@charles007100 As a Forte-4 owner, let me tell you my experience. Shortly after purchase, I decided to open the binding post assembly to check for tightness, etc..
@dweller I think you describe a far more common problem than people realize, across brands and components: either mis-wiring, bad connections, a wrong part used in a critical slot, or outright bad design leading to bad or sub-optimal results. Usually the knee-jerk prescription is: "it needs more burn-in in time" or "fix your room acoustics" or "synergy!" lol. When those inevitably fail, the owner either just learns to live with it, or moves it along.
As I mentioned before, I bought a set of Tannoy Glenair 10’s from TMR that I later discovered were VERY badly mis-wired at the binding posts. They sounded AWFUL. The note from the prior owner, posted by TMR was to the effect "these speakers require very careful room positioning and amp matching to sound their best!" LOL what a joke. When I discovered the problem and fixed it, I was very happy to have them, as they’ve sounded truly wonderful ever since!
In another case, longer ago, I got hit by a double screw-up: an OTL tube headphone amp had been shipped by the builder with output coupling caps that were rated far too low (voltage) for the application - this is a VERY dangerous situation (for your ears, and the headphones). I had one local tech "fix" the issue; well he did that by putting a very small capacity, very high voltage cap in SERIES with the existing output cap - which fixed the danger but resulted in midrange and bass roll-off below 1000 Hz (one-thousand Hz, not one-hundred). Of course it sounded awful and the prescription then was "those new caps need 400 hours burn-in". This hobby is a joke at times, with not the brightest minds doing the tech work. I had it properly fixed with output caps of the right capacitance AND voltage ratrings - it sounded great AND didn't blow headphones after that.
I’ve had components, from large makers, reversed at the L/R outputs. Lots of other stories too if I search my memory banks.
When my Kensington GR (UK) were sounding bad in original form, I tried every possible combination of tweeter and woofer wiring just "to see", and the one where tweeters were wired out of phase relative to woofer actually wasn’t too awful - it could easily have shipped like that and many owners would be none the wiser.
One component with ample horror stories that I’ve NOT personally experienced yet: MC phono cartridges. I must have owned 40+ of these by now, and I have my favorites but they’ve all been pretty darn good! Maybe that’s were I have above average luck.
Anyways in short - if you’re gonna be playing with a lot of gear in this hobby, you should learn to not trust nor assume anything, and to do basic diagnostics on your own. OR get a good local tech you can trust.
Sorry to derail, OP @charles007100
Glad you liked the Volti, and that looks like a very nice choice!