NY Audio Show September 26th to September 28th

Jet,

Honestly I have not heard teh Volti enough to say for certain. The one time I heard them at Capital audiofest a couple years back was brief and teh setup far from optimal.

WHereas I spent a good half hour or so listening to the Cathedrals and the setup in the room overall was more optimal.

Based on limited sample, I preferred the tonal balance and overall presentation of the Cathedrals to teh VOlti. THe Cathedral sound was more like what I have heard that I like from various more modern horn designs, very clean, uncolored and dynamic, with perhaps slight touch of warmth. But I suspect either of the two could be setup to please my ears with a little time and effort.

I just thought the Cathedrals I heard to be a very sound value for a pair of large high efficiency horns and heard more from those that I liked.

I do not even recall exactly what gear was used with either, so that makes it even harder to compare. I do recall the Cathedral demo was done with some fairly modest cost vintage gear and a fairly conventional CD source however, so that impressed me as well.

I have heard the Volti Vittoras several times at the Capital Audio Fest and in Denver a couple years ago. To my ears they sounded best with the designer's own 2A3 SE amps which are a DIY design called the Horus Silver. See:

http://www.magnequest.com/diy_lessard.htm

I did not like the Vittoras nearly as much with the Border Patrol amps.

Sal,
Your preference for the 2A3 SET amplifiers makes sense to me. This speaker is high sensitivity (103-105 db range) and I believe an easy load to drive as well. Most often you're using fractions of 1 watt at up to moderately loud levels. So it would seem that a 26 watt amplifier is in overkill territory for a speaker this highly sensitive. The 2A3 amplifier would appear to be enough power and provide excellent sound as you attest to. Well based on your and Jet's reports the Volti was impressive with both amps that were rather different.
Charles,

If I recall the pricing correctly Cathedral pricing comes in at a fraction of the cost of Volti Vitoras. I really liked the Volti's loooks though. I came in really wanting to like the sound similarly but I just recall the results not living up to my expectations. I recall the setup being quite haphazard in the middle of some room off the lobby though, probably not by preference.

After this experience I look forward to hearing more horns in the future. Salectric it would make sense they can be driven with much less than 26 watts and amplifier choice might come down to the type of music one listens to. As you say Greg Roberts of Volti uses a 2A3. I don't know what it was, but the sound was so dynamic and effortless. Large scale orchestral music was breath taking. They may choose to use more powerful amps at shows to impress people like me :)
I would like to hear them in a larger room and after Mapman's report on the Cathedral's won't miss a chance to hear those as well.