Help! Best amp for Rockport Aviors?

I've heard them sound really good with  BAT SS amps, and with simaudio. Neither system was "hot" sounding. Both played big, detailed,  and slightly warm. 

As some people have commented, the Aviors need lots of power behind them. They are not a benign load on the amps with impedance dipping to around 2 ohms at certain frequencies. The scanspeak berrylium tweeter is one of the best but also needs power to drive them properly.

Jason,

I have a pair of Rockport Altairs and I went through the same amp-searching exercise when I purchased them. I realize the Altairs are different than the Aviors, but perhaps my experience will be of some assistance to you.

First, I've never found the BE tweeter to be 'hot' or too bright with any of the amps I auditioned. They may expose 'hot' or thin recordings more than your prior Dynaudio C2s. I know that 

I had the same 'lack of slam' experience.  reveal poor record .I had a VAC Phi 300.1A tube amp when I first got the Altairs and it lacked deep bass,  slam, etc.  I then tried Pass Lab XA100.5 monoblocks and no improvement. One might say the Pass Lab amps were even more polite with the bass and certainly lacked the mids & highs of the VAC amp.

I contacted Jeff Fritz of SoundStage who has experience and praise for Rockport speakers. Jeff mentioned I needed an amp with lots of current to manage the 15 inch woofers. He also mentioned that I'd likely be better off with a solid state amp. 2 suggestions he had were a Burmester 911 Mk III and believe it or not a Devialet. I arranged to audition both at my home.

Both amps immediately took care of the bass (slam) issue. Both sounded equal or better than the other amps I tried in the mids and highs. However, I noticed that as I turned up the volume on the Burmester, the treble became a bit harsh. Not so with the Devialet as it had the same sound characteristics from low to high listening levels. The Devialet was also 25% of the cost of the Burmester and did away with the need for a pre-amp, DAC, phono stage and all the associated power and interconnect cables. 

I ended up purchasing 2 Devialets to have 400 watts per side but to be honest a single Devialet has ample power.  I found in my case adding a 2nd Devialet is a subtle improvement. I've had the Devialets for almost a year and don't have the urge to change, which says a lot.

Hope this helps.
  
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Thanks for the detailed response cycles2!

My dealer is also an authorized Devialet dealer and I actually went through that same "simplification" exercise and ended up passing on the Devialets as my Spectral system sounded so much better with my C2s. Given your advice, I'm going to audition them again with the Aviors. What speaker cables do you use with your Altairs? I auditioned them with my Spectral/MIT cables and I want to eliminate them from the mix, as perhaps they don't work well with the Deviatets...

Thanks again!
J

Hi,

i actually use 2 burmester 911 mk3 in mono configuration to drive my Aviors. The speakers disappear! There is no hardening in the treble, whatsoever and the bass is as visceral as i have felt. But I also use the burmester 088 preamp. I must confess, the 911mk3 is partial its own kin.....