Rockport Altair 2

David.m said:
Thanks for the welcome guys.
Cyril, my sources are analogue - Thales TTT-C/Simplicity, Lyra Atlas, RCM Theriaa phono, digital - Playback Designs MPS-5 SACD, amp - ASR Emitter II Exclusive + Battery Power Supply, the Avior's, cables are a Thales phono & Argento Flow IC's/speaker, HRS isolation. I couldn't be happier & am hoping this set-up will do me for quite a few years :)
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Welcome to AS, David. Impressive list of equipment - I can understand you being quite content. I'm very interested in hearing about your ASR Emitter amplifier, so I'll likely send a PM later.

Van
 
hiro100 said:
I heard the Rockport Avior and Atria today. I'm rarely blown away by a speaker but I thought these two speakers were just superb. Disappeared like few speakers I've heard and the reproduction of vocals and acoustic guitar was just stunning. Other strengths were depth of imaging and balance from bass to treble. I kept hearing the Rockport had a denser tonality and this was true but I was taken back by just how much resolution these speakers let through yet was extremely musical. I could have kept listening to them. Electronics were BAT stereo amp and preamplifier with Esoteric DAC/CD Player. Now I really want to hear the Altair and Arrakis!
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I think that is an excellent description of the sound each time I have heard Rockports...3 times, 3 systems. Merak Sheritan IIs, Altair 2, Arrakis. It really is something to behold. I keep talking about scale in order to describe the fact that a guitar or a voice just seems 'fuller'...but you have described it better...denser tonality. The guitar string really is powerful and dense...so is the voice. No bigger but definitely more powerful. Kinda like the difference between an [underamped] Martin Logan CLX where the voices are beautiful, ethereal and well placed in space, but a bit ghostly...vs an XLF where the voice may not have quiet the placement...but it is SOLID. the Altair and Arrakis are SOLID...but in comparison to the sound I heard with the XLF twice and the Arrakis once, the Arrakis was far MORE tonally solid, powerful, quiet, etc...than anything I have heard other than Genesis 1.1s which were expertly re-built and setup in a custom room.
 
LL21 said:
...in fact, I'd love to do a shoot out between a pair of Arrakis and a pair of Altair 2s with 2-4 subs expertly setup. In a room 17 x 33...I wonder if there would be much between the two in terms of scale...any thoughts out there?
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Having spoken with a couple people, I actually think a relevant shoot-out would be:

- Arrakis with 1 stereo amp or maybe 1 set of monos vs
- Altair 2 with 1 stereo amp plus dual subs

Why? For some, the idea of 4 monos, plus the extra full set of ICs to go from preamp to Active Crossover and then from Active Crossover to 4 monos...is a huge leap of cost, space, and setup/maintenance.

I think for some monoblocking a pair of XLFs, Raidho D5s, Focal Grande is commitment and cost enough! Is perfectly driving an Altair with subs going to compare well with an Arrakis that is perhaps less than optimally setup?
 
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