This is from "On Sound and Music" a journal of Pro and High-End Audio, Music and other things that matter.
By Jim Marod
Starting Out Small
I've wrestled with U Volas avant-garde, utterly unique ellipsoid single piece loudspeaker design on several levels—all of my wrestling, enjoyable, informative and, finally, victorious. The extremely rigid egg-shaped cabinet is formed of proprietary "mineral-aggregate" materials (dubbed KCF) that drastically dampens internal resonance vibration and the radical curvature of its design minimizes "edge" diffraction and related self-interaction problems.
U Vola's time-aligned, two-way electrodynamic design is rated 87dB efficient. Believe me, the ease of driving these speakers with relatively underpowered amplifiers suggests a far higher efficiency. These "flying egg" transducers are extremely alert, sensitive, and just plain powerful. With a behemoth amplifier (say, a big Classe or Perreaux) one has the sense that windows across the street—in your favorite neighbor's car, for example —are at risk if you crank the volume knob.
So why have I wrestled a bit with such decidedly fine and truly musical art objects? Because that is what we've got here, pieces of Italian art that catch anyone's eye.
The dedicated speaker wires that U Vola ships with these fine unboxed marvels are not up to the level of sonic refinement that the transducers themselves deserve. Because the speakers input receptacles are ¼" phone jack connections, you either use the already terminated wire provided or craft your own. Question: how you propose finding, or making, Nordost Valhalla or top-of-the-line Analysis Plus speaker cables (for instance) with phone jack terminations at one end? With difficulty. Or considerable expense.
Now you see why I've wrestled a bit with speakers that, once they receive cable up to their own elevated pedigree, begin to show just how extraordinary they are. How did I solve the problem? Initially, by adopting a set of relatively modest Kimber Kable speaker wires to test my belief that the extreme frequency range these speakers seemed capable of was, in fact, as wide and full as I suspected. It was. Next—by finding a banana-to-phono jack adapter for converting several top of the line speaker cables (Valhalla; Silverline Custom; and Acoustic Zen Satori)—these powerhouse speakers roared with their own inherent splendor. Sometimes you have to improvise. At moments it pays to make it up as you go along if you want to dig into the inner recess of that always elusive joy, musical magic.
L'uovo Che Vola
"The flying egg"... don't you love that? I sure do. Any speaker company with enough experimental moxie to craft a genuinely avant-garde design that, simultaneously, blows the doors on musicality deserves to be wrestled with a bit.
Here is the blissfully surprising part of my patient work to hear these great speakers do their whole thing. They have a sonic radiation pattern that not only establishes an astonishingly wide soundstage, a huge musical footprint; but that creates the illusion of musical immediacy when you sit or stand behind them, as well.
I am not making that up. It is not a demoted, distorted, deformed and/or mangled sense of music-sort-of... it's real music, genuine musical sonic dispersion all around (180 degrees) and enveloping the flying egg's carefully suspended lobes.
Did I mention that these speakers do not couple with a stand? They "interface" only at a top nodal point from which, by a thin wire, they are suspended as if floating. Do you think that the next hipster visiting your pad who finds two red or multi-colored egg-shaped jobbies "floating" by thin wires—sonically recreating Harry Belafonte strolling the Carnegie Hall stage in vivid musical technicolor—will regard you as gauche? Excessive? Bizarre?
Au contraire, mon ami. Your Keruoac wanna-be dude (or gal) will promptly pump you for info. What are these? Where'd you get 'em? How much are they? Do they really sound that good or is the eager wanna-be hipster unconsciously employing a visual placebo effect that's got him (her) confused... I mean, what's a poor non-audiophile guy or gal supposed to do confronted with sound devices that look this good?
You know, dude?
Well, the U Volas do, indeed, look good. They sound better than "good." They have a sense of nearly infinite frequency extension, an illusion, of course —but a great illusion with scads of useful overtones that are harmonically coherent. Don't get me wrong here. I'm not saying these speakers go head to head with Apogee Stage speakers and come out on top. They don't. Neither am I suggesting, inferentially, they compete on an even field with Maggie 3.6 or 1.6 panels.
But I am telling you that listening to the U Volas over an extended time will not leave you gasping for more music or more "air" between instruments or more anything... except, perhaps, those last degrees of refinement and sonic magic that the most ultimate loudspeakers create (at a very high price point). The U Volas are, in their remarkable way, not without a certain affinity with KEF 104.2 speakers, an absolute rock'n'roll and blues jam masterpiece. The U Volas, like the KEFs, "make music." They are party animals. They play beautifully at very low levels. They play gloriously at normal listening levels. And they crank music seductively, convincingly, engagingly at very (very) high sound pressure levels—at the expense of your neighbor's Porsche windows across the street... at the risk of including everyone within earshot of "dropping by" momentarily for a beer or a musical "test drive" or just to party.
Breaking No Eggs
My wrestling's had positive uses. I've gotten these speakers to demonstrate their lion-like heart. They would slay dragons if we lived in more regal, more romantically Arthurian times.
Living now and here, preparing to tackle the next terrorist cadre that attacks our urban outback (dismissing with contempt those who should be colleagues but prefer to squabble, as losers do), these bold music-makers suggest themselves as "speakers for our era."
What do I mean? Several things. First, I suspect that the gang at
U Vola may've not zeroed in on their most lucrative market. For years, Polk speakers have been pushed as if they were party machines. Not so. The U Volas are.
Second, although these way-cool, non-box musical companions reproduce anything I've thrown at them with aplomb, their strength is not classical chamber music as much as big band jazz, symphonic orchestras, heavy-gated blues, and serious (Johnny Otis-inspired, Chuck Berry-drenched) rock'n'roll. These speakers have an attitude: crank it out. They like their music with plenty of attitude, also. They might be usefully marketed to any of the above listening clientele. One pair in one dorm room could literally "make" a whole dormitory floor. A pair in a CEO's big penthouse office suite might blow away the blues from bad stock market day news. You get the point here.
Third, our era is awash in unwanted "peripheral noise." There is a certain undismissable background grunge that clings to our waking consciousness most places we go. Often even where we live. If you can't fight it, blast it. You annoying me, sucker? Try this!
The U Volas own gobs of sonic sophistication, especially when they are matched with speaker cables up to their level of wide frequency ease and extension. They are genuinely musical. At no point did I ever feel cheated or let down by the completeness or truth telling of their sonic reproduction. They are gorgeous, enjoyable to spend long hours listening to, and great fun to share time and space with. After all, how many speakers can you name that double as objets d'art?
The U Vola "flying egg" masterpieces from Italy are. Long live
art. Viva musical joy. Here's a Memorial Day salute from the west coast of
the USA to generous-natured, warm-hearted friends in Italy. May we thrive
together eternally across all travail.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Cables:
oxyfree technology
Crossover:
12 db with high conductivity board and custom-made inductors in resonance-controlled
environment, completely hand-welded.
Impendance:
minimum 6 ohms
Sensivity:
87 dB for 2.83 VRMS at 1 m
Advice amplifier power:
minimum 10-12 WRMS / channel - maximum 100 WRMS / channel
Frequency response:
60 -20,000 Hz ± 3 dB (1 kHz / 0 dB)
Terminals:
gold plated
Dimensions:
height 420 mm - diameter 210 mm
Weight:
single weight 8 kg
