Rockport Technologies Introduces Orion Loudspeaker

[JiminGa]

The differences between Orion and Lyra result in a slightly different sound but they are more alike than different. The Lyras cabinet is slightly quieter which yields slightly better resolution. Not night and day. The Lyra is taller so it presents a taller soundstage. The Lyras cabinet has a larger volume and it has more driver surface area so it plays a little “bigger”. The Orions tweeter and midrange are larger and play lower than the smaller Lyra drivers. The crossovers are set lower so this changes the sound some. Each is optimized for its drivers and cabinet. The biggest obvious differences are the dual 6 inch mids vs a single 7 and dual 10s vs single 13. The dual 6s give more midrange presence. The Orions 13 inch woofer is a thing of beauty. I love it. I personally prefer it to the 2 10s. My hope is that when Rockport makes its next statement speaker it has multiple 13s.

 

[sbo6]

Ok hold on. The Lyra and the Cygnus have exactly the same drivers. The Lyra has one extra 6 inch midrange. ALL of its extra resolution is due to the cabinet! This is not some secret. Andy, Josh and Jon will all tell you the same thing. They should know. The designed and built them. Also, as an aside, the Orions 3 new drivers were designed to to create a full range speaker using only 3 drivers. To do so required the 13 inch woofer. This required a 7 inch midrange and this required a 1.25 inch tweeter. While they are newer the mid and tweeter are not lower in distortion than the older 6 inch and 1 inch versions. The crossovers are of exactly the same quality. Almost everything that is better about Lyra and Orion is the cabinets. That is Rockports philosophy. Every one of their speakers has the same quality drivers and crossovers. Hope this settles it. If not call Rockport on Monday and let them tell you themselves

The Lyra has an extra midrange and is a 3 1/2 way speaker, that in and of itself will make for a significant difference in sonics irrespective of a stiffer cabinet.

Also, and to be frank, a 3 - way is a 3 - way, meaning each driver is handling a large portion of the frequency range averaging 3+ octaves per driver. All things being equal, it will never be as effortless, dynamic and be able to scale like a 4+ way. That's what the Arrakis did, Vivid Spirit, Magico M7 / 9, big Wilsons, etc. It's physics.

 

[JiminGa]

The Lyra has an extra midrange and is a 3 1/2 way speaker, that in and of itself will make for a significant difference in sonics irrespective of a stiffer cabinet.

Also, and to be frank, a 3 - way is a 3 - way, meaning each driver is handling a large portion of the frequency range averaging 3+ octaves per driver. All things being equal, it will never be as effortless, dynamic and be able to scale like a 4+ way. That's what the Arrakis did, Vivid Spirit, Magico M7 / 9, big Wilsons, etc. It's physics.

I was simply responding to you assertions about the drivers. The Lyra is superior to the Arrakis in every way according to the people who designed and built them. There are certainly advantages to larger cabinet volumes and to driver surface areas, There are also advantages to having fewer crossovers. Every time you cut the signal you have to reconstruct it. It all depends upon what you are after. I mentioned the Lyras double mids but they do it in really interesting way which I personally like. I can tell you with certainty (because they told me) that Rockport views 4 way designs as a compromise. They will do it when they can do it with minimum compromise and maximum return. In their case this would be a larger more complex speaker designed specifically to create a large scale soundstage for large scale recordings in a large room. I don’t think they would feel this would be superior for acoustic jazz in a moderate size room because of its inherent compromises. It would be, however, quite awesome in its own way. I’m not against 4 way speakers. I’m just giving you Rockports perspective

 

[sbo6]

Agree the Lyra is a more evolved with further clarity and driver coherence than the Arrakis.

Also, in today's age of xo design, 3 to 4 way matters little to zero. And I'm not sure what you mean by reconstructing the signal, the drivers are filtered via an XO in parallel, there's no reconstructing, it's forever deconstructed electrically and reconstructed as mechanical waves post - transducers. Maybe you can clarify?

Finally, you're saying Rockport views 4 - way designs as a compromise, yet they already built the Arrakis so I don't follow.

 

[JiminGa]

They came to this conclusion from having built the Arrakis and then building the Lyra. The “compromise” isn’t a deal killer. It’s just an impediment to investing in and making a large multi driver speaker that they can honestly say is better than the Lyra in every way. When they do it it will be worth it. I don’t have a time frame but I know it’s on their mind.

 

[LL21]

They came to this conclusion from having built the Arrakis and then building the Lyra. The “compromise” isn’t a deal killer. It’s just an impediment to investing in and making a large multi driver speaker that they can honestly say is better than the Lyra in every way. When they do it it will be worth it. I don’t have a time frame but I know it’s on their mind.

I like the sound of those last two sentences!!! Bold was my edit for clarity.

 

[ationg]

For most midsize rooms (mine is 21’x17’), and based on my listening experience, I believe Orion and Lyra are more than enough in scale. Palatial rooms may need 4+ways bigger speakers.. but I ain’t going to have or need such rooms..and hence such speakers..

 

[JiminGa]

For most midsize rooms (mine is 21’x17’), and based on my listening experience, I believe Orion and Lyra are more than enough in scale. Palatial rooms may need 4+ways bigger speakers.. but I ain’t going to have or need such rooms..and hence such speakers..

Totally agree but if you did have such a room and listen to large scale full orchestra and similar then you would need larger speakers to maximize the soundstage. I recently got back from listening to XVX with dual subsonics driven by Gryphon Apex Monis and Mephisto monos in a purpose built 22x35 room. The scale was off the charts! Unfortunately you can’t undo the scale when listening to small format acoustic jazz. 8 foot Ella etc. The effect, however, was breathtaking