Another interesting partner for the low powered SET amplifiers is highly sensitive (104db 1W/1M) Volti Audio Vittora flagship speakers. Large wooden midrange horn with a tractrix flare is designed and built in-house and bass cabinet utilizes a 15″ woofer in a folded horn in order to produce solid, accurate bass. Manufacturer-direct price for a set of, made in the U.S.A. Vittora speakers is $25,750.00.
The Vittora is a fully horn-loaded, three-way, high-efficiency speaker system that delivers wide dynamic range, high output, and extremely low distortion. It IS a horn speaker, and it gives us everything we like about horns while minimizing the problems that plague some other horn designs. The Vittora strikes a balance between the sound of a high-end, smooth, audiophile speaker, and the in-your-face, lively, dynamic sound of a big horn system. It is unmistakably true to the all-horn format, but polite enough to be taken seriously by any audiophile.
The Vittora bass cabinet utilizes a 15″ woofer in a folded horn to produce solid, accurate bass. Even at high output levels, the distortion from this horn is undetectable, and the result is a quickness and definition that you can only get with a horn design. There’s no ported bass sound with this horn speaker! You get tight, accurate bass, a correct sounding upper-bass/lower-midrange, and perfect integration between the bass and mid.
The Vittora uses a large wooden midrange horn with a tractrix flare, designed and built in-house. The horn has a 2″ throat and uses a large-format midrange compression driver with a 3-1/2″ voice coil. This combination of large, solidly built wooden horn with a large throat and huge midrange compression driver results in a midrange sound that is effortless and easy to listen to. There is no constriction of the sound through a tiny throat, there is no edginess, graininess, or honky sound that so many other horn designs suffer from. The Vittora midrange is smooth and articulate, dynamic and uncolored. The midrange is truly the heart of this loudspeaker, and the listener is rewarded with a musicality from this midrange horn that is very rare in this industry, at any price.
The tweeter combines a 1″ compression driver feeding through an elliptical tractrix horn, and with a carefully tuned crossover filter, it delivers extended, smooth high frequencies that compliment the rest of this system.
The hand-wired crossover networks are located inside the top horn section, and are the result of hundreds of hours of listening and testing to achieve near-perfect integration between the system components. The networks provide many adjustments for balancing the system, if desired.
The Extended Low-frequency (ELF) cabinet handles frequencies below 50Hz with a massive 18″ driver in a bass-reflex cabinet carefully tuned for music, not home theater sound effects.
Each Vittora cabinet is 32″ wide at the front, 15″ wide at the rear, 27″ deep, and 40″ tall. The folded bass horn weighs 127lbs and the top horn section weighs 60lbs. The ELF cabinet is 24″ wide at the front, 6″ wide at the rear, 24″ deep, 27″ tall, and weighs 115lbs.
The ELF cabinet is non-powered, so you will need an amplifier and a processor to provide the necessary crossover. There are many choices for these components, but we like the simplicity and relatively low cost of the Marchand MB42 Amplifier.
The MB42 has 300 watts of power and a very nice analogue, 24db slope crossover network built in. At $1,900 it represents very good value, and can be purchased directly through Volti Audio.
Vittora System Capabilities
Frequency response of the Vittora System is 25Hz – 20Khz (main speakers 50Hz – 20Khz and the ELF cabinet 25Hz – 50Hz. What is interesting here is the design of the system, utilizing a bass horn that extends to 50Hz, and a separately powered cabinet that handles the last octave below that. The end result is a system that sounds like it is fully horn-loaded down to 25Hz, but in a much smaller package than it would be if there was a 25Hz folded horn.
Sensitivity is 104db 1W/1M and power handling is 200 watts continuous. We don’t know of another speaker on the market with such a combination of sensitivity and power handling. The Vittora system is capable of whisper detail at one-one hundredth of a watt, and thundering power at 200 watts, capabilities that are very unique indeed.
Veneer
The Vittora speakers and ELF cabinet come standard with your choice of six different real wood veneers. These are premium grade wood veneers that I purchase from several different suppliers. The veneer is applied with vacuum bags and urethane glue for a superior bond, and flat, smooth finish. Grain patterns are carefully considered for each panel of the cabinets.
Volti Audio sells the Vittora system direct to our customers, with no distributors or dealers.
Current manufacturer-direct price for a set of Vittora speakers is $25,750.00.
This includes two bass horns, two tophat mid/tweeter horn cabinets, and one ELF cabinet.
