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

Seems like you need to compare 1 model up on the Klipsch range to the Volti's for a fair comparison. So perhaps a Rival ($16,900) vs La Scala AL6 ($15,400) comparison)?

Based my extensive Khorn mods on Crites and Volti knowledge and components. I suspect Klipsch learning some things from Volti, Crites and others these days, latest iterations of the Heritage line are improvements over prior iterations. 

 

@joshindc Think that's fair, and there are some direct comparisons when doing so - like the Rivals 'throw' further than the Luceras (like LaScala v. Cornwall).  But I haven't heard the Klipsch that sounds as clear, as clean, and has the bass extension of either the Lucera or Rival.

@sns  - Perhaps competition is good for Klipsch?  Actually doubt, however, they pay much attention to Volti?  Klipsch is very price point oriented and can't let that get too far away from them - they also have to pay dealers whereas Volti is not.

But I wonder if Klipsch is making an error attempting to bring DSP down lower into their line?  If you look into it, it's very complex - and if you go that route will require multiple amps, more cables, and their electronics.  Yes, can wire direct, but then have all those connections and what does that do to the sound?  IDK, but is one reason I went Volti instead of new Klipsch - I want direct, clean, and DSP to me doesn't sound natural.  I have heard DSP systems that sound clean, yes, but to me, they sound thin and not as warm, not as real.  Just my opinion.  I like it full, warm, and live sounding as possible while still being clean and detailed.

I don't care for the dsp, agree not natural to the rest of my system, I voice with my amps, preamps, dac's, don't want or need all the complexity. When I mentioned Klipsch looking at competition was thinking specifically about going to tractrix horns vs the exponential they previously used.