Triode Wire Labs & Volti Audio

Jonathon Janusz · « **on:** 10 Jul 2016, 02:26 am »

Pete! Drag Greg on to the forum and spill a little about what he brought to the show!

Pictures would be. . . good. . .

I just read another post about a little Vittora at about 1/3 the price? I'm sure you, Gary, and Greg have some great sound going, but the reports from the show so far are a little lean and inquiring minds want to know.

I wish I could be there, but I've been busier than busy taking your advice from a few years ago.

Finish strong at the show, gents!

Jonathon Janusz · « **Reply #1 on:** 10 Jul 2016, 03:34 am »

I'm also interested to know how things are going in the Daedalus/Border Patrol/Triode Wire Labs room. That was another combination I would have liked to hear. I've thought for a while that your cabling would pair well with Lou's speakers, and I have a feeling the power supplies Gary builds into his amps would be an asset to really make the Daedalus dynamic driver shine.

Triode Pete · « **Reply #2 on:** 13 Jul 2016, 12:05 am »

Quote from: Jonathon Janusz on 10 Jul 2016, 02:26 am

Pete! Drag Greg on to the forum and spill a little about what he brought to the show! Pictures would be. . . good. . .

I just read another post about a little Vittora at about 1/3 the price? I'm sure you, Gary, and Greg have some great sound going, but the reports from the show so far are a little lean and inquiring minds want to know. I wish I could be there, but I've been busier than busy taking your advice from a few years ago.

Finish strong at the show, gents!

Hey Jonathon,
Thanks, brother!

Here's the scoop... Greg Roberts from Volti crashed the BorderPatrol & TWL party with his new "reasonably priced" horn speakers. Gary Dews and I were using Gary's beautiful looking and really phenomenal sounding Living Voice OBX-RW loudspeakers (Gary is the sole US importer of these great UK speakers)... I was very, very impressed by these Living Voice speakers (http://www.livingvoice.co.uk/products-auditorium-speakers.html)... they really don't do anything wrong...

Gary Dews & I let Greg set-up his "brand new" global-debut speakers at 2 PM on Saturday (exactly mid-way through the 3 day show). At 2:20 PM (20 minutes later), the speakers were sold to a local audiophile... yeah, that quick! Gary & I spent considerable time with Greg evaluating & tweaking the new "Rival" speakers on Friday night after-hours (well worth it!)...

From Stereophile's Herb Reichert -
"Most of you must know I am a long time fan of Volti Audio's Vittoria horn-loaded loudspeakers. They achieve what I always thought was impossible: a smooth, coherent, hyper-efficient loudspeaker that bubbles with musical life—and never let's on it's a horn speaker. Most folks that heard it agreed except, many wished it was smaller and less expensive. Well, Volti proprietor/engineer, Greg Roberts was listening and at CAF released a smaller, less expensive model, the Rival at only $7900/pair. The sound, while not quite as sweet and sophisticated as the Vittora, was "oh my my" tight fast and textured. The box, the drivers and the music reproduced seemed properly scaled, utterly uncompressed. The new 99dB-sensitive Rival delivered a great portion of the bigger speaker's pleasures. Bravo Volti!

The new Rivals were driven by Border Patrol S20 EXD parallel, single-ended, dual-mono 300B amplifiers ($16,750/pair) and the Border patrol 1543 DAC ($1500). All cables were Triode Wire Labs and sourced from a PI Audio UberBUSS power distribution block."

http://www.stereophile.com/content/caf2016-herb-gets-it#CqMKA2T9CrDibcre.97

Cheers,
Pete

Volti Audio · « **Reply #3 on:** 13 Jul 2016, 12:24 pm »

Ok, I've been dragged in!

A lot of people really like the sound of the Vittora speakers, but cannot afford them, and/or they are too big for their rooms. I've been asked over and over again if I could produce a speaker that has the same characteristic Volti sound as the Vittora, but at a lower price point and in a smaller cabinet. This is very difficult to do. It would be much easier to build a bigger and more expensive horn speaker.

So I've been working on this project for the last two years. In the back of my shop their are several failed attempts (cabinets) to attest to how difficult this task has been.

A couple of weeks ago I became inspired again and began working on a new idea. Use all the same components that are in the Vittora, but make a much smaller and very simple cabinet. Smaller and simple will keep costs down. Same components at Vittora should result in a similar voicing.

I just hit on something with this design and it just all came together very quickly. I worked day and night on it. My wife and I are at our old shop in Maine right now, living right here in the shop.

