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Below you will find links to my email newsletters. The first email newsletter was sent on 5/14/2010, labeled "NL1". If you scroll down a little farther, you will see the "News" page that I produced for a six week period before I switched over to the email newsletter format. Newsletter Archive Click on the links below to open up each newsletter in a separate browser window
Old Newspage 5/1/2010 This will be my last post to this news page, I've gone ahead and opened up a Constant Contact account, and I'll be writing an email newsletter every two to four weeks, instead of my weekly post here. So, if you'd like to continue receiving news about Volti Audio, interesting audio tidbits, along with my usual ramblings on all things audio, please sign up for the email newsletter by using the link at the top of all my webpages. I promise to respect your privacy, and never give your email address to anyone. I'll continue to provide the same kind of information, written in the same manner as I've been doing over the last six weeks. My goal is to keep the same straight-forward tone, and concise format when I write the newsletter. I want it to be a quick read, with the information boiled down to the most interesting material, and then provide links for further reading. At first I thought I might just send a newsletter to my own email list that I would keep on my computer. But Constant Contact only charges $15 per month, and they provide a platform whereby subscribers can get on and off the list automatically. I think their system probably works much better for delivering large numbers of emails too, so the cost is well worth it. I can have up to 500 contacts on my list for that low monthly charge, and send as many emails as I want. Initially, I sent over 600 emails to addresses I had been collecting over the years, from people like you, who have taken an interest in my audio excursions, especially the Klipsch restorations. My goal was to get 100 people to sign up for the upcoming newsletter, and that goal was met within a couple of days of my first-contact email being sent out. The new goal is to top 500 and have to spend more money with Constant Contact! Thank you to all of you who have been reading this news page. This page
averaged over 150 page-loads each week over a six week period, and that strong support is
one of the reasons I decided to move onto an email newsletter format. Please
follow me over to that format and sign up now!
Over and out.
4/25/2010 Hello everyone! Sorry for the lateness of my posting this week, but it's been crazy busy here. I've had more than I can handle for work this week (most of it non-audio related), but I'm not complaining, it's nice to be really busy again. I take this as a sign that the economy is getting better finally. Given how little work I did the shop this week, I've got very little to contribute
to the "News" page. But there are a couple of things . . . .
Please don't blame me, I used Google Translate! Greetings, and welcome to my website, I see you!
I spent some time listening to the new V-120 adapters this week. Instead of
listening to just one, I set up a pair of Fc260 horns, with the adapters and K55 drivers
on top of my Khorns in my living room system. I also set up switch boxes so I
could switch instantly between the adapters and my regular setup with the V-Trac/BMS driver
combo. I wrote about the results and updated the "Throat Adapters" webpage.
www.voltiaudio.com/adapters.shtml
I updated the "Midrange Drivers" webpage this week. Mostly just clarifying
some things that I thought needed it.
www.voltiaudio.com/midrangedrivers.shtml
I sold another pair of V-Trac horns last week, so I put cloth on them and shipped them out.
It is time consuming to produce a newspage every week, and I often find myself lacking in content. I'd also like to reach more people with it, as there are only about 150 page-loads each week. So I'm considering a couple of changes. I'd like to produce an email newsletter, instead of a news webpage. I think that using a service like Constant Contact would help build the newsletter subcription and hopefully increase business. I'm also considering doing the newsletter every other week. So I'd like to have
some input from you. Please tell me what you think about my producing a
Volti Audio email newsletter,
whether or not you'd subscribe, how often you'd like to receive it, what type of content
you'd like to see in it, how long the newsletter should be, how many pictures I should include
in each newsletter, etc... I value your input, because you are making the effort to visit this
page and read this information, and some of you are repeat offenders! So I believe you
can offer me valuable insight into the idea of an email newsletter. Thank you in
advance for sending me an email with your thoughts
gregroberts@roadrunner.com
This weeks interesting picture:
Well I guess that's it for the news this week. Thanks for checking in.
