Pre/Power Amplifiers

Back in 1993, Charles (aka Charley) Hansen – the designer and founder of respected US loudspeaker specialist Avalon Acoustics – formed Ayre Acoustics. Over the 24 years that followed, he built up the brand, adding a range of innovative preamps, power amplifiers and integrated designs, all descended from the company’s original ‘zero-negative feedback’ V-1 power amplifier. Charles passed away at the end of 2017, but the company, which is based in Boulder, Colorado, has continued under the leadership of Ariel Brown, who started working at Ayre in 1996 and had been Lead Designer since the early 2010s.

Now ‘Ayrehead-In-Chief’, Brown leads the company’s 11-strong team in a new facility built for the production of the 8 series. Since 2022, he’s been joined by Jake Forsyth, formerly of fellow Boulder hi-fi brand PS Audio, as Vice President (aka ‘Lieutenant Ayrehead’). It’s Forsyth who gives HFN a hint of Ayre Acoustics’ future plans, stating that ‘very soon you will have the opportunity to experience Ayre Acoustics through home stereo equipment, the recording studio and pro audio’. Upcoming products, however, are still being kept under wraps. And what about Roon Certification for the company’s networked models? ‘That’s sort of its own situation and needs to be handled one product at a time at the moment.’