ATC SM75-150S & Volt B250.8 Review

[ralphs99]

In case anyone is interested in designing with these drivers, I've finally put together a review at my website.
There's too much information to reproduce it all here.

Other interesting drivers will be added in the weeks to come.

http://www.aeronet.com.au/atc.htm
http://www.aeronet.com.au/volt.htm

Cheers, Ralph

[David Gatti]

Brilliant work Ralph. Thank you!

[ShinOBIWAN]

A very honest appraisal.

Bit surprised to hear that the service from Volt was poor. I'd got the image in my head that they would be excellent in that department.

[BlackCatSound]

Volt aren't really that interested in the DIYer. You have to go via a distributor.

Ralph, I'd actually test the powerhandling yourself, volt have never been known to overestimate their figures and my experiences with their drivers have backed this up. IIRC all their figures are based on the 2hr AES spec.

[ralphs99]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

I was very surprised and disappointed at the attitude from Volt. Not at all what I had expected.

Every customer is important. There's no good reason to dismiss requests for information and decline to supply spare parts to users. Especially for a company that considers itself a supplier to professional users.

I don't think Volt's claim of 150W for the B250.8 is an over-estimate, but I not convinced that it's a long term capability. This was my principal reason for contacting the factory in the first place. They declined to answer my questions regarding test conditions, so I cannot assume their power rating of the B250.8 is a 2hr or longer spec. Although they did acknowledge that their test signal was pink noise after the AES standard.

I have used professional drivers from JBL, ATC and EV amongst others for many years. These companies are usually able to supply detailed test information and complete spare parts to users be they DIY or professional. It's the way companies build up a reputation with their customers.

It's a pity that Volt can't treat their customers the same way!

Having said that, I'm still interested in trying out the Radial series one day. They look very interesting!

Cheers, Ralph

[BlackCatSound]

Actually that sounds about right for Volt. They can be a bit 'don't question our specs'.

The only trouble I've had with them is the fact they keep very little on the shelf. Although its sorta nice knowing the speaker you've just got was made about a week before. Recones take a fair while to turn up.

The radials are nice, very tough units.