Rockport Aquila vs Altair

I own the Altairs and extensively listened to the Aquila (and Magico M5) before deciding on the Altair. Both are fabulous and produce excellent base: tight, quick and detailed. The Altair provides more base than the Aquila and will actually go right down to 20 hz. What won me over though was that the treble region was also better on the Altair. It sounded smoother and more accurate (I auditioned with Jazz, Classical and some rock. Allot of female vocals (Allison Krauss, Nora Jones and Holly Cole) and Frank Sinatra. The sound coming from the Altair seems to assimilate almost immediately. By this I mean that you can sit only a few feet away from them and yet hte sound is perfectly balanced. Right now Rockport might be making the best speakers and the Altair might actually be his best speaker. It will shine in even small rooms. Your only concern should be affording it and making sure you have the room for it as it is a large speaker (500lbs each). However, it does look smaller in the room. You have to see it to believe it. The design is elegant. I like the Aquila as well, but the Altair is just better...possibly the best speaker in the world in my opinion though I obviously have not heard all the speakers in the world. It is definitely better than the Magico M5 though as I auditioned this for quite some time. I also felt the Aquila was right there with the Magico M5 as well. Good luck with your decision.

The cabinet construction is much different, in addition to the drivers. The Altair has perhaps the best cabinet construction in the industry which will equate to better settling times, a blacker background and more low level resolution. In effect, an Altair is half of an Arrakis. They are both point source speakers, so I would not be concerned putting either one in a moderately sized room. If you can handle the size in your room of the aquila, then you could also handle the Altair. The difference is not regarding the size of the room for either speaker, but simply better quality, more dynamic range, lower frequency extension and more resolution between the two speakers- exactly what it should be when spending more money.

I owned the altairs. They are great speakers. I also chose them over the magico's. I ran them with VTL siegfieds. Lots of tube power. I know andy uses Gryphon 150w ss towers. Bi-amped. As far as the altair being the best in the world, the arrakis may have something to say about that!

Enzo618, you system looks amazing.
What tweeter does the Aquila and altairs use?
Do they use the Scanspeak beryllium tweeter or the Scanspeak Ring Radiator tweeter?

the altair uses the scanspeak berrylium as does the all new avior- which is $29,500 and is acutally a more resolved speaker than the aquilla due to newer design and all new custom made drivers.