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Ayre A new dimension of musical enjoyment

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  #101  
Old 07-27-2017, 01:44 AM
BillK BillK is offline
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Originally Posted by ctsooner View Post
At least our components aren't devalued like some other top end gear, lol. 7 year life cycles with low cost upgrades surely make them semi unique in today's market.
They are in the same league on that as their fellow Boulder County company, Boulder Amplifier that seems to only roll out a replacement product every ten to fifteen years.
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  #102  
Old 07-27-2017, 10:49 AM
ctsooner ctsooner is offline
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Love the Boulder gear also. Just too darn expensive for me. I heard my AX5/20 vs their former integrated that is under 15k if I recall and I felt the Ayre gave a much more musical presentation. Less darn and faster. My friend heard their new integrated at the factory. He is friends with the owner and it was during Rocky Mountain. He immediately got in touch and said I had to hear it. I will eventually (not many dealers left that I know of), but it's so far out of my price range and I wonder if it really is THAT much better than my Ayre.
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  #103  
Old 07-28-2017, 06:00 AM
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Originally Posted by ctsooner View Post
Love the Boulder gear also. Just too darn expensive for me. I heard my AX5/20 vs their former integrated that is under 15k if I recall and I felt the Ayre gave a much more musical presentation. Less darn and faster. My friend heard their new integrated at the factory. He is friends with the owner and it was during Rocky Mountain. He immediately got in touch and said I had to hear it. I will eventually (not many dealers left that I know of), but it's so far out of my price range and I wonder if it really is THAT much better than my Ayre.
Well their newest and least expensive amp sells for "just" $28,000, less than the price of a pair of MX-R Twenties, so Ayre's prices on their flagship products have kind of come up to meet the low end of Boulder's. ;-)



New Boulder 1160 Amplifier

Believe it or not, unlike Ayre, which is small enough they farm out all their metal work, Boulder does everything in-house - raw aluminum blocks come in on one end and they do all the machining and bead blasting in-house, perhaps the only manufacturer left that does things that way (they also build some of their own transformers, stuff their own boards, etc.)

Last edited by BillK; 07-28-2017 at 06:04 AM.
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  #104  
Old 07-29-2017, 03:37 AM
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Originally Posted by Bar81 View Post
In all fairness to Ayre, he nuked the MX-R Twenty twice this year via Ayrelink (which in all fairness to him is perhaps the dumbest implementation of that kind of protocol ever given the real risk of nuking your amp).

Currently, expect that anything that goes to Ayre you're not going to see back for a couple of months minimum.
Sorry to be a pain ..... only nuked 1 amp once, the original issue was "a bad batch of transistors in early production models "
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  #105  
Old 07-29-2017, 03:44 AM
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I think what the 20's do , is the fine delicate detail and micro dynamics better than the original. By the way have never heard the AQ Well, but I haven't found anything to beat the AQ Black Diamond triple balanced, which is the only cable in my system. Pure silver goodness��.
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  #106  
Old 07-29-2017, 11:48 PM
ctsooner ctsooner is offline
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Black Diamond? What year was that? I've heard the Wild and now own the Horizon (same as the WEL) and there is a difference as there should be. This stuff is SICK. Everyone is asking about the 'new amp' I got. When I tell them it's one interconnect they are shocked.

I'll never be able to afford a pair of the upper line speaker cables, which is too bad as the Ayre/Vandersteen Quatro set up is worthy of such cables. The Quatro is the best under 30k speaker I've ever heard. It haven't even tried any special cords other than the Basis one on my server's power supply. Waiting on AQ's new line of cord that will be out soon that Garth came up with. Heard the prototype as I've posted and I was in shock at how good the least expensive one is let alone the TOTL one. Garth, to me, has become the top power guy going. Fundamental and science based.

Those Boulder amps are very pretty, lol.
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  #107  
Old 08-03-2017, 06:47 PM
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ctsooner, they were produced in the 90's, can still get them on the second hand market. They have 3 different thickness solid silver conductors with essentially an air dielectric for each of the 3 conductors as well as a screen. I had an abhorrence of networks in the cable (transparent, MIT) as well as battery thingy's attached to cables (later model AQ) and just want a pure conductor. Similarly I don't want a DQX or any other electronics in the signal path....probably my loss? But I recon if everything is properly matched you don't need tone controls
Still use van den Hull Revelation speaker cables. Sounds like I'm stuck in the 90's they are huge and would make excellent jumper cable for the car. By the way I tried that...put some copper lugs on jumper lead cable ... it was horrible if people don't believe cables make a difference demo that and it is patently obvious, not subtle difference.
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  #108  
Old 08-04-2017, 10:05 AM
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I have yet to hear any digital correction that didn't negatively affect the sound in some way and I've heard some of the better ones on the market. I know the digital guys will tell me how I'm wrong, but I listen and trust my ears.

The DBS deal on the AQ cables works. I've heard some tests with the same cables having it and not having it. It lowers the noise floor a bit. Subtle, but it is positive. One of the few add ons that seems to be. It just dissipates the loading of the dielectric or something like that. It's not active and that's why it won't affect the sound. I find them to be the most neutral in all the different systems I've listened to them in. Just my ear though. I used to have a pair of the VDH Revelation. I loved their line and even used the MM1 cart for many many years.

I am in love with the Horizon balance interconnects. I put the Niagara's back in and listened. It was so obvious that the Horizon was soooo much better, that I just swapped them back in. I'll be selling the Niagara (a GREAT cable for the money IMHO) and a pair or Water that I have (all balanced). Time to sell off everything I'm not using right now.
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