Capital Audio Fest

Ah yes, CAF.  Not even on my radar after coming back from the show in Newport, less than a month before CAF started.   Was it a surprise that Volti showed up at CAF?  Nah, I've been doing that every year it seems.  But it WAS a surprise that we showed up with a new speaker that didn't exist two weeks prior to CAF!

Oh, the idea of building a smaller, less expensive Volti speaker that still embodied the "Volti" sound has been on the agenda for a couple of years.  Making it happen has proven to be a challenge.  But something happened between THE Show Newport and CAF this year that brought the whole new speaker design together.

Here's how it went down  .  .  .  .

It's called the "Rival"

The trip back from Newport California to Maine went reasonably well, considering the general unpleasantness of being trapped in the commercial airline system for an entire day.  I had more work ahead of me than could possibly be done within the time frame I've alloted, but hey, who's complaining really.  With everything that's been going on lately, the last thing I needed to do was add something more to my plate.  But I began thinking once again about the smaller, less expensive speaker that Volti Audio desparately needs in our lineup.  Before I knew what was happening, I was cutting plywood.

It all happened so quickly.  Where past attempts at this new design were a struggle, this time I found myself able to focus and move forward on it with ease.  It all just fell together.  Why had I not thought of this before?  Use the same components you're using in the Vittora, dummy!  And make the cabinet as simple as possible to build!

People have been asking me for years if I could produce a speaker with the Vittora sound for less money, or in a smaller version.   We know we're going to give up something to do it - let's not compromise quality of sound.

And there it was.  The new speaker would use all the same components found in the Vittora.  Keep that sound as intact as possible - simplify and reduce the cost of everything else to a bare minimum.  No, it doesn't sound exactly like a Vittora system, but it does sound like a big horn speaker - a Volti speaker.

I made cardboard mockups, did some calculations, and eventually came up with a cabinet size that I thought would work well.   I wanted it to be small (ish), but it needed to have good bass extension.  I used a midrange horn that has the same design and build as the one used in the Vittora, but smaller.  It is a mid horn that I developed for Klipsch Cornwall owners to use to upgrade their speakers.  2" throat, Tractrix flare, and made of wood - this horn would give the Rival that unmistakably effortless midrange that is associated with the Vittora sound.

I built a prototype, loaded it up and started testing and listening.  BAM!  It just happened.  The sound was phenomenal.  It was thwacking bass at me in my 1000sf shop space like it had no business doing.  Upper bass - the most important aspect of the Vittora sound - was there and integrated really well with this smaller mid horn.  I used the same tweeter I use in the Vittora.  Like I said, it's not a Vittora system sound, but wow, it's really great.

At this point, it's nine days to the start of CAF, and I'm realizing that I have a viable product that I could bring to that show.   There's no better way to flush out whether or not this is going to be a winner than to subject it to the scrutiny of show attendees, and my peers, especially Gary Dews, who I knew would not hold back his thoughts on the Rival.

It just so happens that Pete Grzybowski of Triode Wire Labs had a room all booked, and the guy he was supposed to be showing with, wasn't able to make it.  He and Gary Dews decided to put together a second system in that room using Living Voice speakers.   It was very nice of them to let me crash the party!

So I worked my butt off over the next week, building a prototype pair of the new speakers.  I refined the design as much as I had time to, so it didn't look too much like a DIY attempt.  I worked hard on the crossover to get it balanced just so.  I came up with the marketing approach and determined pricing for the base model and the long list of options.   I determined what the specifications were for the new speaker.  I wrote the language for a brochure and had that printed.   I had signs made up for the show.  I rented a vehicle to go to the show so as not to leave Laurie without wheels.   And on Thursday, the day before CAF started, I sprayed lacquer on the cabinets!

Here's what that first prototype pair looked like

You can have whatever color horns you want!

I drove all day on Friday, getting to the show hotel in Rockville at around 6pm.  The show ended at 8pm that evening, and after talking it over with Gary and Pete, we decided to bring the new speakers into the show room after the show ended and give them a go.  We took the petite Living Voice speakers out, and inserted the Rivals into the system.  It was quickly determined that the horns needed to be up higher, and luckily they had a couple of speaker stands to put them up on.   That made a real nice difference in how the midrange and high frequencies sounded.  After a couple of tweaks to the crossovers, Gary shook my hand and told me I had done a nice job.

It's a three day show, with the midway point being mid-day on Saturday, so the guys proposed that we use the Living Voice speakers up until 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, and then switch over to the Rivals after that.  I put them out in the hallway for people to see on Saturday morning.  At 2:00 we brought them into the room and at 2:20 I had them SOLD!!

So that was cool!  The new owner was excited about his purchase, and Volti had some money to work with to finish up development of the Rival once we got back to Maine.

Pete joined me on Sunday night after we packed everything up from the show, and we made the 45 minute trek to Robert's house to deliver his speakers.  We got em all set up and tweaked things a little bit, and the Rivals were making a great sound in Robert's system.  After a late night listening session, Robert put us up at his home for the evening.  I think he got about four hours sleep and just couldn't wait to get the music on again early the next morning.  Needless to say, he's pretty happy with his new speakers.

