Jeff Fritz heard the new Rockport Technologies Altair
loudspeakers in Maine while they were under development. Andy Payor (Mr. Rockport himself)
was quick to point out that the speakers were not quite finished. Well, Jeff and Marc
Mickelson heard the finished product in a small hotel room at THE Show and were shocked.
The sound was everything Jeff had heard just a few weeks earlier -- and more. It was
powerful but delicate, massively dynamic, but the speakers disappeared in the room, and
the sound just plain gave Jeff goose bumps. At $89,500 per pair, the Altair is one very
expensive loudspeaker, but we suspect it will become an instant classic.
Associated components in the Rockport room included a Boulder 2060 stereo amplifier and
2010 preamplifier, an MBL 1621 transport and 1611 DAC, a Harmonic Resolution Systems rack,
and Purist Audio Design cabling.
If you’re attending CES and reading this before THE
Show ends, get over to the St. Tropez and hear this system. If not, find a way to hear the
Altairs afterwards. And if you can afford to buy them, please invite us over when they
arrive. We’ll even help unpack them.
