Volti does it again!

Hi Ya'll, this is Greg from Volti Audio.

Here's a few tidbits of response to all the comments here.  I'm sure this will ruffle a few feathers.  I'm not trying to do that.  I get to have my say just like anyone else on an open forum.  

Sorry about the Lucera webpage being incomplete.  I do all my own website work and I've been too busy as of late to finish it up.  I'll get to it soon.  I published it without having any links to it, so I didn't think anyone would see it.  But I forgot that a search engine would pick it up!  oops.  

Regarding the drivers used in Volti speakers.  I don’t ever reveal what I use for drivers in my speakers because there’s no benefit to me in doing so.  If you need to know what drivers I use, you are not my customer.  I know this from experience.  I’ve never had one customer who cared to know what drivers were used in their speakers.   My customers care about how their speakers sound. 

I would not consistently, year after year, get rave reviews on my speakers if I used cheap drivers. 

I buy, test, and listen to drivers all the time, and I pick out the gems to use in my speakers – the drivers that give me the sound I’m listening for.  It is not uncommon for me to make a small modification or two to a driver used in my speakers.  

The mid driver used in the Razz is not as nice sounding to me as the one I use in the Rival.  I like the one in the Rival much better and it costs me five times as much to buy as the one in the Razz. 

It is my guess that Klipsch is able to buy 50 Forte midrange drivers made in China for the same amount of money I spend on one midrange driver for the Razz. 

Volti speakers sound better than Klipsch because the cabinets are built much better, the components used are of much higher quality, and because they are designed and voiced by Greg Roberts.   I don't find it difficult to build higher quality speakers than Klipsch, it's just more expensive to do.  

Regarding my strict ‘no returns’ policy. 

I don’t want to take returns.  I don’t want to have to return money because it is a burden on our business cash flow.  I don’t want to have to deal with the inevitable scratches and nicks on speakers that come back here and then have to sell those damaged speakers to another customer.  I don’t want to encourage people to take advantage of a policy that allows returns as a way to ‘rent’ speakers for a while.  I want my customers to make a firm decision to buy my speakers and then stick with it. 

I realize that it’s a strict policy and I’m sorry that some of you are turned off by it.  I know that I lose a certain number of speaker sales because of it, but it’s my decision and I’ll live with the consequences. 

If I was selling a product that was less expensive, that weighed ten pounds and shipped in a small box, and we were selling hundreds or thousands of that product, we could deal with a few returns.  But that’s not the case here at Volti Audio. 

It is often assumed that businesses always want to grow bigger.  I don’t.  I’m 60 years old and I realized a long time ago that when you can do something that you love to do and make a living at it, you are a very lucky person indeed.  I’m very grateful that I get to do meaningful work that brings me joy every day.  I like to make things, I don’t particularly like to manage people and manage business.  I prefer sawdust on my pants to wearing a tie. 

Over the last ten years, Volti Audio has averaged between 20 and 40 pairs of speaker sales each year.  I know that if I structured my business differently, I could grow that number ten-fold. 

Large business model

• I’ll have dealers and the prices of my speakers will be about double what they are right now
• All the dealers and their employees will be talking up how great Volti speakers are and speakers sales will increase far beyond what I can build in my small shop.
• We’ll expand the business into a much larger facility with a big paved parking lot and a fancy sign out front by the road.  There will be time cards and a big break room with vending machines in it for all the employees.  We’ll have regular safety meetings and I’ll worry about my employees getting hurt in the shop. We’ll buy our own CNC machines and have a full time programmer and full time sales/marketing person and full time human resources person and a full time shop foreman and I’ll meet with my management team each day and hardly ever go into the shop.  I’ll wear nicer clothes each day and never get any sawdust on my pants.  I’ll spend a lot of time on the phone and computer each day and hardly ever get to cut a piece of wood.    
• I will make a lot more money and I’ll be able to afford a new Ferrari 812 Roadster to cruise around the backroads here in TN. 

