Has anyone ever heard these speakers by Volti Audio?

@gawdbless --

There are plenty of Interesting points here regarding the mid range preferred by Uccello and Vittora going different ways.

The devil's in the detail ;)

I would love to and will one day trot off to the UK give the Uccello a listen.

The Uccello’s are build to order, and as is Mr. Mears has a waiting list and will concentrate on current orders until taking new ones. I know that he recently sold his own (first-build) pair of Uccello’s to a fellow in the UK, so maybe he could assist with an audition arranged through Mr. Mears. Should you venture to Denmark I’ll gladly give you a demo of my Uccello’s (with or without the aid of subwoofer, at your choosing) :)

Its great that there are small companies keeping the horn flag flying as despite all the anomalies and serious quirks horns, like our ears are the best for music, my opinion, naturally.

I wholeheartedly agree. Meeting the speaker builder himself with no middlemen is a treasure if one cherishes being confronted with the true passion - insofar this is embraced by the man himself :) I read of the Uccello’s online by some mere chance (actually my initial interest was in Mr. Mears’ rebuild of the Tannoy Autograph cornerhorns), mailed Simon, then called him and arranged for an audition at his place in Brighton, UK. I then ordered the Uccello’s, waited some 3 months until they were finished, and picked them up by myself (with the help of a friend) after a long van-drive to Brighton and back (we wanted to avoid any freight companies for specific reasons). All the while my speakers were made I was sent pictures and had a continuing correspondence with Mr. Mears on design options, the process, etc. (others would simply order the speakers, and not be heard from until their pair of speakers were finished - whatever one chooses here). Having been fortunate to acquire the Uccello’s and experience the whole process of their making (and beyond) is something I’m grateful for.
Properly designed and implemented horns offer something quite unique, to my mind as well. Coming about this could be a many-pages long post in itself..

Wonder if Uccello will ever come to the US to a show or find a distributor, such as High Water Sound?

This will not be the case, I’m told. A distributor would also send the retail price north of its current listing with a significant margin, which Mr. Mears has no interest in.

Why not try a bigger mid range cone and larger flare rather than a 2" mid range cone? which seems to be the vogue. Cost maybe?

Bear in mind that the Uccello’s midrange driver sports a 5" diaphragm (with a 2" exit), which to my knowledge is larger than any known midrange compression in production today (expect of course its design origin and inspiration, the RCA MI1428 field coil unit). A larger horn would be easily attainable, but then of course be a different design than the Uccello’s.

@gawdbless 

I would love to hear the Simon Mears Uccello speaker (10,500 UK Sterling) which similar(ish) to the Vittoria.

I imagine they sound in a ballpark not all too different. Still, they use different drivers, cross-overs and horns, and likely they are voiced differently as well. To my knowledge the folded bass horn of the Uccello's is only very slightly modified from its original Klipsch Belle state, whereas the bass horn of the Vittora's has seen a more extensive "make-over" by Mr. Roberts compared to their La Scala origins, which I'm told also leads to them digging a bit deeper in the bass region (perhaps at the expense of ultimate speed or "sharpness"). Conversely, more or less, Mr. Mears is particularly sensitive towards coherency, which is exemplified through his choice of midrange driver; the B&C unit used in the Uccello's apparently is more at ease in its lower frequency spectrum compared to the BMS 4592 used in the Vittora's (a driver among many others Mr. Mears tried out), which is one of the reasons why he opted for the Italian B&C (Mr. Roberts on the other hand seemed to favor "a bit more detailed" BMS sound). If I had to guess the sound of the Vittora's may be a bit more full-range, relatively speaking, whereas the Uccello's sees a perhaps livelier upper/lower mids and warmer midrange overall. I gather the Vittora's could be a more popular choice among audiophiles in general with a bit of "hifi-inkling" to their character (Mr. Roberts has sought to electrically tame the upper bass/lower mids, I believe), where the Uccello's may in a sense be a more "purist" or even vintage approach to horn sound. Please take my assessments on this with a grain (or teaspoon) of salt, as I haven't laid ears on the Vittora's. From a pure experience standpoint I can only encourage you to give the Uccello's a listen. They are marvelously musical and dynamic speakers, and Mr. Mears is one fine and humble fellow. 

That is interesting! The first big upgrade I did was replace the B&C 2" horn driver with the BMS 4592. Greg Roberts used the B&C ×××50 at the beginning but changed later.

The B&C was good but colored. The BMS was a huge improvement in opening up the midrange
to my ears. Night and day difference.

@acman3 

Interesting assessment, and one I believe must depend on the specific horn used in conjunction with the driver + cross-over (added to personal taste). Going by my own impressions of the midrange through the Uccello’s "colored" is not what comes to my mind of its sonic imprinting, but rather I find it sounds relatively natural; indeed the combination here of substance and tone with insight and detail is what gives it a very authentic feel, to my ears. I haven’t heard the BMS 4592 in any configuration, so that leaves room for "evaluative breadth" on my part. I believe Mr. Roberts himself described the B&C unit as a bit warmer sounding compared to the BMS which, depending on who you’re asking, could mean things like more colored and/or less detailed, or conversely even more natural and relaxed? I found Roberts to sound less emphatic on his preference between the two, but of course as we know he favors the BMS. It would be interesting to pair the BMS driver with the specific midrange horn used in the Uccello’s (with a different cross-over), and see how that turns out to ones own ears.

@david_ten --

I’m new to horn speakers and your post is truly educational for me. Thank You! A trip to Brighton and a meeting with Mr. Mears would be a really nice add on to a future planned Vincent Brient and ~ Mont Saint-Michel meeting.

And thank you :) I have edited out a section of my post above, as I found it too closely to give insight into Mr. Mears’ doings. That part of the comment is now more oblique, shall we say..

I can only encourage you to seek out a Brighton trip on your tour.