JC1 upgrade to Lamm M2.2 or dartzeel 108B or Ayre?

Cstooner what other brands of solid state amps have you heard and in direct comparison to Ayre?

The Ayre amps are indeed very good amps, but so are a lot of other top solid state designs from BAT, Electrocompaniet, Pass Labs, and many, many others.

The only way you know is to do a direct shoot out on one particular set of speakers.

Is Ayre better than the JC 1 no contest, Parasound makes very good products, but class leading they are not.

The other thing he might also consider a CJ tube amplifier some of their newer tube designs are very reliable and sound fantastic.

Cstoner, again your methodology is flawed, unless you have an Ayre in the exact same system and all you do is switch out the amp then, and only then, you will know if you like that amp better in that system, with that particular brand of ancillary gear, and in that system only, is called synergy.

As per Harbeth sounding better on solid state again that is open to opinion. Have you ever heard a pair of CJ Art amps? They don't sound like tube amps, they do have their problems and perks just like any amplifier. Johnathan Valin thought they are among the best sounding amps both tubes or solid state on the planet by the way.

I am sick of guys like you making these all are boat anchor comments, if you notice my posts I don't say "there is one brand of gear that outperforms all others."

In audio like anything else there are valid and differing opinions, there is no ultimate sports sedan in a comparison of BMW vs Mercedes vs Lexus, vs Audi etc, they are all great and you will prefer one I might prefer a different one.

Cstoner you sound like you have an agenda.

When the gentleman was discussing speakers I told him to go and listen to many different brands of speakers, you slavishly pushed him into the Vandys only.

Are Vivid or Vandys the best and only speakers on the market no way, Vandys are great if you like them,so are Magicos, Wilsons, Sonus Fabers etc, you may or may not prefer a pair of Vandys in the same system vs another pair of speakers and by the way I used to own Vandys.

I have been doing this for friends and for my self for over 30 years, and I too have had a lot of gear go in and out of my house and my day job is none of your business, I will say it deals with medicine and leave it at that.

Is Ayre a great amp yes it is, but so are many, many, others. The only way is to test them in your own house in your own system.

As per experience I have owned hundred of thousands of dollars worth of gear I have owned, Vandys, Maggies, Wilsons, B&W, Monitor Audio, Quads, Martin Logans, and many, many more.

I have owned amps from Audio Research, CJ, BAT, Spectral, Chord, and many, many others.

In Audio as in life it is all about synergy.