Amps/Preamps for Rockport Aviors

PM member @philb7777 , he's driving Rockport Cygnus with ARC Ref250 and Ref5 se. 

A local friend was driving his Rockport Altair IIs with VTL Siegfried MKII and it's fantastic.  So babybear's VTL450 recommendation is a possible option.

Another option is Vac 200iq mono. You can roll KT88, KT120 or KT150 and has auto bias. I heard them several times at dealers and is excellent.  With your Avior, I suggests rolling KT150 for more power.

If SS, checkout D'Agastino Momentum. I was a big Krell fan and these are not not your father's Krell.  Sweet, musical, resolving ...

GL!

Congratulations on the speakers they are really excellent.
 

We would recommend that you check out the T+A  line of electronics, they represent some of the finest sounding electronics on the market.

They are hard to find but well worth a look. They makes two more affordable integrated amplifiers in the R series and one flagship integrated the HV series PA 3000 at $19k.

The PA 3000 integrated was compared to $120k worth of CH precision electronics by Allan Taffel in the Absolute Sound. Mr. Taffel found that it hard to differentiate between the two! If you can compare a $120k worth of electronics to a $19k one and have trouble telling which is which it means the T+A integrated is an absolute steal and a way to get into the uber class of sound quality for a whole lot less and the separates are even in better than the HV integrated.

T+A is the largest electronics manufacturer in Germany all of their products are produced in house and they have been in business for over 30 years. 
They have a full time engineering staff of 14! 

The HV series of electronics employs a novel high voltage rail concept which runs solid state devices at very high voltages, which is why tubes sound so smooth,it is the lack of distortion due to increased transfer function and linearity which occurs at high voltages, the HV series uses this technique to build very smooth and musical solid state gear.

The PA 3000 offers 300 watts into an 8 ohm load and 500 watts into a 4 ohm load. and it appears nearly limitless in terms of drive.

Add to that a huge sound stage, and a tremendously airy and involving sound 

if you would like to hear our setup and you are in the East Coast give us a call.

Troy
Audio Doctor
877 428 2873

Hi Gasherbaum:
Once again, I'm in a thread that provided an opening for Audio Troy, alias Audiotroll to sell his wares--cite to reviews that agree with him for credibility-- and give his phone number. (He'll say he's just trying to help, but note he is the only dealer on Audiogon that "helps" so openly and brazenly). P. S.-- We can all find a review that raves over any one of dozens of great amps and speakers----that does not make that particular item work for any consumer in any set up.
 If it's a speaker thread---Audiotroll will jump in and push Paradigm. I guess if it's a thread asking for advice on preamps and amps, it's now T & A. Oh well.
My two cents. I have heard T & A gear at Stereo Exchange a number of years ago and the the NY Audio show this past year. It is very very good gear and not as well known here as it should be. In fact, it is pretty awesome and may be great with Rockport and may not be. Like CH Precision, it is bold, with great transparency and detail--not particularly warm which may be perfect for Rockport which are very slightly on the warm side of neutral in my experience. My suggestion is to call the factory and ask which solid state and tube gear are among those you should try. As for solid state, Gryphon would probably be the number one call as that is what the designer (Andy Payor) uses in his listening room. I believe he also has tube gear, but I do not know what brands he prefers. The ARC Ref 250se and VTL S400IIs both appear to have enough juice to do the job. As for other solid state gear, well there are countless greats that you should consider including D'Agostino, Pass, Ayre, Constellation, Soulution,  Classe and yes T & A. But, instead of guessing---call Andy or one of his factory hands for some suggestions on what has worked in their experience. That should help you to focus on a few brands that will be good for your set up. Good luck.  

Stereo Exchange never sold T+A, T+A is known for offering a sound that is warm if you read the review in the Absolute Sound they site the HV's musicality and tube like qualities as well as its transparency and midrange accuracy. 

Again, Gru, we are trying to get people to pay attention to a brand which compares to crazy expensive stuff like CH precison, and D'Agastino, and Solution, yet costs considerably less in fact that is what Allan Taffel said in his review he titled the review "Swiss sound for less."

I have never have I seen in all my 40 years of reading TAS and Stereophile seen a review, which has compared a $20k amp to $120k worth of some of the most respected Swiss gear around and come to that conclusion!  Have you?  Their are many raves on many great pieces of gear, however, it is the price difference in how much their costs vs the best of the best gear, which makes the T+A gear worth crowing about!

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/ta-pa-3000-hv-and-mp-3000-hv/


I didn't make the review, Allan Taffel did, he said in the review that the $19k T+A integrated competes with $120k worth of CH gear!  The T+A gear is the real deal and is based on a company with a reputation for building incredible gear. The HV gear is relatively new came out in 2014 but due to the poor press showing of their first distributor nobody heard of the gear in the US. 
 
"How close is the sound? Let me start with the PA3000 HV. At $19,000, this 300-watt integrated amp costs about 15 percent of my reference CH Precision C1/2xA1 combo. Yet when I switch between them the most striking thing I hear is their utter similarity.  "

" The biggest difference between the T+A and the CH Precision is at the very top end, where the reference is more refined, though not any more extended. Bear in mind that even this difference, though audible as a touch of roughness, still falls into the subtle category. As evidence, consider that while trying my darndest to ferret out differences like this one, I frequently put down my pen and succumbed to the music. I listened to entire sides of even the most familiar albums. That’s an indication of how little these scant distinctions matter, and how miraculously close the PA3000’s sound and capacity to captivate come to the higher-buck Swiss Sound stalwarts "

They are coming on strong with raves on their products DAC 8 $4k dac compared to $20k dacs, and technologies and usually you will find that their gear competes with much, much, more expensive gear. 

If this man wants to hear solid state gear which really sounds like the best in tubes he should hear the T+A gear, if he is on our coast he should stop in if not he can hear the gear at other dealers.

I used to love tubes and still enjoy them, the T+A gear just sounds like the best of both worlds and it is incredible made and reasonably priced. 

So yes you caught me, again, trying to champion a brand and a product that many people don't know about, but should. 

Lets see how many products we champion that become critical darlings in the press, and generally our products are less expensive for their outstanding performance. 

Hello everyone,

I hope you all had a good weekend and thank you all for your suggestions regarding the various components, including the Ayre, Pass Labs, VTL, D'Agostino, ARC and calling Rockport.  I do have a call into Andy Payor at Rockport to see what his thoughts are.  I wanted to audition some stuff from the dealer i bought the Rockports from, but that dealer doesn't have anything in his store other than the ARC REF 75 SE and the Boulder 2160 -- he just doesn't carry a lot of equipment in the store to compare. 

I do have some follow up questions.  A couple of you mentioned the VTL amplifiers (Baby Bear and Knghifi), which are also tube amps like the ARC.  Is there a reason you think the VTL amps would drive or match the Rockports better than an upgraded ARC, like the REF 250 SE monoblocks? 

Knghifi, you mentioned that philb7777 drives his Cygnus's (which are one up from the Aviors and a great sounding speaker) with the ARC 250 and REF 5SE -- do you know whether he is in love with the sound of his equipment? 

I am going to look into the other suggestions as well  (luckily Ayre is a local company here in Colorado where I live) with a dealer right around the corner.  There is a Pass Labs dealer not to far from here that says he will ship a pair of Pass Labs XA 160.8 mono blocks for me to try and if I don't like them I just pay for the shipping back, and if I do like them I pay for them.  It might be worth the cost of shipping to see how they sound.

Everyone, thank you again for the great suggestions and also taking the time to provide me guidance.  I will let you know what, if any, of these amps I can test with the Rockports before buying. 

Thank you, Larry