Upgraded from Ayre K5xemp to Ayre KX-5 Twenty short review

[will]

Originally Posted by dbphd

I had planned to try setting up the preamp this morning, but have been on the phone all morning and into afternoon dealing first with a scammer who claimed my iMac had been hacked and wanted $700 in iTune cards then with Apple tech who undid the stuff the scammer had installed.

The most annoying part of the preamp setup is an instruction to rotate the knob until you come up with the name or letter you want then select it, with no information about how to select it. Then there's the photo of a remote like the one I use with my C-5xeMP and a notation that the bottom area controls the integrated in a manual supposedly devoted to the KX-5/20.

When I finish with the computer scam, I'll retry the preamp which, after a night without power, is sitting in standby. I'm on hold waiting to learn if I can cancel the iTune cards or need to spend them.

db

Yeah, there's no "confirmation" push of a button. Once you dial in the name you want, that's it. And the input is activated once you dial away from "Off." And yes, the lower-section controls on the metal remote work for the KX-5 (just as it does with the K-5). They need a professional proofreader to review their manuals as they're being shipped out. I'm glad it was ergonomics and you didn't get a lemon.

My listening impressions are like yours. I'm also finding that the KX-5 throws out a bigger scale soundstage. Not necessarily wider at this point of break-in, but images are larger as well as more delineated--I'm hearing a bunch of different things happening, but they're all staying within their lanes, so to speak, in the music.