Altis Centauri Transport?

I read somewhere that the man behind Altis, Howard Mandel, past away last September. I think this explains why the website is gone. I used to own the CDT-1 made by Altis several years ago and I think it was one of the best transports I ever had. I met Howard then and he showed me his new Centauri which sounded and looked absolutely great. As much as I wanted to buy it, it was way too expensive for me.

Howard Mandel did pass away and a while back, the Altis website posted a message stating that the video products had been purchased by one company and the audio products, designs, trademarks were for sale. Based on this, I would say Altis audio is out of business. I owned the Reference DAC and considered the CDTIII. Great equipment; if you have a tech who you know could fix it in the off chance something goes wrong, I would consider the purchase. The Centauri is unique.

Howard was a good personal friend. If you are in need of service, I believe the engineering company that did some of his sub-assembly will do service. If you need information, please feel free to email me

Scott

sgrillo@execomm.net

I was seriously interested in his products, but before I could made a final decision I got the sad news...

Anyway, I heard his Centauri Transport is a fantastic unit, specially with his DAC.

I owned the Altis Centauri transport for about two years, pairing it with several DACs. It was an excellent transport, which I regret selling. Not as musical as a TL-1x, for example, but better resolution and tighter bass.

If you cannot swing a Pitracer, TL-0, Forsell, or Esoteric P-0, the Centauri is not a bad choice.