Private Client Belfast March 2024

The console has magnificent detail. Burr Oak veneer on the jambs and music desk. Rosewood stop heads, rosewood piston rails and rosewood stringing in the key cheeks. Perhaps the most expensive adornment was beautiful wooden tracery decoration on the glass doors that allowed the console to be locked up to keep prying and curious fingers at bay.

With 88 speaking stops this instrument requires a really large speaker set up and we devised a plan to play the instrument through 12 cabinets and a single sub.

Read more about this Private Installation on our blog.

I'd been looking to buy a home instrument, considering different brands, and by chance landed on the Regent Classic page: I hadn't previously known about this Viscount Organs "top end". The reviews (including from those who weren't familiar with the brand but became converts when they discovered it) convinced me to make an enquiry and, when it was warmly and professionally dealt with, to arrange to try my nearest Regent Classic instrument. Both the authenticity of the sound and the quality of the console surprised and impressed me.

I decided to buy a second user instrument, carefully maintained by Viscount, which would allow me to access a wider range of stops than my budget allowed for new. But this meant fitting a big instrument (that had previously served two Cathedrals) into the much smaller space of my rear hall. David Mason brought his technical and acoustic experts on board; they tried different speakers (ironically, we landed back with the clean lines and customised acoustics of Viscount's own) and came up with a scheme to map the organ onto the twelve speakers plus subwoofer that the space would accommodate.

A team of three installers brought the instrument over on the ferry. I couldn't have wished for better craftsmen: hugely knowledgeable, respectful, and extremely careful. The cables were tracked into the wall of a modern house which was replastered and painted seamlessly.

Installation was followed by basic voicing and, a few weeks later, by a specialist voicing visit where my wish list - such as a little more brightness here and there, the Great Trumpet to be a chorus reed and the Choir flute a chiffy one - was all accommodated. I was impressed in particular by how the voicer brought the Great to a sound which filled the space impressively without over-filling it. Of course voicing is a personal thing, and the Physis system has allowed me to make some further tweaks myself from the huge range of voices and adjustments available with a few button presses.

The result is a cathedral-grade instrument in my home and I am delighted with it. The quality of the console would be remarkable even for a pipe organ and blends beautifully with its surroundings; when I play I get true pipe organ sound from all angles. It has inspired me to increase my repertoire and I am much looking forward to Christmas dinner with carols around the organ! The quality of service matched the premium marque.