Altair2

arnies

Well-Known Member
May 10, 2010
104
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1,583
Austin, TX
;). In truth I like both...I could not say without shootout anything more definitive. But once we add dollars into the mix, I can say rockport is extraordinary for the money...and Arrakis for the money must be something otherworldly.

Hi lloyd,

Glad you had a wonderful listening experience at Goodwins with the Altairs. And what a great writeup explaining what you heard. I would have to agree that the active version of the Arrakis is pretty special.

arnie
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
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Hi lloyd,

Glad you had a wonderful listening experience at Goodwins with the Altairs. And what a great writeup explaining what you heard. I would have to agree that the active version of the Arrakis is pretty special.

arnie
Thanks Arnie. The folks at Goodwins spoke so highly of your system..."he's got it all" is the easiest way I could summarize how they describe it.
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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thanks lloyd:D
nice sound but no swapping yet

I would hardly complain if I woke up one morning and my beloved X1s had magically morphed into either Altair or Arrakis that's for sure!
 

Roysen

New Member
Aug 6, 2011
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Hi Lloyd.

Very nice write-up on the Altairs. I assume it was the second generation Altair you auditioned. I wholeheartedly agree with you on your impressions.

Although my impressions are based on the first generation Altair, the most important characteristic of the Altair was its high frequency extension, transient response and big dynamic svings in the upper frequency area. This is an area which surely must have been somewhat altered with the new tweeter. How would you describe this area? I know that the room, cables, electronics etc was different and will have an impact. Still I am curious how you would describe this area.

A comment from others with access to the Altair 2 or even Arrakis 2 would also be interesting if you put on the track "Smooth Criminal" from 2 Cellos and listen to the build up to the climax at 00:40 of the track and please let me know what you think.

Thanks for tipping the Hans Zimmer Sherlock Holmes score. I love most of Hans Zimmer's score but have never heard the Sherlock Holmes. Do you know if the cut you heard was taken from the first or the sequel Sherlock Holmes movie?
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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Hi Lloyd.

Very nice write-up on the Altairs. I assume it was the second generation Altair you auditioned. I wholeheartedly agree with you on your impressions.

Although my impressions are based on the first generation Altair, the most important characteristic of the Altair was its high frequency extension, transient response and big dynamic svings in the upper frequency area. This is an area which surely must have been somewhat altered with the new tweeter. How would you describe this area? I know that the room, cables, electronics etc was different and will have an impact. Still I am curious how you would describe this area.

A comment from others with access to the Altair 2 or even Arrakis 2 would also be interesting if you put on the track "Smooth Criminal" from 2 Cellos and listen to the build up to the climax at 00:40 of the track and please let me know what you think.

Thanks for tipping the Hans Zimmer Sherlock Holmes score. I love most of Hans Zimmer's score but have never heard the Sherlock Holmes. Do you know if the cut you heard was taken from the first or the sequel Sherlock Holmes movie?

Hi Roysen,

Thanks...I really enjoyed my time with the Altairs and hope that it showed. Yes, I heard the Altair 2s.

I brought Sherlock Holmes first movie...but my wife loves it so much, we also have movie 2. She taps her feet and whistles along to the tunes of either movie soundtrack. She also like Hans Zimmerman so we've got 9 albums. Thin red line, both Dan brown movies (angels ande demons, da Vinci), gladiator, dark knight first and second, both sherlocks, pirates (Zimmerman produced I think).

I am not a treble freak...I am a bass freak, so my comments on treble are not based on as much obsession an experience. In general, the tweeter showed almost a slightly over illuminated presence in the beginning...but i kept commenting on the thinness of the mids...so likely that was the preamp warming up as described in my main comments a few posts ago.

Once warmed up, I heard a speed and purity across the board that always delivered control, balance, detail and space...equally well illuminated from bass to treble...and I stopped thinking about which range I was listening to...most likely due to the speakers excellent coherence and finely balanced presentation.

I certainly felt no loss relative to XLF, tidal, grande em...possibly preferred to some of these but different rooms and systems means I cannot be too definitive here on my judgments.

The only area where in treble i missed grand space and utter freedom in the air was relative to the custom-modded Genesis 1.1s my friend had rebuilt with an engineer who worked with Arnie Nudell yrs ago. But that speaker's current generation equivalent is a few times larger than Altair and more expensive than Arrakis. For something that feels smaller than X-series or grande utopia or the Sonus Faber or even Maxx 3s...be Altair is truly remarkable. I love this speaker. It makes most all elements on an audiophiles checklist seem easy to accomplish...and thus they make it easy to get back to enjoying music.
 
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LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
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Hi Lloyd.

Very nice write-up on the Altairs. I assume it was the second generation Altair you auditioned. I wholeheartedly agree with you on your impressions.

