In my posting on Opera Loudspeakers, I wrote about company names, and how they might suggest something about the product and the priorities of a speaker's designer. In the case of Volent Corporation, I must admit to being puzzled. What does this mean? The Dictionary of Difficult Words defines "volent" as "exercising will power." How does a speaker do that? Finally, going through the company's website, I found the following explanation: "the name Volent [is] derived from the phrase, 'Voice of Excellence': signifying not only the quality of reproduced sound but also the vocal appreciation of music lovers."
Whatever the name, the new Volent Paragon VL-3 ($11,000/pair) looks and sounds like a very serious loudspeaker. It's a floorstanding three-way, with twin custom-made tweeters that cover the range from 5–100kHz, a ceramic midrange, and titanium/carbon fiber/polymer foam woofer.
