OPERA CALLAS - COPPIA

Opera Callas is the result of a review of the Italian manufacturer's speakers at the beginning of 2014.

Hand-built, with a traditional, elegant and classy cabinet, the goal was to obtain a two-way speaker that provides a three-dimensional and focused sound stage.

The right mix between elegance that respects tradition and the most modern technological innovations.

All to honor the legendary Maria Callas.

100% Italian High End compact monitor speakers

Opera Callas are the monitor speakers from the flagship series of the same name by the Italian company Opera Loudspeakers.

It is a two-way speaker of fairly small dimensions (14 litres) that can be placed on a stand or shelf, with a rear reflex duct. This bookshelf speaker is the smallest model of the premium Callas series, renewed in 2014, now in its third version, then moving up the range we find Callas Diva, the middle model - floor standing - up to the larger and more prestigious model Grand Callas .

Built by hand in their laboratories in Treviso, with obsessive attention to detail, starting from the meticulous selection of woods and materials in general, the ambitious goal of these speakers since 1989 is to bring the pleasure of listening music inside your home, recreating a three-dimensional, focused and stable musical scene, without ever tiring, thanks to its now recognizable extremely correct, dynamic, detailed timbre which is able to guarantee, even after long listening sessions, the absence total listening effort.

Opera Callas embody the right balance between the tradition of artisanal construction, characterized by attention to detail, to the innovation of the most advanced HiFi technologies, placing this speaker on a decidedly high quality range compared to the masses of chain items assembly.

Traditional look

Through an exhaustive research and development process, the expert design team produced this compact speaker design. Opera Loudspeakers Callas exudes elegance and sophistication! The cabinet is made of elegant solid woods and veneers with a high-gloss finish in two shades: Walnut or Mahogany. The cabinet is sufficiently thick (25 mm on the sides and 50 mm on the front panel)

The faceted front panel as well as the rear panel are also covered in high-quality black leather.

The top of the speaker is glossy black. The sides are in real steam-bent and lacquered walnut. Its symmetrically tapered shape towards the rear of the chassis drastically reduces standing waves inside the cabinet as well as giving great class to the entire speaker.

The use of additional internal damping – including two layers (20cm total thickness) of pyramidal polyurethane foam – in reasonable amounts helps keep the cabinet non-resonant while still allowing the drivers to work at their best.

The dimensions of Opera Callas are compact, making them ideal for providing sound to medium-sized rooms, their weight is 15 kg.

Their striking slim-line cabinets are easy to fit into any space in your listening room and are optimized for the highest quality music reproduction. The only precaution necessary is to position it at least 5 centimeters from the back wall, with a distance between the two of 1.5 - 3 metres, oriented towards the listening point.

The Opera Callas bookshelf speaker features one of the best tweeters available, not only for its phenomenal sound, but also for its incredible reliability, offering a long life expectancy.

It is a 2.5 cm soft dome tweeter for high frequencies – Scanspeak 9700 – which crosses, providing a perfectly natural overlap, at approximately 2000 Hz with a 13 cm long annealed polypropylene mid-woofer excursion. The problem with any driver with such a rigid cone is that you get bell-like resonance at higher frequencies.

The difficult part for designers is preventing this from being audible without sacrificing quality, and Opera is one of the few manufacturers to manage this.

The cone has a phase plug that reduces the interactions between the sound on the left side of the cone with the right side of the cone and therefore extends the high frequency response of the driver.

The result is an extremely dynamic and detailed small driver.

Despite the small size of the mid-woofer, its main characteristic is its extended and controlled low frequency response.

Technology at the service of music

The crossover used uses premium components, including Mundorf capacitors and MOX resistors. The 2,000 Hz crossover frequency is only possible because the tweeter can provide such a wide frequency response and offers a really large linear shift. The crossover has a second-order low-pass section for the woofer and a second-order high-pass section for the tweeter.

This compact speaker is so versatile that you can modify its response: on the rear panel it is equipped with a switch to adjust the emission of the mid range - which is responsible for reproducing the vocal range, the portion where our ears are most sensitive – essentially allows you to add or remove 2 dB in the range between 300 and 3000 Hz, adapting the speaker to a greater number of environmental situations. On the back we also find the reflex port, and two pairs of terminals that allow bi-amplification and bi-wiring.

Opera Callas: Sound result

Opera claims for the Callas model a frequency response ranging from 40 Hz to 25 kHz, a sensitivity of 89 dB and a nominal impedance of 4 Ohms. In fact, despite their small size, these compact speakers have a very high dynamic capacity and a truly impressive low frequency extension. The 13 cm mid-woofer could be misleading but Opera Callas is really capable of emitting surprisingly robust and authoritative bass lines. The Callas also stands out for having an extraordinary stereo image.

The sound stage is decidedly wider than conventional speakers and very three-dimensional. These speakers are designed to play at high volume, but are able to play pleasantly at any volume, remaining present on all frequency portions even at low volume. Furthermore, this speaker is also suitable for close listening (up to one meter from the listening point) without any loss of clarity or quality. Simply put: lush midrange, sweet highs, wide soundstage, amazing bass, nothing short of fabulous to listen to!

Pairings

To honor these Opera Callas speakers and make them perform at their best, the system will need an amplifier with good quality power delivery. The match with Unison Research amplifications is naturally known as well as highly recommended, but Opera's indication is that the chosen electronics be between 10 and 100 W RMS. If you want to combine neutral amplification and express only the speakers already typically characterized by a "warm and enveloping" sound, we recommend the Hegel H120 integrated amplifier, but those who want more power - and therefore less distortion - can opt for the superior model H190.

Another perfect match is achieved with the Cyrus Classic Amp, characterized by a typical English sound. Otherwise, for lovers of bass and music streaming, Cambridge offers the Evo 75, a hyper-connected smart amplifier that also pairs very well aesthetically with these speakers.

And clearly, for the connection with the chosen amplifier, power cables capable of delivering high performance are recommended. Chord Company is the leading brand in HiFi cable design. In this case, we recommend the ClearwayX and ShawlineX lines.

Finally, to further elevate the performance of any speaker, in particular a bookshelf speaker, IsoAcoustics products are specifically designed to isolate HiFi components from vibrations and resonances. Specifically, to obtain an even deeper soundstage with greater transparency we recommend positioning Opera Callas on Orea Indigo.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Dimensions: 42 x 24.5 x 42 cm (HxWxD)
• Weight: 15kg each
• System: two-way stand or shelf-mounted, Reflex with rear duct
• Finishes: Walnut, Mahogany
• Cross-over frequency:
• Woofer: low pass at 12 dB/oct;
• Tweeter: 12 db octave high pass
• Maximum Power: 100 W RMS with music program with growth factor greater than 5
• Recommended amplifier: starting from 10 Watt
• Sensitivity: 89 dB/2.83 V/1 m
• Impedance: 4 Ohm (Zmin > 3 Ohm)
• Speakers: 1 7″ Seas woofer in annealed polypropylene; 1 x 1″ Scanspeak 9700 tweeter
• Number of ways: 2
• Frequency response: 40 – 25000 Hz
• Cross-over: approximately 2000 Hz
• Position in the room: at least 5 cm from the back wall, distance between the speakers from 1.5 to 3 m, oriented towards the listening point