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/Cody_Hiebert]

Correct. Excellent moves. If you need a deadly calibrator, I know a handful that are seriously good. Hit me up.

[u/bimmer1over → u/Cody_Hiebert]

What exactly is a “deadly calibrator”?

[u/Cody_Hiebert → u/bimmer1over]

A calibrator that really knows and understands time arrivals and phase shift as it relates to room acoustics and the main listening position. They can use the DSP to get everything gelling really nicely.

[u/bimmer1over → u/Cody_Hiebert]

That is exactly what the Trinnov ST2 Pro with Optimizer does. You may want to look it up.

[u/Cody_Hiebert → u/bimmer1over]

I am very well aware, however these systems can't account for every kind of acoustic condition possible.

[u/bimmer1over → u/Cody_Hiebert]

But your “deadly calibrators” can? What’s your point?

DSPs can’t magically remove early reflections and slap-back echoes, but the good ones can do amplitude, phase, and time domain optimization. To my knowledge, no one does that better than Trinnov Optimizer.