Event Opal

[Pearljam5000]

Looks like a pretty nice monitor but didn't see it mentioned around here.
What are your thoughts about it?

 

[Vini darko]

Intresting they only talk about 3rd harmonic distortion. Specs look very good.

 

[kendall]

I’ve had these for years and loved them. Now my teenaged daughter loves them. Would love to see them tested as compared to similar price point Genelec and Neumann.

 

[Frgirard]

It's a product to expensive in Europe: two ways 1700 euro in Thomann shop.
Without the reputation of ATC or PSI audio.

 

[Ultrasonic]

It's a product to expensive in Europe: two ways 1700 euro in Thomann shop.
Without the reputation of ATC or PSI audio.

I know quite a few UK audiophiles who rate them highly actually, whereas I don't recall seeing anyone even mention PSI.

They're a speaker I'd like to hear. Although I have a vague feeling I've read of reliability concerns?

 

[abdo123]

The distortion levels are cursed, what the hell is 10% third harmonic distortion at 200Hz??

Edit: okay they’re using some weird scale shenanigans, it’s 1% third harmonic distortion, far from state of the art but not super bad.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Very advanced design for its day. The 31.0 dB SPL @ 10 cm worth of noise measured by S&R would be concerning me a bit though... you'll be well in midfield terrain before that disappears, something like over 2 meters in a heavily damped room.

What happened to Event anyway? They were sort of a well-known name in the 2000s. Their story lists the Opal as their last major coup, I guess they're still quietly churning out Opals down there in 'straya in hopes of eventually recouping their investments. Or maybe not - the one Australian dealer I could find listed them as discontinued, so I guess Thomann's may be existing stock that isn't exactly flying off their shelves (sort of a given in this price range, they're basically as much as Neumann KH310As which are 3-ways or Genelec 8350APMs which have GLM support).

The distortion levels are cursed, what the hell is 10% third harmonic distortion at 200Hz??

Edit: okay they’re using some weird scale shenanigans, it’s 1% third harmonic distortion, far from state of the art but not super bad.

That looks more like -48ish dB (~18 dB + 30 dB), i.e. ~0.4%. Basically the entire midrange >400 Hz is better than -60 dB (0.1%).

 

[JohnYang1997]

I used to think these were the bee's knees.
Now reading the graphs. I'm like.....emmm
The Y axis is extremely compressed. With 20dB spacing. The graph is also smoothed heavily. The distortion+frequency response graph only graphs down to 200hz. So it's over 1% at 200hz at around 90dBSPL. Yeah and like mentioned why only 3rd harmonic mentioned? Because it's inaudible??
And I remember some relation between Opal and Rode.

 

[tomtoo]

Here is a review in german.

Direct PDF download!!
https://m.thomann.de/intl/cla.html?...]=click&tad[title]=Event%20Electronics%20Opal

 

[thewas]

Here is a review in german.

Direct PDF download!!
https://m.thomann.de/intl/cla.html?i11l=de_GB:NG.USD:EUR&tlfo=https://www.thomann.de/de/prod_pdfreview_22948-mm46245_sr201011050.pdf&tsi=productPage.mediaBlock&ta=testreport.clicked&tad[ourl]=https://m.thomann.de/intl/event_opal.htm?i11l=de_GB:NG.USD:EUR&tad[triggeredBy]=media-block-tile&tad[triggeredByEvent]=click&tad[title]=Event%20Electronics%20Opal

As the S&R review shows they measured very well, especially vertically considering the time they were released and being non coaxial. There used to be a big monitor shop which provided some audio recordings (unfortunately it doesn't exist anymore) of most known monitors including brands like Genelec and Neumann and the Opal sounded closer to the original recording than any other, not that that means a lot because of the limitations of that method, but nevertheless an interesting outcome. I knew also a guy who had live directly compared them with several monitors of that price category and chose them, so I think they are a quite underestimated option and if possible should be auditioned when choosing loudspeakers of that class.

 

[tomtoo]

Looks like there bigest problem is the competition in this price segment.

 

[Ultrasonic]

Looks like there bigest problem is the competition in this price segment.

Maybe it's just me but purely talking about aesthetics I actually think the Opals look better than Genelecs for a domestic setting, which may widen their appeal.

 

[thewas]

Looks like there bigest problem is the competition in this price segment.

Also availability and brand awareness level.

 

[DSJR]

I've read very recently that mixes done on Genelecs don't always translate well to other speakers and systems as they were reported to flatter mixes too much and make everything sound good (I can't remember where I read it now). Certainly on another very small private forum I visit, Opals were discussed and played down ten years or so back, as the competing (domestic active now long gone made by AVI) speaker under discussion had the opposite response if the one response sweep I saw was anything to go by (a lightly inverted V shape). Opals, KRKs and so on and similar models would appear to 'thump' too much in comparison...

I still get the feeling that proper professional monitors are used as tools to magnify things a bit so that mixing engineers can put recording and production faults right, rather than present a nice all-round sonic experience which brings the 'best' out on recordings. Just my vibe and it may be a very old fashioned view now I admit.

 

[tomtoo]

Maybe it's just me but purely talking about aesthetics I actually think the Opals look better than Genelecs for a domestic setting, which may widen their appeal.

In this market(studiomonitors), how they look, is not realy importend. As long they not look as a cheap, unreliable build.imo

 

[tomtoo]

Also availability and brand awareness level.

Yup. Its hard with a not very known brand to compete in this price segment. But i think thats natural. Look at how genelecs or neumanns perform. Thats the competition. If you perform the same at same price, no way. You have to beat them heavy as a newcomer. A not so easy task.

 

[Ultrasonic]

In this market(studiomonitors), how they look, is not realy importend. As long they not look as a cheap, unreliable build.imo

My posts have all been about their use as domestic speakers, which I get the impression is actually the primary interest of most users here? I deliberately made this context clear in my post that you quoted.

 

[tomtoo]

My posts have all been about their use as domestic speakers, which I get the impression is actually the primary interest of most users here?

Sry, i just look at there natural habitat. What is the most useres interest in here i dont know? I look on a studio monitor, like a studio monitor. Maybe some Focals look more furniture friendly? I dont know couse imo its not the job of a studio monitor to look furniture friendly.
To be honest for me they look all the same boring. But thats ok.

 

[Ultrasonic]

What is the most useres interest in here i dont know?

Neither do I of course but I was just thinking of the threads I've seen fro people asking for speaker recommendations, which from memory seem to be mostly for domestic use rather than people asking for speakers to mix/monitor on in a pro setting?

I may of course just be subconsciously filtering to my own bias, as I have a peronal interest in reasonable looking active speakers for my personal home .

 

[tomtoo]

Neither do I of course but I was just thinking of the threads I've seen fro people asking for speaker recommendations, which from memory seem to be mostly for domestic use rather than people asking for speakers to mix/monitor on in a pro setting?

I may of course just be subconsciously filtering to my own bias, as I have a peronal interest in reasonable looking active speakers for my personal home .

To be honest again. I would not look for active studio monitors, for main home speakers. Iam old fashioned, i like it big.
But thats my old, strange, oldfashioned taste.
And for nearfield mixing, i preferd smaller speakers.
But again personal taste.