Ayre Ax-5 Review in Soundstage

[Biggar]

Charles, I'm the V-5xe owner. I just invested in a pair of Revel Ultima 2 speakers. They work very well with my Ayre system. I'm closing in on retirement and will not move up to the AX-5. Is there any hope that Ayre will upgrade the V-5xe?

[frequentflyer]

The AX-7E integrated is getting long in the tooth too.

[bluebeat]

Originally Posted by frequentflyer

The AX-7E integrated is getting long in the tooth too.

I would love to see an AX-7 Twenty, but somehow I doubt it will come to that, anytime soon.

I guess development efforts at Ayre are at the moment aimed at a new top-of-the-line multi input dac and components to supplement the Codex.

Still keeping my fingers crossed though...☺ Maybe CES brings news.

[Manbient]

I think your chances are slim that an upgrade will be available for the V-5xe. They have essentially already created and offered upgrades to the replacement 5 series amp, and the original platform for the V-5xe (V-5) is ~15 years old.

That said, I do want to give kudos to Ayre for typically having these upgrade paths for their units for so long rather than forcing us all to buy brand new units every few years like some other manufacturers. I've personally used their 'upgrade path' on 4 different units since I've been a user.

[ctsooner]

Sounds like the Twenty upgrade path will only be from the AX5 on up. The used market for the AX7e and the other amps not in the upgrade program get plenty of money on the used market (I got a great return on my AX7e). If you want a Twenty amp, just sell and look for a used AX5 or one of the other upgradable amps on the used market if you can't afford new.

I can honestly say again after even more time with my amp, that it's the best integrated amp I've heard bar none. I've listened to many of the top priced ones and none come close to doing everything that this amp does. Even the great tube amps I've heard can't do everything as well as this AX5/20 does. The tubes can do some cool things and some are awesome, but they can't do EVERYTHING...they still sound like a tube amp. The Ayre amps (I'm familiar with all of them) are neither tube nor SS in sound. They just convey the music the way it's supposed to be conveyed. It will be interesting how they will keep topping what they do. I know they will have to, but now I wait for the 5 series DAC and the Ref DAC. That Codex is such a world beater for it's price.

[aardvarkbark]

Just bought this integrated, along with a used, serviced C5 from an authorized dealer. Called Ayre today with some questions and learned that was against policy for me to expect to speak with the manufacturer. Was schooled by their 'customer service' rep. I felt so small.

[imprezap2]

strange, normally Ayre is quite good with customer service, if I would have one complaint it would be the long time I had to wait for the upgrade of my DX-5, but that was quickly forgotten after switching the upgraded DX-5 on in my system.

[aardvarkbark]

I was surprised too. And frankly disappointed. Why wouldn't a manufacturer embrace a new devotee and attempt to address their concerns? The response I got was pretty much 'talk to the hand; we only deal with our dealers; address your concerns with them." How on earth does one build customer loyalty with that standoffish attitude? Starting to have deep regrets.

[aardvarkbark]

Has anyone here bought this A5Twenty? What has your experience been with break-in time? I've had mine for a week with maybe 5 hrs per day. Have yet to hear the definition and bass I was enjoying with the Classe's I traded in. Wondering how soon others started to experience improvement.

[yage]

Originally Posted by aardvarkbark

Called Ayre today with some questions and learned that was against policy for me to expect to speak with the manufacturer.

This definitely has not been my experience when I've contacted Ayre. Granted, I haven't called them about system setup or operational issues, so perhaps that's what they expect the dealer to take care of. Their email response time can be pretty slow.

Originally Posted by aardvarkbark

Has anyone here bought this A5Twenty? What has your experience been with break-in time?

I think the manual says 100-500 hrs of break-in. Quite the range. I don't think my AX-5 Twenty really changed a whole lot since I got it back after the update (I had the original). I did experiment with speaker positioning for best performance, however, so you might want to consider trying that before throwing money at the problem or considering a return.