The next day Robert took us to a great place to eat lunch, Chick and Ruth's Delly in downtown Annapolis, where we had the most wonderful crabcakes!  Check out Pete's squirrel cheeks!  Lol.

The Name
"Rival" came from Ron Brenay, of New Record Day, who I had been in contact with at the time regarding the video interview he did of myself, Pete, and Vinnie at THE Show Newport a couple of months earlier.  While the Rival name is not in the same vein as "Alura" or "Vittora", I like it a lot, and it seems to fit this new model perfectly.  If you would like to view the video interview that Ron did, click the link below, but I'll warn you, it's a long interview.  Also, I don't know what to say about the title of this video, just remember I didn't have anything to do with it!

Interview

When I got back to Maine after the show, I spent a little time thinking about all I had learned about the Rival during my trip.  This was a good speaker, no doubt about that, but I knew I could improve on it.  At the show, they were scritinized, mostly by me as I sat and listened to them all those hours, and I had a good idea of where improvements could be made.  So I set about with a re-design, making the cabinets taller and narrower to get the top horns up higher.   I also made improvements to the aesthetic design, to make them look more like a professionally manufactured product, rather than a good Do-It-Yourself attempt.  So the front of the speaker no longer has the protruding sides, the tweeter is inset into a routered out recess, and the plinth/feet options were worked out.

Plain birch cabinet version

The design also underwent an entire redevelopment of the crossover that included the final voicing of the speaker sitting right beside a Vittora.  With a switchbox on my lap and music playing, I was able to switch back and forth between the Rival and the Vittora.  I would make small adjustments to the crossover, run a test so I could verify what I was hearing, and listen to more music.  I ran over 250 tests on them, and listened to music for countless hours.   Nope, no matter how much I tweaked that crossover, I couldn't make the Rival sound better than the Vittora!   Or as good.  But it's close.  Very close in a lot of ways.  I wish you all could sit here and switch back and forth between those two speakers.  It is so much fun!

I veneered a set in Rosewood, which I'll take to the NYAS

Ok, this is for the long-time subscribers.  A FREE Volti T-shirt to the first person to send me an email with the correct answer.  What, specifically, was always parked in the corner of the shop shown in the photo above that is no longer there?  Selling it qualifies as a life-changing event for this audiophile.

Along with your answwer, please include the address you want your T-shirt sent to, and the size you want.

A few of the grill and plinth options that will be available

The Rival is compact, and seriously loaded, sporting a much larger presentation of music than any speaker that size ought to.  It's very sensitive at 100db, so you can play around with low-power if you want to, but put the power to it and listen to what happens!   It'll give it right back to you cleanly, effortlessly, just like the Vittora does.

Tone?  Oh yeah.  The same kind of tonal balance that you hear in the Vittora system, with nearly the same accuracy of reproducing the tone and timbre of instruments.  This is not a "hi fi" sound, this is a dynamic, realistic reproduction of what real musical instruments sound like.

Specs:

The Rival is 41-1/2" tall, 19" wide, and 16" deep, and it weighs about 120lbs.  It is stoutly built with 1" thick Baltic Birch plywood, and well braced and damped.  It sports a wooden, tractrix midrange horn that I designed and build here.  The crossovers use very high quality components, and they have adjustments available to tune the speaker to your liking.  The woofer, midrange driver, and tweeter/horn are all right out of the Vittora.   It is 100db sensitive, and will handle 100 watts of continuous power.

The Base model of the Rival will be offered in your choice of either unfinished, or clear finish over Birch Plywood at $7,900 per pair.   From there, you can add from a list of options that include veneer and lacquer finish, paint, and grills.  As usual, we can accommodate special requests for custom work or options as well, and you can expect we'll come up with more options in the future.  Much more information coming on the Volti website in a month or so.

I'm building the first two pair of Rivals as of this writing, and I had to make a decision about sending out this newsletter prior to having them done.  Ideally I would be introducing the new Rival speakers to you in this newsletter, with nice photos of the finished product.   But for that to happen, would have taken another few weeks, and I just didn't want to wait any longer to update my readers on what's been happening at Volti this year, and also to let you all know about the New York Audio Show.  So I made the decision to send out the newsletter with photos of the new Rival speakers under construction.  I know you will bear with me on this.  I'll have nice photos up on the website before November.

The Vittora speakers we used at the shows this year are finished in Sapele Pommele veneer, and they are truly stunning to look at in person.  The figuring in the grain is wild, but you don't really see how wild until you get up close to them.   This makes them an elegant and reserved looking speaker that will fit into any decor, and when you get within a few feet, they really become conversation pieces as you discover all the really cool graining and figuring they have.

Regular price on the five-piece set is $26,750 (with the $1000 veneer upgrade).  Special demo pricing is $25,000, a savings of $1,750.  Plus, for a limited time, free shipping is available.  But I stress, that's for a very limited time.

I also have an extra matching ELF cabinet for those of you with larger rooms.

The very few photos I have of these speakers are up above.

For the same limited time, I may be able to arrange an in-home demo.

If you're at all interested, send me an email and let's talk.

Thank you for your support, and until next time, trust your ears and have fun!