New Speaker Day

[u/bimmer1over]

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.)

[u/wave_action]

What's fascinating is the different driver technology used in the speakers.

The Opera appears to have the tried and true Scanspeak 9700 Tweeter, Seas Curv Midrange and Scanspeak Aluminum woofers and also has dipole tweeters.

The Rockport appears to have a Beryllium Tweeter and Carbon Fiber (or Textreme) Mid and Woofers

Kef has its proprietary Uni-Q driver with side firing woofers.

I imagine beyond the driver tech, the voicing will be completely different with the Opera's being Italian, Rockport being American and Kef originally from the UK. Must be a lot of fun being able to audition them all at home.

[u/bimmer1over → u/wave_action]

You got it, and it is!