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Volt Loudspeakers


Sharkfinger
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When I had some loudspeakers reconed by the marvelous Wembley Loudspeakers (in Shepherd's Bush, London) a few years ago, I got to talking about bass drivers and they mentioned a company called Volt. They claimed they were the best speakers they'd ever seen and they must have seen a lot in their time. Interestingly, they make drivers for Glockenlang who I hear make pretty darned good bass cabs! They're £1000+ and well out of my price range.

Recently, I've thought about getting some of their drivers and sticking them in either my SWR Goliath Jnr (2x10) or Peavey TVX (2x10). Now, I know it's really not that simple and the internal volume (size) must be the recommended amount for those drivers, porting must be right, etc. I also thought about making a custom cab, perhaps based on the measurements of one of [url="http://www.glockenklang.de/en/products/products_bass.htm"]Glockenlang's cabs[/url] or based on Volt's [url="http://www.voltloudspeakers.co.uk/Loudspeakers/Ps_PA_MI_Range/Ps10_175/body_ps10_175.html"]suggested enclosures[/url].

Does anyone have any advice/experience with these speakers?

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When I was home for Xmas I went to my dads work, and next door to him is [url="http://www.avihifi.co.uk/"]this audiophile speaker manufacturer[/url], they spoke very highly of Volt speakers, and especially their 18" sub driver that has a weird chassis in front of the cone that apparently helps dissipate heat from the coil better (although we all know thermal power handling is no measure of a speaker).

There are two chaps there, one is the speaker design nerding guy who was very informative about toroidal transformers and such, and the other is responsible for statements like 'loudspeakers all sound the same but get better as you spend more money'.

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Hi There,

More background than experience.
First came across Volt about 25 years ago, when they were seen to be supplying real hi-fi manufacturers. Cheap drive units they're not. A look on their web-site shows that they're supplying REL as well as Glockenklang. So I would guess they are into the high end commercial audio and professional studio monitors market. The emphasis appears to be on longevity, with high quality low distortion drive units.

Seems reasonable to expect a high quality, clean hi-fi sound.

Some of their units are shown on the wilmslowaudio.co.uk site, which is mainly biased toward DIY hi-fi.

Balcro.

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[quote name='Balcro' post='365410' date='Dec 29 2008, 12:30 PM']Some of their units are shown on the wilmslowaudio.co.uk site, which is mainly biased toward DIY hi-fi.

Balcro.[/quote]
Yikes! Cheap they are not! Two (or even one) of those would set me back more than a decent commercial complete cab.

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[quote name='Sharkfinger' post='365259' date='Dec 29 2008, 01:08 AM']Does anyone have any advice/experience with these speakers?[/quote]

Yes, I've used lots of them. They are very reliable, very consistent, and very good sounding, although a bit pricey at full retail. For bass guitar I'd recommend the BM251.3. It needs an enclosure of 30 litres, or 60 litres for a 2x10. It will spank just about anything else you'd like to mention. It has a genuine 5mm xmax, a low resonant frequency and a very smooth response up to around 5kHz. Not cheap, though, and you don't see many second hand ones.

Their standard steel frame drivers sound good, but won't handle huge amounts of bass.

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Volt drivers were used by Alligator in their bass combo/cabs during the last couple of years of production (not the green covering).
If the cabs come up on Ebay etc they tend not to go for much as not many people are familiar with the name but maybe worth buying just for the drivers alone.

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  • 3 weeks later...

[quote name='steve-soar' post='365649' date='Dec 29 2008, 07:00 PM']I have a Glockenklang Duo 2x12" cab with Volts and it sounds fantastic, [b]very satisfying right through the frequency range and an amazing amount of tight bass from such a small cab[/b].[/quote]

Can only second that one. I got rid of my huge Mesa /Electro Voice rig and changed to a Glockenklang Soul combo with 2x10" Volt and a Bass Art Top by Glockenklang together with the so-called Quattro with 4x10" Volt. Amazing range, clarity and punch - also for low B. In comparison, the Mesa Powerhouse (all Electro Voice speakers; 4x10, 1x15 + Horn) sounded also huge but dull.
Cheers

Edited by spiritchaser
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