Renmeister, You have been away so long, and I am so sorry. I was obviously part of it all. I do believe help is still here if you want it, whatever direction you go, and not just by me.... You are welcome to email me if you prefer privacy. Always, MrDecibel |
Volti Audio Vittoras....These All Horn Loudspeakers 'do integrate' as they are all horn loudspeakers. The cello is a cello with these. Exceeding smooth, not detailed for the sake of being detailed like so many loudspeakers. Ultimately satisfying. |
Volti Audio Vittoras....These All Horn Loudspeakers 'do integrate' as they are all horn loudspeakers. The cello is a cello with these. Exceeding smooth, not detailed for the sake of being detailed like so many loudspeakers. Ultimately satisfying. |
Dalecrommie, thanks for the heads up. I had never heard of these. I still fondly remember Klipschorns, but I must say that I was only happy with the corner horns. |
The Volti speakers use a cabinet design quite similar to the Klipsch Lascala, particularly the doghouse portion(the bass horn). I think they are great alternative to the Lascala II, at not much more money(although I have not heard a pair). But what I have read about them is very alluring .I find excellent coherence between all 3 drivers in the Lascala(after cabinet mods)(and Khorn), and because of the non corner placement requirements, as of the Khorn, they are more versatile. Granted, I have heard some excellent Khorn/room set ups which were wonderful sounding, but corner positioning led to other issues, which with some work, can be overcome. I am not touting them to be the best, but at the price points, with some tweaking, even for the new ones, they do more good than bad, and are still competitive with others today. I would like to listen to a pair of the Volti's in the near future. |
Dale - Your speakers look very interesting. It's got to be true that a full blown, hand made, 3 way horn system for less than $8000 is a first.
I intend to give this option a lot of thought. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. |
Macrojack, not taking anything away from the Volti, the Klipsch Khorn, Lascala and Belle are full range horns.......... |
I'll probably make it to Capital Audiofest again this year and will be looking to hear those!! |
Mrdecibel - In the late 80s I was a salesman at a Klipsch dealership in Boulder, Colorado. My comment was made with full awareness of the models you mention. The Volti appears to be a far more refined and better realized revision of PWK's best efforts. If so, I think it warrants closer investigation. |
Macrojack, not how I read it, but fully accepted. Mods and parts upgrades for Klipsch have been available for many, many years now, and there are a great number of proud and happy owners, including myself of course. Other forums are out there with a greater number of "Klipsch" or "horn" fanatics. On these forums are a great number of individuals who offer these upgrades. I am a die hard PWK follower, and he still leads the pack in "design", with his "Heritage" models, imo. If ever in Central Florida, you are welcome to stop by and hear what a $2K investment, with lots of time, can produce. Maybe not as good as a Volti, but excellent non the less, and hard to beat at anywhere near the price. Thank you for you time. MrD |
MrD. - It is my plan to have the words "never set foot in Florida" included in any eulogy I may inspire. Thanks for the invite nonetheless.
Concerning PWK, just stay happy. Those who have delved deeply into horns and their behavior feel that Klipsch was something of a pioneer but has long since been eclipsed by the efforts of others.
I think you'll find that Tom Danley is the most esteemed horn designer today. My own guru, Bill Woods, has many admirers and Earl Geddes is developing a strong following on Audio Circle and with the DIY gang.
Classic Audio Reproductions and Audiokinesis have great reputations and Volti looks like he deserves similar recognition.
Horn loudspeakers are thriving and should be seen as a growth area within hi-end audio. As hobbyists mature and develop the realization that there is more to be had than "Recommended Components", the field broadens and the excavation becomes deeper and more thorough.
I remember laughing at the Asians back in the 1980s for wanting all our big, ugly old theater junk when there were Vandersteens and B&Ws to be had. What a bunch of suckers!!
Then, about 20 years later, I started to learn that they weren't so foolish after all. Single ended tube amps and horn speakers, even in their early stages were superior to the products that elicited Harry's Hosannas in TAS. Now I know full well that there is nothing superior to the best horn designs when driven by well crafted, small output single-ended amplification.