Gary and Pete allowed me to 'crash the party' as Pete says, which was very nice of them, sharing time with the Living Voice speakers. Selling the Rivals at the show was unexpected and a nice bonus. Now I can buy more plywood and components and do it again! But the real value in bringing the Rivals to CAF was the feedback I got from Pete and Gary, for me to gain a better understanding of the design and how to move forward on it. There are some changes coming for the final version.

Greg

HAL · « **Reply #4 on:** 13 Jul 2016, 12:33 pm »

Pete,
Wanted to also mention that the TWL HAL AC Power Cords and the PI Audio Group UberBUSS and DigiBUSS were powering the HAL digital front end in the GT Audio Works room as well.

Ran three days continuously with excellent sound quality mentioned by many in the room.

Thanks again for making those for me!

Best,
Rich

Blu99Zoomer · « **Reply #5 on:** 13 Jul 2016, 01:00 pm »

Hi All,

Thanks for "dragging" Greg into this. I too have been looking around for more information on the "Rival" from Volti Audio after reading Mr. Reichert's comments in Stereophile. Great job with the pictures and good luck. That's some nice gear used to feed the Rivals!

Best Regards,

Blu99Zoomer

dB Cooper · « **Reply #6 on:** 13 Jul 2016, 02:30 pm »

Welcome to Audiocircle, Volti Audio. The Rival was one of the standouts at CAF, both in performance and value, and sounded better than many more expensive systems. This should be a very popular model for you.

Volti Audio · « **Reply #7 on:** 13 Jul 2016, 03:35 pm »

Quote from: Blu99Zoomer on 13 Jul 2016, 01:00 pm

Hi All,

Thanks for "dragging" Greg into this. I too have been looking around for more information on the "Rival" from Volti Audio after reading Mr. Reichert's comments in Stereophile. Great job with the pictures and good luck. That's some nice gear used to feed the Rivals!

Best Regards,

Blu99Zoomer

Certainly some great gear upstream that really helped the Rivals sound as good as they did.

Once I get a finalized model I'll put all the information and photos up on the Volti website to make it 'official'. I'll also send out a newsletter with the info.

Please feel free to ask any questions here about the Rival.

Greg

Volti Audio · « **Reply #8 on:** 13 Jul 2016, 03:43 pm »

Quote from: dB Cooper on 13 Jul 2016, 02:30 pm

Welcome to Audiocircle, Volti Audio. The Rival was one of the standouts at CAF, both in performance and value, and sounded better than many more expensive systems. This should be a very popular model for you.

Thank you for the welcome and the kind words. I don't always have time for forum discussions - too busy making sawdust.

I hope to sell five or ten pair of Rivals each year. That would be perfect for us. We've needed a sub-$10K speaker that really sounds great, and I think the Rival will be it.

What do you think of the name 'Rival'? The name is a reference to rivaling the Vittora in sound quality.

Greg

Emil · « **Reply #9 on:** 13 Jul 2016, 05:10 pm »

Hi Greg

Nice to see you here.

What drivers are you using or is that a secret?

Crossover much different than the Allura and Vittora or is that a secret too

Anyone who hasn't heard a good set a horns needs to IMHO

maxima95 · « **Reply #10 on:** 13 Jul 2016, 07:27 pm »

Hello Greg. In a post above you mentioned that some changes were coming for the final version. If they are not proprietary, could you say what they are?

I hope one of them is not a vertical adjustment in the price.

Thanks

Triode Pete · « **Reply #11 on:** 13 Jul 2016, 07:56 pm »

Gents,
I've moved the discussion of the new Volti "Rival" loudspeaker (as well as other Volti products) to this thread...

There is great synergy between Greg Roberts' Volti products and Triode Wire Labs...

Ask away your Volti Loudspeaker questions...

Cheers,
Pete

Volti Audio · « **Reply #12 on:** 13 Jul 2016, 08:08 pm »

Quote from: Triode Pete on 13 Jul 2016, 07:56 pm

Gents,
I've moved the discussion of the new Volti "Rival" loudspeaker (as well as other Volti products) to this thread...

There is great synergy between Greg Roberts' Volti products and Triode Wire Labs...

Ask away your Volti Loudspeaker questions...

Cheers,
Pete

Thanks Pete.

Volti Audio · « **Reply #13 on:** 13 Jul 2016, 08:12 pm »

Quote from: Emil on 13 Jul 2016, 05:10 pm

Hi Greg

Nice to see you here.

What drivers are you using or is that a secret?

Crossover much different than the Allura and Vittora or is that a secret too

Anyone who hasn't heard a good set a horns needs to IMHO

The Rival has a 1" compression tweeter driver feeding into an elliptical tractrix horn, a 2" compression driver feeding into a 2" throat wooden tractrix horn (which I make), and a high-power, high-sensitivity 15" woofer, bass-reflex, ported.

