Upgraded from Klipsch to Volti - Was it worth it?


Short answer... YES!

I have two systems, one in a large living room that opens to the rest of the house and one in my office.  I was running Klipsch Corwalls in the L.R. and Klipsch Fortes in my office.  As I upgraded electronics and cables the limitations of the Klipsch, as good as they are for the money, began to become more apparent (see profile for electronics).

I did a ton of research and listened to several brands, but nothing I heard produced the warm and full sound as the Klipsch, especially the Cornwalls - they are good and get better with good electronics & definately fun, but they do have resonance, clarity, and bass issues.

One brand in particular that I auditioned uses DSP and powered subs - and this just didn't sound natural to me, was complex, and would have required large speakers, masses of cables, and in the end am glad I chose not to go that route.

I looked hard into what Greg, at Volti, was doing and it made tons of sense to me.  Super high quality cabinets finished beautifully, filled with the highest quality drivers available, and assembled with "do no harm" crossovers.

So I took the plunge and purchased a very handsome set of Burl Walnut Rivals for the living room and a beautiful set of Luceras for the office that matched the wood of my desk and trim.

Wow, is all I can say!  Superb balance, clarity, bass, it's all there - warm, full, refined and fun when you turn them up.  To my ears they sound far more like real music than non-horn speakers - and the high quality 15" woofer drivers really bring the bass and lower mid-range voice.

Working with Greg was easy - he even took my Klipsch speakers in on trade so he could make a video series comparing Klipsch to Volti.  Here's a link to the first one in the series: https://youtu.be/9BB-BTGaJxA?si=qSejdSk2-nSh_yME

I was super impressed with the fit and finish quality.  The magnetically attached grills fit perfectly into the CNC cabinets.

But what's best from my wife's perspective is how nice they integrate into the house [this is huge] - For their size they produce copious warm and full music while adding beautiful wood work.  No new cables or electronics required, they integrated perfectly in only few minutes to set up.  The tube front-end on both my McIntosh systems really makes them sing, could not be happier with the upgrade.

Of course when upgrading we know that diminishing returns begins to set in... to get X% increase you may need to spend 2x, 3x, or 4x to get noticably better.  In this case I'd say the Luceras are literally 100% better than the Fortes and are probably 25% better than the Cornwalls.  The Rivals are easily 50% better than the Cornwalls and took the system to whole different level - frankly I can't imagine better and know that my system is now at the point where it would take more money than I'm willing to spend as I know any improvements from here would be minor but expensive.

So I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the Voltis - If you own Klipsch or another brand and are looking for better give Greg a call!

 

namrider1

Showing 1 response by larryi

I like Volti speakers too.  They sound reasonably balanced, natural and lacking in extreme coloration (not overly nasal or peaky), and deliver the kind of liveliness and dynamics (particularly at low volume) that one would want in a horn-based system.  A big plus is that they will work with low-powered tube amps which is, to me anyway, a must because such amps sound so much better than other kinds.  The weak point with modern horn systems is that the midrange compression driver/horn are not as good as those made from the 1920's through around 1960.  If you hear modern horn systems using vintage Western Electric, International Projector Company, RCA, Racon, Goto, Yoshimura Laboratory, and Ogura drivers from that era, or modern clones of Western Electric drivers from G.I.P. Laboratories(very expensive field coil clones), I think you will be amazed.  Deja Vu Audio in Virginia makes custom speakers with such drivers, as well as cheaper models using only modern drivers, and these speakers should be auditioned if possible.

Another interesting alternative would be Charney Audio single driver systems.  These are very lively, full sounding and coherent speakers that are not crazy expensive and are even more friendly to low-powered tube amps than the Volti models.