[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ custom_padding_last_edited=”on|desktop” admin_label=”Section” _builder_version=”3.22″ background_color=”#f2f2f2″ custom_padding=”11px|||||” custom_padding_tablet=”50px|0|50px|0″ custom_padding_phone=”” transparent_background=”off” padding_mobile=”off” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row” _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”title The Volti Audio Story” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ text_font=”Merriweather||on||” text_text_color=”#e06133″ text_font_size=”90″ text_letter_spacing=”1px” text_line_height=”1.4em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_orientation=”center” module_alignment=”center” custom_padding=”0px|||||” custom_padding_tablet=”” custom_padding_phone=”” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|desktop” text_font_size_tablet=”” text_font_size_phone=”60px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
The Volti Audio Story<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ custom_padding_last_edited=”on|desktop” admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.22″ parallax=”on” parallax_method=”off” custom_padding_tablet=”50px|0|50px|0″ custom_padding_phone=”” transparent_background=”off” padding_mobile=”off” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row padding_mobile=”off” column_padding_mobile=”on” admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” width=”60%” max_width=”60%” max_width_tablet=”” max_width_phone=”80%” max_width_last_edited=”on|phone” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”on” width_unit=”off” custom_width_percent=”60%” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”living breathing sub title” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ text_font=”Merriweather|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”40px” text_line_height=”1.8em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_orientation=”center” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Living, Breathing Music in Your Living Room<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”sub sub title making speakers since 2010″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ text_font=”Merriweather|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”28px” text_line_height=”1.8em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” z_index=”0″ text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Volti Audio has been making high-sensitivity horn-loaded loudspeakers since 2010, and this is how it happened\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”First paragraphs” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ text_font=”Merriweather||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.6em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
By: Greg Roberts<\/p>\n
Using money I earned from selling sports cards at the age of fourteen, I bought a used pair of Klipsch La Scala speakers from my local Klipsch\/McIntosh dealer and dragged them down into my basement bedroom.\u00a0\u00a0 I didn’t realize it at the time, but owning a pair of La Scalas at such a young age framed my audio sensibilities for the rest of my life.\u00a0\u00a0 I heard MUSIC from those speakers.\u00a0\u00a0 They were exciting and powerful, and being able to own a pair was the coolest thing I could think of.\u00a0\u00a0 I was hooked on ‘hi-fi’ at that early age, and from then on, horn speakers would be the only speakers for me.<\/p>\n
Later I traded in the La Scala’s for Klipschorns and enjoyed an even higher level of power and incredible dynamics for many years.\u00a0\u00a0 But as I matured as an audiophile, I became increasingly aware of the inherent shortcomings in the design and construction of these iconic beasts.\u00a0\u00a0 The shortcomings became more and more of an issue for me, and as time wore on, I found myself listening to my speakers out of ‘duty’ rather than for the enjoyment of listening to music.<\/p>\n
Anyone with an interest in audio will have read about horn-loaded loudspeakers and the polarizing affect they have on listeners and audio reviewers.\u00a0\u00a0 Some love them and cannot imagine life without the effortless dynamics and life-like presence they can conjure.\u00a0\u00a0 That was me!\u00a0\u00a0 No other loudspeaker topology can match the dynamic freedom, air-moving capability, and vitality of a big horn.<\/p>\n
Equally there are those that dislike horns, pointing to colorations, harshness, and limited bandwidth: a badly designed horn speaker can indeed be a troubled mess as I discovered my Khorns to be, and I don’t blame some audiophiles for their negativity towards the topology.\u00a0\u00a0I was at that point too.<\/p>\n
I almost gave up on my beloved K-horns to go in a different direction, but living without the effortless dynamics and life-like presence proved impossible.\u00a0\u00a0 So rather than selling them, I fixed them instead.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”I fixed them title” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ text_font=”Merriweather|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”28px” text_line_height=”1.8em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”] <\/p>\n
I Fixed Them[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”I fixed them text” _builder_version=”4.9.4″ text_font=”Merriweather||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.6em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Over a two-year period, I bought an array of after-market upgrades for my K-horns but found they did not make a significant enough of an improvement for me, so I began work on my own upgrades, starting with a new midrange horn design that I built in my woodworking shop and installed in my speakers.\u00a0\u00a0 The larger 2″ throat, the shallower Tractrix flare, the wood construction, and very high-quality midrange driver DID make a significant difference.\u00a0\u00a0 The honky, shouty, un-integrated sound that characterized the original was greatly reduced, and in some ways eliminated.<\/p>\n
I developed new crossovers, discovered much more refined and articulate tweeters, and in the end, I had my speakers back!\u00a0\u00a0 The excitement of listening to music returned.<\/p>\n
During this time of fixing and upgrading my speakers, the recession of 2008 happened, which pretty much crippled the home construction business my wife and I started Twenty years earlier.\u00a0\u00a0 A dismal outlook for the housing industry along with my desire to get into another business coincided with my renewed interest in hi-fi, and the next thing I knew I was in the business of providing upgrades for other Klipsch Khorn and Klipsch Belle owners – Volti Audio was born.<\/p>\n
