The All New Volti Audio Vittora Is Here!
There’s Nothing Else Quite Like them
The original Vittora was the first speaker that I developed back when I started Volti Audio in 2010. They were an instant success at the shows and with my customers, with their unique design features, beautiful finish work, and of course their incredible sound. Back then, people were simply not used to hearing a horn speaker that had all the usual horn speaker attributes – dynamic impact, liveliness, big wide-open soundstage – but at the same time delivering a natural, refined and effortless quality with wide-bandwidth not normally found on older or lesser-quality horn speakers.
A four-year redevelopment has resulted in significant improvements in build-quality, aesthetics, functionality, and of course sound quality. The New Vittora is significantly better than the original in every way. It is the best work I’ve done to date as a speaker designer and builder.
Some of the highlights of the new design are:
- Tweeters are now centered above the mid-horn
- There is now a larger mid-horn that integrates with the bass horn even better than before
- The Bass Horn has increased in size and extends deeper into the bass and has a more intricate throat design and horn pathway with better upper bass definition
- All grills are now removable, as the insides of the Bass Horn and the Midrange Horn are completely finished (painted/veneered)
- Improved crossover design, components, and construction
- Improved crossover isolation using IsoAcoustic decoupling feet and careful inductor location within the tophat provides all the benefits of external crossovers
- A completely new ELF (Extended Low Frequency) system that can be configured in a number of different ways.
The New Volti Audio Vittora sets a new bar in effortless, powerful, dynamic music reproduction that you have to hear to believe. And you really should come hear this system. I will be bringing them to the shows in 2025, and of course you are always welcome to visit the Volti Audio facility in Baxter, TN. by appointment, where you can hear the incredible Vittora system in our demo room and get a tour of the shop where your speakers will be built
You will have the opportunity to choose veneers, cloth, and finishes for your speakers, and in our demo room you’ll hear for yourself how the Vittoras simply disappear and leave behind effortless, full-range, dynamic music like you’ve never heard or felt before
It is all about FUN here at Volti Audio – The enjoyment of designing and building great horn speakers, and then relaxing and listening to a musically engaging experience like no other.
Please call me to schedule a visit. Sign up for the Volti Audio Email Newsletter for information on the shows we will be at in 2025.
Greg Roberts – 207-314-1937
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Specs
The Vittora loudspeaker system consists of two main, three-way, fully horn-loaded loudspeakers, and the ELF (Extended Low Frequency) system that supports the lowest octave of music below the usable low-frequency extension of the bass horn in the main speakers (45Hz). The system offers 105db sensitivity, a frequency response of 20hz to 20Khz, 8ohm impedance, and input power of .1w to 100wpc.
The ELF System
The ELF system can be configured in a number of different ways, depending on the size of the room and coverage desired.
Choose from these ELF system components:
- ELF12 – a stoutly built, specially tuned, ported cabinet with a 12″ sub driver
- ELF18 – a stoutly built, specially tuned, ported cabinet with a 18″ sub driver
- ELFamp – a 500 watt amplifier with processor
- ELFpre – a preamplifier that provides connectivity options to the main system, remote gain control, and numeric display for balancing the system on the fly.
A single ELF12 or ELF18 will work fine when space is limited. Dual ELF cabinets provide much better coverage in a room and we think two ELF12 cabinets is probably the most likely setup for our customers, providing wide coverage and plenty of acoustic output for their Vittora system. For folks who have larger rooms, we recommend two ELF18 cabinets. Any number of ELF cabinets can be used to provide coverage and the acoustic energy needed for any size room.
Since the ELFamp is a separate piece from the ELF cabinet, there is complete flexibility on where it is located. The ELFamp can be located on the back of each ELF12 or ELF18, configuring the units the same way a powered subwoofer would be. Or the ELFamp can be located anywhere in between the ELF cabinet and the equipment rack, providing greater flexibility for AC access to the amp and location of the ELF cabinet. Or the ELFamp can be located on or behind the main equipment rack, which is probably where most customers will locate it.
Here’s how the ELF system is connected and how it works in the system:
The main Vittora speakers are powered full-range from the main system amplifier as is typical with any two-channel audio system. The ELF system is ‘added’ to the system and works independently from the main speakers.
