Virage Loudspeaker Kit

Product Description

The Virage Speaker Kit –   by Paul Carmody

Every once in a while, someone asks, “What’s new in driver design?”  Over the years designers have come up with increasingly better engineering, but Purifi seems to have taken a bigger step. If you can get past the weird rubber surround, you see a remarkable driver capable of extremely long throw at very low distortion.

When the Purifi woofers arrived on the scene a few years ago, Paul didn’t think much about them. I mean, they were “interesting,” in the same way it’s “interesting” when Aston Martin releases a new car. “Oh, that’s nice. Very expensive. Very high-tech. Now, what was it I needed to get at the grocery store?”

However, a year or so ago he was approached by someone to do a custom 2-way bookshelf with the 6.5″ 4 Ohm mid-woofer and figured he couldn’t say no to that!

The Tweeter

Paul decided on the SB Satori tweeter family, which are also some of the most advanced drivers available. He personally likes the ring-dome one for its flat top end, and also thinks its look goes well with the Purifi woofer.

The Woofer

These are 6.5″ woofers, but they SOUND like they are 8″ or larger. The bass digs so fantastically deep and is able to resolve individual instruments with the kind of clarity he has never been able to get from a 2-way speaker.

.The Crossover:

The crossover is, essentially, a 2nd order filter with an L-Pad on the tweeter, and a 3rd order filter on the woofer. Getting those values dialed in just right took a lot of patience and effort.

“I knew that these drivers were capable of so much more if I took the time to really fine-tune and finesse them. I wanted someone who built these to feel like it was money well-spent, that they were getting something they just couldn’t get out of a cheaper set of drivers. And sure enough, after a lot of trying different topologies and contours and crossover points, I landed on a “sweet spot” where the drivers were playing in their comfort zones, and the overall soundstage was absolutely massive, with a great 3D holographic sound.”

The Cabinet

You can build these in two different formats – standard bookshelf  (.65 cu ft) or floor standing tower (1.16 cu ft) with -a bit more added low end

How do they Sound?

“I mentioned this before, but to me, what the Purifi mid-woofers do that others do not is put out gobs of luscious bass that defies their size. And since the motors are so well-designed, that bass also has very low distortion. And since they have so much xmax, you can push them a lot harder than you can most other 7″ mid-woofers.”

Sitting atop that bass is a midrange you’d expect from a high-tech, leading-edge woofer. And above that, the Satori ring dome tweeter does a beautiful job of integrating with the woofers and provides fantastic imaging and soundstage, otherwise disappearing from the picture, and not making itself known.

The net result of all that is a pair of speakers that effortlessly do the “holographic” sound I love so much. The soundstage is massive, and instruments and voices are clearly placed in front of the listener. “Several times while listening to these I had an experience of doing something else while mindlessly playing music in the background, and a singer or a sound would startle me because it actually sounded like someone/something was in the room with me.”

When You Buy These, Here’s What You Get:

Included in this kit are the full build plans.  You can purchase it in two forms, depending on your resources:

The Bare Bones Version:

• 2 x SB Satori, TW29R-B  Ring Dome- You may also choose the standard dome – TW29D-B
• 2  x  Purifi,  PTT6.5X04-NFA -Mid Woofers
• All Crossover components feature MDL capacitors – Other brands available, Sand cast resistors – Other brands available and specified Air core inductors.
• Full Build Plans

Need All The Goodies?

The Full Kit Package:

• Crossover Mounting Boards & Terminals
• You may choose Input Terminals
• All Mounting Hardware –  Screws.
• Color-Coded Hook-Up Wire
• Optional Push-on Connectors
•  Port Tubes
•  Internal Damping Material
• Full Build Plans

Virage Write-up

Have trouble soldering or reading a crossover diagram?  We can assemble them for you at a nominal charge.

 

If you want to see what Paul has been up to, you can visit his site here.