- Thread Author
- #1
So I finally finally heard these. I also had the even greater pleasure to meet Madfloyd who kindly joined for the audition. I am reserving this slot since I want to think carefully about such an august speaker.
Many thanks for Goodwins for their time...I have known Paul since 1993...and trust him and his hear. They are first class and have always looked after me. Just scheduling this took 3 tries because of our travel schedule.
System
DCS Vivaldi
Constellation Virgo and Centaur
MIT ref cables
Music
Eric Clapton Unplugged
fabric 15 deep house
Sherlock Holmes Hans Zimmerman
Rodriguo and Gabriela live in Japan
Rachel podger channel classics Vivaldi extravaganza
Snoop dog blue carpet
Amos tobin deep electronic house beats
Vivaldi prof Johnson reference recordings
Initial impressions
As MadFoyd can confirm, when we first sat down I thought impressive, soundstage not much diff than what I imagine my X1s might have done in the room. Detail 10-15% better. Eric Clapton track 1 guitar...my first question to Madfloyd who plays guitar was...is that really the full weight ofa guitar? Really? Mid strings feel lite...missing the impact of the resonance of the guitar body.
Bass slam on electronica was lite but I am so used to X1s and bigvelodyne I did not think much of it's liteness...maybe I am spoiled. I did not critique but was not impressed relative to Merck sheritan IIs I heard long ago which for the money were amazing.
Classical was beautifully articulated and spacious...i played this after clapton and rodriguo...and the classical also had slightly less bass impact heavy transients...But I still did mention to Madfloyd about preferring deeper bass because it helps with spacial cues and sense of aura around orchestral...oh well, so far impressive but no way I walk away and think dramatic improvement over my 20 yr old speakers. I preferred xlfs for sure but recognized set up was all new.
Then...about 1 hour in or so...Sherlock Holmes Hans Zimmerman was so much better...I was stunned. I was so stunned at the uplift from what I normally hear...I was sure something had changed and went back to Eric Clapton. Blam! String mids beautiful, full...bass weight much better slam...and soundstage much much deeper more deliberate. By this time we had also moved the couch back 3 feet because someone had left it too far forward and there was no soundstage.
I went outof the room to ask Paul about this...no way that's normal. How long was system on beforehand? It felt like something had warmed up. Turns out someone accidentally kicked the power cord of the pre and Paul plugged it in before we came in so not as much warm up. Big difference...huge actually.
nOW you're talking. And the warm up and deep puirty of tonality continued to improve for the 30 min I stayed after Madfloyd had to leave.
This s one seriously good speaker.
- transparency. Well based on the above, the transparency is exceptional...you really hear far, far into the playback chain. If someone whose never been in the room or heard the exact system can hear the warm up of the preamp so distinctly, that is a very transparent speaker. I feel confident I would not be able to do that with SF strads for example..much as I loved mine when I had them. It just changed completely.
- soundstage. For those love this stuff...I appreciate it but don't pine away for it. The room was maybe 30-35 by 20 by 10-11 high ( feet). Speakers at 16 feet apart and 10 feet into room...so quite far apart and close to the 20 foot width.
Eric cLapton unplugged. Eric Clapton was 12-15 back from front facade of the speakers.
Rodriguez and Gabriela - 5-7 feet back and 10-12 feet apart...they did move a bit
Sherlock Holmes...that kettle drum is 30 feet back...that was very very cool.
- bass wallop
Very extended and more detailed than what I heard from XLF but that's not saying one is better given room and set up. Just what I heard,
What I liked most is its organic detailed propulsive and very very balanced...people who enjoy will feel a very satisfactory bass power and balance. Bass freaks will still want more...but hey, we're bass freaks!
- ease and dynamics
My favorite part of these speakers presentation...how easy it makes it all seem. Nothing thrown at you, not deep sound staging nor pure tonal beauty, nor the ability to play multiple complex lines and keep it all intact, nor balanced coherent broad sound range.
It is fast but does not appear fast. The only way I can tell its fast is the level of complex detail it handles where each musical instrument maintains its own musical line perfectly and easily listened to on its own, despite the complex orchestral...plus the stable imaging of a delicate flute in the back or a harpsichord...while bass is plowing off to one side and strings in the middle...all distinguishable and tonally pure...without any image waver whatsoever...means it is delivering each instruments exact information without letting that instrument bleed into the presentation NFC another instrument.
- voice/mids
Think rockport solidity with delicacy and nuance. For someone who likes electrostatics, wants to hear full decay which I am convinced is part of a natural feel to music reproduction and fullness to their images and instruments...I think Altair is one of the finest examples I have heard. The fact that it weighs 515 lbs and delivers the solidity you would hope to get from such an inert heavy speakers is the icing on the cake which makes this kind of purchase really, really, really satisfying.
Prelim Conclusions
I can see why some have advised me they put the Altair against the X2...and the XLF has more scale but not necessarily more coherence, tonal purity or deep articulate sound tagging. I think for the footprint, the XLF cleverly gives a taller speaker that MIGHT just edge out in dynamic range...sense of space. But the Altairs do deliver a deeper soundstage than I have ever heard with the big Wilson's (and I have lost count as to how many times I have heard and auditioned big Wilsons in various locations incl my home). So you might not lose anything with Altair on that score.
Given the price differential, I think once again consistent with my thoughts on meta sheritan ii of old...rockport is sensational value and true sota. I would love to hear the Arrakis which is priced much closer to XLF and in fact given the value for money of the Altair intrigues me as t how it compares with the mighty Genesis 1.2 more than XLF.
