By: Greg Roberts

Here’s some basic spec comparisons:

Razz – 40″ Tall, 15″ wide, 12″ deep – 90lbs – 97db

Lucera 40″ tall, 18″ wide, 14″ deep – 110lbs – 99db

Rival 41-1/2″ tall, 19″ wide, 16″ deep – 135lbs – 100db

Sensitivity and Power Needed

I get asked a lot about how much power my speakers need.  That’s a tough question, because we all listen to music differently.  Two watts of power with the 97db Razz is more than enough for a lot of people.  Put two watts into Razz and the acoustic output is pretty amazing.  Remember this too, not all 97db rated speakers are the same in terms of their acoustic output.  Take the lowest octave away from any speaker and it seems like half the output goes away.  Bass requires power.  A speaker like the Razz, that has great sensitivity all the way down to 35Hz is going to greatly outperform a 97db rated speaker with an 8″ single-driver.  Night and day difference.  Volti Audio speakers are going to give you the entirety of what’s on the recording in a very impactful way, and at a very high sensitivity.

So is two watts enough?  Pick your answer below.

Yes.  You listen in the 85db range and your days of knocking knick-knacks off of tables in your listening room or making your pant legs flap from the bass are over.  You’ll enjoy full range, deep bass, well-balanced, effortless, and musically engaging sound with a pair of Razz.

No.  You occasionally want to really move air in the room and feel the full impact of the music energizing the room.  Go with something that has a bit more power and give yourself the headroom you need to really rock out.   The Razz really love a push-pull KT-88 tube amp.

The Lucera and Rival, with their higher sensitivities, do work better than the Razz with low-power amps.

Compare The Sound Of These Three Volti Audio Models

You would be hard-pressed in our industry right now to find any other horn speaker that combines the construction quality, beautiful design, musicality, refinement, and effortless power delivery of any of these three models.  When you do find something that gets close, take a look at the price point your are at.  The Razz, Lucera, and Rival are all great products with very similar sound signatures.  What you’ll hear as you step up from the Razz to the Lucera and then again from the Lucera to the Rival is refinement.  

It takes me about 10 minutes to switch out a pair of Razz for a pair of Luceras here in my demo room when I have someone over to hear my speakers.  The response to the change is immediate.  It only takes fifteen seconds to realize how much better the Lucera is over the Razz.  The Razz was built to a price point, and the Lucera’s higher price comes from higher priced drivers and from the slightly larger and more efficient cabinets.  With the Lucera, the soundstage widens, the bass drops just a bit deeper, and the midrange becomes a bit clearer.  But the thing I notice the most with the Lucera compared to the Razz is how linear and accurate the bass is.

Moving up the line.  The Volti Audio Rival speakers have my hand-built wooden midrange horns, and use the same midrange drivers and tweeters found in the Vittora system.  These are the highest quality components that I’ve discovered over the years, and there is a vast improvement in overall refinement as compared to the Lucera.  Most of the extra cost of moving up to Rivals is due to the cost of the mid-horns and components.  If you can do it, you’ll be rewarded for it every time you sit and listen to music with them.  They are keepers.

Which One Is The Best Fit For My Room?

I get asked a lot about which of them would work best in a particular sized room.   In terms of the bass reflex cabinets working well in a room, you might think that the bigger Rivals need a bigger room to work properly.   But I’ve heard Rivals in a very small room, and they work just as well as the smaller Lucera and Razz do.  For a more detailed discussion on room size for my speakers, click the link below.

What Volti Speakers Will Best Fit My Room?

So Which Model Will You Choose?  

It is really a budgetary decision.  As much as you’d like to make a practical decision based on the size of the speaker or how it will integrate into your room, the fact is that all three of these models will work equally well.  The decision making process is really much easier than you think.  Go with the one you can afford, enjoy one of the finest sounding horn speakers you can buy at any price, and  

HAVE FUN!