Anyone see this train wreck in Stereophile?

[MechEngVic]

Maybe I'm missing something, but there's no way arms are that long. Going by typical human proportions, he'd need to be 13ft tall to have arms that long.

If you look at the far wall you will see that the previous photo has been manipulated to make the drums look straight when they are actually curved.

 

[MechEngVic]

Why is this a debate? Look at a darn photo. Facts please, not endless debate with only speculation.

Look at the darn photo, it's been manipulated to look straight, just look at the back wall.......

 

[MediumRare]

SO WHAT?! Now we're complaining about a guy who uses a big drum kit???

Just a little light banter, indicated by . It ain't the size of your setup, it's what you do with it, amirite?

 

[MechEngVic]

Just a little light banter, indicated by . It ain't the size of your setup, it's what you do with it, amirite?

Me more than the rest of them!

 

[raistlin65]

Just a little light banter, indicated by . It ain't the size of your setup, it's what you do with it, amirite?

It ain't the size of your headphones that matter, it's how they sound

 

[badgerdms]

I could see that except that he states that "all sales are final", which means that if you think you might like them but find out later that you don't, you have no recourse. At least companies like PS Audio allow 30 day audition periods with no obligation.

He's a one-man shop. Most of the folks who run smaller operations can't spend time building a product to order and then take it back in 30 days. There are quite a few speaker and component manufacturers out there who are not PS Audio in size and scope. From a pure furniture point of view, every veneer is unique in his speakers including some pretty exotic looking stuff--these are not mass-produced, interchangeable widgets.

I've actually heard Greg's speakers several times at the Capitol Audio Fest, and have always thought the rooms sounded great. He custom makes the horns on the larger speakers and having heard the demos, there is no "shoutiness" to any of his horn designs. I know an audio reviewer who has owned and demoed an incredible amount of speakers. I've watched speakers from Merlin, Magnepan, and Joseph Audio come and go from his system along with several others. He usually has more than one system going at any given time. Do you know what speakers have never left his system? The Volti Rivals. And he has heard a TON of gear. Another person I know who owns the Rivals is a professional musician, and he has said on more than one occasion how nothing else he had had sounds as much like live music.

However they measure, folks usually like his speakers. I guess the question is for those who find how a speaker measures to be of paramount importance, is could you now walk into one of his rooms and not suffer from confirmation bias? Or could you go in and just listen?

 

[jtwrace]

Stereophile is a train wreck

 

[Panelhead]

The ragged frequency response make the speaker sound more dynamic. The shallow slope crossovers exaggerate the filtering.
Since the measured sensitivity does not reach the published spec, this technique ticks the brain into “hearing” louder.
Next time I am at Center Hill lake I will look Volti up. I used to have a place on the other side of the lake. Great place.
Doubt Greg has been there long. Does not seem like a Baxter Boy.

 

[badgerdms]

The ragged frequency response make the speaker sound more dynamic. The shallow slope crossovers exaggerate the filtering.
Since the measured sensitivity does not reach the published spec, this technique ticks the brain into “hearing” louder.
Next time I am at Center Hill lake I will look Volti up. I used to have a place on the other side of the lake. Great place.
Doubt Greg has been there long. Does not seem like a Baxter Boy.

I suspect you already know he's not from there. He relocated from Maine.

 

[Panelhead]

No, did not know his background, only remember some of his articles on horn speakers in the 90’s.
Another small (one man) manufacturer recently relocated close to Volti. Exemplar left Seattle for that area. Think they are closer to Dale Hollow Lake.
Nice place to be.

 

[avanti1960]

Aiming the speakers to fire directly in front of the listener uses the directivity of the horn loaded drivers to an advantage and helps to mitigate the uneven response of on axis measurements.
The big achievement of these speakers is the lack of cabinet resonance and subsequent coloration for a speaker of its size. A big improvement over some of the Klipsch Heritage line that can have opressively nasal sounding vocals.
Every speaker is a compromise and oviously these are no exception but the listening experience belies and transcends the faults in the measurements.
The sound truly is thrlling and vital in a live music sensibility.
A thread like this would be more beneficial if there were commentary from people who have listened to them, such as myself.
Instead it comes off mostly like a closed minded back slapping party. No offense meant, this site is often very informative as well as entertaining.

 

[Cbdb2]

When a speaker company charges $3500 for veneer you know there soaking you for there plywood speakers.

