Had a much better Rockport demo yesterday - and now have much clearer thoughts on the brand as the dealer made some significant improvements to the setup and used a more powerful Class AB setting on his Vitus amp. The lack of macro dynamics in the first demo was gone, as the big 15" side firing woofers were now doing their job.
I played all vinyl this time as I prefer the dealers Brinkmann rig to the Esoteric digital one - this time was on the Balance w/ 4 Point arm and Dynavector cartridge. I used the following demo music:
Max Richter "Three Worlds" and "The Blue Notebook"
Blake Mills "Heigh Ho"
Nils Frahm "All Melody"
Jason Isbell "Something More than Free"
London Grammar "If You Wait"
Calexico "Black Light"
We also ended with Time Out and Louis Armstrong for my friend who is a jazz fan.
The Rockports cast a very big sound stage - as a $103k speaker should - and a very even one. I felt they painted a very nice portrait of images without focusing on any single one if that makes sense. Flow was quite nice and not a hint of brightness - in fact I almost found them a shade warmer than my Devores at home which surprised me. Instrument timbre or texture was excellent, once again, and the sound decay off voices, chimes, etc seemed complete. In one of the Nils Frahm tracks, a solo trumpet appears out of the soundstage taking the listener completely off guard - and through the Rockport that image just floated in space magnificently, in a very natural manner on the canvas. The dealer had moved the speakers further out into the room, which I think was the reason for the more coherent sound I heard. I still did feel when that 15" "kicked on" at times though, and my friend and I surmised that in a wider, larger room that the Altair 2s would disappear more (14' x 28', we were sitting no more than 8' from them now).
Back to tonality, the treble on Rockports is a bit subdued for some, but not for me. I've read that people hence consider them dark, but I don't find that to be the case - as I find most treble unnaturally accentuated. I dislike "hearing the tweeter." My friend commented he found some missing "air" in the sound but he comes from accuton tweeters which are known for this. I find it interesting in the Devore reviews that the Nine and Orangutan have a much more subdued treble than the X, which I still find lacking sibilance as Ron also agreed with Friday evening (even on digital!). Midrange was very even-handed as I covered above- on London Grammar her voice was very pure of tone and in the right place without excess or bloated size. The most interesting thing from the demo is I feel Rockport could have the best bass of any speaker I've heard, sealed or ported. It just hits the exact right mix of extension with palpability on various types of music - and traditionally I've always preferred sealed bass, so go figure. On electronica, this was especially noticeable as also on Blake Mills, which highlighted how my Devores are deficient in this respect.
As I've mentioned before, dynamics, soundstage, and presence (or tone) are my 3 pillars of speaker evaluation with coherency a nearby second tier. I don't chase transparency, detail, bells and whistles, etc. On the subject of dynamics, the Rockport can provide big macrodynamics. This was easy to hear at the end of Blake Mills first cut - which had not been the case in my previous demo. I think the 15" with the higher power Class AB was the difference here. On microdynamics however, I still just felt that there was something missing. For instance, the realism on the bowing of a cello or violin, the plucking of strings, guitars, etc. Maybe a better word to say is a missing "energy" that I'm used to at home. Whether that's a function of the Rockports commendable flat FR curve, high order crossovers, or cabinet design characteristics I do not know but its definitely something that I noticed in both auditions.
One benefit of going through this audition process is re-evaluating your ideal sound (I don't believe in an absolute sound, period) - and leaving the Rockport had me reflecting on this for my future YG and Cessaro demos. This will be incredibly useful going forward. I feel the Rockport sound is all about transparent, evenhanded sound on a very natural sonic landscape charged with big bass when its needed. There is no fatigue factor of this sound at all, but not the sleepiness that I find with a Vandersteen for instance. Is this "my sound' is the question and one that will be answered soon, but I am inclined to say at this point that jump factor and energy are bigger components than I may have initially realized.
Secondly, comparing speakers in different rooms is, well, hard. Reversing the YG and Rockports in their respective rooms might yield very different sonic results. While the Rockport dealers room is treated (bass traps, first reflections, etc.) it is not in the same league as the other. And neither is as poor as my current room