4/17/2010 I spent almost the entire week working on the new throat adapters for the V-Trac horn, but after listening to what these adapters did for the sound quality of the K55 driver, I think all the effort was worthwhile! I learned so much this week about how the throat of a horn, or the throat of an adapter, or the throat built into the big 2"-throat drivers makes all the difference in the tonal characteristics of the horn. www.voltiaudio.com/adapters.shtml
Ever since I began building V-Trac horns, my customers have asked about using their K55 drivers with them, as a way to spread out the cost of the upgrades. Until now I didn't have an option for them. I made at least fifteen different throat adapters last week, and tested every one of them on a Fc260 horn to hear the variations in sound that I could get with changes to the throat size, length of the adapter, the flare rate, etc...
I was set up with a test rig that included my pair of beater La Scalas, a couple of Fc260 horns, and a neat little A/B switchbox that I made, to be able to instantly switch between one speaker and another.
I started out just making adapters to adapt the K55 driver to my V-Trac horns, but I ended
up with so much more! I ended up with two different adapters that I'm offering for sale.
Each has it's own distinct sound, but the shorter one was voiced to have the same
tonal qualities as the BMS 4592ND driver. So be sure to check out the webpage
for more information and lots of pictures.
I continued my work on designing the new Cornerhorn speaker last week. My friend Greg Berchin has been providing all the Hornresp data and he's also done a wonderful job of the initial CAD drawings. I know progress is very slow, but this project will happen someday! It's not easy to improve on the Khorn design. But I am confident that the cabinet we're working on will outperform the Khorn in a number of ways. I am not bound by the same self-imposed restrictions that PWK had to work within. My cabinets will weigh more, they will be larger than the original Khorn, and they will be more expensive. But that is what I'm willing to do to improve the sound quality. As long as the quality does increase significantly, then I think it will be worth a little weight, size and cost. One of my goals is to significantly improve the mid-bass tonal characteristics of the cabinet by smoothing out the folds throughout the cabinet, especially in two areas, one of which is about mid-way through the second part of the bass horn, where there is a sharp change in the expansion of the horn, shown in this picture, just above the word "HERE".
This second part of the bass horn has sides that are contracting, while at the same time, the top and bottom parts of the horn are expanding. For ease of construction, two pieces of wood are used at the top (as seen in this picture). But I'm going to use four pieces of wood there, which will really smooth out that part of the horn. Another troublesome area, that has an affect on the ability for the higher bass notes to make it out of the horn cleanly, is at the end of the second part of the horn at the tailpiece. Here, the wave of sound is being asked to skirt around the contracting sides of the horn while bouncing off the flat tailpiece, and turn more than ninety degrees before making it's way out the final fold of the horn. Our idea is to come up with a way to make it easier for the wave to turn that corner by making a splitter there, and instead of a flat tailpiece, use several pieces of wood to provide a smoother pathway. I'm not ready to show any new drawings yet, but here's an older drawing of the type of idea we have to improve the pathway at the tailpiece.
These are just two of about fifteen modifications to the Khorn folding that we're considering
for the new design. Other ideas, like closing in the backs for improved structural
rigidity of the cabinet, and providing a separate motorboard for the woofer so that various
slot sizes can be tested, are already part of the plans. I'll keep you posted here
as I make progress on it.
The big push next week is to finish up the Fc212 horns, although I'm quite sure I won't
finish completely, as I have a lot of other non-audio-related work to do, but I hope to post
pictures next week of the midrange motorboards on the Fc212's, as well as the feet that will
be used to hold the horn up off the bass bin.
This weeks interesting picture:
Well I guess that's it for the news this week. Thanks for checking in.
4/10/2010 I finished up the Tineo Heresy speakers last week, and updated the webpage - www.voltiaudio.com/tineoheresy.shtml They really turned out beautifully - a very unique pair of Heresy speakers.
