Newport Show

cakeaudio · May 29, 2013

We will have a pair of the new Rockport Atria at The Show Newport Beach this weekend for those interested in listening to it. We just got our pair last week and they are sounding wonderful. This will be a very popular speaker for Rockport. We will be at the Hilton room 509. Cake Audio

Dimfer · May 29, 2013

looking forward to spending time in your room. Good luck, hope you sell lot's of them.

viking · Jun 4, 2013

Oh man I wish i could hear them but here in The Netherlands are no Rockport dealers,i'm now playing with Avalon Indra speakers.

Peter Breuninger · Jun 4, 2013

The Cake Audio team did a fine video.

viking · Jun 4, 2013

Hi Peter,

Please can you show me the link to the video?

Peter Breuninger · Jun 4, 2013

viking said:
Hi Peter,

Please can you show me the link to the video?

Just shot it two days ago, it will be up soon (editing, webpage building and all that). The Rockports, well they rock.

viking · Jun 4, 2013

Ok thanks Peter!

arnies · Jun 18, 2013

Hi Viking,

There is at least one Rockport dealer in the Netherlands that I am familiar with. it is called Connaisseur Audio. Here is a link:

http://www.connaisseur-audio.nl/

I have met the owner and he is a good guy and very knowledgeable about Audio and he carries some excellent product lines. I know that he has a pair of Rockport speakers that you could listen to.

Hope that helps:

Arnie

viking · Jun 19, 2013

That's great news Arnie! Thank you very much for the support.As soon as possible i would make contact to him.

arnies · Jun 19, 2013

Hi viking,

Your very welcome. Let me know if you have any questions about rockport speakers. I have heard most of their speakers and own the Arrakis 2.

Arnie

Roysen · Jun 25, 2013

Hi Arnie,

How do you think the Arrakis 2 performs in a nearfield listening setup? What tradeoffs and how big would they be choosing the Altair 2 over the Arrakis 2? How would you rate the Arrakis 2 vs the Altair 2 in a nearfield setup where the room is just medium sized but with a nice flat frequency response to below 20Hz due to acoustic treatment?

arnies · Jun 29, 2013

Roysen said:
Hi Arnie,

How do you think the Arrakis 2 performs in a nearfield listening setup? What tradeoffs and how big would they be choosing the Altair 2 over the Arrakis 2? How would you rate the Arrakis 2 vs the Altair 2 in a nearfield setup where the room is just medium sized but with a nice flat frequency response to below 20Hz due to acoustic treatment?

Hi Roysen,

Sorry for the late reply but I was traveling without much Internet access.

As for the Arrakis 2 in a nearfield environment, I have my doubts that such a setup would allow the full potential of the Arrakis 2 to be realized. Given the sheer physical size of the speakers, I think they would definitely perform best in a large space. My room is 20 feet wide, 33 feet long with 12 foot ceilings.

I have heard the Altair 2's in a nearfield setup at a dealers. I have also heard them twice in a non nearfield setup. In the nearfield setup, they performed surprisingly well, but I did prefer them the other 2 times that I heard them in a non nearfield setup (but that could have also been related to the associated gear, room acoustics, etc). Again, while the Altair's are no where near as large as the Arrakis, I still think they perform best with more space (but they do not need as much as the Arrakis). When you say a medium sized room - what are the dimensions?

Arnie

LL21 · Jun 30, 2013

arnies said:
Hi Roysen,

Sorry for the late reply but I was traveling without much Internet access.

As for the Arrakis 2 in a nearfield environment, I have my doubts that such a setup would allow the full potential of the Arrakis 2 to be realized. Given the sheer physical size of the speakers, I think they would definitely perform best in a large space. My room is 20 feet wide, 33 feet long with 12 foot ceilings.

I have heard the Altair 2's in a nearfield setup at a dealers. I have also heard them twice in a non nearfield setup. In the nearfield setup, they performed surprisingly well, but I did prefer them the other 2 times that I heard them in a non nearfield setup (but that could have also been related to the associated gear, room acoustics, etc). Again, while the Altair's are no where near as large as the Arrakis, I still think they perform best with more space (but they do not need as much as the Arrakis). When you say a medium sized room - what are the dimensions?