Crossovers are always designed and voiced for each speaker model individually. I suppose the design reflects my overall mood during the development, or what music I was listening to at the time! lol

Greg

Volti Audio · « **Reply #14 on:** 13 Jul 2016, 08:31 pm »

Quote from: maxima95 on 13 Jul 2016, 07:27 pm

Hello Greg. In a post above you mentioned that some changes were coming for the final version. If they are not proprietary, could you say what they are?

I hope one of them is not a vertical adjustment in the price.

Thanks

Changes to the final version will include some cosmetic tweaking of the cabinet, like doing away with the recessed front area - going to have a flush front piece. I'm going to make the cabinet slightly taller to bring the tweeter and midrange up a bit higher. The tweeter will be recessed instead of just surface mounted. I think the cabinet needs more internal bracing. With the slightly revised cabinet shape/size/bracing - I will take a look at bass response again and see if I can make any improvements. I'm going to upgrade some of the crossover components during the redevelopment of the crossover for the new model. That's about it.

I want to keep the idea of offering a relatively low priced base model, with a list of options that my customers can choose from, so the goal is to keep the same introductory price of $7,900 and hold that as long as I can. I can tell you that the percentage of the total price going to components is much higher than in your average high-end speaker. Keeping the price down and being sustainable in business is a tricky thing!

We'll be offering Triode Wire Labs internal wiring as one of those options.

Greg

Volti Audio · « **Reply #15 on:** 13 Jul 2016, 08:37 pm »

Here's a photo during the crossover development stage

The mid horn fits within a cutout on the motorboard. Tricky to get the gap even all around.

Greg

Vinnie R. · « **Reply #16 on:** 13 Jul 2016, 09:41 pm »

Hey Greg,

Congratulations on introducing the Rival! I wish I was there to hear them... hopefully soon enough. Of course if you
are driving through MA with a pair of Rivals on your truck, please stop over at my place.

I thinking that the LIO + Rival
would be a killer pairing if they are anywhere near the performance of the Vittoras.

Since you mention that you plan on increasing the height, will this be a floorstander design (I see a small stand on the ones
in the CAF show pics)?

And I'm very curious about how the bass in the Rival compares to the Vittoras, and if you recommend an ELF with the Rival?

I know you are going to do really well with this speaker!

Vinnie

Volti Audio · « **Reply #17 on:** 14 Jul 2016, 02:07 am »

Quote from: Vinnie R. on 13 Jul 2016, 09:41 pm

Hey Greg,

Congratulations on introducing the Rival! I wish I was there to hear them... hopefully soon enough. Of course if you
are driving through MA with a pair of Rivals on your truck, please stop over at my place. I thinking that the LIO + Rival
would be a killer pairing if they are anywhere near the performance of the Vittoras.

Since you mention that you plan on increasing the height, will this be a floorstander design (I see a small stand on the ones
in the CAF show pics)?

And I'm very curious about how the bass in the Rival compares to the Vittoras, and if you recommend an ELF with the Rival?

I know you are going to do really well with this speaker!

Vinnie

Thanks Vinnie. I did drive through MA with Rivals on the truck! But I couldn't stop - as it was I got to the show Friday night. I do think the Lio would be a great match to the Rivals. Can you send me one so I can play around with it?!! I know how busy you are filling orders, so there probably is no time to put one together for me.

The design is supposed to be a floorstand design, but when we got them set up in the show room, and Pete and Gary were evaluating them, it was obvious that the mid and tweeter were just a little too low. When we raised them up, the mids and highs became much more interesting sounding. Then when we turned the midrange up 1db, that made things really good. But we did give up a bit of the lowest bass by not having the floor gain from the port. So instead of a stand, I will simply build a taller cabinet. I only need to add 5", and then move the tweeter and mid up 1" more on the motorboard for a total of 6" higher.

I don't think a sub will be needed with the Rivals. They are pretty solid in the low end, like the Alura is. More than enough bass.

Greg

Vinnie R. · « **Reply #18 on:** 14 Jul 2016, 02:16 am »

Quote

I don't think a sub will be needed with the Rivals. They are pretty solid in the low end, like the Alura is. More than enough bass.

Excellent!

So the big question that I'm sure everyone has on their minds (including me) is 'how close' do them come to to "Rivaling" the performance of the Vittoras? 75%? No rush on the answer, but once you get them all dialed in for production, I'm really curious about this!

Vinnie

zacho · « **Reply #19 on:** 14 Jul 2016, 04:32 pm »

Would love to one day hear this combo of TWL and Volti Audio in my part of the world (South East Asia).