I finally made up my mind on the trim for the fronts of the Fc212 horns.
I made some changes from the prototype, shortening up the top and bottom extensions, making the trim smaller in size, and turning the top and bottom trim square instead of at the angle of the tops and bottoms. The end result is a horn that looks it's size, and trim that fits the proportion of the horn. However, this was very time consuming, tedious work. The problem is that there's no good solid base to hold the trim up against to make adjustment cuts, and there's just enough play between the sides and the top/bottoms that perfect joints only happen by accident! So I really should try to come up with an alternative for future horns. But these horns will certainly be beautiful and unique.
www.voltiaudio.com/fc212p.shtml Next week I'll work on the motorboards and
tweeter boxes.
I made some progress on the 1" to 2" horn adapters. I made a few prototypes, one of which is pictured below.
The idea is to provide a smooth expansion rate between the 1" and 2" throats and also make it cost-effective to build. I used 3/4" thick hardwood and cut the pieces at an angle to provide the basic expansion, but then I drilled out the end with a Forstner bit to provide the round to square transition. This transition extends about half way down the adapter, and I used a file and expanded that part out towards the mouth of the adapter. It was very interesting to try different hole sizes and listen to the results by talking or singing through the adapter. The sound got better and better as the hole size got larger. I could even hear a difference when I filed out the hole to expand it. What a terrific sound I was getting when I held the adapter up to a Fc260 horn! That was really cool how well it worked.
The sample badges arrived!
"Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!" Well actually we do! I've had several customers ask for something to identify their V-Trac horns with, so I've been working on a design for quite a while. These are not as elegant as I would have liked, but the really nice ones would have cost ten bucks a piece! But they are a good design, original, discreet, and classy looking; and they were reasonably priced. They are made of metal, with the design printed on top, and a clear expoxy coating over it. They have adhesive on the backs so they stick very well to grill cloth or anything else for that matter.
I'll be sending these out to all past customers, and providing them with all new horns that
I sell.
Interesting picture
For some great vintage hi-fi pictures, information, and fun, you should check out this
website
http://itishifi.blogspot.com
Well I guess that's it for the news this week. Thanks for checking in.
4/3/2010 I struggled last week to decide how to best install the trim on the fronts of the Fc212 horns. The prototype used top and bottom extensions so that the trim could "turn" from one orientation across the tops to another orientation down the sides. That worked fine, but I didn't like the look of the horn with those extensions. It looked too big and bulky. So I've been working with my customer to try and figure out another way to do it, and it's a tedious process, which is not good for someone like me who likes to GET THINGS DONE!!! So when the Heresy II's showed up at my shop on Wednesday afternoon, I wasted no time in getting right on them. These are my next restoration project, to be finished with Tineo (Indian Apple Wood) veneer, satin lacquer, and new woofers. I worked til midnight that night and got most of the veneer on them, and it felt great to GET SOMETHING DONE!!!
You can view the
mini photo-essay page here
www.voltiaudio.com/tineoheresy.shtml
The "NJ" Khorn restoration webpage is back up again. If you haven't seen these, you should go take a peek. They are finished in a stunning reddish-orange rosewood veneer, and I also modified a La Scala for a custom center channel speaker.
