Volti

Well, I got the speakers today and it was a very successful day all around. I got the speakers upstairs by myself, without incident. At 105 lbs each it was a decent workout, after I got the first one upstairs I took a short break and then got the other one up there. Luckily it was only one flight. These things are awesome paired with my OTL mono blocks, which are no longer for sale. They image great, the midrange is fantastic ( the most important to me ) and the 12" woofers match perfectly to my room as the bass balance is perfect. Most of all, they are like live music. These are musical as heck and have that jump factor that is exciting to listen to. I am also very impressed with the quality of the Red Gum veneer, they are gorgeous. Greg mirror imaged the veneer to perfection, all of the edges are perfect and every detail is top notch. They were a little "heavy" when I first fired them up so I took a Vansevers power cord and a pair of Cardas Interconnects out of the system and replaced them both with Tara Labs. I also pulled them away from the corners about an additional foot. That's all I have tweaked and they are near perfect. My hat is off to Greg at Volti for a job well done.
 
Congratulations! That is awesome that they have made such an impact on you already. They are incredible speakers. I am enjoying mine for over a year now and can't imaging switching them out for anything, period. I'm sure Greg mentioned this to you (it sounds like you have placement figured out) but as wide apart as your room will allow and substantially toed in (30º or more) so they cross about 18-20" in front of your head is ideal!
 
I listened to them almost all day yesterday and can't say enough about them. They are efficient enough that I was able to remove 4 EL509's from each mono block so that is a lot of less heat. Now they are at 15wpc which is more than plenty. Currently I have 300b mono blocks, First Watt F6 and these OTL amps. Anyone know of a 15-30 wpc transistor amp that is smooth but doesn't run in class A? I'm trying to plan for warmer weather and trying to keep the heat down. Thanks again for the feedback.
 
It is class A but look at the Schiit Alger, not sure spelled correctly, a friend says it is supposed to be crazy good for cheap.

Unfortunately, I have not heard one yet but Lejonklou is said to be extremely musical. Lejonklou

I like the Naim sound which could also work for you.
 
Stereogeek - I can tell you my experience with the Volti's and amps... If you are looking for a smooth running musical solid state integrated I do recommend the Naim Uniti Nova for use with the Voltis... It is however an all in one streamer/dac/amp so I don't know how that would fit in with the rest of your system. It has a very good impedance match with the Rivals. I also have experience with the Naim Supernait 3 and I can say although it is a more highly engineered all-analog integrated, it is also 80 wpc like the Nova. However it does not match as well with the impedance drop of the Rivals and so it is less than optimal match with the Rivals when compared with the Volti. The Naim Uniti Atom is their smaller all in one at only 40 wpc but it is seriously outclassed by the Rivals and not worth your time. Have you looked into any of the LTA integrateds? I know of a fellow Rival owner who is currently demo'ing a Linear Tube Audio Z10 integrated and is very impressed with the combo.
 
I appreciate the feedback regarding the integrated amps but now I am heading in a different direction (imagine that). I had my a/c guy add dampers for the two 14" round ducts which feed the 1st floor. I will use these to reduce the airflow downstairs which will increase the airflow upstairs and hopefully cool my listening room to a comfortable temperature. Right now I am opening the windows to let cool air in, this will not be an option in a few weeks. Back to the Volti's ..... I inserted the mighty F6 into the system and although the OTL amps were really good, the F6 still reigns king. It's just more musical and has that tempo and flow that is hard to obtain and intoxicating when you have it. These things sound like music and are so dynamic sometimes they scare me. An option as far as amps go (for almost all speakers) appears to be the Ayon Alpha. It is a 250wpc class D amp which is intended to just drive the woofers of biampable or triampable speakers. It has DSP processing, built in crossover settings and main level control. Just feed it off your preamp, it allows you to run low powered amps for your mids/tweeter. Any comments and/or any other amps with the capability?
 
I decided the other day to see what the capabilities are of the F6 and Volti combo. I started cranking it up louder and louder until I was standing outside of the room. These speakers just stay clean and clear up to the point where enough is enough. That said, I have decided to get the Rivals. As good as the Razz are I just want to see how good the Rivals are. Hopefully they will work in my room. What I really like about them is you can externally change a few wires and adjust the balance. Cheers!
 
As discussed in another thread I have added a Pass XA25 to replace the F6. My whole system is fairly new so all of the components, especially the XA25, have continued to break in with the bass has been getting deeper and stronger, so much that it was a hair too heavy even after I added bass traps and repositioned the speakers. I contacted Greg and he sent me some resistors to change out, this will raise the output of the tweeter and midrange. I removed the midrange assembly, wholly crap, this thing is very big, very heavy and heavily damped on the outside of the horn. The wires were removed using the push button fasteners and the horn was set on the floor, easy peasy. There is a board fastened with a wing nut on the wall of the cabinet with four resistors attached. I removed the wingnut and the board pulled out with plenty of wire to work. The resistors are attached with screws, it took about 5 minutes to change them out. I reinstalled the boards and the midrange assemblies and was done in about 30 minutes. It changed the balance just enough for my taste so it was time well spent. It makes me wonder why other manufacturers do not offer a means to adjust the balance of their speakers? Do they believe their speakers are so perfect that they will work great with all rooms, all equipment and everyone's different tastes? I realize some speakers have potentiometers for this purpose but they become a burden sooner or later as they can become noisy. All in all the Razz is a great product by Volti. I will continue to put more hours on them and make small adjustments to their positioning and see how far I can take them. When I am 100% satisfied I will probably pull the trigger on the Rivals. Thanks for reading. Cheers.
 
The Razz's and my other new equipment has settled in quite nicely and providing much musical entertainment. My present system sounds great on regular CD's as well as "audiophile" CD's. I have had many systems that sound kind of crappy on older CD's due to that dreaded upper midrange/lower treble glare. I believe the PCM to DSD processing on my player has a big hand in this as well as the very smooth midrange of the horn driver (!). I knew I would get great dynamics and great inner detail from this high sensitivity speaker but to get crazy smooth midrange also was a huge surprise. I still might get the Rivals or maybe a nice 20 -30 watt EL34 tube amp but not sure what the results would be, sometimes less is more. Cheers.
 
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