KX-R Twenty balance problem

[RLF]

I just took delivery of a fully broken-in demo KX-R Twenty from my authorized Ayre dealer and came across an issue with a balance discrepancy between the left and right channels which was not present with my previous preamp in my system.

After I received the KX-R, I had the feeling that my right speaker was playing louder than the left so I checked the balance level with my Stereophile test disk #2 using the channel identification track. Sure enough, the right speaker was about 8dB louder than the left as confirmed by my RS sound level meter. The problem occurs on both of my inputs, the Ayre QX-5 and PS Audio DirectStreamDACs via my Aurender N10 and also when playing my PS Audio Transport via disk so it’s not a source problem. I then thought that since the KX-R is a demo unit, that the balance on the KX-R might have been adjusted toward the right, but when I went into the setup mode of the preamp, it was set at zero. I then checked all my cables and nothing was loose. When I switched interconnects from the right to left, the balance discrepancy changed channels with the left speaker now playing louder than the right.

Next I contacted my dealer about this and he suggested that I run the volume all the way up from 0 to max a few times to make sure that the microprocessors in the preamp were not “stuck.” This did not help. Next he had me do a factory reset of the preamp which did not help either.


My dealer has ordered another KX-R from Ayre, but I was told that there would be a delay as Ayre was waiting on some parts from a supplier and so far there is no ETA for another unit.

Even though I have a great dealer who is working on resolution, I am wondering if any other KX-R owner has come across an issue such as this? If so, what was the remedy other than sending the preamp back to Ayre? Perhaps I am overlooking something?