Voltiaudio

[macaroonie]

Indeed

[AussieSteve]

First, let us set the record straight; I never did make or imply such a statement. Some of you just infer and go off on all sorts of shit that's not being said or even the topic, I don't understand it, but's let's wrap this up, shall we?

I hear you and I concur on all your points of fact; that there is more than one way to build a mouse trap and not everyone does everything the same way every time. But speaking to some of your points:

I never made mention nor was my original intent to determine the country of origin of anything used by Greg Roberts. My emails to him were NOT an attempt to gain evidence in order to refute his "All American" claims; the "made in the prc" tangent was the result of this thread being derailed.

OK, now that I have said that for what feels like the one hundredth time, I had to go "fishing" as you put it, not to engage in industrial espionage or reverse engineering (as Greg seems to fear, or so he says), not to find reasons to belie and belittle his products or designs but to at least garner some of the most essential of information as there is regarding his loudspeakers and my main point of interest for what really matters, their SOUND.
Yes, my initial draw was the fact that they were horns and a build quality of what appears to be of exquisite craftsmanship (or so they seem), but no need to do the dance of price negotiations or the "foreplay" as someone put it, if once I learned of the essentials I would know immediately I would proceed no farther, so why waste both of our time?

As everyone knows by now, Volti Audio designs use off the shelf drivers, fine. I want to know exactly which ones. With this information, and assuming the drivers employed are/were well known and accessible, I could at least have some possible idea of what his systems might sound like, kind of, sort of, maybe. At least some small shred of an idea of what their sonic character MIGHT be. A thought, an idea.........SOMETHING

Because, these $15,000 dollar a pair and up loudspeakers are NOT AVAILABLE IN STORES,
HE HAS NO DEALERS,
THERE IS NO SHOWROOM,
YOU CANNOT HEAR BEFORE YOU BUY unless you just happen to live next door to Greg in Tennessee or attend a trade show. Trying to break into the market at this price point with the "internet only" option currently available, I would think this guy would be HAPPY to answer questions. What's he think, "social media"'s going to make him a star?
I doubt very much that Mr. Roberts would be willing to ship a pair out to me, here in California, for an in home audition (at $15K I would ALMOST expect that option) and I am not planning any trips to Boulder Colorado or New York or Las Vegas or wherever else the hell it is he may be hawking them at the trade shows next, simply to have a listen. The woodwork is not THAT nice!

So, I asked of Mr. Roberts some very basic and essential information regarding his product. If HE is "annoyed" by that as you put it, or finds it suspicious or wishes to "assert his "rights" as many have put it or whatever it is, then fine, that's his prerogative. BUT, tough shit, 'cause guess what?

Ding! Ding! "No Sale" Ya jes let one git away thar Greg ole boy.

Greg Roberts is just a guy selling some, what appears to be, very well made, expensive loudspeakers. He's just a guy. He's not a guru, he's not a god, he's not James B. Lansing or Paul Klipsch. He's not Greg Timbers or Edmond May. He has no history or back story other than that of being a long time member of the Klipsch forums. What little information out there is scattered and not always in agreement. And lastly, his own "website" , which is more like a few web "pages", is little more than audio cheese cake shots with little to no useful information.

So, with all of that and then some in mind, I do not feel nor am I going to jump through hoops in dealing with this guy. I'm the one with the money that he wants. I don't have to figure out a way shmooze this guy or have "foreplay" with him or any of the other ridiculous shit that people have suggested.

He is attempting to break into a HIGHLY competitive business, what I call the prestige market. I understand EXACTLY what he wants and is trying to do. I know of the target demographic of which he dreams.

And you know what? All of you are correct, 100%. Greg Roberts can do or tell whatever the hell it is he wants to. But you know what else? Until he learns how to SELL his product he's going to be gone in about 5 minutes and that's a fact. Companies like B&W for example that know how to market to today's "prestige market" will squash him like a bug. The business model that Roberts wants pretty much evaporated after the dot com bubble burst. So unless Fabio and all of his entourage and others like him all decide that Volti Audio is the way to go his ass better wake up. And it will make NO difference how good his speakers sound, none.