 

[papermill]

I just found this discussion as a new member of ACR, and a eight year owner of the Volti Alura. My purchase of the demo Alura occurred at AXPONA those many years ago. I’m not a novice to the hobby and have owned speakers from the likes of Genesis, Tannoy, Vandersteen, Magnapan, Signature, Mirage and several others.
Clearly our hobby has many contentious debates. What I find most confounding is opinions and conclusions based on measurements independent of the most important factor, listening.
Prior to my purchase of the Volti, beyond my speaker ownership history, I attended multiple audio shows, dealer/manufacture demos and of course, many audiophile friend‘s rigs. Additionally, I’ve had the great privilege to audition many high end speaker systems via a local friend HiFi reviewer. I’ve been in the hobby for over 40 years.
Maybe contrary to this website, I’m not technically or scientifically inclined. But I do know that my ear is well suited to discern the performance of speakers.
The Volti has effectively allowed me to get off the upgrade madness that gripped me for 30+ years. I continue to marvel on a daily basis, the great pleasure of music thru these speakers. Arrived at the destination.
My only suggestion is that before one concludes the performance of a speaker via only measurement, one needs to listen to music, with your ears!
Yes, I understand the the whole subjective vs objective debates/arguments: cabling, analog, tweaks, acoustic treatments, etc, etc. If one listens and determines that the sound is not for them, great. But if one determines that, wow, that hits my sweet spot, great.
Isn’t our hobby based on our systems connecting us with the artists?
Cheers!

 

[SIY]

Clearly our hobby has many contentious debates. What I find most confounding is opinions and conclusions based on measurements independent of the most important factor, listening.

Except that actual listening tests were the basis for the measurements and their interpretation. A close read of Toole's book might give you a better perspective.

 

[amirm]

My only suggestion is that before one concludes the performance of a speaker via only measurement, one needs to listen to music, with your ears!

"Conclude" is a word that almost never can be asserted with speakers. High confidence is what we want to go after and that comes from trusting measurements, not someone's random opinion of sound.

 

[papermill]

Respectfully
Our “random” appreciation, enjoyment and evaluation, is the only true “measurement” for each of us. Individually. Listening.
If one doesn’t have the confidence in their listening abilities, and what they actually prefer, I can then understand their reliance on measurements. Would anyone drop $$$$ large based on measurements and forgo listening? What would happen if one discovers, through listening, their destination speaker and found they didn’t measure flat?
Do they deny themselves years of audio pleasure?
I don’t mean to completely discount the value of measurements, they have their place in assisting us in our decisions and manufacturers benchmarks, but they don’t trump the sophisticated nature of our personal enjoyment.
(Being new, I understand I’m a fish out of water here and don’t wish to muddy the importance of audio science. I just felt the need to respond regarding the fantastic Volti speaker.)
Regards

 

[Sal1950]

Clearly our hobby has many contentious debates. What I find most confounding is opinions and conclusions based on measurements independent of the most important factor, listening.

Our “random” appreciation, enjoyment and evaluation, is the only true “measurement” for each of us. Individually. Listening.

There are two ways to approach audio.

One is purely subjective, you buy what sounds pleasant to you and have no interest in if the product is delievering an accurate presentation of what's on the source. If you enjoy a boom and sizzle sound, that's fine. If you enjoy a very polite sound with rolled off extremes, fine.
Also the human brain is very easily fooled into hearing things that just aren't there, various bias can influence us all much more than we are willing to believe. Ears only, at best, is simply capable of telling you if a speaker suits your personal preference or not.

The other at least takes the measurements into consideration when purchasing. They will tell you much more about how well a particular speaker can reproduce the sound of it's source and a lot about how it will interact with the room it's placed in. That's what's called High Fidelity.

 

[Plcamp]

Seeing this review makes me feel much better about my past speaker efforts.

 

[papermill]

Can’t argue with anything that has been noted.
Understand that, humbly, I’ve heard a multitude of HiFi speakers and systems these last 40 years, some modestly, others obscenely priced.
And in every case, I was unaware of metrics.
To compare our hobby with medicine, autos and food is ludicrous. Scientific examination and evaluation is priceless and benefits us beyond measure in society. In our hobby, it of course contributes greatly to all the amazing products we have available to us. No argument there.
Evaluation upon listening, AT BEST is the final arbiter to determine if a product has been engineered to one’s liking. Tube vs solid state, silver vs copper, analog vs digital, dynamic drivers vs electrostatic vs horns…
All these aspects of our hobby are built on scientific engineering to a lesser or greater extent. All good.
I will continue to maintain that whether one prefers one piece of electronics or speakers to another, ultimately is determined by the aesthetic of the listener.

 

[Beave]

I will continue to maintain that whether one prefers one piece of electronics or speakers to another, ultimately is determined by the aesthetic of the listener.

Absolutely. And when doing sighted comparisons, the "aesthetic of the listener" includes lots of things beyond sound quality (such as looks of the speaker, reviews you may have read, quotes you may have seen from the designer, the mood you were in when you first heard them, the lighting in the room or the temperature or even the recording when you first heard them, and all sorts of other things - both conscious and unconscious - beyond just sound quality).

So you like them, and that's fine, and we can't argue with that.

But you can't say for sure you like them better than any others strictly because of sound quality.