Small (current) business model

• I sell direct to my customers and keep my prices as low as I can while still being able to sustain the business and provide a good wage for my two trusted employees.
• I keep my cell phone number on the website so my customers can contact me.  I know each customer by name and offer personal customer service. 
• I get to do work each day that I love to do – design and build speakers that make me happy.  I get to enjoy actually building speakers in the shop, making sawdust, installing beautiful veneers, spraying lacquer, installing nice cloth on grills, and answering a few emails along the way. 
• No fancy clothes and I usually have glue and sawdust on me every day.  I wear a tape measure on my side at all times.  I don’t have to manage dealers, have safety meetings, meet with OSHA or insurance people, worry about production efficiency numbers, and I’m not stuck in an office all day on the phone. 
• I make less money and can only afford an old salvaged Porsche Boxster to romp around on those backroads in. 

It’s a lifestyle choice.  Which would you choose? 

The Boxster is more fun. 

Hi to all the Volti customers here.  I appreciate ya'  

Greg

That Miata I had was a great little car.  A 2006 (NC) with only 18K miles!  It was like new still.  I loved how simple and reliable it was.  Just throw the canvas top back.  It's the type of car you can imagine just jumping into without opening the doors and then head down to the beach.  Of course I couldn't do that as large and old as I am.  lol

I wish I could own as many cars as Jay Leno!  

Greg

It can be risky to send a potential customer to hear Volti speakers at a customer's home.  I never know how the system is going to be setup and what other gear will be used with the Volti speakers.  It might be a good demo, or it might not.    

And yes, there is the liability thing that I have to be concerned about.  I don't really know most of my customers.  

One of the reasons I moved from Maine to Tennessee is because of the central location.  TN has eight bordering states and within one day driving distance of a very large chunk of the population in the U.S.  

If someone wants to come demo speakers here, it can be done in one day from anywhere in the country.  Fly into Nashville, I'll pick you up at the airport and take you to my shop.  You'll demo speakers, have lunch, maybe get a convertible ride, and then back to the airport we go. 

You'll get a tour of our modest little shop and see where we build your speakers.  I usually have one of each of our models to demo and I move the speakers in and out of the demo room (my living room) so that one pair is not interfering sonically with another pair.  

If you want to spend the night, I have a single bed that I can set up in my veneer room in the shop.  It's not too dusty in there, it's very comfortable and you get your own bathroom. 

This is really the best way to hear my speakers.  The cost is plane ticket and one day of your time for a nice experience all around.  I think worth it even if you don't end up buying my speakers. Remember, it's an experience for me too, which is why I don't mind making the effort.  

Life is short.  Get out there and enjoy it!

Greg

I agree doyle - it really is more fun to drive a slower car fast.  

I don't drive that fast anymore.  Those days are over for me.  I get much more enjoyment out of driving speeds that won't get me in trouble with the law, or cause a crash.  It's a lot less stress when you just relax and keep the speeds in check.  

I'm very lucky though, because I've got great backroads right nearby to me that allow me to drive at lower speeds and still have a spirited driving challenge.  

200hp seems about right for a relatively lightweight roadster, especially with a manual transmission.  The Boxster has great handling and that makes the corners that much more fun.  My car may be a bit rough around the edges cosmetically, but I've got it set up perfectly.  Turn in is sharp, I can feel the car rotate as I throttle through corners and with throttle on through a corner, coming out is seamless.  Just love it.  Love the sound it makes too.  I removed the snorkle on the air inlet, which is on the drivers side to increase the sound from the engine with the top down. 

Heading into a corner, rev-matching and downshifting to third, throttle on and pull it hard through the corner, no drifting for me, but close, full throttle on the way out of the corner, not enough power, cmon, cmon, cmon winding all the up through third and shift into fourth and then let off and let it cruise back down.  Man, makes me want to go out right now and drive it. 

Greg  

I was thinking of something today.  

Zero-turn riding lawnmowers all pretty much look the same.  One company came out with the design first, and then others decided it was a good idea and came out with their own versions, which ended up looking pretty much like the initial design, because let's face it, there's really not too much you can do to change the design and still have it function as a zero-turn riding lawnmower.  