I spent many hours listening to music last week. I know, sounds like tough work huh? Well somebody's got to do it! It takes a lot of listening to develop a new crossover network, as I'm doing for my V-Trac horn upgrade for Klipsch Khorns. No matter what you might hear out there regarding the necessity for the technical side of crossover design, the fact is, it's a subjective evaluation that rules the sound. A person can baffle with BS all day about specifications, measurements, and graphs; but at the end of the day, it's what the system sounds like that matters to me. The only way to be sure of that, is to listen to music on the speakers that you're designing the crossovers for! Seems obvious doesn't it? Would it surprise you to learn about someone building crossover networks for speakers they don't even own? Well it's out there! So when I say I'm spending hours listening to music, I'm doing so for good reason, and for good results that you can count on. I'm getting closer and closer every week to ordering components for the prototype V-Trac crossover networks. Then I get to listen and tweak for many more hours! I also did some more work on the 1" to 2" throat adapters for the the V-Trac horns. This adapter would allow my customers to use the V-Trac horns (a 2" throat horn) with their original K55 drivers, allowing them to upgrade their Khorns with an extra step and spread out the cost. I suppose some people might stop there, and be satisfied with the K55 drivers on the wooden tractrix horn. To do so however, would deny them the immense pleasure of the effortless, natural sound of the larger format, and higher quality BMS or B&C drivers. As part of this work on the adapters, I made two designs for Fc260 horns and drew them up on graph paper. One design for a 1" throat and the other for a 2" throat. Both have the same Fc and mouth dimensions. I wanted to compare the physical shape and size of the horns to one another to see the relationship between the throats, the middle part of the horns, and the mouths. The 1" horn is more than five inches longer than the 2" horn, all in the throat; which brought to my mind an observation that shouldn't go without comment. Deciding on a 1" horn or 2" horn for upgrading the midrange of the Klipsch Khorn, does not require a lot of technical understanding. This is not rocket science. You can use common sense, along with a little bit of knowledge regarding the sound of horns; look at the picture of the two horn designs below, and figure out which one is going to sound better than the other.
It's intuitive for most of us. The longer, more constricted, smaller throat horn will not sound as good as the shallower, more open, larger throat one. The "techno-babble" crowd will want to muddy the waters here. But those of us who actually LISTEN to music on our speakers know the difference.
So when the techno-babbles start telling you about frequency response plots, sensitivity, polar response, inductance corner, driver non-linearities, impedance reflection, pure resistive load, intermodulation distortion, mass/inductance roll-off, damping factor, phase plugs, on-axis, off-axis, throat distortion, and on and on and on . . . Do what I do. I listen to, or read what they have to say, I understand the importance of it, and I appreciate the knowledge they have; but I also know that the technical analysis only gets you just so far. In the end, it's always about how something sounds. Audio is a subjective artform, and we determine what we like by listening, not by looking at graphs. There are people out there who believe that changing to a larger format horn/driver for the midrange of the Khorn is technically not needed. They might be right from a technical point of view, but they are dead wrong as far as the subjective evaluation. I'm going to stick with promoting the use of 2"-throat horns/drivers for upgrading the midrange of Khorns, and for the new speakers that I will be building. I still maintain that it's the driver, not the horn that gets most of the credit for the improvement in sound quality of the V-Trac upgrade. It has to do with the shallower horns, the more wide-open throat, and the quality of engineering that the new 2" drivers offer. If you ever get the chance to put your favorite L.P. on the table and listen to a large format midrange horn on Khorns, you'll know what I'm talking about. Thanks for checking in.
