By: Greg Roberts - January 14, 2020
|
|
In just a few weeks, I'll be driving down to Tampa Florida to set up our demo room at the Florida Audio Expo at the Embassy Suites by Hilton - Tampa Airport Westshore (555 N Westshore Blvd) - Phone (813) 875-1555
The show date and times:
Friday, Feb 7, 2020, 10AM - Sunday Feb 9, 5PM
This is the second year for this show, and based on the success of the first year, I'm really looking forward to this one. I'm teaming up with the usual suspects - BorderPatrol Audio and Triode Wire Labs - and as always, our goal is to make the most dynamic, effortlessly powerful, and realistically musical experience at the show.
I'll be introducing the new 2020 Rival Special Edition speaker at this show, and I'll be showing up with two pairs of them to sell at the show. The SE's are a fully-optioned Rival speaker with curved sides. It's the same great construction quality and sound that Rivals are known for, along with a beautiful new cabinet design and premium veneers. They come fully optioned with custom curved-sided external crossovers, Triode Wire Labs internal wiring, grills, cloth covers, etc...
One pair is veneered in beautiful Bubinga and the other with Rosewood - both absolutely stunning and one-of-a-kind - they are the most beautiful Rivals built to date.
Maybe
now
is your time to own a set of Volti Audio speakers? I'll be driving from Tennessee to Florida and back for the show, and I'd be happy to stop by your place to deliver and set them up for you.
|
|
I wish I had photos of the finished 2020 Rival Special Edition speakers for you to see, but I was not able to get them done in time to take nice photos, process the photos and have them ready for this newsletter. They WILL be done in time for the show however, I can promise you that.
But here's a few photos of them under construction. If you're like me, these are more interesting than the glamour shots of finished speakers anyway.
|
|
I will have more photos as they become more finished, and if you're interested in seeing them, please send me an email and I'll send them over to you.
|
|
The 2019 Capital Audiofest was a lot of work for me.
The plan going in was to have the 'Three Amigos' all in one room, as usual. What ended up happening though, is that Pete (Triode Wire Labs) ended up having his product in five(!) rooms, Gary (BorderPatrol Audio) ended up with his products in three rooms, and I ended up with the job of running a second Volti Audio room all weekend. Not good. Note to myself - don't do that again.
Still, I can't complain about the way it worked out, because I ended up selling the speakers I had in the second Volti room and delivered them to my new customer in Virginia on the way home from the show.
But being stuck in the room all weekend is not nearly as fun as having help with the room and being able to get out and say hi to all my buddies and hear other interesting systems at the show.
I brought the Ebony Vittoras to the Capital Audio Fest this year, in our 'primary' room (The room Gary was in all weekend), and we all thought it was the best sound we've ever heard from Vittoras at a show. Maybe it's because the speakers are four years old (pre-owned and back up for sale) and they are 'extra' broken-in? It's possible I guess. Whatever it was, we were very happy with the sound in our room and so were the show-goer's and Press that came into our room to listen.
|
|
These are the Rival speakers that I sold at the show
to a lucky new Volti Audio customer
|
|
A Variety Of Products And Services
|
|
No other loudspeaker topology can match the dynamic freedom, air-moving capability, and vitality of a big horn. And no other horn speaker does it as effortlessly as a Volti Audio speaker. I strive everyday to build the world's best and will continue to do so for as long as I'm able.
As good as these old speakers were and still are, there's so much more performance that can be coaxed out of them, and Volti Audio has the very best upgrade replacement parts available. A fully engineered solution for turning old Khorns into world class speakers.
Coming soon to our website. I began building racks, tables, and plinths out of Baltic Birch plywood many years ago and we have always used them at the shows. I like to design and build pieces that are more like furniture than audio equipment racks. A long, low table for instance, with a single long shelf underneath, is a much nicer looking stand than the typical stack of four or five shelves, each with a separate component on it.
One of my favorite bits of work to do in the shop is to take an old set of speakers and bring them back to life - better than new. I still do this work on occasion - depends on how busy I am.
My customers have my cell phone number and can call me anytime to discuss system problems and get recommendations for upgrading their system. System synergy is a critical element in putting together a great stereo system, and I've got the experience and knowledge on how to integrate the rest of the system components around the world's finest sounding horn speakers.
|
|
It's been a long time since I've done a speaker restoration. It's work that I love to do, but just don't have much time for these days. The owner of these old dudes bought them new in the 1970's, and even though he says his hearing isn't what it used to be, he still enjoys them every day.
Here's a link to the restoration webpage if you're interested in seeing the transformation.
|
|
If you haven't done so, please take a moment and 'Like' Volti Audio on Facebook
and/or go on a forum and tell others about Volti Audio speakers or the Volti Audio Klipsch Upgrades
and/or tell a friend about Volti Audio
Spreading the word and building a larger network will really help me with my business. I appreciate anything you can do to help me in this regard.
I've been in the audio business for ten years now, and I'm still building Volti Audio. The path I've chosen - to keep Volti Audio a small company and sell direct to my customers - is perhaps the most difficult in many ways. Volti Audio could easily be a company with a dozen employees, working out of a large shop with a shop manager, and with a sales rep managing our dealer network and promoting the sales of hundreds of pairs of speakers around the world each year.
But that's just not where I'm at in my life right now. I guess I don't have the energy to make Volti Audio into that kind of company. Or maybe it's not my lack of energy, but simply that I'm choosing to do what I love to do the most, which is to make things with my hands. I would much rather work 60 hours a week in my shop making the most beautiful and best sounding horn speakers in the world than to spend my week managing my managers, going over spreadsheets, having safety meetings, etc...
So I've chosen a simpler business model, where I can concentrate on my passion and connect with a couple dozen customers per year and provide them something of lasting value. I know I'll never make a lot of money doing it that way compared to setting up Volti Audio as a larger company, but I think I'll be a lot happier in the end.
The focus right now is to figure out how to have more consistent sales. There are times when we struggle to have enough paid work and times when we're overwhelmed. So I'm taking a look at our marketing and our social media presence to see how we can broaden our reach and let audiophiles know about the wonderful products we build.
I think this is where you, our email newsletter subscribers can help. It's a special request - a personal request from me - to please take a few minutes and help me promote Volti Audio. Thank you.
|
|
Well that's it for this issue of the Volti Audio email newsletter. Thank you for subscribing and until next time, trust your ears and always Have Fun!
Greg
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