Although my impressions are based on the first generation Altair, the most important characteristic of the Altair was its high frequency extension, transient response and big dynamic svings in the upper frequency area. This is an area which surely must have been somewhat altered with the new tweeter. How would you describe this area? I know that the room, cables, electronics etc was different and will have an impact. Still I am curious how you would describe this area.

A comment from others with access to the Altair 2 or even Arrakis 2 would also be interesting if you put on the track "Smooth Criminal" from 2 Cellos and listen to the build up to the climax at 00:40 of the track and please let me know what you think.

Thanks for tipping the Hans Zimmer Sherlock Holmes score. I love most of Hans Zimmer's score but have never heard the Sherlock Holmes. Do you know if the cut you heard was taken from the first or the sequel Sherlock Holmes movie?

Hi Roysen, having re-read your posts after a cup of coffee this morning (;) )...I do not have Smooth Criminal...but know the track. If I can listen again, I will...doubtful though given family obligations here on holiday. As for the tracks I listened to in my 'review' those were all my own albums which I carried with us for this holiday to do the audition. So definitely first Sherlock Holmes. I use those albums as my test albums so know them very well on multiple systems across the world.

As for dynamic range and transient response...I can now see why people speak so highly of what Andy Payor has managed to accomplish with cones...they have incredibly alacrity (so does Magico)...but I never feel the speed with Altair. (I do with Magico, not sure why.) The only reason I know the speed is there is because I was listening to albums I know, and the level of separation and detail was so extreme that the only way to be able to deliver it all is with microprecision and speed so nothing blurs in the microdetail. Any slower, and those individual details become one.

This was achieved imho in the treble. but I cannot speak to the tweeter you heard in Altair 1. the dealer said he much much preferred the newer, though he loved the older too. Some might say dark, but neither he nor i cared when we compared other components that others said were dark. so his taste and mine seemed similar even after all these years of not having seen each other (i've known him since 1993). and he felt strongly the new tweeter was a big improvement...it costs a lot of money to send units back to upgrading and he definitely recommended it was worth the trouble to ship an altair 1 back to Rockport, Maine for tweeter upgrade. hope that helps.
 

Uk Paul

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Sep 27, 2012
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Great write up Lloyd, Glad you have furthered your Rockport experience too, and deepened your desire for Arrakis one day! Have a great holiday, catch up when your'e back.. Btw, are Altair about 97k here?

ATB,
Paul.
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
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Great write up Lloyd, Glad you have furthered your Rockport experience too, and deepened your desire for Arrakis one day! Have a great holiday, catch up when your'e back.. Btw, are Altair about 97k here?

ATB,
Paul.

HI Paul,

lets catch up when we're back!
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
14,411
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Hi Lloyd.

Very nice write-up on the Altairs. I assume it was the second generation Altair you auditioned. I wholeheartedly agree with you on your impressions.

Thanks for tipping the Hans Zimmer Sherlock Holmes score. I love most of Hans Zimmer's score but have never heard the Sherlock Holmes. Do you know if the cut you heard was taken from the first or the sequel Sherlock Holmes movie?

Hi Roysen, We just got home and I put all the CDs back that we brought for the Altair 2 audition...we brought the 2nd Sherlock Holmes! Sorry! To be honest, they are very similar, but my wife likes the Sherlock Holmes music so much, I got the 2nd album. Sorry - my mistake...all comments about the Sherlock Holmes kettle drum, etc were from the 2nd movie soundtrack. They both sound very similar in recording so probably the general comments still apply to either album.
 

Roysen

New Member
Aug 6, 2011
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Hi Roysen, We just got home and I put all the CDs back that we brought for the Altair 2 audition...we brought the 2nd Sherlock Holmes! Sorry! To be honest, they are very similar, but my wife likes the Sherlock Holmes music so much, I got the 2nd album. Sorry - my mistake...all comments about the Sherlock Holmes kettle drum, etc were from the 2nd movie soundtrack. They both sound very similar in recording so probably the general comments still apply to either album.

Thanks, Lloyd.

I had already made sure to order both. Great tips!
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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Thanks, Wizard! I have heard a similar setup...Altairs 2 with Constellation CEntaur stereo and preamp, but with DCS Vivaldi and MIT cabling. Really liked it thought it took a while to warm up...and when it did, was quite a bit better.

Did you hear this? or get any comments from those who did?
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Love the company banner

"Enjoy Affordable Hi-End"

then under about half a million dollars worth of gear

Constellation Altair
Constellation Hercules II Monos
Rockport Altair II
dCs Vivaldi
Nordost ODIN


Hihihi!
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
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Any feedback on how these sounded? Or other SOTA systems at the show for that matter? Most curious...
 

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