Greg

Regarding midrange horn throat size:

Old and lesser-quality horn speakers have always been plagued with certain characteristic issues in the midrange, like ‘colorations’ or honki-ness, midrange glare, harshness, and midrange that is not well integrated with the bass and treble.  Most of these issues start at the throat of the horn.  A larger throat will always sound better than a smaller one. 

So a 2” throat is twice size of a 1”?  Sorry, wrong.  When it comes to midrange horn design, we look at the throat as an area, not a diameter.  We use A = π r2 to calculate the area of the throat circle.  A 2” throat has an area of 3.14 square inches.  A 1” throat has an area of .79.  That means the 2” throat has an area almost four times greater than the 1” throat. 

However, the terminology and actuality of midrange horn throats are different than you might expect.  A 1” throat horn can be a horn that actually has a 1” opening or it can be a horn that has a 1” female threaded end that accepts a driver with a 1” male threaded end.   For the latter, the actual opening from the driver into the horn is less than 1” diameter – the throat is effectively smaller.  As an example, the Klipsch Khorn has always had just such a horn and just such a driver.  The actual opening of the driver that feeds into the Klipsch Khorn midrange horn is 11/16”, with an area of .36 square inches, or an area that is well over eight times smaller than a 2” throat.

Yes, it's true, other than being made of plastic now instead of pot-metal, the current Khorn midrange horn is the same size, shape, and design as the one Mr. Klipsch introduced in the early 1950's, with the same inherent issues.  Mr. Klipsch had good reasons for the horn design back in the day, but why is Klipsch still using this midrange horn?  I have a theory.  I call it the Wonder Bread theory.   

The Volti Razz combines a very high-quality midrange driver made in Italy with a 2" throat on the midrange horn and as a result has a much better sounding midrange than any Klipsch speaker, including the iconic Khorn.  

Fancy test equipment is not required to discover the inherent issues with the Klipsch Khorn midrange horn.  All one needs to do is remove the driver from the end of the horn, place your lips at the throat of the horn and speak through it.  The very definition of honky.  You can't find another midrange horn that better demonstrates what a honky midrange horn sounds like.  

Just a reminder that the Razz is our lowest priced entry-level speaker.  Midrange sound quality improves as one moves up through our range.  

Honestly, I'm not anti-Klipsch.  I have great respect for what Mr. Klipsch did during his lifetime.  I've owned Klipsch speakers my entire life.  If you come to my shop, you'll see a pair of Klipsch La Scalas hanging out on the balcony providing us with music every day.  I've been a Klipschophile since I was 14 years old when I sold my football card collection to buy a pair of dusty old La Scalas and then dragged them down into my basement bedroom.  I'm a fan.  But I also know how to build much better sounding horn speakers and I have the business structure to be able to do it.  So my ramblings about Klipsch products are just a way to put those products in their place as compared to the Volti products.  

Ok, ask me about the Jubilee, or the Wonder Bread thing, or why Mr. Klipsch designed one of the worst sounding midrange horns ever put into a speaker . . . that is, if you want me to keep rambling on.  

Greg

Currently all Volti speakers utilize midrange horns with 2" throats.

I’m fortunate that I found a very nice sounding midrange horn with a 2" throat that I can buy for the Razz and the Lucera. Having a supplier for those midrange horns is a big part of being able to keep the costs down. It is very time-consuming and expensive to build midrange horns out of wood.

One of things you are paying for when you move up to the Rival is the hand-made wooden midrange horns.

I do like wooden midrange horns, but the wood material the horn is made out of has only a little effect, if any on the sound quality. What I gain by building midrange horns from wood, is that I can control the size and shape of the horn to suit the particular speaker design and integration with the other drivers in the speaker.

To date, I have myself, built over 1500 wooden midrange horns. With that experience I’ve learned what makes a great sounding midrange horn.

