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Ayre or Rowland Amp?

I am thinking seriously about stepping out of my tubed ARC VT100 MKII amp into something that doesn't require retubing. The Rowland 201s or the Ayre V5xe look interesting from reviews, but I haven't heard either. These will be fed by an ARC LS5MKIII (which I love) and will feed Watt/Puppy 7s.

There don't seem to be that many of either amp 'out there' so info is relatively hard to come by, especially on the newer incarnation of the Ayre.

Any feedback would be appreciated!

Bob Wood
128x128woodburger
cytocycle
1,034 posts
 
I have WP7's don't get the 201's get the 501's if you can they just don't have the current to control the mid-bass (on the WP7's only). They are wonderfully smooth, wide/deep soundstage but just didn't have the control of my Lamms (which are 4x the cost however). The 501's provided more of what I liked about the 201s. I use a Rowland Synergy IIi as my preamp.
bigtee
803 posts
 
I own the Ayre V5xe and it is truly a wonderful sounding amplifier. However, I don't think it would be the best amp for the Wilson's. I might would consider something like the Parasound JC1's. They have the grut for those speakers. I think the Ayre would be a little light weight unless you are listening at moderate volumes.
The only way to know for sure is try it.
muralman1
1,527 posts
 
ICE is a good class D module to start with. It shares with tubes a liquidity and spaciousness. The 201, and 501 sound much the same, according to people who have heard both. The 300 series amps are better sounding, due to their linear power supply.

I am an owner of the new H2O Signature monos. They power my 1 ohm speakers. These are ICE based too. Like the Rowland 300 series, the H2O is built with a robust analog power supply.
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