Usher BE-10/20, what do you use to drive them?

semi, normally I would agree with you about Ayre and Usher. before the MX-R I did not care for the Ayre house sound at all. I have always thought Ayre sounded clean and transparent but a bit thin. The MX-R retains the transparency but does not sound thin or tinny at all. By the way, I hope you do not think the Ushers sound too detailed or etched. Yes they sound transparent, dynamic, airy, etc but I dont think adding good components that share these same attributes will lead to a bright or etched sound. You will run into trouble if you mate the Ushers with upstream components that are too detailed since these speakers are so uncolored and true. Personally, I think the Edge would be a good match. By the way, I also have the MBL 5011 preamp which is incredibly musical which brought all of my components together nicely. Some say it is ever so slightly warm which may help.

Anyways, good luck!

Why not, bring your amps to a local dealer? I am sure they would allow you to hook them up.

I have driven my BE-10 with Parasound Halo A21, Pass Labs XA160, and now Ayre MXR. For my tastes, the Ayre really takes advantage of the Usher transparency, dynamics, and detail. I felt that both the HAlo and Pass was a bit too slow and veiled. Of course all of this is based on my personal tastes. I love listening to strings (piano, guitar) and female vocals. With the combo I have now, I not heard strings sound more realistic and vocals more clear.

Regarding the BE-20, I say you only need that if you a very large room or want to use these speakers in an HT setup. I find the BE-10 to be more than adequate in terms of bass and its ability to move air.

Good luck!

Semi, for $5k, look at Parasound Halo JC1. I almost got these instead of my Ayre MXR. For the price, I dont think you will find many better amps.

BTW, I agree that the Ushers need a decent amount of power. I believe the impedance drops to 3ohms in the lower freqs.