The Ayre Twenty Editions

The big news at Ayre is that the standing range of "5"-series components is being upgraded to "The Twenty Editions," which incorporate the circuit and performance facilities of the well-received flagship KX-R Twenty, MX-R Twenty and VX-R Twenty. All that is on the inside but all Ayre has done on the outside is add a little plaque saying "Twenty" which, IMHO, is not an aesthetic triumph. The sound, however, was a triumph with the new KX-5 Twenty preamplifier ($8950, above) driving a pair of VX-5 Twenty amps ($8950 each) with all the clarity and dynamics reminiscent of the Reference series.

COMMENTS
DavidT's picture

I think the little plaque is a huge triumph. If Ayre is consistent, people who have already invested in earlier versions can upgrade their equipment and with the addition of a little plaque even upgrade to current appearance. I now only support companies who make efforts to support their prior customers. Strong work Ayre.

bigrasshopper's picture

I would like to take a listen to these, but sound aside, I find the deeply sculpted controls very attractive, much more so than the knobs on the reference line, which remind me of a shiny sheriffs star, similar to how the Krell knobs used to look, in other words "cheesy". The only thing holding back the KX-5 aesthetically for me are those push bottons. Those are so common, and so out of place next to those matte finished sculpted controls. I've always wanted to tell someone at Ayre how much I hate those and hopefully now I have. Why not use the same machined bottons that are on the disk player?

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