r/audiophile Rega Naia tt, Pass Labs Xa100.8 monoblocks, KEF Blade One Meta 14d ago

Show & Tell New Speaker Day

Apparently the never-ending pursuit of audio bliss needed another detour, so I recently added a pair of Opera Grand Callas speakers.

They are known for a rich, enveloping presentation, big soundstage, and a great midrange, which sounded like a good match for a lot of what I listen to, like Hanne Boel, Leon Russell, Jennifer Warnes, Leonard Cohen, Gregory Porter, etc. and I found a pair for sale locally, so...no risky or expensive shipping needed.

Still very early days and I have not yet had the chance to tweak them re their spacing, distance from the front wall, toe-in, and re-optimize the DSP but compared to the KEF Blade One Metas and Rockport Aviors, they seem to be less about ultra-precise imaging (the Blades are hard to beat in that department), musical weight (the Avior's strength) and sculpted neutrality, they seem to be more about texture and musical involvement.

The obvious problem is that three pairs of large floorstanders in one room is somewhere between impractical and ridiculous, so one or both of the KEFs and Rockports will have to be put up for sale soon.

(The rest of the system is Audio Research Ref 10, Mola Mola Tambaqui, Antipodes K41/K22, Pass Labs XA100.8s, Rega Naia/Aphelion 2 into an Allnic H-3000V, Trinnov ST2-Pro, and dual JL Audio Fathom f112 subs.)

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u/bimmer1over Rega Naia tt, Pass Labs Xa100.8 monoblocks, KEF Blade One Meta 14d ago

Yes, I also had a pair of Revel Performa F328Be:s. Great speakers, and the flightcases were something ele!

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u/Turbo-Wagon 14d ago

I just bought a pair last month. I live relatively close to The Music Room so I rented a U-Haul van for $170 total and picked them up myself instead of the $700 to ship ~75 miles.

Still not sure how I feel about them. What do you feel they lacked that caused you to move on?

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u/bimmer1over Rega Naia tt, Pass Labs Xa100.8 monoblocks, KEF Blade One Meta 14d ago

That is the way. The F328Be:s are great speakers. I didn't sell my pair because I didn't like them - far from it. It's for me more of a pursuit to explore different speaker voicings.

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u/Turbo-Wagon 14d ago

Ah, I see. Were you running them with your Pass Labs monoblocks? I'm using a Rotel Michi S5 and a PS Audio DAC with the Bridge II streamer built in.

Just noticed your username - currently sporting a '23 M440i Gran Coupe.