3/27/2010 Wow, that week went by fast! It seems like I was just sitting down here yesterday writing about what happened over the past week. Not a whole lot to report this week. I worked a lot on the new Fc212 horns that I'm building. Building the prototype really helped me to figure out how the different pieces might work, but now that I'm actually building a couple of pairs for sale, I'm figuring out the details of how to make the whole process more efficient. It's quite a trick to mold the pieces for the throat of the horn, and I'm having to make special jigs and tools, and develop techniques for doing this. I'm also building a pair of Fc260 horns with the same technique for a customer. I envision being able to offer my customers many different models of these horns for use with all kinds of different systems. I'll be testing the Fc212 with my Klipsch Jubilee bass bins as a replacement for the K402 horn that came with them. I will use a tweeter though, three-way without the need for E.Q. But I don't know why I couldn't eventually make a shallow, conical/tractrix type horn similar to the K402 as a two-way replacement with E.Q. I did some more work on my La Scalas this week. I set them up in a special place in my shop for near-field listening, and I evaluated the differences between the K400 stock horn and the Fastlane LS Tractrix mid horns. I also evaluated the difference between stock "AA" networks and the ALK Universal networks. La Scalas are just an awesome sounding speaker anyway, but sitting just six feet in front of them is really an experience. I've made a webpage with all the details of my listening experience with the La Scalas here - www.voltiaudio.com/lslistening.shtml This is all leading up to the installation of my La Scala V-Trac horns in these same La Scalas. When I do that, I'll post my impressions on the webpage. I finally got the Belle V-Trac webpage up and running. www.voltiaudio.com/bellevtrac.shtml I have now sold three pairs of Belle V-Trac horns, and my next step is to get some customer comments on the webpage. I've gotten some good feedback so far. Frankly, I didn't expect to sell this many of them this quickly, otherwise I would have built more. I built five pair, which leaves me with two pair left in stock, and I've already got one of my Belle V-Trac customers asking me to split up one of the pairs for a single center channel! I did some figuring, using the Tractrix calculator that I use for my horns, and I've determined that the difference between the 2" throat horns and the 1" throat horns, in terms of the design and construction, is all in the throat area. In other words - using the same Fc, length of horn, and mouth size - the difference is that the 1" throat version is just an extended throat of the 2" version. Since this is the case, it would be very easy for me to make a 1" to 2" throat extension that would fit on the end of my V-Trac horn so that my customers could use their original K55 drivers! This is way cool, because I've had a lot of people ask if they could buy my horns and use their K55 drivers until they could save up enough cash to purchase the BMS drivers, and now I think I may have an option for them. I've got to build a set and test them for sound as well as physical dimensions (fitting under the Khorn tophat without sticking out the back). But if it all works well, I'll post back here, and of course on the V-Trac page about this new option. I made a webpage for the Rosewood Heresy speakers that I restored.
www.voltiaudio.com/rwheresy.shtml
I'm still looking for feedback regarding my website. I've only had this new site for a couple of months now, and when I think about how much content I've put up here in that amount of time, it's impressive. But I would like to know from you all out there, what you'd like to see here. I'd also like to know if you find the navigation works well, or if the print style and size is ok, or if you find spelling errors, or ??? Please give me some feedback! Thanks for checking in.
3/20/2010 This past week, I did a lot of listening to the B&C DCM50 midrange drivers and compared them to the BMS4592 drivers again, only this time I was using my new Behringer/T-amp test setup, and the results of this testing were different than the testing I did with passive networks. I have re-written the results of my tests and you can view them here www.voltiaudio.com/midrangedrivers.shtml I finished up the Walnut grill frames (for Heresies) last week and I think they look great!
I'm getting ready to do some work on a pair of La Scalas. I had a pair of empty beater cabinets kicking around the shop, and I cleaned them up and installed all original drivers in them and got them cranked up the other day. I will spend some time listening to them as stock units and then I want to switch to Universal networks and do some listening, then switch to the Fastlane LS midrange replacement horns and do some listening. I'll make notes of my listening impressions with these upgrades and get them into a webpage soon. This is all leading up to the installation of the La Scala V-Trac horns, which I have made, but still have not finished. I want to do a step by step photo tutorial on how to install them, and at the same time figure out the best way to trim the fronts and install the tweeters. Once I get that all done, I will of course do my listening evaluations and figure out the best attenuation for the midrange and tweeters to balance the system. I will also work on a new filter design for a dedicated La Scala/Belle V-Trac crossover network. So keep your ears open, I'll be working on all this over the next few weeks. I'm always trying to improve my packaging for my products. I don't like using peanuts because I hate dealing with them myself when I get stuff packaged with peanuts. Sometimes I have to use them though, and I always use the soft foam kind, not the white styrofoam type that sticks to everything with static cling, and breaks apart into a million little white foam bits! You know what I mean! I get a lot of comments from my customers on the quality of my packaging and the great condition that their items were received in. I think quality packaging is important, and I think the way my packaging looks is important too. So I try to find solutions to packaging that protect the product during shipping, keep the size and weight of the package as compact as possible, makes it so the packaging is re-usable, and is relatively easy to unpack. The idea of packaging my products in large boxes with Wal-Mart bags full of peanuts, is not my style! One of the things I did recently was get some stickers made to put on my boxes
that I'm shipping out. I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out, and
I like that my packaging looks more professional with them.
