Rockport Avior vs. Marten Coltrane vs. Kharma Midi

These are very high end speakers and my experience is such speakers are designed for ultimate sonics and not ease of driving. However I know a person with the Rockports, he posts under the name of Willco here in Aus, and he drives them with all sorts of stuff - low powered valve gear and high power digital and SS. The guy is also a hi fi nut having heard everything out there and nothing to his ears has bested the Rockports - I think he has heard some stuff maybe as good eg Pro Ac Carbons and Lenehan ML2 Limited Editions - but nothing to actually best it.

The choice of amp is really between do you prefer high powered SS or valve. To give you and idea of the difference I will describe some listening sessions with the speakers Willco says is up there with the Rockports, but just so you understand the background here is a link to where Willco heard those speakers:
http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/topic/48083-cafad-and-damo-visit-mikes-place/

I am not suggesting you get or even consider the speakers in the above thread - your chances of hearing them is virtually zero - but merely so you understand they are up there with the Rockports so what follows is a valid in your situation.

The two best amps I have heard are a valve and a high powered digital. Valve amps shine on vocals; Dianna Krall, Sinatra, Adele all sound divine. I was with a guy who had never really heard a valve amp before and we played some of that stuff (using the Lenehan ML2 Limited Editions mentioned above that are up there with the Rockpoerts) on the digital amp - very good - but we put my valve amp on - his eyes went wide - he couldn't believe how much better the vocals were - so real live and present. But just to make the point it is source dependent we put on some Dire Straights - Private Investigations. The voice is at low volume in that track so you really have to wind it up to hear it over the music which tests the dynamics and power of your amp. Nice on the valve amp - no question - but when we put the high power digital on - no contest - the dynamics of the background and overall ease of the entire performance was way better.

Bottom line here - what do you listen to - rock, heavy metal , classical or a wide variety of music - get high power SS. Listen mostly to Jazz and vocals (as I do) - the valve vamp is the go. I also listen to a lot of 2ch HT so the valve amp is out for me - darn - but it is divine.

Oh and I want to add both those amps in the comparison are ultra high end - both those amps easily blow away MAC 501's for example which aren't easy. They were Arion HS-500 upgraded with Duelund VSF Copper and some hand made KT120 45W monoblocks with hand made very high quality output transformers. Drop me a line if you want to know more about the actual amps.

Thanks
Bill

Thank you so much Bill, your sharing is very precious to me!

After my audition of Avior and Cotrane at different places ( and different front end gears for sure) last week, I feel Coltrane is more friendly to amps and the sound is amazing to me. I don't have chance to check Kharma Midi, but I think Coltrane is my decision.

Thanks again, wish you have a splendid 2013!

Yuhuac

Thanks for a good post! I am an Avior owner, still looking for direction in choosing electronics. I started with my 20+ y/o BAT preamp and Rowland 8T, which couldn't provide enough weight at the bottom and effaced much of what is so desirable of transients, yet offered a lovely midrange. I swapped it toward a Dan D'Agostino integrated- bass and transient/ attack problems solved! A bit warm but still lacking the emotion of the BAT/ Rowland combo. I would be grateful for your current opinion on how to get it all? Budget is whatever I can get for the Dan D'A, probably close to the $24k I paid for it. Best!

Thanks for a good post! I am an Avior owner, still looking for direction in choosing electronics. I started with my 20+ y/o BAT preamp and Rowland 8T, which couldn't provide enough weight at the bottom and effaced much of what is so desirable of transients, yet offered a lovely midrange. I swapped it toward a Dan D'Agostino integrated- bass and transient/ attack problems solved! A bit warm but still lacking the emotion of the BAT/ Rowland combo. I would be grateful for your current opinion on how to get it all? Budget is whatever I can get for the Dan D'A, probably close to the $24k I paid for it. Best!

Aldenberry,

It sounds like with your desire for a combination of a warm, full-bodied midrange combined with fast, tight bass, a tube pre/solid state combo is where you probably need to go. Having Rowland in the past, combining it with BAT would probably not be the best combo and be too warm and dark.

I would,d suggest the following: ARC Ref 5se tube preamp - gives some degree of warmth and tube sound in the mid, but still very dynamic and fast. For amps, Andy Payor from Rockport voices his speakers with Gryphon. An ARC/Gryphon combo would be intriguing.

Groundhog Day??? Echo what Philb said.

Aldenberry
As an Avior owner I agree with Phil. A tube pre is a good place to start. You can get a lot of mileage from 24k if you look at some of the gear on Agon. I recommend a ARC pre or better still a CJ GAT. I have not compared the 5SE to the GAT but reviews suggest that the latter is miles ahead. A good unit on Agon is approx 11k or so. If you prefer a tube amp , my recommendation, a CJ 125 or 140 should be doable within 10k. Don't mix and match ARC and CJ. As a longtime CJ owner my loyalty is to the latter.
A tube pre and SS amp is great in theory but unless you get to hear the combo first hand you should be wary.
All the best