Ayre AX-5 Integrated Amplifier

A long long time to break in.

"I was told by Ayre not to sell at this low price and if I ever wanted to buy this unit I need to sign an agreement that I would not sell the unit within 1 year."

Hmmm . . . me thinks there's more (or less?) to this story than you're telling.

Thank you for your comments.
Possibly I did not give the AX5 enough break in time.
I bought many Ayre products and for most part I was very satisfied:
Ayre QB9,V5XE(still have it) DX5 and finally Ax5(about 24k$total).
DX5 was very good with 2 channel audio but the blu-ray picture was average.
Both qb9 and dx5 have only USB input.
@ rufi I have nothing to hide.
For now I am using DCS Debussy as a preamplifier and DAC.

I heard AX-5 last week. I was very impressed. It was interesting because we listened to the amp after listening to expensive tubed gear for over an hour. I normally prefer tubes and they did sound very good but this Ayre amplifier really ticked the right boxes for me. I ended up ordering a VX-5 to go into my system. I only hope it sounds as good as the AX-5.

Here is the update:
It turned out that the unit I was buying was defective:it would not switch power between 4 and 8 ohm.
It came back fixed with the crossover installed and sounds much better at dealer place.It runs very hot.
This particular unit needs crossover which I do not have.
It was an interesting experience and it proofed that sometimes you have to trust your wife.
Next week I am going to try VX-5 and hopefully buy it!
Dbarger:do you have the amp yet and if yes could you please and share your impressions?