Rockport Ankaa and Anquila

Just curious if anybody feels like updating this thread.

I've listened to the Grand Miras and the Ankaa at Audio Vision in San Francisco a few times. In both cases I felt like the sound was extremely "clean" and well defined, but the partnered electronics may have not been the best match (it was higher end Naim gear powering the Rockports).

Dont get me wrong, I love Naim gear (I've owned both the Nait 5i and the Aro tonearm), but I would really like to hear Rockport speakers with super high-powered amps (like Gryphon, Boulder, or even Parasound JC-1).

To my knowledge, Andy has been working with side-firing woofers since the Merak / Sheritans and the Hyperion (the mid / late 90s) so having almost all of his speakers now utilize the side-firing woofer configuration does not seem surprising. For a while he went down the route of separating the low end cabinets from the midrange and tweeters (ala the Watt / Puppy methodology), but now it seems like he is focused more on single cabinets, except in cases like the Mira Grand or Arrakis where you have to break up the cabinet size.

What I heard was incredible imaging and great tonal balance, but again, my next step is to hear them with huge amps behind them (300 watts or more). From what I understand, that is the best way to hear Rockport speakers.

amazingly enough to me, there seems to be very little interest in this speaker line. both by the media and the public. it is a shame. oh well their loss!

Great to see a thread about Rockport. After being on the audiophile upgrade path for 30 years, I got off after buying Antares in early 2001. I still love them. I guess I didn't really get off the path, because I did upgrade other components. The Antares made that process much easier than ever, though, and I have been off "the path" for several years now.

Koegz,
I agree that Rockports are great speakers and are underrepresented in terms of official reviews in the publications but I would say they have been receiving quite some attention in the past year. Here are two new reviews on the Ankaa and the Aquila:

http://www.stereotimes.com/speak081709.shtml
http://www.ultraaudio.com/equipment/rockport_technologies_ankaa.htm

And here are the mighty Arrakis at the center of some interesting online features/blogs:
http://www.avguide.com/blog/the-best-stereo-system-ive-ever-heard
http://www.ultraaudio.com/twbas/twbas_200909_rockport.htm
http://www.ultraaudio.com/twbas/twbas_200909_rockport.htm

Hope this helps.

Cmalak,

Thanks for the links. I had not not seen the Aquila review on Stereo Times before, and although there have been some other articles about the Rockport facilities on other websites, I had not seen the visit report from Jeff Fritz on Ultra Audio either.

I appreciate the links. Andy is on the cutting edge, and although all of his products are pretty wallet-busting (at least for this audiophile), I still like reading about his accomplishments.