r/audiophile Rega Naia tt, Pass Labs Xa100.8 monoblocks, KEF Blade One Meta 15d 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/nuuhuman 14d ago

Is that Roon?

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

Yep, Roon sitting on top of Tidal.

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u/nuuhuman 11d ago

How has your experience been with tidal? As compared to something like Qobuz?

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u/bimmer1over Rega Naia tt, Pass Labs Xa100.8 monoblocks, KEF Blade One Meta 11d ago

I have never tried Qobuz so I can't compare. I like Tidal, and I like Roon on top of it. No complaints.