Amps/Preamps for Rockport Aviors

Hi Gasherbaum. Let us all  know how you make out. That way, we can enjoy vicariously without having to spend our own money.
P.S. despite the fact that specifications may not indicate that the ARC 250se or VTL S400IIs are a perfect match, both of their power supplies are extremely robust so I think you will be surprised at how well they handle your speakers, especially if used in combo with their respective preamps. Lastly, you are in luck to have a dealer that carries D'Agostino, ARC and VTL. While you are testing those 3 brands, try an ARC pre with a Dag amp. That will get you half way between the full tube sound and a hint of tube sound with what some would say is the best of both worlds. The combo is one I heard often (before Dag came out with its preamp) and I can tell you that the ARC/DAG combo is quite synergistic.
I am a huge fan of your speakers and wish you the best of luck.

Hello Everyone,

I am hoping tomorrow is a fun day as I drive up to Ft. Collins to listen to the VTL, D'Agostino and ARC.  I also hope to stop in Wheat Ridge on the way to hear the Ayre that was also recommended. 

JWM, thanks for the warning about the Altair 2's not doing great with tubes.  I have heard, although I may be wrong, that the Altair and the Arrakis were very hard to drive and needed a lot of SS power, although they are supposed to be magical sounding.  The Rockport Cygnus and smaller speakers (like the Aviors) i have heard are less demanding (also produce a smaller sound stage).  I will let you know what I think after hearing the various SS and tube amps on the speakers at my house. 

Knghifi, thanks for putting me in touch with Philb7777; I sent him a message and he responded, and he thought that a bigger need than an amp upgrade was a preamp upgrade.  He says he loves his ARC REF 5SE driving his 250's with his Rockports.  While I was intending to upgrade both, I appreciated him suggesting that the bigger need may be the preamp and that I may get a much bigger soundstage just by upgrading the preamp.   

GPGR4blu, thanks also for the suggestion on the D'Agostino amp with an ARC pre-amp.  It reminded me that someone at RMAF had said something similar and I had totally forgotten.  This gives me one more good combo to think about and test out -- could be an amazing sound.  

Thanks everyone, and I'll give my first update after this weekend, but I think the best update will come after I've had a chance to test the gear on the speakers in my house.  so far, it looks like I should be able to listen, at my house after I get my speakers,  to a used pair of ARC REF 250's (the dealer up in Ft. Collins has a traded in pair), a pair of the ARC 250 SE's, the VTL's, the D'Agostino, and the Ayre, all from local dealers, and I may pay to have the Pass Labs shipped to test them too.  I was surprised at how friendly the dealers were and that they offered to bring the gear over to my house and let me test it. 

Again, thank you to everyone for your suggestions and taking the time to respond to the post.  I know many of you have a wealth of knowledge and experience with hi-fi; I unfortunately do not, so these forums really help educate me and lead me in a good direction for my purchase. 

Thank you, Larry  

I've been driving my Aviors with the very rare and wonderful Pathos Inpol2 Integrated amp with NOS Mullard tubes used on the input stage and MOSFET on the output - 45W pure class A.  The only thing i've heard as good is the Vitus SIA-25, which is all solid state and 25 W pure class A.  It does a wonderful job at XXX times the cost of the Pathos.

I'm having a very special pushpull 300B integrated made by Berning and so will be selling my Pathos in the near future. If you are interested in this incredible integrated, to let me know.

Congrats on such a great and wise purchase!  Given that a choice of amps is dependent on a multitude of both system matching as well as  room and music preferences and, since it also involves personal tastes, you should take anything I say in that context.

I own (and reviewed for Stereo Times a number of years ago) the Rockport Aquila speakers - which I believe are similar in many ways to the Aviors.  Mine differ in that they have a single 13" side firing woofer and weigh about 80 pounds more.

In my opinion, Rockport speakers, more than any speaker I am aware of, are heirloom purchases and you see very few of them up for sale used for good reason.  I bought mine in 2008 and, other than possibly wondering what the Altairs would sound like, I have never had any desire to own any other speaker.

I have driven mine and very much like the pairing with Lamm M1.2 Reference Monoblocks - giving you a hybrid (mostly solid state) design with the power, punch and delicacy of both solid state and tubes.  I pair those amps with a Conrad-Johnson ART-3 line stage (I have an Aesthetix IO Signature phono stage) thus giving me the great sound of good tubed pre-amplification as well.

My Aquilas do seem to need/like a bit of power - so if your Aviors are similar, I think you are onto something (if you like and stay with ARC) by considering going up to the Ref 250 to make these speakers sing.

Good luck with your journey and I can assure you that you are going to LOVE Andy's speakers  - in my humble opinion, he is one of the classiest and most talented designers in audio and his build quality is second to none.

Frank

In my opinion there are preamps that sound worse but none better than the Sutherland N-1.  Ron Sutherland incorporates his finest phono stage and line stage in a single chassis. Extreme build quality and works anywhere with any line voltage sans settings.  A beautiful state of the art preamplifier capable of driving long interconnects if required and has two outputs, 6 inputs with the last a white noise generator.
Web site: http://sutherlandengineering.com/products/n1/
Owners manual: http://www.sutherlandengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Sutherland-N1-OwnersManual.pdf
Since this purchase I have totally freed myself of ever wanting more. Just a great feeling!
Steve