Amps/Preamps for Rockport Aviors

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

Very nice speakers.  I suggest you call Andy Payor at Rockport and get his opinion.  Andy is always happy to hear from the people who buy his products.
Paul

Hi,

I have owned the Aviors since 2014 and absolutely love them and while I do get the itch once in a while to look at changing, I haven't heard anything compelling enough to make a move. I currently drive them with the Burmester 911mk3 mono and the Burmester 088 preamp - heavenly to say the least but may not appeal to everyone and I get that. While I haven't tried any other preamp/ amp combinations, I must say the Aviors are a tricky load and their impedence does go down to 2 ohms on certain frequencies ( agree with JWM's observations and some others' in is thread). As such, i would certainly favor high current SS or heavy duty tube amps to bring out the best in them.

I don't think Andy necessarily prescribes any particular route. He demoed the Lyra with Doshi tubes recently and I have heard the Altairs and Aviors sing in High-end Munich driven by Absolare tube amps. One of my friends drives his Aviors with Wavac monos and CJ GAT preamp. 

As an aside, I would suggest writing to Jeff Fritz, Editor, Soundstage Ultra. He is intimately aware of the entire Rockport lineup and for a long time had the Ayer MXR amps ( I think) as his reference though I believe he now also has the Soulution 700 monos. I would go by what Jeff would suggest given his vast experience and the fact that he is very approachable and responsive.

if budget is not a constraint, one can't go wrong with either of Vitus, Luxman, Gryphon, Dan's Momentums, Absolare, Ypsilon, darTZeel, etc. I love the Burmesters, though, unabashedly and so that's another option.

Have fun.....and hopefully, you will land up with something you like and will cherish for a long time. The Aviors are wonderful speakers!

cheers

sujay

You are clearly doing an "upgrade".  Awesome speakers!!!   If you want to bring out the absolute best in your new speakers with a worthy preamp then I would unconditionally recommend the ARC Ref 10.  I have had mine for two years and it is unbeatable.  It is a true and lasting marriage of the best sonic qualities of soild state (transient speed, inner detail to the quark level and bottom-end punch) and tubes (ambience, space/air, sustain and realism).  As they say: the pre is where the damage is done.  My ARC Ref 10 must have taken the Hippocratic Oath because it does absolutely no harm.  It's marvelous!!! 

Ray