Arnie

Hi Arnie,

When you say that a smaller listening environment will "not allow the full potential of the Rockport Arrakis 2 to be realized", I have heard some debate from various people who know these speakers about exactly how small a room these mighty speakers can take.

Specifically, a lot of big speakers may not sound their BEST in smaller rooms, but:

1. they CAN be placed in those smaller rooms for those who may be using them for a year or 2...but know their medium term goal is to get a bigger space or move (and wish to get the dream speaker now...sometimes they're on sale, or on demo and the price is right). Wilson X1s/X2s are good examples of big speakers for big rooms...that have been designed to work at a closer listening distance of 8 feet, for example, and I am told by numerous individuals have worked well, when properly set up, in smaller rooms than yours (10x12x8).

2. even when not in an optimally large room, larger flagships can STILL sound better than the next speaker down the line just because of their sheer limitless in dynamics, effortless/ease...

by any chance, do you happen to know if Rockport recommend a minimum sized room for the Arrakis due to its sheer size? I suspect for some people, if they can squeeze them in their current listening room, they might prefer to buy the Arrakis on the basis: 1) the Arrakis may not be optimally set up now...but will be when they move, 2) the Arrakis' still sound better than the Altair 2s would in the same room.

Roysen · Jun 30, 2013

arnies said:
Hi Roysen,

Sorry for the late reply but I was traveling without much Internet access.

As for the Arrakis 2 in a nearfield environment, I have my doubts that such a setup would allow the full potential of the Arrakis 2 to be realized. Given the sheer physical size of the speakers, I think they would definitely perform best in a large space. My room is 20 feet wide, 33 feet long with 12 foot ceilings.

I have heard the Altair 2's in a nearfield setup at a dealers. I have also heard them twice in a non nearfield setup. In the nearfield setup, they performed surprisingly well, but I did prefer them the other 2 times that I heard them in a non nearfield setup (but that could have also been related to the associated gear, room acoustics, etc). Again, while the Altair's are no where near as large as the Arrakis, I still think they perform best with more space (but they do not need as much as the Arrakis). When you say a medium sized room - what are the dimensions?

Arnie

This is my listening room: http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...iters-are-here&p=202121&viewfull=1#post202121

Roysen · Jun 30, 2013

lloydelee21 said:
Hi Arnie,

When you say that a smaller listening environment will "not allow the full potential of the Rockport Arrakis 2 to be realized", I have heard some debate from various people who know these speakers about exactly how small a room these mighty speakers can take.

Specifically, a lot of big speakers may not sound their BEST in smaller rooms, but:

1. they CAN be placed in those smaller rooms for those who may be using them for a 1 or 2...but know their medium term goal is to get a bigger space or move (and wish to get the dream speaker now...sometimes they're on sale, or on demo and the price is right). Wilson X1s/X2s are good examples of big speakers that have been designed to get to a listening distance of 8 feet, for example, and I am told by numerous individuals have worked well, when properly set up, in smaller rooms than yours (10x12x8).

2. even when not in an optimally large room, larger flagships can STILL sound better than the next speaker down the line just because of their sheer limitless in dynamics, effortless/ease...

by any chance, do you happen to know if Rockport recommend a minimum sized room for the Arrakis due to its sheer size? I suspect for some people, if they can squeeze them in their current listening room, they might prefer to buy the Arrakis on the basis: 1) the Arrakis may not be optimally set up now...but will be when they move, 2) the Arrakis' still sound better than the Altair 2s would in the same room.

My thoughts exactly Lloyd. The Arrakis would most certainly not sound optimal in a small/medium sized room, but it might still sound better than the Altair.

arnies · Jun 30, 2013

Roysen said:
My thoughts exactly Lloyd. The Arrakis would most certainly not sound optimal in a small/medium sized room, but it might still sound better than the Altair.