I put up another restoration webpage last week, the "T" Khorn page. It's a short page, compared to some of the others, but these Khorns had raw-wood Brazilian rosewood veneer with Cane cloth, and they really did come out nice. You can view the webpage here www.voltiaudio.com/tkhorn.shtml My webmaster has been working hard to get our META keywords optimized, and also on other details to make the website more searchable. I'm looking forward to seeing how that turns out in the weeks ahead. Well I guess that's it for this week. Next week I'm working on the Fc212 horns and the La Scalas, along with all the other little projects I've got going. My wife is hoping the test gear makes its way out of our living room and over to the shop! Actually I do too, it will be nice to have the living room back again, and use it for listening to music for enjoyment rather than work! Thanks for checking in.
3/13/10 Today was the Town Meeting day in Benton. The last bastion of true democracy. There were about 75 people there, out of a population of 2700. Town employees didn't get a raise from last year, but the townspeople still voted for all the service agency appropriations for children, elderly, handicapped, etc... We broke for luch, where the town "mothers" had wonderful food lined up on a big table in one of the big rooms of the Benton Grange. Now you know the real reason for my attendance! Lol. I made a lot of progress on the Fc212 horn last week. I've got it
in my living room right now, on top of one of my Khorns, and it sounds wonderful.
This horn has some pretty unique construction methods, which resulted in a very smooth throat transition and extremely well damped curved sides. And of course it's all finished in beautiful hardwoods. Here's the webpage www.voltiaudio.com/fc212p.shtml I put up another restoration webpage this week, the "M" Khorn page, which has been the most popular one over the last few years. I still get emails about that restoration. It's the photo-essay that provides the most detailed information about how I do restoration work. I'll try to spend some time every week to add pages and information to the website. I'm making a pair of Heresy grills for a customer. Not the regular
grills, but the ones that I did a couple of years ago that mimic the Klipsch
Shorthorn style front.
I continue to work a little bit each week on the new crossover design for the V-Trac horn upgrade. Designing a new network is more than just the filter design and component choice, it also has a lot to do with features and marketability. One of the things I'm considering is a PCB mounted network, rather than point to point wiring. The goals would be to lower cost, improve quality, and have the network housed in an enclosure to keep it cleaner and neater looking. I like the looks of the electronic components showing, but lets face it, most of the time it's all hidden behind the speaker anyway. It may end up being a hybrid, we'll see. I took a big step this last week in working on the filter design part of the
new network, by purchasing a Behringer active crossover/processing unit, and another
T-amp (to make three total). My poor wife! What was once our
living room has turned into a test facility! Generally our home is my
wife's domain, and the shop is mine. But I don't have a room that sounds
as nice as my living room at the shop, so here it is.
She's being very tolerant and understanding. Somehow I think the argument is going to be made though, that she should be able to spend the same amount on herself as I did on the test equipment! Initial results with this equipment are very promising. I was able to dial in the filters of the Universal network and there it was . . . my Khorns sounded just like they do with the Universal networks in them. Within an hour, I had a filter network programmed into the Behringer that bettered the Universal network by a large margin, mainly because I was able to tailor the network specifically to the components I'm using. I finally have some tools to work with that will simulate virtually any filter slope and crossover point for a three-way system. Combine this flexibility, with instantaneous switching between pre-sets while listening to music, and my ears to evaluate the sound coming from the Khorns, and it's a powerful combination. Lets face it, testing alone can only get you so far with a design. A person can have all the testing gear in the world, and the technical knowledge to go along with it, but in the end it's going to come down to how the music sounds on that system, not what the graphs show. We don't listen to music with our eyes. The Behringer gets me into the ballpark very quickly, and from there I trust my ears to take it the rest of the way. So there's lots of listening and tweaking in my future, and probably some "negotiating" on my part for use of the living room! Thanks for checking in.
