Pierre Etienne Leon L'Intégrale
French floorstanding speaker L'Intégrale by Pierre Etienne Leon, built around an original acoustic loading design with two coupled enclosures and bespoke Audio Technology drivers.
Description
L'Intégrale is a floorstanding speaker designed by Pierre Etienne Leon, conceived as a system with an original acoustic loading design combining two coupled enclosures within a single cabinet. It aims for a complete restitution of the musical message, across the whole spectrum, with great harmonic richness and no compression effect on dynamic passages.
The acoustic loading principle relies on the coupling of a first enclosure in the upper section, fitted with two drivers visible on the front baffle according to the Cross Flow principle with two coupled cavities (non-parallel walls, internal bracing), with a second internal enclosure fitted with a driver that is not visible. This internal enclosure communicates both with the first one and with a second Cross Flow volume located in the lower section of the cabinet, opening onto a tuning port on the front baffle. An additional port at the rear, in the upper section, acts as an acoustic filter regulating the pressure/frequency ratio.
The 18 cm drivers on the front baffle are made by Audio Technology to Pierre Etienne Leon's specifications, with a polypropylene/carbon composite cone and a voice coil made of hexagonal-section wire on a kapton former. The internal 23 cm driver, dedicated to bass, shares the same type of cone and is built around a 17 cm diameter ferrite magnet paired with an 8 cm voice coil. The tweeter, originally from Scan Speak and mechanically optimised, uses a pure 99.9% beryllium dome, said to be insensitive to variations in temperature and humidity. The electrical crossover, with minimum phase shift and direct coupling without a printed circuit board, completes this architecture.
This type of speaker is aimed at a demanding listener seeking precise restitution and a soundstage extending beyond the boundaries of the speakers themselves, with clear definition of the different sections of an orchestra. It suits a high-end system where the quality of the acoustic loading and the design of the transducers take precedence over ease of setup.
What to check before buying used
The suspension on the two front-baffle drivers stiffens or tears over time: look for sagging, cracking or a loss of flexibility when touched, a sign of a fatigued composite/carbon cone. As the Cross Flow ports and cavities are integral to the cabinet, check for any cracks in the internal walls and for play in the sealing joints, which can cause air leaks that undermine the acoustic loading. Also inspect the veneer and the corners of the cabinet, particularly exposed given the size and weight of the column during handling.
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