Rockport's or Magico's

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.

Hi,
I own Rockports and have heard the Magicos at length including a dedicated

listening session in a room setup by the "Wolfman" himself.

They to put it bluntly are "Digitus Horrendous". I'd look eslewhere if I was you

Not on the same planet as the wonderful Rockies.

End of rant,

DesW

I have heard the m6 and rockports at goodwins and also the m5 for 2 hours at another dealer. For my tastes, the rockports are more musical speakers. The magicos are too detailed to the point of listener fatigue that sets in after half hour. What good are highest resolution speakers if you can't listen to them. Rockports have dynamics and extension matching the magicos and have warmth and bloom that magicos lack. I was actually considering these speakers for my newly built audio room but I have found a pair of speakers I enjoy more than either of these speakers for a fraction of their price. Go figure-the most enjoyable and rewarding speakers are not these megabuck speakers stereophool and the crapsolute sound are drooling over.

The Rockports are massively deep at 3 feet, and would seem to need a particularly large room. They might sound great in the correct room, but they would not physically fit in my room. Only in comparison to Magico can they be regarded as a bargain. If you are in the US, European speakers tend to be 20-40% more in the US due to currency conversion, middlemen, shipping, and tarifs. Ditto for US speakers in Europe.

The Avalon Time may be an interesting upcoming speaker that is very similar to Isis, but probably about 30% less. There are some specs and pictures at audiofreaks. There are quite a few US speakers to consider with reasonable value.