3/6/2010 The B&C DCM50 drivers were delivered yesterday, and I didn't waste any time testing them. The results of the comparison with the BMS4592's, along with some other tasty information, can be seen here Midrange Drivers I've started a new drop-down menu tab titled "Greg's Pages". This is where I'll post pages on various topics that you might find interesting, like the midrange driver comparison noted above. I finally got to test the Beyma CP21F tweeter last week, and I made a page that describes my listening impressions of that tweeter and a few others as well. The custom midrange horns are coming along nicely. How about I just copy the email I sent to one of my customers here?
I sold another Belle V-Trac package upgrade this week, which surprises me a little. I didn't think you Belle owners would want to spend that much cash! I guess you're more serious than I thought! You know I'm just joking with you, right? I wish I had made more now. Where's the La Scala owners? No V-Trac for you? I've got them made, but just haven't finished any yet. I'm waiting for a LS owner to order a pair and kick my butt in gear. Too much work to do, so I've got to stop writing and get to the shop. Thanks for checking in.
2/27/2010 Well, I went to pick up the Khorn that I dropped off to the furniture designer, and he had some drawings for me to look at regarding the new cornerhorn speaker design. He's a very nice guy, and he came up with some interesting ideas, but unfortunately I don't think his ideas are going to work. Oh well, you've got to go in a lot of different directions when designing a new product, and even though this one didn't pan out, others will. More of the same in the shop this week. I continue to finish up motorboards for the large quantity of horns I built over the last few weeks. I spent quite a bit of time working on a prototype of the Fc212 horn. There's a lot of work to developing a new product. It seems like I have to stop every day and work on finding a specific adhesive, or do more figuring on dimensions, or rebuild the jig table a different way, or . . . But it is starting to take shape. I'm going to get this one horn built and analyze how the new construction methods worked, and I'm also going to LISTEN to it! I'll set it up on top of my Khorns and set it up so I can switch "on the fly" between the V-Trac and this new horn. There are many different ways to test a speaker, my favorite is to use my EARS! I'm working with Dave Harris of Fastlane Audio to develop a new crossover network for use with the V-Trac horns. Dave has been very helpful to me. My plan is to develop several networks that can be used with many different speakers, and I'll also offer at least one kit for the DIY'ers out there. I have a few interesting ideas that I think will make improvements to the ALK networks that I've been using over the last year. I have a pair of B&C DCM50 midrange drivers coming to me next week. On paper this looks like a pretty good driver and I'm anxious to compare it to the BMS drivers to see how it sounds. This is going on the priority list, so as soon as they show up I'm going to start testing them and get my impressions down in writing. I should be able to report on these in next weeks news. I used to post a lot on the Klipsch forums, but the ban on commercial entities selling on the forum has put a stop to most of my posting. I miss it. I really enjoyed sharing my restoration work, or new builds, or what I was working on to upgrade my Khorns. It was nice getting feedback from other forum members. Since I'm not as involved with the Klipsch forum, I'm hoping that some of you who are viewing my website might chime in by email once in a while and fill that gap. So please, don't be shy, send me an email and let's chat about audio stuff! I'm surprised by how much interest there is in the Jamboree bass bins. It seems that every week I get at least one email from someone who wants to know more about them. So I'm going to expand on the Volti Audio Jamboree webpage in the near future. I'll provide more information about my listening impressions, and what I've done so far in my testing of these great bass bins. I may even contact Dana Moore, the designer and patent holder, and ask him if I can provide the plans to people, as he does, and with the same stipulation, that the plans only be used for building your own personal speakers. I don't know, we'll see. Thanks for checking in.