Perhaps modified Klipsch can qualify as a player today (I have no experience with them) but the PWK Heritage stuff in stock form does not compete with a good many of the designs that followed. In fact, I'm afraid that many of the time worn objections to horns may have been born of Cerwin Vega or Klipsch horns being driven by Adcom or Crown back in the day. |
Macrojack, thanks for the response. Modified Klipsch do qualify as a player, and maybe with the exemption of other horn designs, are far superior (imo,ime) to everything else out there (again, for what I want). One of the areas that is very hard to beat is the full range bass horn. The speed, agility, power and naturalness are second to none, and, the "coherent" nature moving into the mid horn is something that I have found difficult to blend in multi horn systems (keeping in mind the OP). The designer of the Volti Vittoris speaks of this bass horn design on his web site, and I cannot do better than his wording of the magic he speaks of (which is a PWK design). So, I will keep what I have, thank you, and, I am quite happy. P.S. Florida is not for everybody. The winter of '95 was a deciding factor to leave NY to come down here, and we have just a few regrets ( family, friends and professional acquaintances). Again, it has been my pleasure........MrD. |
After using Klipsch Horn, Klipsch LaScala, then Avantgarde Trio for more than 15 years, (the Trio for some 9 years) I probably experienced to say that Tom Danley's Synergy horns are combining all of the dynamics, room filling sound and liveliness of the mentioned horn speakers plus add cohenrency like no otherspeaker I have ever tried. SInce 2007 I tried all the room friendly Danley Synergy horns at home and for PA as well, including SH100, SH100B, SH Mini, SH50, SH60, SM60F plus subs like Th28, Th Mini, TH 112 (for PA TH115, TH 118 and TH 212).
If you want something affordable try SM60F with TH28 sub or even without a sub. Will be very surprising. The SM60F is easily driven, high sensitivity and light enough to put it on an ordinary telescopic speaker stand. The bass and patter control results space and imaging which kind of rare in its price category. Sounds very musical on very low volume, but can be pushed above 120 dB without any strain. |
Danley appears to have some unique design approaches. VEry interesting. Thanks for pointing those out. |
Yorkville Sound's Unity speakers are a Danley design. Look into the them. All the reports I've read about them are raves.
There's a fellow on AC named JDUBS who bought a pair and has gone to extremes modifying and enhancing them. My guess is that his speakers are magnificent. He sounds like he knows his stuff in spades.
Pro stuff isn't pretty but if you can overcome that concern, many of their speaker products will represent a bargain that our high end speaker guys don't begin to approach. Have a look. |
The Yorkville (and Unity) is an old Danley design, the Synergy horn surpassed it every way. I know quite a few hifi enthusiasts using Danley for music and for movies as well at home, but I think none of them modified any of them. Could mean something. One of the most room friendly, room independent speaker I have ever used at home is the SM60F, because of its very tight and very smooth, uniform 60x60 dispersion, if one has a difficult room, worth to try it. |
But please remember that Klipsch is a mass marketer. The parts within their products are not sourced for the ultimately best sound, ie. as a cost no object product. Volti Audio seeks to make each product the best possible, and they are not trying to scratch every penny out of the deal. Just take a look at the detail of the original Vittoras. Does Klipsch put any thought into how to improve a 2'x'2'x3' box. Most certainly not, but Volti Audio does and that is a major reason I bought their product. And then there is the wonderful sound. The same applies here, which makes me so very glad that I bought Volti. |
I guess the Horning Hybred Algame I use don't qualify for this discussion. But I would like to make the effort to hear an AG horn system somewhere just to compare. |
More music, a comfy chair, good beverages. |
Try corns...vs horns they are da bomb. |
Something to keep in mind is conventional driver high end speakers are not compressing the dynamics very much or at all at normal levels, never forget the music was mixed on them to sound dynamically true as a rendition of the studio performance by the recording technicians, or engineers as they are casually called sometimes. You can verify that with headphones, too. Horns simply direct so much of the sound in one direction that is boosts the dynamics vs small planars which can oppositely compress dynamic contrasts. And that's not to say that horns aren't good, they are excellent. But they are not more signal accurate than normal speakers. I've personally found many horns to he hard on "MY" ears where a live performance isn't. But again it comes down to preference, as no one is wrong or right about their preference. Enjoy the music. |
Chadeffect, I dream of a full range plasma speaker! Ahh...a kindred spirit!! :-) Vbr, Sam |
How big of a flame would you need for your 30 hz. plasma signal? |
A hearing aid?
Not from normal or proper use so much, though the increased potential to do harm to ones ears is certainly there even then, but you have to wonder about the potential of high efficiency speakers to do harm to your hearing especially when something goes wrong.
It should be a real concern to consider I would think. No matter how good something may be, increased risk of causing permanent damage to ones hearing is not something to ignore. |
How big of a flame would you need for your 30 hz. plasma signal? Macro, I composed a draft to Alan Hill, recently. Perhaps, I should send it :-) Regards, Sam |
