Do you think Ayre will add the Diamond output to the KX-R, VX-R and MX-R?

[Tomictime]

I have 1400 hours on the REF5SE and about half that on the Aesthetix DAC and Ayre VX-R...amp takes a bit to become Magic....say 8 hours so I leave it on (blue light) friday thru Sunday and standby during the work week. It runs pretty warm...i think the ref is magical and choose it over the KXR based on demos at 3 dealers..i believe it is a synergy thing...and personal taste. At this level i also see a LOT of inattention to room and setup, which i think has large impacts. the Vandersteens are tunable at the low end which I believe encourages one to be extra caring on placement and treatment on the high end...just a thought.

Anyone know what the diamond upgrade for a VXR will cost ?
i see Aesthetix will also be offering a premium upgrade for the dac along with a DSD capable card...all future fun !!!

As a system update, have a Pardo linear PSU coming for the NAIM unitiserve, so I will post up some listening notes after digesting that bit of kit...

[TOGA]

Yes, KX-R20 , the 20th Anniversary model , has Diamond circuit.
Toga

[BillK]

Unless you know something I don't, Ayre hasn't announced anything yet, but they're working on it.

Price of the upgrade will be around $5K.

[mgbaron]

Originally Posted by TOGA

Yes, KX-R20 , the 20th Anniversary model , has Diamond circuit. Toga

Toga, my dealer mentioned the KX-R20 as well, but I can't find any info on it on the web. Do you know anything about it? He did mention that the new KX-R would probably run about $24k (a $6k price bump).

[TOGA]

Like cars, sometimes new model is introduced in other market first.
Credit to SoundStage team.
Toga

[Kingsrule]

Yep, the KX-R will be updated first followed by the MX-R.
Based on experience, I'd say the MX-R will be next September.......

[BillK]

Note the time frame is still unknown; when I last talked to Alex at Ayre he mentioned the unit was still in the design phase on Charlie's desk.

[Kingsrule]

An educated guess is KX-R 1st Q 2014 (CES?) and MX-R 3rd Q (Rocky Mountain?)

[Thimios]

KXR-20th anniversary was presented at the Tokyo Audio Show

[BillK]

Let's hope that Ayre's suggested Japanese prices such as that in the Soundstage article don't reflect US MSRP as at present ¥3900000 would be US $39,000!