Rockport Technologies has announced the introduction of their new entry-level loudspeaker, the Atria. The Atria is said to be, essentially, a smaller, less-expensive version of the company’s Avior loudspeaker ($32,500 USD/pr. after January 31, 2013). Like the Avior, the Atria uses Rockport’s new custom, carbon-fiber-sandwich-composite cone midrange and woofer, as well as the same beryllium-dome Scan-Speak tweeter. The main difference is that the Atria uses a single 9” woofer per cabinet, instead of the Avior's twin woofers. Therefore, the Atria's cabinet volume is approximately one half that of the Avior.
Andrew Payor of Rockport Technologies said: “The result is a loudspeaker which has the same transparency, texture, and most importantly, the same life that defines the Avior. The Atria has nearly the same bass extension as the Avior, however, it is meant for smaller rooms, or for people with more moderate listening habits, and will not energize the air in the first octave quite the same way the Avior does. The sensitivity is also slightly lower, coming in at roughly 87.5dB. We have been listening to the first set of Atrias for some time now, and they are spectacular! I can also say that it has perhaps the most lovely form factor of any loudspeaker that we have built for the last ten years.”
Regarding the rest of the Rockport line, Payor adamantly stated: “I'm very excited to have the Atria as the entry-level loudspeaker in our product range, and it's the perfect complement to the Avior in our product offerings. For now, we will still offer the Alya as a specialty product for people with severe space constraints, and the Altair and Arrakis will continue to round out our product line on the top end. Also, it should be noted that there will be no changes for the Altair and Arrakis other than using our new cone profiles for the midbass and midrange cones on the Audiotechnology motor units, which we have already implemented.”
The Atria will be introduced at $21,500 USD/pr. and should be available by late February, 2013.