Soon after, I was designing, manufacturing, marketing, and selling my own line of speakers, starting with the much-heralded Vittora Loudspeaker System.<\/p>\n
Volti Audio speakers are different than other horn speakers in that they are truly modern speakers that do not have the ‘old horn speaker’ sound – the old horn speaker ‘vices’.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”the old speaker sound title” _builder_version=”4.9.4″ text_font=”Merriweather|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”22px” text_line_height=”1.8em” header_font_size=”24px” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Old Horn Speaker Sound:<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”limited bandwidth heading” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ text_font=”Merriweather|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”20px” text_line_height=”1.6em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Limited Bandwidth<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”limited bandwidth text” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ text_font=”Merriweather||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.6em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”|||20px|false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Bass horns are wonderful, but they need to be VERY big in order to extend deep into the bass, and because speakers that won’t fit through standard doorways don’t sell very well, most horn speakers that have bass horns end up compromising the low bass.<\/p>\n
At the other end of the spectrum, a compromise in bandwidth is often found in the high frequency extension of horn tweeters.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”colorations heading” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ text_font=”Merriweather|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”20px” text_line_height=”1.6em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Colorations<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”colorations text” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ text_font=”Merriweather||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.6em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”|||20px|false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Old midrange horn designs coupled to poor quality drivers will produce the ‘typical’ midrange ‘honkiness’ and ‘shoutiness’ that many identify with horn speakers.<\/p>\n
The dry, ‘cardboard box-like’ sound of a male vocal coming from a high-sensitivity woofer in a hybrid horn\/bass-reflex configuration is another example of coloration.<\/p>\n
Low quality cabinet materials such as low-grade plywood or particle board with resonate and add ‘woody’ colorations to the sound.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Harshness heading” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ text_font=”Merriweather|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”20px” text_line_height=”1.6em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Harshness<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”harshness text” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ text_font=”Merriweather||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.6em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”|||20px|false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
A midrange horn with a small throat and a long narrow horn pathway will sound strained and severe.<\/p>\n
Low-quality or low-cost midrange and tweeter drivers will sound harsh at times.<\/p>\n
High-sensitivity tweeters are known for the 8kHz – 10kHz ‘bump’ – which is going to sound harsh and grainy.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Poor Integration heading” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ text_font=”Merriweather|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”20px” text_line_height=”1.6em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Poor Integration<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”poor integration text” _builder_version=”4.9.4″ text_font=”Merriweather||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.6em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”|||20px|false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
When you can distinctly hear the midrange horn, either because it is ‘shouty’ or colored or harsh or all of those things – that’s poor integration.<\/p>\n
When the bass from a powered subwoofer (as used with many horn systems), sounds detached and disconnected from the rest of the loudspeaker, that’s poor integration.<\/p>\n
Whenever your ear is drawn to a section of the sound separate from the rest, that is poor integration and you are hearing the system, not the music.\u00a0 \u00a0A great system will allow you to close your eyes and hear just the music from the system – full-range, natural, live – as an image spread across the soundstage in front of you – a transparent connection to the music.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=” why horns title” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ text_font=”Merriweather|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”28px” text_line_height=”1.8em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Why Horns?<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”why horns text” _builder_version=”4.9.4″ text_font=”Merriweather||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.6em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Simply, it’s ‘The Sound’.\u00a0\u00a0 Nothing else can quite capture the dynamics, micro-dynamics, presence, liveliness, and pure excitement of music the way a well-designed horn speaker system can.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s the closest thing to ‘real’ we can have in our homes.<\/p>\n
In the very earliest days of audio, horns were all we had.\u00a0\u00a0 With a typical amplifier output of less than 5W (usually mono) a loudspeaker needed a sensitivity of over 100dB\/W to generate realistic sound levels and the challenge of the day was how to make the large horn loudspeakers as affordable as possible.\u00a0\u00a0 Designers were also constrained by the limits of the technology available.<\/p>\n
Not until the late 1960’s did amplifier power increase and become more affordable, and the need for large horn-loaded loudspeakers diminished.\u00a0\u00a0 The trend into the 1970’s was for smaller and smaller loudspeakers powered by increasingly cheap high-power solid-state electronics.\u00a0\u00a0 Yet despite how much power could be pumped into the little boxes, they could not (cannot) create the presence and realism of a horn-loaded loudspeaker.<\/p>\n
