Actually several years ago my HT3s replaced an aging set of B&W 801 Series Two speakers I had upgraded with revised crossovers to prevent interaction between a couple of large crossover inductors.
If your AVA amp has enough power to drive the B&W 801s it will be just fine for Salk HT3s too.
Now my HT3s are aging too. They don't have the current version crossovers, woofers, or ribbon tweeters. I also own a set of Salk HT2 TLs and I think they would be a nice improvement over the old 801s if your budget is trying to stay pretty rational.
I still use all three speakers all of the time but to try something new at a reasonable price I just acquired a set of Dennis Murphy's Philharmonic Three speakers. They sound much like a modern high end Salk speaker but without the high end cabinet work and at a lower price.
You have lots of good choices with speakers from Jim Salk and Dennis Murphy.
Frank Van Alstine