Neutron,
I was just on the Ayon website and noted mention in the Spirit-III specs of auto and manual bias. I'm not sure what this means, but maybe it's that one can bypass the autobias circuit. They also also mention that they use an "intelligent" auto bias circuit, so it may be an okay system.
My buddy back home initially decided not to get the Spirit-1. This was based not on the sound but for other reasons. During my drive back, however, he called me and said that he was reconsidering his decision. All of this meant that I ended up with the Spirt-1 for the time being, so I hooked it into my system when I got home last night.
My system:
Rogue M180 monoblocks w/ RCA NOS small tubes
Rogue 99 Magnum preamp w/ RCA NOS tubes
Silverline Bolero speakers
Kimber KS3035 speaker cable and Kimber Select interconnects
Rega Saturn CD player
Compared to the Rogue gear the Ayon was more textured and more extended in the high frequencies. It is a very, very musical amp. 30wpc in my large room, on the big speakers, had the expected limitations, but it sounded nice. Switching to pentode helped, and I was quite impressed with the amp in that mode. It wasn't quite as holographic at triode, but it sounded really good and I could live with it there.
My impression of the Ayon can be summed up as: clear, textured, soulful, very musical. I suspect that Class-A output stage and zero feedback design have a lot to do with what I hear through the amp.
The only thing that I wonder about is their customer service. I wrote them an email with a question about the small tubes. They wrote back but didn't quite answer my question. I have a few more questions so I may get back in touch with them. But the bottom line so far is that I think their not answering my question was inadvertent - but they did write back!
But that aside, in terms of the sound, I really like the amp and if I could afford it at the moment I would seriously consider their monoblocks or largest integrated.
I'm curious though about the system on which you will audition the amp. You mentioned a dealer about a day's drive from you. Will you listen to their components or take some of your gear with you? Or will they let you demo it in your home?
If you are going to demo one of the dealer's systems, could you give them a call and post what speakers, wire and source they would use?