Amp and Preamp recommendations for Yamaha NS5000

Has Ayre been eliminated?
I would have thought an AX-5 Twenty would split the difference nicely.

From an amp perspective, a Chord Ultima 5 could be interesting for you.  300w into 8ohms.  The amp is less clinical than prior Chord amps.  Pretty darn neutral.  The error correction tech makes it pretty special and these are a really special line of amps.  I have a customer who has one for a pair of Monitor Audio Platinums.  
Pricing is just about right paired with a variety of tube preamps.  I am planning on getting an Ultima 6 Later this year to pair with two different preamps, the Art Audio Conductor and the KR P-135.  The nice thing is, you have flexibility with both units in terms of rolling.  I hear amazing things about the P-135, ironically with EML Mesh 45s.  The Art Audio runs 12BH7s and 6922s so there are plenty of NOS options.  
You could obviously use a variety of other preamps, VTL, PS Audio BHK, McIntosh c22, etc... and get a great result.  If you want a more energetic sound, a SS preamp will deliver that or you could go direct from a Chord DAC.  
I know you are in Canada.  Normally I would say I am happy to take all your gear on trade but am thinking the border may make life difficult.  No problem for the ARt Audio or KR gear, but a trade and Chord sale could be tough.  

Guys thanks for the suggestions:
@twoleftears Actually a local dealer does have an AX-5 twenty used for sale for about $5600 usd. I definitely am considering it. But kinda leaning towards going for a power amp so I am open to a future pre-amp upgrade.
@verdant Chord amps seem interesting. I don't know how easy it would be to get one up here in Canada. Heard chord is kinda a pain to deal with also.

So...soundorg just hired three people in Canada.  I am sure you will be able to get Chord gear up there.  
The bigger issue is that Ultimas are on back order for a couple months because of COVID 19.  They have had trouble getting parts like many manufacturers.  
Regarding Chord being difficult to work with, they did just change distributors in North America.  I had a great relationship with Bluebird.  I am off to a good start with Sound Org.  Both have been good to me and can’t say they have been difficult.  

Verdant thanks man I will definitely look into it.

Wow. Mark Jones was right about bridged mode sometimes being inferior to stereo.

I’ve had these brystons amps for well over a year. I never really tested out 1 amp in individual mode. Always using bridged mode with dual amps. Since the guy who is buying is picking them up in 2 days I tested single amp stereo mode... holy crap.

The soundstage grew tremendously, especially depth which immersed you in the music so much instruments seemed to surround you. Textural nuances became incredibly palpable and details accentuated with more separation and holographic layering. I could all of a sudden pick out subtle nuances that never jumped out at me before like they do now. The speakers vanished completely and closing my eyes I struggled to place the location of the towers with sound references alone.. its like the sound totally de-coupled from the speakers and just swirls around the room. This is a big gain in SQ and I actually save money with this gain (by selling 1 amp) !