I joined AC in 2021 when I purchased my Spatial Audio Sapphire M3s. They were mostly great, especially for their price, and excelled at soundstage and most importantly a connection to the music. However, I blew 3 tweeters in 2 years which was due to two reasons I believe: 1) the tweeter crossover was set at an absurdly low 576 hz (IIRC) and 2) I like to listen loudly as well as feel my music.
When I started to realize my mistake I did what most of us do and when searching on the www, which is how I found the Sapphire M3s. But this time, I wanted not only speakers that rocked (like my old Cerwin Vega AT-15's in high school), but was of very high quality in both build and sound. I read all reviews and forum posts that exist on Volti speakers and decided I would give the Razz a try, but had planned on adding subs. I started a conversation with Greg, who was (and is!) fantastic about answering all my questions and then..... a pair of Rivals showed up used on Audiogon. And the owner wasn't that far away. We worked out a deal and he delivered them to me and took my M3s as a partial trade. As with the M3s, I hadn't heard them beforehand and at this point, I had never been to a hifi show - this was January of 2023. I just happened to go to my first hifi show a month later in mid-Feb in Tampa.
Anyway, I placed the Rivals in the same place as the M3s (which took a long time to figure out) and...... mind-blown with many, many LOLs for many months (and still ongoing). They are EXACTLY what I wanted and want. Massive sound stage, clarity, powerful, *3D* (with the right pressing, I'm vinyl only) and most of all a zen emotional connection to the music. Other positive attributes as well which I'm sure I'll think of later.
I like to listen loudly most of the time, but never distorted, and most listening is in the 88-95 DB range. Unfortunately that is only accomplished when my wife has left the building, which is on average for a few hours per week (varies), but I looked forward to that time and it is an event. The rest of my listening time I'm in my Focal Stellia headphones.
I can't think of any speakers for less than $50k that I would want to buy to replace the Rivals. It's like they were made for me. The smiles per hour are unmatched in the listening times of my life.
Oh, and I did want to add that putting Townshend Podiums did put the Rivals at an even higher level in my room. Notes are more defined, even better imaging and soundstage and more focus bass (esp what I feel).
Music is something like: Rock, 42%, Hard Rock, 43%, Electronic Music, 10%, Jazz 3%, Classical and other, 2%.
System is:
Volti Rivals on Townshend Podiums
Amp: Primaluna Evo 300 integrated with rolled tubes
Phonostage: Modwright 9.0x with rolled tubes
TT: VPI Prime Signature with Fatboy arm and VDH Crimson cart
Wires and cables: Lessloss and Triode Wire Labs speaker cables
Various Isoacoustic under some componants and Townshend platform under TT
CD player is a Marantz Ruby K-1 but I haven't turned it on in a few years.