Whether Greg the "artist" likes it or not, selling is part of it, IF he wants to survive and be successful. He made a comment that not enough folks were still listening to and upgrading their K-Horns so he moved into making the new ones full time. How long does he think it will be before his "target" market that asks no questions is saturated? It's not rocket science.

When there is a zero proprietary component to his drivers and nothing that cannot be determined with a screw driver (and access to a sample, that's the big hurdle) beside the fact that as others have already pointed out, some of the information is already being circulated, not answering such a simple inquiry from who, for all he knows, is a prospective QUALIFIED buyer (Greg probably likes to call them "clients") is SUSPECT. Plain and simple. Period. The End.

He has deferred the "technical" things to others, maybe he needs to do the same with the sales and marketing of his fledgling enterprise.

Enough time wasted on this bull shit. Now that I know there is no way I am dealing with this guy I really don't care anymore what drivers he uses.

I am intelligent to completely understand the whole purpose of your initial point - period. Even after you try to close this issue, you get responses of disagreement! I said it before, these Audio forums are a place for the ill equipped to make themselves seem relevant and knowledgeable, without being either. I call it, "small man syndrome" This post of yours is articulate and accurate, we are the one's who get it. Volti speakers will travel a path they choose, and time will tell if they are still represented at audio shows several years from now. Who knows, maybe they will take something positive from this forum and perhaps take a different path of marketing. I know I would still love to see some spec's, I really love the look of them. Take Care mate, now let's finish this post for good.

[Greg Roberts]

I would just like to take a moment to say that Volti Audio is thriving. It has been a rewarding experience for me, to be able to provide my products to so many great customers over the years.

During my time in this business, I've seen many passionate speaker builders come and go. For whatever reason/s, they just couldn't make a go of it. It's a tough business, and if you don't have enough customers who love your product as much as you do, it's very difficult to sustain. Being good is simply not good enough. Your product must stand out and above. These folks who tried and didn't make it were just as passionate about building a great sounding speaker as I am. I am very fortunate that it's worked out for me.

I will continue to learn and I'll work hard to design and build the very best horn speakers I can. I'll do it my way, because that's the only way I can do it. In the process, I'm going to set policies that upset some people, and I'm sorry for that, I'm simply running my business the way I think I need to. To be fair, I always make sure my customers know about those policies before they send any money to me. I'll continue to design and build speakers that I like the sound of, and I really don't care that some people consider them to be poorly engineered because they don't meet an arbitrary standard of measured performance. It simply doesn't matter to me or to my customers. Another way of putting that is to say if if matters to you, you probably aren't going to be my customer. I can live with that.

If I don't provide enough details about my products for some customers, I'm sorry about that. I'm just running my business the way I think best. If I lose some customers because of that, I can live with that. I assume that if a potential customer is not able to find enough information on my website, or from reading about Volti Audio online to make them comfortable doing business with me, that they will simply go elsewhere. If a potential customer really pushes for information that I'm not willing to give and they get angry with me and choose to vent their frustrations on an online forum instead of just moving on, I think that speaks volumes about their personality, intent, and general demeaner, and confirms that I was right in my initial assessment of them.

Greg Roberts
Volti Audio
207-314-1937
www.voltiaudio.com

[Robh3606]

Hello Greg

This is a 6 year old thread surprised you are responding to it now as you just brought this back into the frey. Glad you are doing well through this nightmare.

Here are a couple of reviews with measurements and manufacturer comments. Helps fill in some of the blanks and adds information missing from the beginning of the thread.

Rob

https://www.stereophile.com/content/...zz-loudspeaker

https://www.stereophile.com/content/...al-loudspeaker