You ended up with Ayre, what are your speakers?

AYRE AX-5 (Twenty) with Thiel Audio. In comparison with a Luxman, the later will add a measure of warmth characteristic in Japanese electronics. Another way to describe the presentation and sound is Golden. One cannot go wrong either way.

Happy Listening!

I’ve deployed  Ayre AX-5 TWENTY, Ayre QB-9 TWENTY,

with Cerious loom.  Driving a pair of Paradigm Persona 3F’s.

Surprising synergy, presence.

Ayre VX5 Twenty amp and KX5 Twenty pre-amp with B&W 805D3 speakers.

@jacahn  Now that is a really interesting combination!

I lurk way too often and don’t post enough, but this question inspires me to comment.  I am using a very old AX-7e with Klipsch Forte IV and against all odds, it’s an awesome pairing.  I’ve had several tube integrateds well into the 5 digits and while they were different/better in some ways, there’s just something so musical about this little Ayre integrated that I keep coming back to it.

A few caveats…I have a warm sounding dac (Metrum Acoustics Pavane w/DAC 3 chips) and a very well damped room, so that could obviously be playing to the Ayre’s strengths.  That said, the AX-7e’s strengths are coming through so pronounced, I’m struggling to find a reason to upgrade, even though everything in my system is more expensive and more recent.

By the way, I’ve had the AX-5 Twenty (great amp) and the VX-5e (great amp just a bit bass shy)…not saying the AX-7e is a world beater but for me, it keeps surprising me, even after owning it for so long.

Love Ayre - their products, their philosophy, their customer service.  Huge fan!