Rockport Technologies Atria II Loudspeaker
This review of the Rockport Technologies Atria II Loudspeaker ($27,500/pair) has been a long time coming. Thanks to the Covid pandemic, my review schedule for the Atrias kept changing. Only recently allowed to fly within Canada, I made it to Toronto where I had the chance to audition these gorgeous speakers at length.
Attached to the speakers were components from dCS, Boulder, ARC and Transparent. Stars, all, and they were a perfect match to bring out the qualities of this very fine loudspeaker.
My Use
In addition to the associated components’ synergy, positioning the Atrias is deserving of some time and effort. Small changes create obvious differences, so, in your small/medium sized room, experiment a little and have fun. The speakers are quite forgiving, but pinpoint placement in your room will give you the dialled in effect you require.
I first met Josh Clark, the very amiable and musical owner of Rockport Technologies (based in Maine and started originally by the legendary Andy Payor) at the 2019 Toronto Audio Show. I observed as he took extra care positioning his speakers under show conditions. You can see/hear his efforts in a short video we did here.
I’d like to thank Josh for his patience with this particular review process.
We placed the IIs for the review in similar fashion, a slight toe in, with this listener sitting at ear/tweeter level. The speakers were well broken in.
Repertoire for the review was streamed via Qobuz. Only the highest res files were used.
The Atria IIs, which debuted in 2017, are the second in Rockport’s line after the new Taurus centre speaker, with the Avior IIs after the Atria IIs, followed by the Cygnus and ending with the mighty Lyra. All share the same design language.
The system used for this review included:
dCS Bartok DAC/Streamer
Roon Core from the Wadax Atlantis Server
Audio Research LS28 SE tube pre amplifier
Boulder 1160 power amplifier
Transparent Gen 6 Cables—Ultra speaker cables, Reference interconnects
Features and Specifications
Visually, the Atria IIs are a thing of masculine beauty. Strong lines in gorgeous piano black, with a top angled baffle and a slinky ridge in the rear, about six inches above a bass reflex port. Most striking is Rockport’s use of a proprietary carbon weave midrange driver and woofer both sitting below a dome tweeter. $27,500/pair is not inexpensive, but even before a note is heard, the fit and finish of the Atria IIs are spectacular. They will make a serious visual statement in your room.
Drivers include a 9” carbon fibre sandwich composite woofer, a 6” midrange of the same material, and a waveguard-mounted, 1” beryllium dome tweeter.
Clark emailed me some answers to my questions:
We design and build every part of our drivers with the exception of the tweeter motor system and dome system. We build our own cast aluminum driver baskets, pole pieces, magnets, rubber surrounds, fabric spiders, titanium voice coil formers and solid copper voice coils among other parts, and most of these parts require their own tooling which is a huge investment for a small company like ours. We even designed our own terminals for better solder joints where the driver wires connect!
The goal with the structural parts is to provide maximum rigidity for the motor system and cone attachment points, while leaving large openings to provide maximum airflow to prevent aerodynamic friction. We make our own soft parts, the surround and spiders, so that we can have the minimum amount of friction and hysteresis (memory) throughout the moving range.
Dimensions are 43.50” tall , a width of 12.50″ at the base and a depth 20.00″, also at the base. They weigh in at a hefty 150 lbs. each.
Frequency response is 28 – 30 KHz, nominal impedance is 4 ohms with a sensitivity of 87.5 dB. Minimum amplifier power suggestion is 50 watts.
The Atria’s numbers say all the right things. They’ll play with various topologies and power settings, play deep bass with utmost confidence and coherence, and fit well into small and medium sized rooms. I dare say, the voluminous, undistorted output we achieved with the Boulder 1160, an audiophile with a larger room would not go without the II’s considerable musical charms.
Clark continued about the cabinet design to my question about the baffles.
The design of our cabinet is almost completely function driving form. The tapered shape of the cabinet around the midrange and tweeter presents very little area to reflect the sound. The flat surface around the drivers that would be the most reflective is covered with a very dense wool felt (similar to piano hammer felt) that we have manufactured for us in Germany. This material does a great job of absorbing the middle and high frequencies that would normally reflect off the front baffle.
Below is a later text conversation I had with Clark regarding the Atrias and a little Rockport history.
Hi Anthony,
Thanks for the questions. The short answer is the company and its products are all Andy Payor since he founded it in 1990.
I purchased the company in April of 2019 and since then I have been working side-by-side with Andy as my mentor on all production and all product development. He plans to work for many more years before he retires.
The carbon fiber that you see with the larger check pattern is the current state of the art in carbon fiber. That mid range cone is stiff enough to stand on it but only weighs 7 grams. It has its first break up mode at 6500 Hz, which is 1 1/2 octaves above where we roll it off at 2100 Hz. This is unique among all mid range drivers that we know of including companies who make their own special carbon fiber cones.
Rockport writes of its Atra IIs:
Capitalizing on the benefits of our new waveguide mounted beryllium tweeter, we have completely redesigned the crossover in the Atria II. The Atria II’s triple laminated, constrained mode damped enclosure boasts a solid 4 inch thick front baffle and variable section thickness (up to 2½ inches thick), curved side panels which endows the enclosure with immense stiffness and minimum resonant signature. The Atria II’s enclosure also features large sweeping chamfers and ever changing baffle dimensions that virtually eliminate diffraction anomalies.
Sound
I had some listening hours with the Atria IIs from previous shows and dealers; these wonderful musical experiences inspired this review. As such, they always made a very positive impression on me. They play music with outstanding timbral accuracy, offer all the audiophile thrills and are extremely well balanced through all octaves. A fine investment in your reference system.
