Spectral or Ayre (combo)

Reading the forum comments gives the impression that Ayre is more acceptable. But isn’t Spectral Audio a higher level than Ayre?

Not sure how you are judging here.  By cost? 

Ayre is among the very best sounding gear money can buy.  I've heard different, but not better.

You absolutely need to stay away from Spectral gear. My best friend had a full Spectral set up and it was a nightmare of unreliability, and expensive service. It interfaces poorly with other equipment. It was so bad he traded it for a full McIntosh set up sonically a step backwards but way forwards in reliability. He has yet to require any service. I hear nothing but good things about Ayre equipment. Stick with them. Pass and ARC are other well proven brands. IMHO none of them make an amp as good as the Parasound JC1+. It will pair with anything and it is a thrilling amp to hear, effortlessly powerful but as delicately detailed as any amp and they will drive anything. I have heard $100K amps that are not as good. At $18K they are the bargain of the century. John Curl knows what he is doing. The Atma-sphere MA2 is another but more expensive proposition. 

miglos I'm reading these responses and shaking my head in disbelief.  You need to hear these components first before making a purchase but I'm trying to think of one parameter where the Ayre combo. bested the Spectral combo. and quite frankly, can't come up with anything.  
To everyone weighin-in on this thread please keep in mind that miglos is referring to ENTRY LEVEL PRODUCTS FROM AYRE.  I haven't heard the KX-R / MX-R  combo. but if that is your basis of comparison then you would need to compare it against reference products from Spectral.
There are some misconceptions with Ayre that I think need to be brought to light.  The first is that it has to be run in balanced mode in order to get the most out of it (I never heard any difference.  I leave it in balanced mode "as i'm supposed to" and it can't hurt anything in doing so).
The other is that it is not cable mfr. dependent.   Perhaps it is not as cable dependent as Spectral (where MIT cabling is essential) but there is, supposedly, a special synergy with Cardas so you may find yourself  locked in to 1 cable mfr. just like Spectral.
To think that  that particular Ayre combo. can provide the same bandwidth, speed, and dynamic contrast as Spectral is laughable.

Reading the forum comments gives the impression that Ayre is more acceptable. But isn’t Spectral Audio a higher level than Ayre? I’ve read reviews that Spectral audio is very sterile sounding, really is it? Maybe it depends on other audio equipment? ...but yes, Ayre very highly valued by audiophiles

Wow, I cannot imagine any two sets of electronics sounding more different than each other, so much so that it feels odd trying to recommend either or the other because I am sure you'll have very strong feelings one way or the other which will make my typing irrelevant.

Having said that, Ayre all the way. :)

ayre sounds better than spectral based on my exposure to both brands of preamps/amps

I have an all Ayre system.....recommend them highly

I have two Ayre amps and they both sound wonderful. While that alone is enough to consider Ayre, there is much more. The people at Ayre are great and respond quickly to any and all questions.  Their philosophy for offering upgrades is also incredible: you can buy their equipment knowing that they will continue to upgrade it for a modest cost for many years to come.

both excellent super well engineered and executed, a matter of personal taste.
have fun, enjoy the journey 

ebm:  my current system has both Ayre and Pass components and I couldn't say one mfr. is / was more reliable than the other.

Miglos:  you have the model designations inverted but I have the V-5xe and K-5xemp combo and am actually looking to make a change to Spectral.  It's the extended bandwith with the latter that intrigues me.  I would like to see if I can capture the magic I heard at a Spectral dealer 20 years ago.

@OP, 
Pay no attention to the man behind the screen.

Though I have no experience with Spectral, I do with Ayre.
I own MX-R's, KX-R, Codex, and QB-9 Twenty's. My equipment runs as it should. When I did have an issue with the MX-R's (blown cap), Ayre fixed it for very little money and it was done very quickly. Same with my QB-9 upgrades.
Bob

Get somthing better and more reliable get PASS

did you compare yourself to sound like PASS with Spectral or Ayre?
Why you decide that Ayre or Spectral are not reliable?