Roysen,

Your current ceiling height of 2.4m (approximately 94 inches) is relatively low for the Arrakis 2 which are 81 inches tall. When I first contacted Andy Payor about the Arrakis 2, the very first question he asked me before we discussed anything else was "what were the dimensions of my room". I have no doubt however, that the Arrakis would sound wonderful in your room, my only point was that you would not hear them at their very best. I suspect that the Arrakis 2, optimally setup in your current room would still outperform the Altair 2's in your room but that would just be a guess on my part.

cakeaudio · Jul 11, 2013

Sorry for the late reply. The Arrakis and Altair are very similar in design, they both use the same composite cabinet construction materials and the driver / internal crossover technology is based on the same design. The Arrakis is not any more technically advanced than the Altair, the main difference between the two (other than size and number of drivers) is that the Arrakis has an active crossover which allows you to attenuate the lower frequencies, also the Arrakis is bi-amped which has some advantages. The Altair uses the same drivers as the Arrakis, just not as many.

As far as nearfield listening, or using the Arrakis in a smaller room, in my opinion it can work well and will actually achieve better results than the large Wilson's due to the linearity in the bass region and having the ability to attenuate the bass through the outboard active crossover which has separate left and right controls for this.

I recently setup a pair of Arrakis in a room that measured 14'x37'x9' wlh. We have them on the short wall firing long. (I will post some pictures shortly). The sound is very good, but these larger speakers like the Arrakis move a lot of air and having volume in a room does help them relax and sound their best (the active crossover on the Arrakis helps here). Also, mathematics has a lot to do with the end sonic result - like the room mentioned above that measures 10x12x8 is not the best dimensions mathematically. Of course there are other factors involved in room acoustics and it can get complicated, but with proper setup and minimal treatments good results can be found.

For conversation I would define a room that is less than 200 square feet as small. 200 - 400 square feet as medium and anything over 400 square feet as large. If it were me making the purchase, I would purchase the speaker that will ultimately be in my permanent listening room. In other words, if I knew that long term I would be in a small room, I would purchase the Atria or Avior. In a medium to large room the Arrakis or Altair would work nicely. Every room is unique (volume, dimensions, construction materials, shape, treatments, ect...) but if the room was small to medium sized, i think the Altair might sound better than the Arrakis due to the rooms volume and its ability to handle the amount energy and air being moved.

I looked at Roysen's room dimensions and without seeing the room in person, I think the Arrakis or Altair would work well since the room has decent volume, even though it is L shaped. But the Altair would be really sweet too and would probably be my choice.

Hope this helps.

I'll post some pics soon.

Ken Boyce
Cake Audio
California USA
Authorized Rockport Dealer

LL21 · Jul 11, 2013

cakeaudio said:
Sorry for the late reply...
As far as nearfield listening, or using the Arrakis in a smaller room, in my opinion it can work well and will actually achieve better results than the large Wilson's due to the linearity in the bass region and having the ability to attenuate the bass through the outboard active crossover which has separate left and right controls for this.

I looked at Roysen's room dimensions and without seeing the room in person, I think the Arrakis or Altair would work well since the room has decent volume, even though it is L shaped. But the Altair would be really sweet too and would probably be my choice.

Hope this helps.

I'll post some pics soon.

Ken Boyce
Cake Audio
California USA
Authorized Rockport Dealer

Very interesting and got similar feedback from anywhere rockport dealer about Arrakis in smaller to medium sized rooms as you have defined them...200 to 400 square feet. He felt they can be set up very well and the active crossover coupled with The design of the bass meant a very good bass linearity which has positive affects on midrange clarity and performance.

Roysen · Jul 13, 2013

To my knowledge the Arrakis has a carbon fiber baffle while the Altair has a baffle made of glass fiber. Would that make a significant differance in itself?

cakeaudio · Jul 15, 2013

Roysen said:
To my knowledge the Arrakis has a carbon fiber baffle while the Altair has a baffle made of glass fiber. Would that make a significant differance in itself?

No, it is for aesthetic purposes on the Arrakis. It does look very cool though...

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