Ayon Spirit integrated
Ayon Audio might not be well known to you at present but that situation is sure to change. The company is based in Gratkorn in the Styrian region of Austria, where it produces high-end valve amplifiers, cables, loudspeakers and a pair of CD players. As if that weren’t enough, it even designs and manufactures its own valves. All of these products, according to Ayon, in the charmingly flawed, Michael Schumacher-style English used throughout its literature, “reward music lovers with an authentic and excitingly realistic reproduction of music as a real live event.” The Ayon range is brought into the UK by John Jeffries’ Sussex-based distribution company, Metropolis Music who, one can only hope, will address this minor problem before it becomes worsened in a badness fashion.
Ayon Spirit
The new Ayon Spirit is an entry-level, four-input, integrated design that can operate in either Pentode or Triode mode thanks to a small rotary switch that nestles on the amplifier’s top-plate between the valves and the shrouded transformers. The layout of the Spirit elsewhere is delightfully straightforward: the fascia houses a volume knob, an infra-red eye – the remote control takes care of just volume up/down and mute functions –, a backlit logo that glows a seductive red when the amplifier is powered up, and an input selector to choose between the prosaically labelled Line 1, 2, 3 or 4 line-level inputs.
At the rear you’ll find RCA phono connectors for those inputs, two sets of chunky binding posts for 4-ohm or 8-ohm speaker connections, trim pots and test points for setting the bias on the output valves, and the mains connector/switch alongside a phase indicating lamp that illuminates to tell you whether your mains is wired with the correct polarity. Unless you are of a super-tweaky disposition or you have to change the valves without help from your dealer, you can safely ignore the trim pots and test points and simply plug your speaker cables and interconnects into the relevant orifices and get going. The only concern will be whether to use the 4- or 8-ohm sockets: if you are in doubt, phone your dealer.
On top of the amplifier you’ll find two shrouded output transformers flanking a similarly encased mains transformer and seven unguarded valves: a trio of 12AU7s and two pairs of KT88 output valves. Apart from its substantial weight and bulk, the Spirit gives the impression of being very well built no matter from which angle you assess it. Every element of its construction, right down to the speaker terminals, says “solid” in a confident, reassuring voice. If the Spirit were a 4WD vehicle it would definitely be a no-nonsense, farmer’s Land Rover rather than some prissy, mind-you-don’t-get-mud-on-the-carpets, Surrey school run special. The 50 Watt power output speaks volumes for this amplifier: it wouldn’t be bad if this were a push-pull design, which it can be, but 50 Watts is quite remarkable for a single-ended Triode.
Ayon says that its products offer ‘explosive dynamics, purity of tone, neutrality, finesse, emotional realism and stable sound stage projection.’ Sounds good so let’s fire up the Spirit and see what’s cooking.
To weigh up the Spirit I hooked it up to a Naim CDS CD player, with Chord Company Indigo interconnects and Signature bi-wire speaker cable to Neat Acoustics’ Momentum 4i loudspeakers. Although they’re quite imposing floor-standers with isobaric bass loading, the 4is aren’t hard work for an amplifier and the Spirit drove them happily to the sort of listening levels I enjoy with enthusiasm and ease, even in lower-powered, single-ended Triode mode.
Mind you, the Spirit does encourage you to listen to, perhaps, more thoughtful music than you might under other (solid-state powered) circumstances. This certainly isn’t an amplifier designed for drum’n’bass freaks, for example. That’s not because it can’t handle the genre but because such music doesn’t really offer it appropriate scope for expression. That’s not me being snobby but simply saying that the range of musical colour and vocabulary that this amplifier can summon is wasted on music that doesn’t properly exploit it.
The Spirit seems particularly enamoured with vocalists, especially those of the female persuasion. A selection of my favourite female singers sounds particularly splendid through this amplifier, especially when it’s in Triode operating mode, which seems to bring out the subtlest qualities in their voices. The way in which Christine Collister or Pat Mears can dig into the lower, almost masculine registers of their ranges yet still retain their obvious femininity in their voices is particularly rewarding.
Similarly, the male voice enjoys Triode operation. The Spirit, despite its Austrian origins, does a fine job of unravelling Christy Moore’s often convoluted Irish lyricism and Dr John’s lazy Louisiana drawl, rendering both with the utmost clarity and expressive feeling.
Switching to Pentode mode seems to benefit some music. The aforementioned D’n’B has more punch and rhythmic impetus, as does Rage Against The Machine, where the drums and bass guitar have more overt snap and leading edge impact. Nonetheless, in Triode mode it is far clearer how, for example, Tom Morello is extracting the weird and wonderful tones from his guitar and what vocalist, Zac de la Rocha is actually spitting into the microphone.
Ultimately, I realise that Triode operation beats Pentode into a cocked hat with all musical genres. The slight lessening of rhythmic snap and impetus, along with the reduction in volume, is a small price to pay for the enhanced exposition of timbre, tonality and three-dimensionality that is so evident on vocals and acoustic instruments. The difference in the portrayal of Nic Jones’ acoustic guitar on “Canadee-I-O” is astounding – even to a teenage listener steeped in D’n’B culture who joined me to experience valves for the first time. The guitar acquires a richness and harmonic depth in SET mode that is completely missing in push-pull. It sounds convincing and real rather than an electronic portrayal.
The amplifier really shifts up a gear when presented with the John McLaughlin Trio recording Live at The Royal Festival Hall, which it relishes for its mix of vibrant acoustic guitar, sonorous electric bass and Trilok Gurtu’s dazzling array of percussion. It portrays this last element with an appropriately deft mix of delicacy and power to complement McLaughlin’s nimble guitar play and Kai Eckhardt’s fluid bass lines.
And therein lie the strengths and weaknesses of the Ayon Spirit. Perhaps it isn’t the ultimate pace, rhythm, and timing machine – it doesn’t match my usual Naim amplifiers in that respect – but it is exceptionally and delightfully revealing of timbre and tonality. And that with voices, especially, can be captivating. If you’re keen on stereo imagery you’ll find much to like here too The Spirit creates a broad and deep soundstage with sympathetically recorded material and its dynamic capabilities generate tangible atmosphere through picking up on reverberation and the most subtle of spatial clues. The same ability also makes light work of discriminating between period and modern orchestral instrumentation. Interestingly, the Spirit also seems to time more insistently with classical recordings than it does with rock, such that its musical presentation is on a par with the more cosmetic aspects.
In fact, the only question I really can’t answer is why Ayon bothered with the Triode/Pentode switching when the single-ended mode sounds so superior to the push-pull alternative.