Ah, here’s that big company/small company thing again. If I want a big company, well no more building wooden horns by hand. I’ll have to find a company to make us the molds to mold our own horns. Very expensive to do here in the U.S. I once visited a company about fifty miles from me in McMinnville, TN that makes these type of metal (steel I think) molds. Intricately machined pieces that bolt together to make removable molds. The guy who showed me around the place was very nice and explained the whole process. The cost estimate was $50K! But then I could make my own designed midrange horns of a high quality plastic. Yes there are different quality levels of plastic. Probably I would not end up doing this (for the big company thing I mean). I would end up going to a Chinese company like Klipsch does, because it’s so much cheaper to have plastic parts molded there. Even custom ones. But as I’ve explained before, I’m too old for such things and I enjoy building my own midrange horns out of wood. I’m building the first twelve for the New Vittora right now. The largest midrange horns I’ve built to date.

Greg

Please understand that these are just my own thoughts on this subject. It’s not like I was tutored by the man himself about this. But based on my experience in designing and building midrange horns, here’s my thoughts on the Klipsch K400 horn used in the La Scala and Klipschorn loudspeakers.

In the beginning, Mr. Klipsch had a terrific folded horn design (Khorn). Compact and fitted in the corners of just the right sized/proportioned room, these bass horns produce solid bass down into the low 30’s and have a way of surrounding the room with bass that I’ve not heard from any other speaker. The Khorn bass horn cuts off naturally at about 400hz on the upper end, no crossover needed. Mr. Klipsch needed a midrange horn/driver combination that could reach down to 400hz to integrate with the bass horn. He chose a midrange horn size that would fit comfortably under the tophat design of the Khorn and then manipulated the design to lower the Fc of the horn by lengthening the throat of the horn, creating a long, narrow pathway for about half of the length of the horn. It is obvious to me that the unusually elongated throat of the K400 is ’pushing’ the horn beyond it’s ’comfort zone’ and causing the characteristic honky, colored, and harsh sound that the horn is known for. But it does reach down to 400Hz! The goal was met, but at a cost.

Twenty years ago or so, someone was building midrange replacement horns for La Scala and Khorns that had the same mouth size/shape to be a direct replacement. The horn was much shorter though. Still with a 1" throat, but not elongated. I tested and listened to a pair of these in my Khorns, and indeed they did sound less colored and harsh than the stock K400 horns. However, there was a problem. They didn’t extend down to 400Hz, leaving a ’hole’ in the response between the mid and the folded bass horn. Could be overcome somewhat in La Scalas, which have bass horns that can extend up higher than 400Hz to meet the midhorn with the higher Fc, but no chance with the Khorns. This exercise demonstrated to me how Mr. Klipsch took a ’normal’ exponential horn design and lengthened the throat to lower Fc. The replacement mid horn with a shorter/normal throat would get down to 600Hz and the longer throat K400 down to 400Hz - but at the cost of sound quality.

Nowadays, modern compression drivers are much more capable than they ever were. Machining tolerances, modern materials, and modern manufacturing processes enable compression drivers to produce lower mid frequencies with very low distortion. A modern compression driver with a 2" outlet and 3-1/2" diaphragm feeding into a 2" throat horn is capable of covering low-mid frequencies in a typical listening room with much greater ease. It is no longer necessary to push the design Fc of a horn by constricting the throat. A shallower design with a 2" throat that fits under the tophat of the Khorn can cover down to 400Hz with ease, and with no unwanted colorations, glare, or harshness that plague older and lesser quality designs. Think of it this way, the modern compression driver can cover more of the load, not requiring the horn to do as much.

Why does Klipsch still use the K400 horn in their speakers? It really is one of the worst sounding midrange horns ever produced. I just did the demo today for a customer who visited here to listen to my speakers. I spoke through the K400 and then spoke through my V-Trac horn. The difference is night and day. Charlie left here today with a pair of Lucera speakers in the back of his van and a big smile on his face. The demo of how different horns can sound I’m sure had a little to do with that. It certainly didn’t hurt.

So why? Perhaps it is because the Khorn has an iconic sound that Klipsch simply cannot change. People are used to a certain sound from the Khorn. Making a big change to the sound would be kinda like making Wonder Bread into a healthy slice of bread that you can no longer squeeze into a little ball in your hand. lol. Is Wonder Bread still made? Or how about New Coke? Remember that one? How did that go over?

I don’t know, it’s a theory.

Greg