Ayre / Aesthetix hum problems?

Personally, I think the ARC would sound the most like the Ayre. I really like my Calypso, but be aware that it sounds poor IMHO with the stock tubes, and while you will get the body and warmth you desire I am not sure it is the ultimate in "slam". You should try it if you can, though. I think the BAT may be the best overall choice, but again it would be good if you can try it. These are excellent units so it comes down to system synergy.

I just discussed with the german distributor of Aesthetix and they state that Jim White of Aesthetix in his private studio alsways listens with Ayre gear - so he shouldn´t have hum problems at all? Would be interesting to know if this story is true and how Jim solves the "hum problem".
Will insert a Hovland HP-100 P over the weekend - hopefully this is a better match than K-5xe. Nagra PL-L (last weekend) was to cold..

How close do you have your amp to the Janus. I had an EMI problem when I had my transport directly beneath my Aesthetix Rhea. One day I was shifting around some cables and I realised the hum had become less audible. I dropped the transport down a shelf and the hum vanished. Just a thought.

The Ayre is sensitive to power cables and break-in....don't make too harsh a judgement till 250 hrs. It gains warmth and presence with age. I had the VK30SE (not 31SE!) and the K5xe at the same time. The slam was better with the Ayre. The BAT did hightlight the midrange ever so slightly. The 31SE might be a lot better. I have not heard the ARC or Aesthetix.

Just to clarify, in the past there was a possibility of hum when using the Ayre V-5xe with the Aesthetix Saturn series (Calyspso and Janus) preamps and also certain other single-ended preamps. It took us a while to track this down as it depended on a number of factors lining up just right (wrong).

Last fall we reconfigured the ground scheme on the V-5xe (and V-6xe multi-channel amp) to ensure hum-free performance in all situations. Units with this update can be identified by the letter "M" in the serial number, either as the second character or the last character.

If you are having trouble with hum, please call Michael at 303-442-7300 x223 to schedule an update. There is no charge for this update. If your amp is not the "e" (evolution) version, you can have this update performed at the same time for a nominal fee.