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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BOSTON, MA, October 28, 2026: Rockhopper Acoustics, a Boston-based maker of handcrafted active bookshelf speakers, will exhibit at Capital Audiofest 2026, November 13–15, at the Hilton Rockville in Rockville, Maryland. Visitors can hear the speakers throughout the show in Room 740. Founded my Audio Engineer Dr. Kevin Brown debuted the speakers at AXPONA in spring 2026. They became available for direct purchase at on our website on October 7, 2026.
The Rockhopper Speakers are a fully active design. Each speaker uses four Class D amplifiers, one dedicated to each driver, with full DSP control shaping the signal before it is amplified. There is no passive crossover to drain the power or color the sound. That precision allowed Rockhopper to develop its True-to-Life Response, a reference target that accounts for how recordings are made, how sound disperses from the speaker, and how a real room shapes what reaches the listener. Every unit is tuned by hand and calibrated to within ±0.5 dB of that reference before it leaves the Boston workshop.
The tweeter sits in Rockhopper's proprietary ADIMS baffle, a waveguide refined over fifteen years. Its shape, a parabola rotated around a saddle curve, gives the loading benefits of a horn with wider, more even horizontal dispersion and without horn coloration.
“Many high-end speakers aim to impress. My goal with the Rockhopper was to make it sound like the performers are in the room with you,” said Dr. Brown. “We spent five years developing our True-to-Life Response to get there. Come to Room 740, bring a track you know well, and hear it for yourself.”
Early owners have responded to that approach. “The Rockhoppers are the rare speaker that rewards patience,” wrote customer Kyle R. Notch. “They reveal themselves gradually, session by session, as you notice details in familiar recordings you hadn't heard before.”
Pricing and Availability
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Cherry Bookmatched Veneer: $3,799 per pair
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Black on Walnut Veneer: $3,999 per pair
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Purchase: Available directly at RockhopperAcoustics.com
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Shipping and trial: Free shipping within the contiguous United States and a 30-day home trial
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Connectivity: Supports playback from a phone or other streaming source, with a line-level input for a turntable or other component
About Rockhopper Acoustics
Rockhopper Acoustics designs and hand-builds active bookshelf speakers in its workshop in Boston's Fort Point Channel neighborhood. Founder Kevin Brown studied acoustics at MIT, where he worked one-on-one with Professor Amar Bose. He has more than 40 years of experience designing audio products, including conventional, active, and directional systems, as well as three decades of commercial audio installation work in control rooms and museums. Listening sessions are available in Boston and Chicago.
Media Contact
Kevin Brown, Founder
617-821-3570
Rockhopper Acoustics Brings True-to-Life Sound to Capital Audiofest 2026
Room 740 will feature a Boston-based maker’s handcrafted active bookshelf speakers, five years in development, with every pair calibrated to within ±0.5 dB of a reference response.
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ENGINEER
Kevin Brown
Founder, Rockhopper Acoustics
Kevin Brown has spent 40 years designing loudspeakers and audio systems. He earned his bachelor's, master's and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at MIT, where he studied acoustics and worked with Professor Amar Bose. At Bose Corporation, he helped design the Bose Wave radio and the 10.2, then the company's top-of-the-line speaker.
In 1991, he founded Brown Innovations, where he has developed dozens of products, including directional speakers, conventional two-way and three-way speakers, active loudspeakers and DSP amplifiers, along with several patents. One design builds a steerable phased-array speaker into the edge of a table or console, aiming sound at the listener seated in front of it. His systems are installed around the world, from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to the Smithsonian, the Vatican, CNN and Heathrow Airport, most recently at Pittsburgh International Airport. He has also designed custom speaker systems for museums and private home theaters, and consulted on architectural acoustics.
Rockhopper Acoustics brings that experience home in an active bookshelf speaker handcrafted in his Boston workshop.
Kevin is also a visual artist, trained at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He sculpted the bronze Rockhopper badge and finishes each one by hand.
Media Inquiries
For interviews, press materials, or further information about Rockhopper Acoustics and Kevin, please reach out to our press team using the form below. We aim to respond within two business days.