Rockport's or Magico's

i heard the altair and the more expenssive magico m6's in the same room. while they both sounded great, the altair with a $70,000.00 cheaper list price then the m6, sounded their equal in the mid and upper ranges. i felt the altair had the better and more impressive lower end. it is very defined, no bloom just sounds like music. the imagining is great and you can tell where each musician is standing. the built quality of both speakers(all aluminum m6's) is fantastic, although, and many may disagree, i was not impressed with the wood build of the magico V3's or the mini 11's the m5 were not out yet but i am not a fan of their look. i thought they were unattractive. just my opinion. i bought the altairs. i love them and would only consider parting with them to move up to the rockport arrakis. andy builds a great speaker. the rockpoerts are very heavy, the altair's weigh 515lb's each. jeff fritz has written a better desciptive review then i can. i am in the southen nj area if you ever wish to hear.

Koegz , what a wonderful reply , you indeed must be a special person from just your few words! Ive not even heard either.

Koegz,

Thank you for your first hand comments. I have never heard the Rockports but I did hear the Magico V3 and M6 at CES ~3 years ago. while they were powered by different systems, I did prefer the sound of the V3 over the M6 beleive it or not! I understand the M6 has gone through an update which has similar deiver materials as the V3 drivers. May things have changed.

Regarding looks, while I don't like the look of hte V3, the M5 has a cool look which reminds me of Danish furniture. Anyway, that is less important to me than the sound. Valin in TAS is saying it is the highest resolution speaker he has had in his system.

In you opinion, is the Altair exceedingly high in resolution. I'm assuming it is given the very stiff, high-tech driver materials and inert cabinet construction. On Rockports website they compare their speakers to the strengths of the electrostatic variety without having their weaknesses. Also, thanks for your offer for a listen. Ultimately I would like to head up to Goodwins to hopefully hear them sise by side.

Cjrfbw,

AO

Ultimately I plan to head up to

i love the look of the M6, very cool looking. i consider buying them. the altair has great resolution. the V3 while they are an excellent speaker, left me feeling like something was missing. good luck on your desission process.

I also have been to Goodwins and spent 2 full days there comparing the Altairs to the M6. AT the time, Goodwins did not have their M5 yet. In case you haven't been there, the room that these speakers is in at Godowins is acoustically very, very good. The electronics that I used for most of the audition were the Spectral 4000S cd player, the ARC Ref 3 and the Bolder 2050 mono block amps. The Goodwin's room is large - approx 21 feet wide, 30 feet deep with perhaps 11 or 12 foot ceilings. They bring the speakers well out into the room and are spaced far apart (about 13 feet center to center). The seating position is about 3 feet from the back wall. The M6 that Goodwins has does have the Nanotech midrange and mid bass drivers. In my mind, both speakers are wonderful to listen to and it will come down to personal preference as to which you would want to own. Also keep in mind, that both speakers are exceptionally coherent and dissapear very well. I agree with Koegz to a certain extent that the Altair with its 15" subwoofer had a more powerful bottom end with a better ability to pressurize the large room at Goodwins. But, the M6, to me, had a little more resolute bass than the Altair. Vocals on the Altair are more seductive sounding than with the M6. I felt that with the M6, vocals are also very good, but with a little more texture and slightly less round than with the Altair. But to me, the biggest difference is in the upper frequencies, where the Altair is a more laid back speaker than the M6. If you listen to alot of jazz percussion pieces with cymbals, high hats, etc - you will hear this difference between the speakers immediately. The M6 has a little more life when these instruments are played. It really is a different presentation between the speakers - overall I preferred the sound of the M6's, but make no mistake - one is not better than the other - its which presentation do you prefer. Ultimately, i did get a chance to audition the M5 at a local dealer where I live and I ended up purchasing the M5.