Searching for an amp to pair with Rockport Atria II

unfortunately space will not allow for the amp stand in the middle of a walkway nor will my wife. She already tolerates the speakers 3 ft into the room so i don’t want to push it.

We have a custom built equipment stand an I don’t want to replace it just yet.

Cabinets and wives are common impediments to better sound.  I understand why we put up with one, but divorce takes care of the other.

Anyway, at 4Ohms nominal impedance, which means it likely dips below that at certain frequencies, and sensitivity of 87.5dB these speakers don’t exactly cry out for tubes — at least not to me.  Just because a tube amp “can” drive a speaker doesn’t necessarily mean it should.  At the very least you’re likely to push the Octave amp hard unless you only listen at low levels, and that’s not an optimal situation for any amp.  There’s a reason Andy Payor favors amps like Gryphon to pair with and voice his speakers.  If it was me I’d look for the best Class A (or A/B) amp that has sufficient power and sounds good to you (and fits in your beloved cabinet) and pair it with a good tube preamp.  But then again, if the Octaves are really working for you, what the hell do I know?  Best of luck in making your decision, and congrats on the great new speakers!

something with a  lot of juice. The big Pass amps, or the VTL Siegfrieds come to mind.

@creditingkarma, If you want the best performance out of those speakers you buy mono amps and put then behind the speakers keeping the speaker wires as short as you can. Use Kimber Kable 12Tc. It has the lowest inductance of any cable on the market and at 3 feet it will be like having no cable at all. Then get yourself a pair of Parasound JC 1+. You will have to spend serious money to get better amps if you can find a better amp. John Curl knows what he is doing. More so perhaps than even Nelson Pass. The only reason that these amps cost less is that they are made is a high production facility in Taiwan that has all the robots and machines needed to speed things up and do surface mounted boards and such. Small American manufacturers do not have enough money to buy that kind of equipment, They either out source it or do though hole boards by hand. Atma-sphere does Point to point wiring only which I have to admit is a thing to behold. Anyway, the JC +1 uses extremely high quality parts as good as any amp made, the only difference is labor and volume. Parasound will move a lot more of these than Boulder will move it's entire line. I have the older JC1's and could not be happier. They run circles around all the other amps I have had including my old Krells. The JC1+ is even bigger and better.   

Tough to drive, but great speakers. A pair on Ampzillas will sound excellent on them, talk to Underwood Hifi. Beat Pass X350.8 and some others for me.