Ayre vs Conrad Johnson

I've owned several products from Ayre and CJ. Vandersteen is my favourite speaker, as well. I love all 3 brands but if I had to choose between Ayre or CJ for Vandersteen's it would definitely be Ayre. (Actually, I've already made the choice. I use Ayre/Vandersteen myself.). I don't have a lot of time right now to type but I will say that there is incredible synergy with the combo. If you have any specific questions, just post them and I'll try to answer them for you as best I can.

I like Ayre. I've never experimented directly with the exact combination of all three directly but I have owned all these brands at one time or another. I would think the CJ/Vandersteen combo could go a little to much to the warm side of things. I did compare an Ayre preamp with CJ and that was quite a stark contrast I preferred the Ayre by a lot.

I have heard a ton of equipment over the years, and although I respect Ayre the company, I find there house sound to be a bit dry and lackluster. Tonal color seems monochromatic as well with slightly diffuse imaging. Krell, ARC and even CJ have better overall presentations.