During my review time, I threw the kitchen sink at them. They didn't flinch. Bring it!
So, rockers and Mahler fans, with the appropriate ancillaries, you’ll be ear bleeding before the bullet proof Atria’s give up. No soundstage implosion—a giveaway of incorrect equipment synergy or poor loudspeaker design. Yet, they can also play music with absolute delicacy, dexterity and transparency.
I decided to confound and conflate sound and repertoire with the particular strengths of the IIs in mind beginning with Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, which starts with a true test for conductors and no small challenge for drivers. The symphony opens with 4 flutes playing a delicate pattern with grace notes very quietly underlined with sleigh bells. It’s a magical sound and heard to the most beautiful effect and detail by the Atrias. As flutist and conductor, I heard the Berliner flutes tonging the grace notes quite firmly to give the phrase rhythm and shape with the sleigh bells perfectly sitting underneath in the soundstage. But, it’s what happens next that impressed me the most. In bar 3, Mahler slows the tempo with a ritardando to set up the violin first subject. Underneath and always down in the mix, a clarinet offers a 16th note counterpoint. The rit is the problem (do you continue with the rit in 4 or subdivide?) As a conductor, you focus on the massed violins rather than one woodwind soloist—but, it can often be a bit of a mess. Here, the Berliners and young Yannick on DG reigned supreme and the Rockports really dug in so the listener could hear all the seamless gear changing from the middle of the hall. And when Mahler further emphasizes the rhythm in bar 6 with deep, rich bass pizzicatos, you’ll recognize instantly the beauty and resonance of the notes in a gorgeous acoustic.
Steely Dan’s ‘Hey Nineteen’ from Gaucho begins with a bang, and not without some master tape distortion, even on a high res file. But as soon as the seminal fusion song gets going, Donald Fagen’s unique, whiny, kinky voice tells another of his unique stories. The II’s replication of the human voice is very accurate and the myriad of contrapuntal and rhythmic lines were heard clearly—a wide, deep and clear soundstage is a big plus with these speakers.
Imaging is also very fine as heard on TRIO 64 with the Bill Evans trio. On Creed Taylor productions, it’s never too difficult to hear a trio’s placement—usually left to right, bass, piano, drums. No biggie for any competent audiophile setup. But, many times, and on lesser gear, the instruments, bass especially, get a little confused in the mix; maybe engineering, maybe player, but usually string timbre and tessitura. No problems with the Rockports. Gary Peacock’s bass was dead set left and clear in the mix with his beautiful timbre. No ‘slappa da bass’!
My ultimate non classical test is a track called ‘Dead Already’ by Thomas Newman. I discovered the music when it appeared as the theme for American Beauty. The film debuted way back in 1999. This is a great audiophile test track and is perfect to judge drivers’ speed (bongo skins struck with concomitant reverb around the shell), tonal accuracy of multiple percussion instruments, mallets especially, synthesized bass down to the depths, rhythmic accuracy (hemiola), sampled effects such as electronic glissandos, and much more. The kitchen sink!
From the previous repertoire, I knew the Atrias would excel on the track and I was not disappointed. The soft mallets striking the marimbas, the resolution of the struck bongo skins, the multi layered glissandos all sounded dynamic and accurate. There’s not much delicacy going on in this track but the synthesized counterpoint bass line that occurs several times was monumental. Clean in the mix and pressurizing the room magnificently.
Just before I left for Toronto, a pair of extraordinary, very expensive loudspeakers arrived on the island (Nov 19 review publication), and while in Toronto, I had a great listening session at Corby Audio in nearby Hamilton, featuring Don Corby’s spectacular home made speakers with JBL drivers, a horn, and crossovers by Allnic Audio’s Kang Su Park. I also got to listen to a pair of Avantgarde DUO Mezzo loudspeakers with a superb T+A DAC and spectacular AirTight 10W mono blocks. You’ll have to wait for the Nov 19 review to read about the newly arrived speakers, but comparison with the other speakers to the Atria IIs was instructive. The massive, brilliant homebuilts would probably sell for 200K plus if Don Corby ever made another set and the stunning Avantgardes were $90,000. Both speakers considerably more than the Atria II’s price of ($27,500/pair). So, a pretty silly comparison. But a comparison in almost real time, nonetheless. The Atrias held their own with these mighty masterpieces, remarkable for what is considered a somewhat reasonable price these days for a virtuoso loudspeaker of this quality. And a virtuoso is certainly what the Atria II is.
As I listened to the Atrias, Rockport’s PR about the importance of ‘scale’ kept resonating. Scale as described by Rockport:
One of the most important design considerations for the Atria II was that it would play music with a far greater sense of scale and ease than one would ever expect for a loudspeaker of this size. We’re extremely pleased that we’ve met or exceeded all of the design goals for the Atria II. And, while it was designed to work well in smaller rooms, make no mistake, the Atria II is a lionhearted speaker that surprises on every level.
Summary
Sure, the above italics are PR speak, but, perfectly accurate PR speak. Josh Clark and Andy Payor have a singular vision with the Atrias. Play grand music to a grand scale. Thus, Stan Getz’ large tenor sax plays to scale through his six foot body and sounds every inch of it on a jazz club stage. The Berliner Philharmoniker is not in your room as heard in Corby’s large space on huge speakers, but you’ll get a brilliant facsimile. As such, these beautiful speakers from Maine should be a first choice to audition and purchase if your budget is right. Easily, one of the best I’ve heard in this price range and above. Very highly recommended.
Further Information: Rockport Technologies
