The ORCHESTRA Slim (Gen.2) is the second generation of Sonoro's narrow stand-mount speaker, a passive two-way ported speaker from the Neuss firm, which lists Germany as the place of design and development. It keeps the slender format of the first ORCHESTRA SLIM and the Air Motion Transformer tweeter, but changes the woofer material and several details of the package. It ships as a stereo pair.
Key specs that matter
One 5.25 inch driver covers bass and midrange, and its composite cone combines paper and bamboo with Kevlar reinforcement, mounted in a sturdy die-cast basket. The crossover hands over at 2,800 Hz to a neodymium-driven Air Motion Transformer embedded in a wave guide and offering a folded membrane area of about 85 cm2. Sonoro specifies a range of 45 Hz to 32 kHz at the minus 6 dB points, a sensitivity of 86 dB SPL at 2.83 V RMS and 1 m, and a 4 ohm impedance. The maker recommends amplifier power from 50 W upward. One speaker measures about 180 x 326 x 260 mm across the width, height and depth, weighing about 6.9 kg.
Engineering and use context
Its enclosure uses HDF, braced by an internal matrix, and no two panels are parallel apart from the sides, which Sonoro uses to limit standing waves in the enclosure. Its wooden housing is hand-sanded, shaped with rounded corners and coated in a high quality matt finish, with aluminium trim accents. Two colours are offered, black matte and white matt with silver details. Removable magnetic fabric covers are included, along with a foam plug for the bass port, which lets the owner close the reflex opening when the speaker has to go near a wall or into a bookcase. A high quality screw terminal takes the speaker cable, and there is only one pair per cabinet. Compared with the first ORCHESTRA SLIM, the depth grows by 10 mm while the weight drops by 0.3 kg. The slim front makes the model easy to place on narrow furniture or stands in a room of about 20 m2.
Pairing
This combination of low impedance and modest efficiency favours a stereo amplifier that is comfortable with such loads and can deliver more than the stated minimum when needed. The single pair of screw terminals means one cable run per speaker, and the port plug gives some flexibility if the chosen position is close to the rear wall.
Alternatives
The second-generation Sonoro ORCHESTRA is the larger two-way bass reflex stand-mount in the same range, also built around an Air Motion Transformer tweeter.