What amp $1000 for Rockport Tech Mira Mon?

I agree with Kurt that the Mira Monitors really would benefit from high quality amplification (I am a big Rockport fan as well) but they do like a lot of power even if you are not going to play them loud because they will sound closed in and unenvolving when underpowered (even at low volumes). That's why I suggested the Odyssey amp. Jonathan Valin's review of the Odyssey Khartagos suggested they punch way above their price point. With the Stratos, you are getting affordable high quality 150wpc and a 30-day in-home trial. Whatever you decide to get, make sure it has sufficient power for those speakers. Good luck.

ARC VT-100

Used it with a variety of speakers, used, close to where you want to be.

You might want to call Rockport for suggestions. Andy Payor is a very nice guy.

Yeah I second Jfz's suggestion to call Andy, but be prepared to be convinced to pay up. :) He will tell you to use the best of course. I called him and was originally going to use my existing Mark Levinson equipment but now I'm about to plunk down on Gryphon Mirage and Colosseum's.

Then again I only asked what's better... and the conclusion is the more expensive the better of course!

Ok so in all seriousness, within your budget I liked the above suggestions. The Odyssey sounds very good for the money (but I don't have any experience with them) and so does buying a used Pass Labs, Krell, ML, etc.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

The ARC suggestion has led to some research. There are a lot of letters in the names of AR amps. VT-, D-, VS-, etc. Can anyone give a link to a description of what these indicate?

Calling Andy is a good suggestion. I've been in his workshop a couple times and he has played some great stuff. Last time it was Hyperions driven by Mark Levinson 33s with the Gryphon CD player.
The only hesitation there is that the system should be built gradually. Maybe someday, I'll get a really fine amp, but I'll be content with a good one right now. Andy isn't in the business of giving advice on what would be second best - or third, or whatever my budget is (probably quite a bit further down). But I'll call him and see what he says.

Re: Pass Labs Aleph 5
I did some reading on this one. I don't understand why a Class A amp that consumes 300 W would not double to at least 120 into 4 ohm. The Mira Mons are 6 ohm, so it seems that whatever I choose should be able to maintain voltage at least at 6 ohms... not sure, though.