet. Might have to scratch the mythical beast off the list I don't want to have in the first place.

Anybody else read the Stereophile articles on the Ayre stuff? I really am curious if others have thoughts of a technical nature. Interesting ideas in play, but I am not sure that the price is "justified" (never is at this level anyway).

[Sherwood]

I read the article.

I have a difficult time believing that any active linestage cuold be more transparent than an excellent passive linestage, and breathtaking transparency is what's in play here. I'm not well versed enough to have a truly technical discussion of the product, though, as some of the measurements and theories were over my head.

[grawk]

I don't have any problem believing that an active linestage can be less colored than a passive one. Passive electronics need to get their mojo from somewhere, and without the additional electrons, it seems to me they're MORE likely to be colored.

[Sherwood]

Their mojo comes from the input signal, which should be plenty of mojo to drive a linestage.

That being said, I also heard the KX-R at RMAF, and the system it was in (Ayre and Vandersteen) was breathtaking.

The demo guy was a real asshole, too, but in the fun "don't torture me with your boring chamber music grandpa" kind of way which I always enjoy.

[luvdunhill]

Anybody else read the Stereophile articles on the Ayre stuff? I really am curious if others have thoughts of a technical nature..

Charles Hansen is a genius, enough said. It's very hard to do what he does with no feedback, I don't think anyone would disagree. The volume control in an absolute masterpiece in the K-XR masterpiece.

I've only heard a single Nick Doshi design and was quite impressed. I'm not familiar with the current offerings though and how the price would compare with the Ayre. I think the Doshi designs probably keep their value due to their "cult status", but who knows.

[Voltron]

Now we're talking! Sherwood, how could you hold out on me if you heard the gear at RMAF?! Any more details other than "breathtaking"?

As for the active vs. passive preamp issue, I don't think I have heard a truly spectacular passive preamp. One of the other contenders in my mind for some time has been Steve McCormack's VRE-1 that is a hybrid active/passive design (whatever that means). He tried to make this pre a fully passive design and found that it was lacking in balls (not is so many words but you get the gist). I really like Steve's work and have talked to him on a few occasions. He offered the VRE as a demo and I should really take him up on it. I am guessing that it would match up will with my McCormack DNA-500 power amp, but there are some limitations on the VRE such as no balanced loop out that make it a little less appealing than the Ayre. I am damn curious about it, though, and I could avoid a lot of expense if it truly mated well. More things to consider...

[Sherwood]

If Steve McCormack's design is anything like Nelson Pass' (and why wouldn't it be) it uses active autoformers to match input and output impedances, but the rest of the circuitry is passive. Firstwatt has that pre, and recently released a DIY kit with the JFETS for like $50.

Regarding the KX-R, it was rather the toast of the show. Impressive, considering the issue of Stereophile hadn't come out yet, and the deep pockets were just carrying their "recommended components" issues.

Insofar as I can describe the sound of a preamp in various setups, I would say it was extremely transparent. Soundstage is difficult to capture in a hotel room, but every room I heard the Ayre in had far better than average depth, width and height. That's understandable with the Vandersteens, but I heard the Ayre in the Lansche / Continuum labs room, too, and that room took best of show in my book. Timbre was dead accurate, noisefloor was absolutely zero, and the size of the image was phenomenal. If you're in the market, you should really go for a listen.