Many thanks for Goodwins for their time...I have known Paul since 1993...and trust him and his hear. They are first class and have always looked after me. Just scheduling this took 3 tries because of our travel schedule.
System
DCS Vivaldi
Constellation Virgo and Centaur
MIT ref cables
Music
Eric Clapton Unplugged
fabric 15 deep house
Sherlock Holmes Hans Zimmerman
Rodriguo and Gabriela live in Japan
Rachel podger channel classics Vivaldi extravaganza
Snoop dog blue carpet
Amos tobin deep electronic house beats
Vivaldi prof Johnson reference recordings
Initial impressions
As MadFoyd can confirm, when we first sat down I thought impressive, soundstage not much diff than what I imagine my X1s might have done in the room. Detail 10-15% better. Eric Clapton track 1 guitar...my first question to Madfloyd who plays guitar was...is that really the full weight ofa guitar? Really? Mid strings feel lite...missing the impact of the resonance of the guitar body.
Bass slam on electronica was lite but I am so used to X1s and bigvelodyne I did not think much of it's liteness...maybe I am spoiled. I did not critique but was not impressed relative to Merck sheritan IIs I heard long ago which for the money were amazing.
Classical was beautifully articulated and spacious...i played this after clapton and rodriguo...and the classical also had slightly less bass impact heavy transients...But I still did mention to Madfloyd about preferring deeper bass because it helps with spacial cues and sense of aura around orchestral...oh well, so far impressive but no way I walk away and think dramatic improvement over my 20 yr old speakers. I preferred xlfs for sure but recognized set up was all new.
Then...about 1 hour in or so...Sherlock Holmes Hans Zimmerman was so much better...I was stunned. I was so stunned at the uplift from what I normally hear...I was sure something had changed and went back to Eric Clapton. Blam! String mids beautiful, full...bass weight much better slam...and soundstage much much deeper more deliberate. By this time we had also moved the couch back 3 feet because someone had left it too far forward and there was no soundstage.
I went outof the room to ask Paul about this...no way that's normal. How long was system on beforehand? It felt like something had warmed up. Turns out someone accidentally kicked the power cord of the pre and Paul plugged it in before we came in so not as much warm up. Big difference...huge actually.
nOW you're talking. And the warm up and deep puirty of tonality continued to improve for the 30 min I stayed after Madfloyd had to leave.
This s one seriously good speaker.
- transparency. Well based on the above, the transparency is exceptional...you really hear far, far into the playback chain. If someone whose never been in the room or heard the exact system can hear the warm up of the preamp so distinctly, that is a very transparent speaker. I feel confident I would not be able to do that with SF strads for example..much as I loved mine when I had them. It just changed completely.
- soundstage. For those love this stuff...I appreciate it but don't pine away for it. The room was maybe 30-35 by 20 by 10-11 high ( feet). Speakers at 16 feet apart and 10 feet into room...so quite far apart and close to the 20 foot width.
Eric cLapton unplugged. Eric Clapton was 12-15 back from front facade of the speakers.
Rodriguez and Gabriela - 5-7 feet back and 10-12 feet apart...they did move a bit
Sherlock Holmes...that kettle drum is 30 feet back...that was very very cool.
- bass wallop
Very extended and more detailed than what I heard from XLF but that's not saying one is better given room and set up. Just what I heard,
What I liked most is its organic detailed propulsive and very very balanced...people who enjoy will feel a very satisfactory bass power and balance. Bass freaks will still want more...but hey, we're bass freaks!
- ease and dynamics
My favorite part of these speakers presentation...how easy it makes it all seem. Nothing thrown at you, not deep sound staging nor pure tonal beauty, nor the ability to play multiple complex lines and keep it all intact, nor balanced coherent broad sound range.
It is fast but does not appear fast. The only way I can tell its fast is the level of complex detail it handles where each musical instrument maintains its own musical line perfectly and easily listened to on its own, despite the complex orchestral...plus the stable imaging of a delicate flute in the back or a harpsichord...while bass is plowing off to one side and strings in the middle...all distinguishable and tonally pure...without any image waver whatsoever...means it is delivering each instruments exact information without letting that instrument bleed into the presentation NFC another instrument.
- voice/mids
Think rockport solidity with delicacy and nuance. For someone who likes electrostatics, wants to hear full decay which I am convinced is part of a natural feel to music reproduction and fullness to their images and instruments...I think Altair is one of the finest examples I have heard. The fact that it weighs 515 lbs and delivers the solidity you would hope to get from such an inert heavy speakers is the icing on the cake which makes this kind of purchase really, really, really satisfying.
Prelim Conclusions
I can see why some have advised me they put the Altair against the X2...and the XLF has more scale but not necessarily more coherence, tonal purity or deep articulate sound tagging. I think for the footprint, the XLF cleverly gives a taller speaker that MIGHT just edge out in dynamic range...sense of space. But the Altairs do deliver a deeper soundstage than I have ever heard with the big Wilson's (and I have lost count as to how many times I have heard and auditioned big Wilsons in various locations incl my home). So you might not lose anything with Altair on that score.
Given the price differential, I think once again consistent with my thoughts on meta sheritan ii of old...rockport is sensational value and true sota. I would love to hear the Arrakis which is priced much closer to XLF and in fact given the value for money of the Altair intrigues me as t how it compares with the mighty Genesis 1.2 more than XLF.