2/21/2010 The first two pairs of Belle V-Trac horns shipped out last week, and I just heard from one of my customers that they're installed and sounding good. I WILL get that webpage up soon, I've got to take pictures of the raw horn and then with cloth installed. This week I'm gearing up for two custom horn builds. Both pairs of horns will be used with Jamboree bass bins. I've designed an Fc212 horn that will be built with natural hardwood and veneer finishes. The idea is to build beautiful horns that will be showpieces, rather than hidden behind cloth. The horns will be modified tractrix and they will utilize a very unique sidewall construction. They will also have a unique throat construction that integrates the round to square transition right into the horn, providing a smoother transition from the driver to the horn. I can't go into too much detail, as these features are patentable, and I don't want my competitors figuring out how I do them! I'm starting to get more serious about the new cornerhorn speaker. I have two customers ready to buy them right now, so I will be working on this new design in the coming weeks. This new speaker will be based on the design of the Klipsch Khorn bass bin, but with modifications and improvements that I hope will result in a bit more deep bass, and a better defined mid-bass. The upper end will be the V-Trac/BMS midrange, and the Beyma CP-25 tweeter. I am working with a well-known Maine furniture designer on the aesthetics of the design. I brought a Khorn down to his shop a few weeks ago, and I'm meeting with him Tuesday to go over his preliminary drawings. There will be many nice features going into the design of these new speakers, like a front screen that removes easily for front access to the horns and crossovers, so adjustments can be made without moving the speakers out from the corners. I'm also planning on making the midrange and tweeter adjustable in/out, up/down to add some flexibility to these corner speakers. This way the speakers can remain snug in the corners, while optimizing the imaging at various seating positions and in different shaped rooms. Thanks for checking in.
2/13/2010 It's been a busy week at the shop painting 48 horns! I'm working seven days a week now, including many nights at the shop. No complaints though, it's nice to have the work. I will be introducing the Belle V-Trac horn soon. I had two people interested in buying them, so I went ahead and made five pair. I will have a dedicated webpage for them soon. They are exactly like the Khorn V-Trac, except with a slightly smaller horn, and they will fit right in place of the original grill frames on the Belle without modification or lifting the top up with risers. The horn is an Fc280, delivering that big, wide-open 2" throat sound that the V-Trac is becoming known for. There is still room off to the side for all the same tweeters used in the Khorn V-Trac, including the Beyma CP-25. Still painting next week, but I'll also be getting into the two pairs of custom natural hardwood horns that I'm building for two customers building their own Jamboree bass bins . Those will be fun projects! Thanks for checking in.
2/6/2010 The big news this week is the new website! It's been a long time coming. I spent a great deal of time on the logo design, which kind of held things up, because I wanted the introduction of the new logo, the new business name, and the website to coincide with one another. So it's official now, Greg's Audio is no longer a hobby, and Volti Audio is my main focus now. Kind of sad in a way, because I'm sure some of the fun associated with the hobby will be lost. Now I MUST go to the shop every day to work, and not just go when I feel like it. But that's ok, I love working at my shop, and the passion I have for producing my work has been re-energized. I've been building custom homes for so long it really was getting boring. What I'm feeling right now is an excitement that I remember having years ago when I started in the the building business. It's nice to feel that again with something that I enjoy so much. Please be patient as I continue to build the website. I get help from a guy named Ken Lavoie (who owns Central Maine Web) with a lot of the technical aspects of the site, but the content is all mine, and I'm making all the pages myself. I would love to hear from you regarding your thoughts on the website. Constructive criticism, as well as suggestions are always welcomed. Til next time . . . "Hear The Music"! Greg 1-170, 2-347, 3-537, 4-710, 5-860, 6-1026, 7+1-1267 |
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