Cornwall IV vs. Volti Rival, Razz; Razz v. 1, 2, 3 -- what changed?


Looking for efficient speakers. I had the opportunity to listen to a Cornwall IV yesterday. It was run on nice tubes (Primaluna 400 EL34s) with a bluesound node streamer/dac.

QUESTION: I'm curious if anyone has compared CW IV with Volti Rival of Razz. Thoughts?

QUESTION 2: Anyone know what changed in the Volti Razz when it moved from v. 2 to v. 3?

Thanks

128x128hilde45

Seems the OP is targeting ~94-95dB. 

My vote is for the Volti Razz or stretch to the Lucera.  

Other options:

Charney Companion Moderno/Excalibur 104dB 

Tekton ~98-100dB

Daedelus is popular with low powered amps, maybe used to meet budget

Zu Audio

 

 

hilde45

First off, I've never owned any horn speaker. I have listened to them many times at audiophile friends houses, dealers, and at shows. Klipsch fans please don't flame me, just posting my personal experience. That said, I have never heard a Klipsch speaker that I thought to myself "I must go buy this"; they've been really good, but not magical

I have though, heard Volti speakers that made me drool over the thought of owning them. I've heard the Razz many times (in many environments), and always have been really impressed with the sound.....dynamics like I have never heard in any speakers. They also seem to be very forgiving of set up, as long as you follow a few rules.

Recently one of those friends of mine (who has only owned horn loaded speakers), upgraded to the Volti Lucera. To my ear they are some of the best speakers at any price I have heard.

I also will be looking at the Pure Audio Project Trio 15, which has several options for tweeters including a horn.

Many good suggestions have been offered here.  I don’t think you will be disappointed with any of the Volti models, and if you can stretch to a Charney Audio Companion speaker that would be my choice.  The new Voxativ Ampeggio is another full range single driver backloaded horn system like the Charney speaker that is also very dynamic and good sounding.  I heard the PAP Trio 15s with the concentric midrange/tweeter option and I think it is one of the very best speaker I’ve heard at the $8,000 level.  I have heard the Quintet 15 with the horn driver option and it was good too.  
While not as vivid sounding as these horn and full-range driver suggestions, someone looking at high efficiency/easy to drive speakers should also hear Audio Note offerings.  They may look like ordinary box speakers, but they are among the most musically enjoyable speakers on the market.  On paper they are not extremely efficient, but I’ve heard them with SET and other lower-powered amps and they are easy to drive (Audio Note makes only low=powered amps).

Like someone said above.....

A little bit of mods on the CW4's really helps squeeze extra SQ out of those things.  

Damping the horn, tightening up the enclosure, and then a little work on the crossover does wonders.  It brings that speaker up another level.  

I had a pair of Chorus 2 for a minute. It was great speaker with the right kind of music but needed eq for sure! I’ve had CW4 for about 5 months, currently for sale. Not that I didn’t like them just found something that suited me better. The CW4s are waaaaaay better than the older Chorus 2. No contest. They do all the things that the more audiophile stuff does “almost” but are really dynamic and easy to listen to. They just sound right.