[BrandonB]

Earlier in the month I bought an Ayre KX-R Twenty preamp.  I am extremely happy with it.  I had the KX-5 Twenty prior to this, and a friend talked me into selling it to him.  It is also excellent.

Ayre has what they call a Variable Gain Transimpedance setup.  There are individual resistors for every step of volume.  And the gain varies along the way, so the signal to noise ratio stays at it maximum, throughout the volume range.  The KX-5 Twenty has a very similar setup, with the difference being parts like $7 resistors... and 400 of them.

Here is a video of how the volume control works.  It's like having a little dude in there hardwiring each volume change.

https://youtu.be/8ma3dwRDIPk?si=s3SrI1JTAVO-rvMk

Did you notice an improvement from your other preamp?  It is one of the nicest preamps I have seen.

[Jaytor]

Earlier in the month I bought an Ayre KX-R Twenty preamp.  I am extremely happy with it.  I had the KX-5 Twenty prior to this, and a friend talked me into selling it to him.  It is also excellent.

That's a pretty cool looking unit. Bet it sounds great!

[DanM88]

Hey guys, I'm new here and just ordered an NX Studio to build. Does anyone have experience matching these speakers with an Anthem STR? Or should I look into tubes?

[richidoo]

Welcome to AudioCircle, Dan!

STR amp has plenty of power for NX Studio. It is relatively neutral, and should be a good match, imo.

[jmimac351]

Did you notice an improvement from your other preamp?  It is one of the nicest preamps I have seen.

I think it is better than the KX-5 Twenty, but the difference in price does not reflect the difference in performance - at all.  In fact, it was because the KX-5 Twenty was so good that I had confidence in getting the KX-R Twenty.  The differences are mostly due to higher cost parts. Apparently the resistors are much more expensive than the ones in the KX-5 Twenty.  And there is another important difference... the input switching is done the same way as the volume.  It's a more "direct" way of doing it compared to the KX-5 Twenty.  Ayre is very friendly / shares details about the design of the product.  Great guys.