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Attn: Ayre v-5xe owners


Hello,

There's been a lot of Ayre v-5xe amplifiers (two-channel 150 watts per channel) for sale on Audiogon over the past 3-6 months. Wanted to ask previous and current v-5xe owners what your opinion is of this amp. It seems that one recurring complaint is that the bass region is a little light.

Both reviewers and owners alike agree that the MXR monoblocks are expceptional, but most of us will only be able to afford the mid-priced Ayre amps such as the v-5xe. Wanted to ask if the v-5xe is a viable mid-level alternative or we should keep our fingers crossed that the MXR technology will trickle down to the lower-priced Ayre amps at some point in the near future.

Thanks in advance for your valuable opinions. As usual, the community is very helpful.

Matt
mminor

Showing 1 response by bigtee

bigtee
803 posts
 
The V5xe is simply superb in soundstage and depth of field. It is unbelievably holographic. However, I think a fair assessment would be it is a touch light in the bottom.
I ended up using a 2 channel Theta Dreadnaught I amp which I found more satisfying. It features the same atributes as the V5xe but is more solid in the bottom and sounds more powerful overall. The V5 is rated at 150w/ch @ 8 ohms where the Theta is rated at 200/ch @ 8 ohms. I believe Charles Hansen had an input to the design of the Dreadnaught.
I used Vandersteen's which rendered the slightly light bottom a moot point since they had built in subs. However, I still prefered the Dreadnaught. Hope this helps.
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