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

@tvad No worries. Appreciate your taking an interest in the question! Thank you!

@hilde45 "Because I am willing to spend, say $16k as the upper end of used, that means that it’s relevant, to me, to allow discussion to range widely, if that means speakers with MSRP much higher than the MSRP of the Cornwalls or Rivals but with the possibility of a used one for sale."

This is helpful to close in scope a bit more with funding potential. IIRC the older thread a while back topped out at $10k. Now we’ve bumped up from Cornwall range to $16k upper end - of used. That definitely opens a few more doors I’d think. Will be fun to read what members continue to suggest. Enjoying reading this particular thread as more speaker geeks come out from the woods and chime in more. :)

@hilde45 Not trying to push Tannoy's, and I have never owned them, but I'm intrigued by them. Why? Same reason I became a fan of Harbeth. Once you hear them the sound sticks with you (me).

I heard vintage Tannoy's - no idea what model but pretty sure the driver's were 12 or 15" monitor gold, driven by a Jadis tube amp and a streamer/Dac unit that I do not recall. This was at George Meyer repair shop in LA. The system was in the front "office" and could not have been more haphazardly set up - but the timbre of the low end was quite remarkable along with what seemed like nice detail and mid range. 

FWIW. 

A stacked pair of tweaked/modified CWIV. Invert the top pair, as we used to do with Lg Advents, AR, Heresy, JBLs. etc. Under your budget. What a presentation !

I was targeting the Rivals IIRC at ~$10k, then was very disappointed that Volti, along with the rest of the industry, raised their prices. I complained to Greg even though I knew it wasn’t his fault - rising Covid/post Covid costs. He says to demo the RAZZ, which I did at 2 audio shows - they sounded fantastic, but I had already mentally invested in the idea of Rivals.

Luckily, there was a used mint pair of Rivals in my favorite wood veneer - birdseye maple so I purchased them. When the stars line up.... I was a bit surprised how much larger they are vs the RAZZ.

The new Lucera has larger drivers, seemingly the same as the Rivals.

After hearing the RAZZ, it’s hard to imagine @hilde45 wanting to upgrade as the sonics are terrific. However if @hilde45 has a bit of curiousity upgraditis as many of us do, then he should stretch for at least the Lucera.

If I had the large space and funds, I’d purchase the Volti Vittora which seems sonically superior to Klipsch offerings. As horn bass drivers can be huge, the size of the Vittora is my comfort limit.

@hilde45 wishing you the very best and hope you find your ideal sound

Maybe useful: My main system is Vimberg MinoD driven by Constellation electronics targeting neutral linear without giving up musicality. My Volti Rival at 100dB is used to explore tube magic starting with the 300b and flea watt amps. Greg confirmed that I can try 2watts amps which opens the door to try 2a3 and 45 SET amps.