During the period I was reviewing the Halcro dm10, VTL TL-7.5 Reference, and BAT VK-51 SE preamplifiers, John Atkinson decided it would be enlightening to have me listen to these state-of-the-art contenders in comparison to the venerable Mark Levinson No.32 Reference (reviewed by Jonathan Scull in January 2000). How, we wondered, would the new boys stand up when compared not only with each other, but also with a long-term resident of Class A of "Recommended Components"? So, over the Thanksgiving holiday…
search
Sidebar 4: Paul Bolin wrote again about the VK-51 SE in April 2004 (Vol.27 No.4):
Antares is a giant red star in the constellation Scorpio. According to Rockport Technologies' Andy Payor, the $41,500/pair Antares loudspeaker is the "ultimate" reasonably sized, full-range loudspeaker, and is built to a standard "unequaled in the industry." Rockport's $73,750 System III Sirius turntable came with equally boastful claims that turned out to be anything but hyperbole. Has Rockport done it again with the Antares?
That's what I asked myself as Payor's brother-in-law, Mike, and I uncrated each gleaming black 400-lb monolith in my driveway, under Payor's supervision. According…
Holes have to be drilled out of the front baffle for the drivers, and other work has to be done, of course, to fit the crossover and terminals, but those are the basics of the cabinet—in an epoxy shell.
Drivers, Crossovers, etc.
The Rockport Antares' custom-designed woofer and midbass units are made by the Danish firm Audiotechnology, which was founded by Ejvind Skaaning and his son, Per. Dad founded both Scan-Speak and Dynaudio—speaking of which, the Antares' tweeter is Dynaudio's famed Esotar (also used by EgglestonWorks, Merlin, and others). The front baffle is fitted with…
That leads me to the next big difference between the Antares and other speakers I've auditioned: its complete freedom from congestion, clearly related in part to the cabinet construction and its total lack of coloration-inducing resonances. "The best cabinet is no cabinet" may be a cliché, but it's true, and the Rockport's close approximation of "no cabinet" yielded many bonuses. No matter how loud I played them, the Antares' tonal balance, clarity, and transparency remained the same. Whatever the speaker's character, it remained constant, whether pushed hard or playing at very low levels.…
Of course, I and most other reviewers say similar things whenever a piece of gear improves the listening experience, but for me, after being a reviewer for 16 years, this was not yet another incremental step toward believability, but an enormous leap. When Paul and George join the chorus, each was easy to discern as a three-dimensional image standing before the microphone. The dynamic power of Ringo simultaneously hitting the splash cymbal and the kick drum to punctuate Lennon's singing "No reply!" had never been expressed as I heard it that night. And other subtleties were revealed—like the…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, floorstanding, dynamic loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" ferrofluid-cooled Dynaudio Esotar silk-dome tweeter, 6" Audiotechnology cone midrange driver, 13" Audiotechnology cone woofer. Crossover frequencies: 130Hz, 2.1kHz. Frequency response: not specified. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Sensitivity: 89dB/W/m. Power handling: 50W minimum.
Dimensions: 47" H by 16.75" W by 28" D. Weight: 400 lbs each.
Finish: High-gloss black.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: 0109, 0110.
Price: $41,500/pair. Approximate number of dealers: factory direct…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Simon Yorke turntable; Graham 2.2 and Immedia RPM2 tonearms; Lyra Helikon SL, Helikon mono, Transfiguration Temper Supreme cartridges.
Digital sources: Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 3D CD player, Accuphase DP-85 SACD player.
Preamplification: Hovland HP-100 preamplifier; Boulder 2008 and Manley Steelhead phono preamplifiers.
Power amplifiers: Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300, Music Reference 200.
Cables: Phono: Hovland Music Groove, Cardas Golden Reference RCA/RCA, Cardas Neutral Reference DIN/XLR. Interconnect: Discovery Essence,…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The Rockport Antares weighs 400 lbs, and I was not looking forward to measuring it. Fortunately, when Andy Payor and his brother-in-law Mike delivered and unpacked one of the speakers, we were able to wheel it into my back yard, where I perform my speaker measurements, and set it down on Teflon pads, which in turn sat on a piece of carpet I had laid down over the concrete. So while I was unable to hoist the speaker onto my turntable for the off-axis measurements, I was able to rotate it with relative ease. The only unavoidable problem in the measurements concerns…
Manufacturer's Comment
Editor: I'd like to thank Mikey for the huge amount of time and effort that he put into his review of the Antares, and of course I'm especially pleased with his ability to capture and communicate the essence of the product. I know he likes to chide me on matters of technospeak, but he certainly makes a good case for relevant applied technology. I'd also like to thank John Atkinson for making himself available just prior to Home Entertainment 2002 (and in a very narrow window of time) for the measurements.
As regards the nearfield measurements, I would like…
In this space last January, I enthused about the sound of linear 20-bit digital recordings which, I felt, preserve the quality of a live microphone feed. "I have heard the future of audio—and it's digital!" I proclaimed, which led at least a couple of readers to assume I had gone deaf. Putting to one side the question of my hearing acuity, 20-bit technology has been rapidly adopted in the professional world as the standard for mastering. The remaining debate concerns how to best preserve what those 20 bits offer once they've been squeezed down to the 16 that CD can store. Sony's Super Bit…