6100 Nashville Hwy - Baxter, TN 38544 * 207-314-1937 | | |
It's show season 2025 and less than two weeks til the AXPONA show in Chicago. Will you be going?
Did any of you go to Southwest Audiofest in Dallas? What did you think?
Did any of you go to the Florida Audio Expo?
Did you know that a show costs Volti Audio between $8,000 and $10,000 to do, not including the value of my time? A West Coast show, where I would ship the 3000lbs of gear back and forth would be more than that.
It takes about 12 days out of my schedule for time to prep for the show, for traveling back and forth, to do the show, and then recover and put everything away when I get home.
The cost seems high, but it is our primary form of marketing and an integral part of doing business in this industry. Plus I really enjoy showing off my speakers at the shows!
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The Florida International Audio Expo was held in a new venue this year, the Sheraton Tampa Brandon. Perhaps a bit larger than the old venue, but certainly not in as good a location. I prefer the old venue.
On the plus side, I heard from a lot of people that navigating this hotel was much easier and they appreciated that the elevators worked all weekend. It has a spacious lobby where I was allowed to set up a Volti banner and my show room sounded great. I'll leave the negatives out for now. There were a few.
Attendance was good all weekend, even Sunday, and we got lots of great Press coverage. Overall a very successful show for Volti Audio.
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Here is the system I used in room 257:
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New Vittora Loudspeaker System:
104db Sensitivity, 25Hz – 20kHz, .1w – 100w input power
System includes two main Vittora speakers, two ELF12, two ELFamp, one ELFpre ($50,000)
Source:
Innuos ZENith music server, 2TB, $6,699 https://innuos.com/
DAC:
Mojo Audio Mystique SE, $8,499
Integrated Amplifier:
Cary Audio SLI-80, $4,995
Cables
Triode Wire Labs
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Each year I help a few customers put together whole systems built around a pair of my Volti Audio speakers. If you're needing more than just speakers, I'll help you put together a system that has the same kind of synergy that our show rooms are known for. I am an authorized dealer for the products that I recommend, and there are system discounts available with the purchase of a pair of Volti Audio speakers.
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Check out the great Press coverage
we got at the Florida show
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Since I was stuck in my room at FLAX all weekend, I didn't get a chance to get out and hear any other systems. So after I got home and the dust settled, I decided that I would go to the Southwest Audiofest in Dallas, TX to check out the show and have some fun listening to all the rooms there. I've never been to a show as an attendee!
Pete Grzybowski (Triode Wire Labs) flew in to join me for the fun. The show was held at the Hilton Anatole hotel, which is a fancy venue for an audio show, and you couldn't help but notice the contrast between this venue and the Florida venue.
Pete and I spent time listening to the systems in every room at the show. I won't speak for Pete, but I found the majority of the systems to be forgettable. Not bad sounding necessarily, but I found myself asking why anyone would spend the kind of money this stuff costs for such a mediocre sound. Whenever I hear these boring hi-fi systems, I think back years ago to my AR-90's that I bought used for $200 that sounded as good or better.
"Excuse me sir, how much are the speakers?" "$65,000, ok thanks."
I just don't get it. Life is too short for boring speakers.
There were stand-out systems though, and that's what I'll highlight here.
| This was the best sounding system at the show. Proper tonal balance from top to bottom, fairly dynamic, great soundstage and imaging, and nothing that poked me in the eye. | The Chesky speakers came in at #2 for me. Again, proper tonal balance being the key here. Lucca Chesky has a good handle on designing musically engaging speakers, and I think he's got a bright future ahead of him as a speaker designer. | The Bella Sound room comes in at #3 for me. Magnetic Planar and Ribbons I think, and obviously some very good electronics. I like panel speakers, but bass quality and integration is always an issue with these, as it was here. Still though, a really good sounding system. | A Dave Slagle system is always going to be interesting, different, and easy to listen to. Pete and I agreed that we could sit all day and listen to this system. #4 for me. | Acora and VAC had the little guys playing when we walked in. In a very big room these little speakers were actually filling it! Not a sound I particularly cared for, but incredible output from these. | A four-tower system from YG Acoustics sounded pretty good to me except for the bass. As with so many systems at these shows, the bass is not properly proportioned for me. Too much low-low, and that means I hear woofers in a box before I hear music, and that's not good. There's a way to have low-bass integration that's in proportion to the mid-bass and upper bass, but not many speaker designers get it right. When you walk into a Volti Audio room and you think to yourself that the bass is just . . .so . . .right - yeah, there's been a lot of work done to get it there. Not easy to do. | That's a unique and beautiful paint finish on a speaker. Note the scratches and nicks in the glossy clear finish. I appreciate a glossy finish, but this is the reason I don't put it on my speakers. These scratches happen from normal cleaning and handling. | Avantgarde speaker with powered bass unit. Ugggh. Thumpy bass that yells 'WOOFER IN A BOX HERE'. I was so distracted by the terrible bass I couldn't appreciate how nice the mid horn sounded, let alone appreciate the music. I want my system to disappear and leave the music behind. Not ever going to happen with these speakers. | Daedalus Audio woodworking. Yummy. | I like the details here. This is the back of the speaker | This system costs a million dollars, or millions of dollars, I don't know how much. Pete wanted to go back a second time to give it another chance. We stood in that room for about forty seconds before Pete looked at me and said, ok, let's go, I can't take it anymore. Just horrible. | But the worst sound of the show goes to the Viva Verticale speaker ($120,000/pr). I tried my best, but couldn't find one good thing to say about this speaker. Pete said "vocals sound like plastic". Every once in a while a very low note would poke out from the horrible soundstage, seeming to have nothing to do with the music. Other bass frequencies were simply missing. I don't think the tweeter was even working. One of the worst sounding speakers I've ever heard. I'm not kidding when I say that a pair of 1976 Klipsch Heresy speakers connected to the gear in this room would be far more musically engaging and far better balanced tonally. | So that's it, that's all I have for you. Pete and I had a great time at the show. It was fun to be just an attendee and not have to worry about working the show. | April 11 - 13, 2025 in Schaumburg, IL, in room 588 | I'll have the gorgeous New Vittora speakers at AXPONA this year! | |
The first quarter of 2025 was our best ever in sales, and we are swamped with work right now. Thank you so much to all of you who support our little company, especially our customers. We greatly appreciate it.
There is a growing demand for Volti Audio speakers, and we are meeting that demand because of the hard work and dedication from my employees that work here. We could use one more person though . . .
Since the start fifteen years ago, most Volti Audio speakers have been built to order. But I'm working hard to move towards a business model where the speakers we have for sale are all in stock and ready to go. We're getting there. If ya'll would stop buying them, we could build up the stock!
I hate to do it, but I have to. This is your notice that I'll be making some pricing adjustments to our products soon. Get your orders (deposits) in now to avoid the impending price increases.
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Thank you for your support, and as always,
Trust your ears, and
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