The ELFpre offers two connectivity options to the main system. It has inputs for both low-level (from the main system preamp) or high-level (from the main system amplifier). The ELFpre provides remote gain control, allowing the user to adjust the level of the ELF system independently from the main system. The ELF system output level is adjusted to be in balance with the main speakers. The numeric display ELFpre provides the user with a convenient number as a reference to the ‘balance point’. Knowing this balance point number allows the ELF system to be turned up or down in relation to the main system output and then returned to the balance point quickly and easily point without having to go through the balancing process each time.
The ELFpre routes the signal to one or more ELFamps. The ELFamp provides the power to each of the ELF cabinets – one amp for each cabinet. The processor built into the ELFamp provides the necessary adjustable crossover to the ELF cabinet along with other digital signal processing features for adjusting phase, EQ, etc…
The ELF system provides much more flexibility and control as compared to a powered subwoofer. More importantly it is designed to be used with two-channel music systems, unlike powered subwoofers that are designed primarily for home theater. This makes the difficult job of adding low frequency extension and integrating this type of equipment with a two-channel system much easier.
The ELF system can be used with any two-channel system to augment the low frequency extension of the system where seamless integration and user control are primary objectives.
The premier feature of the ELF system is the ability to integrate seamlessly with the Vittora bass horn, never calling attention to itself as as a separate element of the soundscape in front of the listener. How many times have you heard a two-channel system with a subwoofer where the subwoofer didn’t call attention to itself?
The Volti Audio ELF system is different . . . and better.
Pricing
The Vittora loudspeaker system with two main 3-way horn loudspeakers, two ELF12 cabinets, two ELFamp amplifier/processors, one ELFpre with remote gain control and numeric display is priced at $50,000 USD
Please contact us for pricing of other configurations of the ELF system.
Some early love for the aesthetic design of the New Vittora:
“Most excellent design. Has to be one of the most beautiful speakers I have every seen. Volti Audio to me is at the forefront of speaker building. Can’t wait to hear the Vittora. Hats off gentlemen!!”
“WOW Greg. Magnificent! You have the Holy Grail. Your flare for this creation is perfect. Thanks for this view of your art. ““A work of art and sound. Heirloom quality.”
“Wow Greg! Beauts! Congrats again. I’m sure they sound extraordinary”
“Hi Greg, Beautiful work. I look forward to hearing the new Vittora sometime.”
“Wow Greg, beautiful. Knowing how much effort you’ve put into this speaker, I can only marvel at the result and look forward to hearing them. Congratulations!”
“If a speaker could sound amazing without even listening to them it would be these. A work of art.”
“Beautiful Greg! A whole new level.”
“Greg,These new speakers are beautiful and I am sure sound as good as the they look. You’ve outdone yourself! Congratulations and I hope they do well for you. Wow!”
I’m incredibly impressed with the New Vittora. What really stands out to me, from a design perspective, is the structural integrity you’ve built in. They look practically bomb proof. Truly heirloom quality. Driven with a small tube amplifier, this system sounds clean, lovely, and effortless while at the same time thunderous and dynamic. That is genuine design and manufacturing integrity. At 50K, they are worth every penny.
At the recent Axpona show in Chicago, I had the good fortune to have several sessions in the Volti room with the New Vittora. Even after reading the glowing reports from other shows and the information regarding the improvements made, not to mention the photos of the well crafted new look – I still wasn’t fully prepared for the sound in the room. Wow.
In a couple of his recent newsletters, Greg shares his thoughts on hearing other systems at recent shows. With those comments in mind, I felt the need for an occasional return to the Volti room to “cleanse my ears.” Once you get dialed in to what the Vittora does, and does so well, compared to other approaches, especially those with six and seven figure price tags, so much of it seems like an unfortunate waste of time and effort. If the opportunity presents itself, do yourself the favor of some time with the New Vittora. At Axpona, as much fun as it was to listen, it was almost as much fun watching the reaction of the others in the room
The New Vittora webpage you see above is starting to come together. I’ll keep working on it.
Meanwhile, below you will find the webpage for the original Vittora system, which I will leave in place until I get the New Vittora webpage done.
