I don’t remember reading that the Aviors emphasized bass in any reviews, which makes me question speaker positioning and room issues as maybe being contributing factors where you heard them. Just a guess.
Is the Rockport Avior II an Endgame Speaker?
This past week, I spent about 90 minutes listening to a number of my favorite tracks through Rockport's Avior II speakers. For the most part, I found them to be accurate and musical, but with one shortcoming (maybe). To me, the most bottom end on some tracks with deep bass sounded a little over-emphasized in that realm. Of course, that exaggeration could be due to an anomaly in the streamer/DAC or the amplifier, and not the speakers themselves. I just don't know, which is why I am asking other Audiogon participants familiar with the Avior II to let me know their impressions of this speaker gained from the experiences living with -- or at least listening to -- them.
This will be my last purchase of speakers, and I want my decision to be as educated as possible. Thanks!
15 responses Add your response
The pair I heard, and in that particular setup, did not have excessive bass. It did a very good job with imaging and was reasonably smooth and detailed. It does deliver quite the level of warmth and sense of "weight" I prefer, nor the dynamics at low volume that I particularly prize, but then again, conventional high end speakers don't excel in these areas (horns and other high efficiency speakers are generally needed to achieve the level of these qualities that I like). Overall, I liked the speaker although I cannot say how it ranks among other high end brands trying to achieve the same sort of sound like YG Acoustics, Exelon, etc. |
| Post removed |
I heard Rockport Altairs there with MSB front end and Boulder pre/amps and the bass was likewise a little wooly. I don’t think Andy Payor would let a speaker out the door with bass performance like that and came away convinced that Goodwins doesn’t know how to properly position speakers in a room for best performance. The room was plenty big so it wasn’t that. I would not have even demoed those speakers the way they sounded if I was Goodwins — it was embarrassing. They also had the Rockport monitors in a room that was horribly over damped that totally sucked the life out of the sound. I think their room design/setup skills leave a lot to be desired. |
Here's a thorough review (listening AND measurements). It still appears in Class A (full range) of their Recommended Speakers, along with ~30 others. Worth the read, then you can decide which & how many others you want to check out. |
If there is anything Rockport speakers do weel, it's bass response. They are bass reflex which rolls off at 24dM/octave but the designer claims and told me his speakers have a custom alignment so they roll at 12 dB/octave like a closed box. He pointed me to John Atkinson's Stereophile test and darn if it didn't drop 12 dB from 40 Hz to 20 Hz which is just like a closed box and the only time I know that occurs in a bass reflex speakers. I suspect it turns into 24 dB below 20 Hz but there's so little music down there. There's very little below 40 Hz for most music forms. Plus I have heard Rockport bass. If you heard poor bass there's something wrong in the setup which could include the room. Rockport bass is no problem, among the very best(along with the rest of their sound). |
I have owned the Rockport Atria II and Cygnus. Both are impressive speakers and I never noticed the bass being muddy with them. The Cygnus did put out a lot of bass in my room but that was easy to remedy with a bit of digital eq below 100hz. I found Rockport speakers to be extremely coherent from top to bottom. With that said I did own Magico before and missed some of the Magico sound. Since I have moved on to Estelon which I find more detailed and easier to position in a room. |
That's a subjective question - we each have hearing preferences.
That is important - seems that this speaker resonates with you. The bass is just a set-up and/or room issue that can be solved. Bottom line, this is likely an ideal choice for the OP. |