I heard these here in MA at Goodwin's. Bass was a bit muddy and even told the rep who said "yeah a bit" but everything is is fine! Once heard it was hard for me to ignore.
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!
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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). |
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