Rockport Ankaa and Anquila

I always have liked, and enjoyed listening to all Rockports.
Admittedly, my experience is with the Antare's which is no
longer in the current lineup. A true class gentleman and designer. I have not spoken with Andy in over five years,
so I have no agenda here. It just is kind of shocking to
me that the speaker is talked about so little. This is likely
because he did not have any dealers for so long, and still
very few now. The ones I know of are Ultimate and Goodwins,
who had the Altair on display when I was in their shop recently. I noticed one dealer who had an ad in Stereophile
who also listed Rockport, San Francisco dealer I believe.
I think with these two speakers, we may hear more stirring,
being that they are 13K and 26K speaker... I am speaking
of the Ankaa and Mira which is their entry level design.
The Anguila is likely in the low-mid 30K range. larger mid
and woofer than the Ankaa. Interesting note that he has gone
in direction of Side-fire woofers in his current line up.

The pricing structure from what I can find:

Mira Monitor $5,800
Mira $15,000
Ankaa $26,500
Mira Grand $34,500 (NEW VERSION with new midrange - old was $29,500)
Anquila: $44,500
Altair: $89,500
Hyperion: $91,500 (not sure of latest price)
Arrakis: $165,000

The Mira Grand has been updated, but the Mira and Mira Monitor will remain the same. The new offerings have midrange drivers that are made by Rockport which are claimed to improve on the audiotechnology drivers found in Mira Monitor, Mira, and old Mira Grand.

Having listened to the Mira Grand, best word to describe is seductive. Midrange is natural, unlike anything else really. Sidefiring woofers disjointed the sound somewhat, not quite as seamless and "cut from the same cloth" sound I was hoping for. But again, mids unlike anything else, seductive. Best suited for acoustic and voice, you appreciate the sound coming from Rockport more than anything...

These are just my experiences, your mileage may vary!

I heard the Mira at THE show in LA about two years ago. The room was one of the three best in the show for me (alongside the ESP/Wavestreatm room and the MBL room). I agree that Rockport doesn't seem to get the respect and attention deserved. At the show, they were used with Gryphon electronics which seem to be their preferred match

Just curious if anybody feels like updating this thread.

I've listened to the Grand Miras and the Ankaa at Audio Vision in San Francisco a few times. In both cases I felt like the sound was extremely "clean" and well defined, but the partnered electronics may have not been the best match (it was higher end Naim gear powering the Rockports).

Dont get me wrong, I love Naim gear (I've owned both the Nait 5i and the Aro tonearm), but I would really like to hear Rockport speakers with super high-powered amps (like Gryphon, Boulder, or even Parasound JC-1).

To my knowledge, Andy has been working with side-firing woofers since the Merak / Sheritans and the Hyperion (the mid / late 90s) so having almost all of his speakers now utilize the side-firing woofer configuration does not seem surprising. For a while he went down the route of separating the low end cabinets from the midrange and tweeters (ala the Watt / Puppy methodology), but now it seems like he is focused more on single cabinets, except in cases like the Mira Grand or Arrakis where you have to break up the cabinet size.

What I heard was incredible imaging and great tonal balance, but again, my next step is to hear them with huge amps behind them (300 watts or more). From what I understand, that is the best way to hear Rockport speakers.

amazingly enough to me, there seems to be very little interest in this speaker line. both by the media and the public. it is a shame. oh well their loss!

Great to see a thread about Rockport. After being on the audiophile upgrade path for 30 years, I got off after buying Antares in early 2001. I still love them. I guess I didn't really get off the path, because I did upgrade other components. The Antares made that process much easier than ever, though, and I have been off "the path" for several years now.

Koegz,
I agree that Rockports are great speakers and are underrepresented in terms of official reviews in the publications but I would say they have been receiving quite some attention in the past year. Here are two new reviews on the Ankaa and the Aquila:

http://www.stereotimes.com/speak081709.shtml
http://www.ultraaudio.com/equipment/rockport_technologies_ankaa.htm

And here are the mighty Arrakis at the center of some interesting online features/blogs:
http://www.avguide.com/blog/the-best-stereo-system-ive-ever-heard
http://www.ultraaudio.com/twbas/twbas_200909_rockport.htm
http://www.ultraaudio.com/twbas/twbas_200909_rockport.htm

Hope this helps.

Cmalak,

Thanks for the links. I had not not seen the Aquila review on Stereo Times before, and although there have been some other articles about the Rockport facilities on other websites, I had not seen the visit report from Jeff Fritz on Ultra Audio either.

I appreciate the links. Andy is on the cutting edge, and although all of his products are pretty wallet-busting (at least for this audiophile), I still like reading about his accomplishments.

Andy's products are first class. They measure well and sound great.

I almost bought a pair of Rockport speakers. Only reason I did not was due to side firing woofers and I have a realatively narrow room. I was concerned about bass cancellations when woofers are firing inward.

Any opinions?

Cmalak i had seen those reviews, but they do not compare to the attention that some others get in tas mag or other publications. Glai i do not know how thin your room is but mine are about 9' apart and there is definitly no cancellation. my room is about 15' wide.

Koegz i agree with you and that's why i said they are under-represented in the audio mags. no argument from me there.

Hey guys,

I'm debating between the Aquila and Altair. Do you guys think the Altair is worth 2x the price vs the Aquila? Or better put, is the cabinet of the Altair worth paying for?