Ayon Spirit III and Klipsch Cornwalls experience?


Hello,
First off, I am relatively new to tubes and I am not an audiophile, not even close. I just know what I like and what sounds good to me. I bought my first tube amp last year (Rogue Cronus Magnum) for my seasonal place in Michigan. I felt an integrated amp rather than separates makes more sense economically, especially for the amount of time I am able to spend there. I do however, want to get the best sound for my dollar. My first experience listening to the Cronus was disappointing but and after a call to Rogue and a Telefunken preamp center 12AU7 roll and 2 RCA clear tops for the two remaining AU's, it made a huge difference. Although greatly improved, at times I am still noticing some smearing or compression during complicated passages, most noticeably in the lower to mid end. I have been running a NAD cd player (just bought a Rega Apollo) and my speakers are Cornwall II's with freshened caps and tweets. I love the horn sound. I don't want to go through the hassles/expense of rolling any more tubes (trying to fix the amp) so I plan on dumping the Rogue and moving up to a higher end, pure class A, integrated tube amp. Along with a few others, I have been looking at the Ayon Spirit III. I really like this amp, and it looks so cool! So far, I have only read up on the Spirit III and have not had the chance to give it a listen. I have read several positive reviews - all quite complimentary. I have also spoken to a few people (dealers only) and everyone says it is a great amp for the money. As for as negatives, I have read where the Spirit may be lacking in the bass department, especially in the triode mode. Can anyone comment on this? From my experience and coming from a solid state background, I think I understand this issue but I am still unclear. Listening to my Cronus Magnum - there seems to be a definite lack of low end punch at times, and other times it sounds quite good. Overall, at times, something seems to be lacking during complicated passages as the lower end sound tends to muddle together. There does appear to be a difference from what I remember hearing from my Bryston 4B and I also realize all sound is extremely subjective to each individual listener. Can I make this go away with a better integrated tube amp within my budget? Has anyone had have any experience with the Ayon Spirit III? How does it sound with regards to the bass? Anyone out there running an integrated amp with horns want to chime in? My current budget is 4 grand or less and I will definitely grab something on the used market. My music leans toward Zep, Plant, Plant/Page, 70's classic rock, CSN&Y, and new stuff too, Diana Krall, Lori McKenna, Texas Americana, or most anything in that vein, singer/songwriter stuff well recorded. Thanks
txguy50
HI Txguy50 - I use the PrimaLuna Dialogue 2 with my Cornwalls, and it is a nice combo. The Rogue stuff is pretty bright sounding, the PrimaLuna should give you much closer to the sound you are looking for. Another option would be to try an SET integrated - one of those could still drive your Cornwalls. I want to try that route myself sometime. You don't need much power at all for the Cornwalls, so I would suggest something lower powered than the Rogues for sure. I haven't any experience with the Ayon.
I have spent a lot of time with the Ayon Spirit II and III amps, and have heard the Cornwalls many times. I don't think you will be disappointed with them at all with your Cornwalls, which are a VERY efficient speaker. The bass with the Spirit amps is quite strong and powerful, if you have a speaker that works well with them. The Spirit amps will bring out all the flaws of your speakers and source components, and make them quite evident. The Cornwalls are not the most neutral sounding speakers out there, so be prepared! If you don't like what you are hearing, it won't be the amps fault.
The Spirit amps, when run in the triode mode, sound fantastic. Lots of detail, texture and attack, with a big, 3-D soundstage. They put out a clean 30 watts per side in triode, and double that in pentode mode. The pentode mode gives you more punch and slam if you need it, but as with most tube amps that are switchable, you will give up some of the finesse, clarity and "air" when running pentode. I have owned many great tube amps and solid state amps over the years, and the Ayons are hard to beat. They have also been very reliable, and have great speaker protection circuitry if you have a tube go south on you.
Thanks for the follow-up! Looks like you have been at this for awhile, and I checked out your system, nice. If I choose the Spirit I will be better informed. I did hear some flaws in my system switching to tubes, especially in stuff recorded I thought sounded pretty good on my solid state stuff became really flat. Have you ever heard the Triton?
Ayon gear it is hard to beat in many ways including aesthetics and 3D sound, I own the Ayon Triton and certainly never had any thoughts on upgrades or so on, matched with acoustic zen crescendos,
Best match I ever have.
Regards
Mountainsong,
I too have AZ Crescendos and was thinking about Ayon Spirit III. Do you think I need more tube Watts than 50 to be happy? I am currently running Wired 4 Sound Class D SX-1000, which have tons of power. Have always read the Crescendos are great tube speakers. Any thoughts? Do you have Triton II or III. New Triton III is out of my price range.
Mountainsong your comment ''Ayon gear it is hard to beat in many ways including aesthetics and 3D sound''

Everything is subjective of course. I owned a nice Ayon Orion integrated for about a year. Identical family styling genes to the Spirit of course. I liked the design myself. But almost everyone ''non-audiophile'' who ever saw it thought it was pretty ugly. One of my close friends actually called it ''a mini nuclear plant'' ! It IS pretty dominating in a room and does look very industrial and should I say - masculine- in ways as to not be of a very high WAF factor.

I sold the Orion in favor of another integrated, and not because of the looks, but for sonic preferences - but that's another topic of course.

Still, the Ayon is a very nice machine.
Is the Rogue your first tube gear? You make no mention of bright sounding so I'm miffed as to why Learsfool mentioned that. I've also never heard of Rogue being referred to as bright.
HI Donjr - don't know why you would be miffed at my comments. My equipment is very similar to the OPs, and yes, the Rogues are quite a bit brighter sounding with the Cornwall's than the PrimaLuna's, or something else lower-powered would be. The Rogue's put out about double or even triple the power of the PrimaLuna's, depending on exactly which amps we are talking about and which mode they are operating in. I'm not saying the Rogue's are bad amps at all - just that the PrimaLuna's are a better fit for the speakers the OP has. The Rogues would not sound nearly as bright as most solid state amps would, for sure, but they are bright compared to many other tube amps, especially older ones, or ones designed to sound more like them, like the PrimaLunas.
I, too, have a Primaluna Dialogue II and am using Sonus Faber Cremona Auditor speakers connected with Kimber Kable Monocle XL speaker cables. The amp sounded horrible with the stock tubes. I have installed NOS tubes - Mazda and Telefunken in the input stage and the front end. WOW! Huge difference in sound stage and 3D image. Nice deep base on this amp. I am also on the look out for a used Ayon integrated amp. Not because I don't like the Dialogue II but because I want 60 watts instead the the Primaluna's 38 WPC.