The Original Vittora Webpage
The Vittora is a fully horn-loaded, three-way, high-efficiency speaker system that delivers wide dynamic range, high output, and extremely low distortion. It IS a horn speaker, and it gives us everything we like about horns while minimizing the problems that plague some other horn designs. The Vittora strikes a balance between the sound of a high-end, smooth, audiophile speaker, and the in-your-face, lively, dynamic sound of a big horn system. It is unmistakably true to the all-horn format, but polite enough to be taken seriously by any audiophile.
The Vittora bass cabinet utilizes a 15″ woofer in a folded horn to produce solid, accurate bass. Even at high output levels, the distortion from this horn is undetectable, and the result is a quickness and definition that you can only get with a horn design. There’s no ported bass sound with this horn speaker! You get tight, accurate bass, a correct sounding upper-bass/lower-midrange, and perfect integration between the bass and mid.
Made in the U.S.A.
The Vittora uses a large wooden midrange horn with a tractrix flare, designed and built in-house. The horn has a 2″ throat and uses a large-format midrange compression driver with a 3-1/2″ voice coil. This combination of large, solidly built wooden horn with a large throat and huge midrange compression driver results in a midrange sound that is effortless and easy to listen to. There is no constriction of the sound through a tiny throat, there is no edginess, graininess, or honky sound that so many other horn designs suffer from. The Vittora midrange is smooth and articulate, dynamic and uncolored. The midrange is truly the heart of this loudspeaker, and the listener is rewarded with a musicality from this midrange horn that is very rare in this industry, at any price.
The tweeter combines a 1″ compression driver feeding through an elliptical tractrix horn, and with a carefully tuned crossover filter, it delivers extended, smooth high frequencies that compliment the rest of this system.
The hand-wired crossover networks are located inside the top horn section, and are the result of hundreds of hours of listening and testing to achieve near-perfect integration between the system components. The networks provide many adjustments for balancing the system, if desired.
The Vittora system uses a carefully tuned Extended Low Frequency cabinet that is very different from a powered subwoofer.
Why not just use a powered subwoofer? Click here to learn more
Virtually all powered subwoofers are designed for use in home theaters. They are built to be able to extend the bass down to 20Hz and below (frequencies that are felt more than they are heard), and to also play these frequencies at the same output level as higher bass frequencies (frequencies that are heard more than they are felt). These frequency response ‘curves’ and low bass characteristics are better suited for movie sound effects than they are for integrating into a two-channel music system.
It is rare to find a two-channel music system with a powered subwoofer that is properly integrated. Typically, subwoofers in two-channel systems are very much calling attention to themselves as separate pieces of the system. As your attention is drawn towards the separate low bass, so too is your attention drawn away from the music.
. . . . and that’s not good enough.
The Extended Low-frequency (ELF) cabinet of the Vittora system is not like a powered subwoofer at all. The ELF cabinet handles frequencies below 50Hz with a massive 18″ driver in a very carefully tuned bass-reflex cabinet.
The tuning is purposeful and unique.
Low bass from the ELF cabinet is fast, and can keep up with the speed of the bass from the Vittora bass horn.
The ELF cabinet is musical, and never draws attention to itself separately from the rest of the system.
The low bass from the ELF cabinets sounds as though it is coming from the main Vittora speakers.
The frequency ‘curve’ and output characteristics of the low bass from the ELF cabinet perfectly integrates with the bass from the Vittora bass horn.
The end result is low bass with all the speed and effortless dynamics that you can only get in a horn loudspeaker, and no other horn loudspeaker on the market extends as low and does so in such a musically integrated way.
The MB42 has 300 watts of power and a very nice analogue, 24db slope crossover network built in. Over the years it has proven a reliable and capable component match to the ELF cabinet. The cost is $2,900 purchased directly through Volti Audio.
Vittora System Capabilities
Frequency response of the Vittora System is 25Hz – 20Khz (main speakers 50Hz – 20Khz and the ELF cabinet 25Hz – 50Hz. What is interesting here is the design of the system, utilizing a bass horn that extends to 50Hz, and a separately powered cabinet that handles the last octave below that. The end result is a system that sounds like it is fully horn-loaded down to 25Hz, but in a much smaller package than it would be if there was a 25Hz folded horn.
Sensitivity is 104db 1W/1M and power handling is 200 watts continuous. We don’t know of another speaker on the market with such a combination of sensitivity and power handling. The Vittora system is capable of whisper detail at one-one hundredth of a watt, and thundering power at 200 watts, capabilities that are very unique indeed.
