Ayre owners and preamp options: seeking advice


I bought a new Ayre VX-5 twenty a while back and have it paired with the Ayre K-5xeMP pre.  Was contemplating updating my pre which is currently fed by a phono pre (Ayre) and a DAC, both balanced inputs.  Has anyone modded a k-5xemp with a few select parts and improved it?  Alternatively, has anyone added a tube pre to their Ayre amp?  Which ones mate well?  Lastly, upgrading to their new KX-5 twenty would be an obvious choice but I'm not yet ready to make that investment.  Thoughts?
jc4659

Showing 1 response by dbphd

jc4659, I use an Ayre C-5xeMP - K-5exMP - VX-5 Twenty balanced link in one of my setups.  When asked about inserting a balanced Bryston high-pass crossover between the preamp and amp, Charles Hansen responded in strong terms not to do it.  I can only imagine what his response might be to the notion of modding the preamp.  OTOH, he did approve of taking the single-ended outputs from the preamp to a low-pass crossover that drives the subs.

I too want to update the K-5xeMP to a KX-5 Twenty, for the additional balanced inputs in my case.

db