To Doug Schneider,
I’m among the many who are waiting for you to get around to publishing a review of the Ayre VX-5. Will we have to wait much longer?
What do you know about developments of the Ayre R line? I’ve heard that revisions (a series II, perhaps?) are coming. The 5-series components have the Diamond circuit, which Charles Hansen must have implemented after the R-series components hit the market.
The R-series products are well out of my price range. The 5-series products ought to be as well, but I might stretch that far. Other than the AX-5, the rest of the line-up hasn’t been reviewed much, if at all. Time for you and the SoundStage! crew to get on the case!
Thanks,
Jim Levitt
You won’t have to wait much longer -- I’m currently working on the VX-5 review, as well as the Simaudio Moon Evolution 870A review, which another reader just wrote in about. Frankly, they’ve taken me longer than usual to get around to because I’ve had so many other products in over the last year. Luckily, they’re finally getting finished. That said, we have other reviews finished already and waiting to be published, so chances are these will be not be published until April.
Ayre’s KX-R preamplifier and MX-R mono amplifier are now part of the company’s new Twenty series, which they announced last November at the Tokyo International Audio Show. The MX-R is purported not to have the Diamond circuit, but a Double Diamond one! I can only assume that’s better. The KX-R Twenty is said to have many upgrades over the standard KX-R.
The new models are shipping and current KX-R and MX-R owners can get their original models upgraded. As far as I know, fellow SoundStage! Network writer Pete Roth has already had his KX-R updated and is happy with the outcome. Jeff Fritz, our editor-in-chief, just sent his KX-R in and is waiting to get it back. Jeff is probably going to write about the KX-R on our sister-site SoundStage! Ultra later this year. . . . Doug Schneider
