Ayon Spirit 3 what speaker combo will u recommend?

Well, I'll throw a few suggestions up against the wall and we'll see what sticks:

"Ayon Users Forum" - nah
"Ayon Enthusiast's Forum" - I don't like that one either
"Ayon Audio Forum" - I'll vote for this one
"Ayon Audio Log"

What does everyone else think?

Silverline Reference 17 Supreme speakers would make a good pairing. I've heard a Spirit-1 driving my Silverline Bolero speakers, it just ran out of steam in my large room. But the Spirit got along quite well with the Esotar tweeter in the Bolero.

I have a friend that has the Spirit-1 driving Silverline SR17.5 speakers and he's quite happy. But the Esotar in the 17 Supreme, versus the Esotec in the older SR17.5, would surely make for a nice system.

There's a couple of used Proac speakers in the local shop here, the Response D1 and the Response D Two. I brought them home last week but only had a chance to listen to them briefly. They both sounded good, but I thought the D1 had a slightly richer sound. But again, I didn't audition them very long - my impression was quickly formed. If you get a chance to audition the Silverline Reference 17 Supremes, I'd be interested in your opinion.

I want to make it clear though, I am not comparing these speakers with one another, they are at totally different price levels and I don't think the comparison would be fair.

What do you think about an Ayon thread, rather than one just for the Spirit? It might be interesting to read comments of folks who have other Ayon components. But either way, I too think it's a great idea.

Sionlim,

My two cents worth: From what I have read, it sounds like your preference is toward warmth in your system. Mullard tubes are warm; Cardas Cross family of cables are warm. The Cardas Clear family is supposed to be more neutral - I have only heard the Cross family.

RCA tubes are not as warm as Mullard. I run RCA in my preamp. I used to run them in my amp but have since switched to all Telefunken. The Telefunkens are very clear. I have both smooth and rib plate versions of 12AX7 and 12AU7 that I got from Andy Bowman. I second too the recommendation made earlier in this thread about Andy. Compared to the tubes I have tried in my system (RCA, Mullard, Amperex, Tung Sol, Telefunken) I obviously preferred the Telefunken because that is all I now use. Between the smooth and rib plate Telefunkens, I prefer the rib plate as I find the leading and trailing edge of transients to be slightly crisper. The smooth plate ones are just a bit warmer, but I'm comparing Telefunkens - either one is clearer and more dynamic than anything else I've tried. And me hearing these differences came from swapping tubes back and forth and listening quite intently. In my headphone amp I use smooth plate EL84 and 12AX7 and love them. Anyway, I like Telefunken.

You also mentioned that you liked the Kimber 8TC. I am very familiar with Kimber. While the 8TC is very good, the 12TC gives better bass. I think it's a great value. My speaker cables are Kimber Select 3035, but if I wasn't using those cables, I would probably use the 12TC.

My best friend has the following system that I helped him assemble: Ayon Spirit-1, Rega Saturn CD, Silverline SR17.5 speakers in which I replaced the stock caps with Duelund VSF copper, Kimber 12TC speaker cable, Audio Magic old stock Sorcerer interconnects. He really likes his system.

Sionlim,

Looks like we have two votes for "Ayon Audio Forum"! Seems like that should be enough :-)

I'd say let's go ahead and launch a thread with that title.

JBS

Theseventh1,

You make a good point. Good catch! I had originally been thinking that it would be nice to have everything Ayon in one place, but we are in the Amps/Preamps forum section. Their digital components and speakers should go into the other Audiogon forums on those subjects.

So, I would submit that our thread be called "Ayon Audio Amp/Preamp Forum"

Sionlim,

I'll be happy to write an intro. I'll email it to you and you can post it at your convenience.