SKU: V-5891-Petit-Orgue Petit Orgue Speaker Kit

Visaton Speaker Kit - Petit Orgue
Art. No. 5891

Visaton Petit Orgue - shown assembled with suggested cabinets, not supplied.

Characteristics and Sound Properties
The toughest challenge for a high-end loudspeaker is to reproduce the lowest frequencies of larger instruments, such as an organ or double bass, with appropriate fidelity. Only very few speakers are at all able to reproduce the lowest register of a church organ and even then only the very best are able to make it sound as if it was coming from an organ pipe. To do credit to a double bass in all its glory without sounding fluffy or over-inflated or, even worse, giving up altogether, is the reserve of very few, outstanding loudspeaker constructions. The "Les Orgues" speaker series, in this case the "Petit Orgue" species, represent exactly that capability. With their WS 25 E - 8 Ohm woofers, optimised specifically as a free-air system, mounted in a folded, but open baffle, they are able to reproduce bass down to below 20 Hz in a most natural, unhurried and completely unexaggerated manner and with no sign of weakness. Since there is, in effect, no enclosure, the resonant frequency of the woofer is not increased, which enables it to emanate clear, non-compressed extremely low frequencies.

In contrast to conventional loudspeaker cabinets in which it is the sheer size that determines, to a large extent, their capability to produce very low frequencies, the "Petit Orgue" can indeed compete with its big brother, the "Grand Orgue", in terms of depth. The differences between them are limited, in the main, to the sensitivity and maximum volume level, while the lower limiting frequency is identical. You have to actually hear with your own ears how this unassuming little speaker pumps those deep-black sound waves around the listening room before you can believe it. It may be that the maximum volume level is restricted, but the very fact that it is able to produce lower bass frequencies than most of the larger column speakers is more than impressive.

The precondition for this low-range bass imaging, which uses double-sided radiation, is, however, to ensure the speakers are far enough away from the wall. One metre is sufficient, but for full power right to the bottom of the bass range, 2 - 3 metres is preferable. It is, therefore, not really feasible to use the "Petit Orgue" as a shelf-mounted solution, despite its modest size.

As in the big brother, oval SL 713 - 4 Ohm full-range drivers are responsible for the range above 300 Hz. This moderately priced full-range loudspeaker is characterised by its extremely light paper diaphragm and the voice coil carrier made of kraft paper which, together, ensure absolutely natural sound right through to the highest frequencies. Since only two of them are in use here, there is no need for separate controllers. It is a good idea, however, to use suitable stands to raise the "Petit Orgue" speakers to ear height because the two full-range loudspeakers radiate their output as a beam.

The tonality of these speakers is comparable to that of the "Grand Orgue": highly authentic, direct, dynamic. The bass is incredibly deep and yet retains unobtrusive clarity. With the "Petit Orgue", low-frequency instruments, powerful orchestral moments and voices come across absolutely authentically and with a large portion of live atmosphere. The image of the orchestral layout is clearly defined and focussed, even if, as a result of the construction principle, it cannot quite reproduce the exceptional precision of which the "Grand Orgue" with its 8-fold array is capable. Be that as it may, the "Petit Orgue" is far more than just a baby brother. It is indeed a fully-fledged high-end loudspeaker system that is designed to appeal to listeners who may not need absolute top-of the range volume levels but who do require deep black crisp bass and extremely authentic instrument layout.

Hint: The bass part of the "Petit Orgue", on its own without the full-range drivers, connected direct up to an active source without a passive crossover, acts as an excellent subwoofer and can be used, either singly or as a pair, to support music-orientated high-end loudspeakers and full-range loudspeakers down to the lowest bass frequencies.

Technical Specifications

Frequency and Impedance Response

Frequency Response and Impedance Graph

Exploded Cabinet Drawing

Exploded Speaker Box Drawing

Assembly
Although the "Petit Orgue" cabinet consists of many individual parts, it is, in fact, easy to build because all the parts have only 90° angles and there are no bevels required. The cabinet consists of two halves which are held together by 4 threaded rods after the drivers have been fitted. The split construction is necessary because it would not be possible to fit the woofers inside a closed cabinet. To ensure the two halves are properly positioned relative to each other, we recommend wooden plugs or a similar locating system.

Initially, the construction of the two halves is identical. Glue the outer spacers and rear wall to the outer wall which has the cutout in it for the magnets. To this, glue the inner wall with the large cutouts for the woofer baskets. This completes part 2 of the cabinet. On part 1, we now glue the baffle and the rear wall for the full-range drivers in place and attach the inner spacers, which completes this part. If you intend to fit the full-range drivers from the back, as originally planned, we recommend you use screw-in nuts. These have to be screwed in before the baffle is glued in place because, afterwards, it is hardly possible to access them. Fitting the drivers from behind is mainly for appearance's sake. If you do not feel up to milling the oval cutouts exactly, you can also fit the drivers from the outside. In this case, however, we would recommend you fit a grille frame with acoustic fabric because the SL 713 - 4 Ohm 's basket is not particularly attractive. To enable the two woofers to be interconnected, it is necessary to drill holes to connect the two halves of the cabinet. For the full-range drivers, it is only necessary to drill a hole in the rear wall of the full-range enclosure.

Since there is no room inside the cabinet for the crossover, it has to be placed outside. There are no limits to your imagination. You could make a wooden base for the speaker and hide it there or just use a wooden board and mount it on that so that it is visible. There is also hardly room for terminal connections, so you will need to improvise here, too. The gold-plated screw terminals on the BT 95/75 (or from the high-end terminal) can be unscrewed and fitted in the rear wall, which is an attractive solution in connection with the wood panelling. Alternatively, the wires can be fed straight from the driver to the crossover without an intermediate terminal. It has been found to be advantageous to solder the wires between the full-range drivers with them outside the cabinet, and to fit them inside the cabinet afterwards. Soldering the wires on with the drivers already fitted would be far more complicated than outside the cabinet side by side on the table.

Hint: After the whole construction has been glued together, tie the two halves firmly using the threaded rods but before you fit the drivers. At this stage it is possible to sand off any irregularities using an orbital sander so that the two halves match perfectly.

Internal Damping
Roll up half a mat of damping for each of the full-range driver enclosures and push it inside the cabinet. No damping is required in the woofer enclosures.

Component Parts List for Each Box - Supplied with Kit
The kit comes with all necessary components (see list below for one box), one set if the speaker is an each, or two sets for a pair, see price above for details.

Speaker Cabinet Material List to Make 1 Box - Not Supplied with Kit

Speaker Cabinet Dimensions

Crossover - Supplied with Kit Already Assembled

Speaker Kit Crossover Circuit