The art of horn speaker design has progressed over the decades, and along with the higher quality drivers and crossover parts available today has made it possible to design and build horn speakers that do not suffer the vices of the past.\u00a0 Volti Audio horn speakers are great examples of this, outperforming and outshining the lesser designs that flood the marketplace.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”the volti audio way title” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ text_font=”Merriweather|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”28px” text_line_height=”1.8em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Volti Audio Way<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”the volti audio way text” _builder_version=”4.9.4″ text_font=”Merriweather||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.6em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
My goal with Volti Audio speakers is to continue to “move forward” and “turn the page” on horn speaker design.\u00a0\u00a0I want to make sure that the sonic shortcomings of the past (and still persist in lesser horn speaker designs today) are a non-factor in Volti Audio speakers.\u00a0\u00a0 I’m also focused on building beautiful looking products that will last one-hundred years or more.\u00a0\u00a0I’ll never know if I’ve succeeded in that, but that’s my mindset as I build my speakers everyday in my shop.\u00a0\u00a0 You can see and feel this quality in Volti Audio speakers, especially up-close and in-person.<\/p>\n
As I design my speakers, I always remind myself of my past experiences with horn speakers, especially my old Klipsch La Scalas and K-horns.\u00a0\u00a0 I remember the good and the bad.\u00a0\u00a0 I remember the excitement of dragging those big, black beasts down into my basement bedroom and polishing them for hours.\u00a0\u00a0 I remember the feeling of being able to own something that I valued and respected.\u00a0\u00a0I also remember losing my way with those old speakers as the compromises and shortcomings crept up on me over time.\u00a0\u00a0Those four ‘categories’ roll through my head as I’m developing, tuning, and voicing my speakers.<\/p>\n
Volti Audio speakers will always have wide bandwidth.\u00a0\u00a0 When I designed the Vittora loudspeaker (a fully horn loaded speaker with a bass horn), I developed an effective, reasonably sized, and properly integrated solution for the lowest octave of bass – the Volti Audio ELF system.\u00a0\u00a0 When I’m sitting and listening to music, I want to feel it energize the room and move me, but at the same time I don’t want it to be distracting.\u00a0 Low bass must be in proportion to the rest of the music, seamlessly integrated.<\/p>\n
Volti Audio speakers have great tweeters.\u00a0 It’s not easy to integrate a high-sensitivity tweeter into a horn speaker system.\u00a0 Not only do we need a tweeter with high-sensitivity, but the ‘highs’ need to be extended and smooth – a rare bird among the plethora of choices in the marketplace.\u00a0 With careful selection and the use of proper filters in the crossover, the Volti Audio high-frequency sound is among the finest you’ll hear.<\/p>\n
Volti Audio speakers cannot be described as ‘colored’ or ‘shouty’.\u00a0\u00a0 Countless people at the audio shows have commented how ‘un-horn-like’ my speakers sound.\u00a0\u00a0On the contrary, I think my speakers sound exactly how we want horn speakers to sound\u00a0 –\u00a0 but I understand what people are saying\u00a0 –\u00a0 that the Volti speakers don’t have the typical colorations that they’ve been hearing from lesser designs.<\/p>\n
Volti Audio speakers are not harsh.\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, they have the same leading-edge detail and dynamics that you experience from listening to live instruments, but they are never strained, glaring, severe, or harsh in any way.\u00a0\u00a0With higher quality drive units and crossover components, along with the advanced art of horn speaker design, the sound from my speakers is smooth, natural, and effortless.<\/p>\n
Volti Audio speakers sing with one voice.\u00a0\u00a0Proper integration is achieved through meticulous matching of components and thoughtful voicing of the crossover.<\/p>\n
Developing a Volti Audio speaker is no easy task.\u00a0\u00a0I have very high standards that must be met.\u00a0\u00a0I’m my own worst critic and I push myself to work very hard perfecting my craft.\u00a0\u00a0I have a “Sound” in my mind that I’m chasing\u00a0 –\u00a0 that I’m trying to get out of my speakers.<\/p>\n
It’s “The Sound”<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”the sound of living breathing” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ text_font=”Merriweather|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”20px” text_line_height=”1.6em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
The Sound of living, breathing music in my living room<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”the sound can be your” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ text_font=”Merriweather|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”40px” text_line_height=”1.8em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_orientation=”center” min_height=”100px” height=”100px” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
“The Sound Can Be Your Sound Too”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”blank” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ text_font=”Merriweather|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”40px” text_line_height=”1.8em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_orientation=”center” min_height=”100px” height=”100px” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”blank” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ text_font=”Merriweather|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”40px” text_line_height=”1.8em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_orientation=”center” min_height=”100px” height=”100px” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Volti Audio StoryLiving, Breathing Music in Your Living Room Volti Audio has been making high-sensitivity horn-loaded loudspeakers since 2010, and this is how it happened\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. By: Greg Roberts Using money I earned from selling sports cards at the age of fourteen, I bought a used pair of Klipsch La Scala speakers from my local […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2439","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n