CES 2010

Ayre & Vandersteen

Erick Lichte  |  Jan 9, 2010

Also showing in the Ayre room were their MX-R monoblocks ($9250 each) and also a Stereophile “Product of the Year” in 2007), connected to the actual samples of Vandersteen Model Seven speakers that Michael Fremer will be reviewing for Stereophile in March. The MX-R, like its KX-R brother, is carved out of a single block of aluminum and puts out 300W into 8 ohms and 600W into 4 ohms. The amps were fed by Ayre’s CX-7eMP CD player and KX-R preamplifier and the sound of the MX-R amps driving the Vandersteen Sevens was detailed and— pun fully intended— airy.

COMMENTS
Matt's picture
Submitted by Matt (not verified) on January 9, 2010 - 9:10am

Erick, I think the source was actually the new DX-5 - notice the screen behind the amps. Wish I could hear that system (and the Lamm room)! Looking forward to the Vandersteen review.

john's picture
Submitted by john (not verified) on January 9, 2010 - 2:24pm

i would have thought the sound would have been termed ayri.

Jim's picture
Submitted by Jim (not verified) on January 10, 2010 - 8:18am

Hi Charles, Ayre MRX sound great but it is not powerful enough to drive big loudspeaker like wilson Alexandria. I wonder if Ayre will built a power amplifier with more power like >800W into 8ohm in future.

Matt's picture
Submitted by Matt (not verified) on January 10, 2010 - 9:08am

Jim, I'll bet Charles will disagree with your opinion that they're not powerful. I recall reading an account of Charles introducing the MX-Rs somewhere in Europe. He said it was the first time he heard a credible reproduction of a full orchestra. The speakers? Wilson Alexandria. Peter McGrath reportedly really liked the MX-Rs (he might even have opined that they were the best he'd heard?). Now, if he could just sell them for $5K . . .

Zombie's picture
Submitted by Zombie (not verified) on January 10, 2010 - 4:12pm

It would be interesting to know when, if ever, Ayre will release a source component (cdp or whatever), that has the same cosmetics as the KX-R and MX-R products.

Jim's picture
Submitted by Jim (not verified) on January 10, 2010 - 6:27pm

I tried KRX & MRX on Wilson Alexandria X2 before.I agree that it produces very good sound.Obviously, it is not able to fully control the bass.Overall, the speed of the sound drops.

Ian's picture
Submitted by Ian (not verified) on January 13, 2010 - 10:21am

Scheduling the Model 7s for a review by Fremer doesn't make a lot of sense. Previously, he spent considerable text only to find the Vandersteen Quatro to be "too detailed" for his ears. Hmmm.

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