Quite nice, only a little port related kink seen in the THD/output graph. Looks better than the 8050B if used without subwoofer.
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Event Opal
- Thread starter Pearljam5000
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Quite a few years ago these were real darlings of some of the internet HiFi sites here in the UK.
I considered auditioning them but they were in such demand I couldn't find anywhere that had stock so I didn't.
I considered auditioning them but they were in such demand I couldn't find anywhere that had stock so I didn't.
Yes they look good. If you like some monitors with bass extension, i would say they look very good.
noiseconnector
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Rode bought Event in late 2000's and then gave Event quest to make a ultimate monitor speaker. And they made Opals. AFAIK because of problem with components Event had stopped making them for some time and it was out of stock everywhere.
Opals have very high praise in studio world for great sound.
That's what I heard. But now it seems amphion is more popular now.
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It is hard to compare the Opal with the Amphion One18 as the Amphion is a passive design and sadly (I say this owning the Argon 3s as the consumer equivalent to the One18) has quite an uneven FR on axis. And as far as one can trust the measurements on the Opal, it plays deeper and louder...
One could eq the Amphion to a deeper bass response but has to consider the poorer power handling of the smallish 25mm voice coil. And than there is the price of the One18, which is about 2650 Euro a pair in Germany: not competitive when you add the cost for a decent amplifier and have Genelec, Neumann and the Event Opal as alternative.
Hi All. I'm a professional mix engineer and a few years back I set out to find some new monitors. Event were not on my radar because their standing in the professional world was not exactly stellar. I tried ATC SCm25, Focals, Nuemann and most of the other high end candidates. None of them worked for me although I did like the ATC's....but at 7k a pair they were a little extravagant. I had encountered the Opals while working in a studio in Prague the previous year and remember thinking that they were quite good. I arranged a demo and the Opals never went home. I'm not technical so I can't talk about the science but the Opals felt natural and open in a way that none of the others had done. They translate pretty well although my room is less than perfect so I had to make some allowances. In the early days they were being touted as the new standard and I don't really understand why they didn't take off. I think that unfortunately the supply chain and spares availability were seriously poor and having spoken to the UK distributor a few times it seemed apparent that nobody really knew what was going on and wether the Opals would be discontinued. That combined with the poor PR value probably ensured that they did not have a chance. I love them and generally the people who visit my studio are suitably impressed. It's strange because people talk about brands like Focal being "neutral" but I've never heard a speaker as neutral as the Opals ( with the possible exception of PMC ) but in the end it comes down to taste. For what it's worth I rate the Opals very highly for mixing and general listening.
Somehow it looks to me at focal level of measurement results which are in the very good category but not really state of the art
Bojan Miso
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Without going into technical details, I will go straight to the conclusion:
I have "Opal Event" in my studio and work on them for over 10 years... Love them, really!
Laboratory precision, clear and powerful sound, accurately transmit the mix without blurring. Period.
The best thing is that they sound exciting and are not "boring" monitors at all!
I had the opportunity to compare them with "Genelec" from the same class, but I still incline towards "Event Opal", I think they have great and at the same time better middle tones.
Expensive, but hey! ... worth every penny.
Cheers
I have "Opal Event" in my studio and work on them for over 10 years... Love them, really!
Laboratory precision, clear and powerful sound, accurately transmit the mix without blurring. Period.
The best thing is that they sound exciting and are not "boring" monitors at all!
I had the opportunity to compare them with "Genelec" from the same class, but I still incline towards "Event Opal", I think they have great and at the same time better middle tones.
Expensive, but hey! ... worth every penny.
Cheers
If I can recall... when event made opals they wanted to make the best monitors without cost limiting and the price they were selling them at, made the company lose money. In which Rhode microphone company bought them out. These monitors were on comparison with monitors such as ATC and PMC which can fetch upto £43k. They are great monitors for production. However, when engineering a mix you should have reference monitors to compare such as yamaha NS10. This is just my opinion, I wouldnt rely on any modern monitors solely for mixing.
P.s
As Bojan Miso mentioned 'sound exciting' which is what you want in the creative phase and mastering phase of music production. My aim is to have these with NS10mx in my studio
P.s
As Bojan Miso mentioned 'sound exciting' which is what you want in the creative phase and mastering phase of music production. My aim is to have these with NS10mx in my studio
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noiseconnector
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AFAIK story went that Rode bought Event in 2006 and Rode president wanted to make a ULTIMATE MONITOR SPEAKER, so they really went on. They released them in 2008 or 2009 and when they got really good press and reviews, components went short because of earthquake in Japan in 2011 (they manufactured some parts there) and production stop for some time as they made a revision with different tweeter. Opal would came a modern classic without a problem, but after a few revisions and halted production people were confused.
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That's basically what happened. Peter Freedman always wanted to make a no-holds barred studio monitor, so he bought Event for $1 and the assumption of all their debt (which was substantial). He then hired Marcelo Vercelli to build new speakers - and Marcelo hired me to do the woofers, tweeters, etc.
We spent 2 years on the Opal, designing from scratch. We did an ultra-low THD/high-stroke woofer (19mm one way linear per Klippel) with 17 microHenries of inductance - yes, 0.017 mH @ 1 kHz, flat over stroke (as was the BL - it was +/-3% BL over the center 30mm of stroke). We did a custom copper/beryllium blended tweeter dome in that waveguide (we prototyped dozens of guides in real studios before settling on that unit). A full 750W of class A/B amplifier for the woofer, 150W class A/B (15W bias point - so almost always class A) for the tweeter. Analog crossover, EQ, etc. Even a linear power supply. Custom tooled enclosure. More.
It really was a stunning performer, earning Sound On Sound's Monitor Of The Decade award, and lots of other great reviews. It was supply chain - and cost - that really killed it. It was NOT cheap to make, especially with the tooling costs factored in (6 figures for the cabinet shell alone). So sales were slow, and then when supply chain fell apart in 2010/2011 - it died.
It was fun to be part of a team, though, that was tasked to make the best of a breed (2 way studio monitor), no holds barred - and have a backer willing to spend as needed.
I've had mine for almost 10 years in my living room and never looked back. Always a feast to turn them on. I used the supplied StudioEQ and it so happens in my listening space no adjustment is required!
I am just sad, they are not around any longer as part of the product line. Not sure how I would get support if it needed repair.
I am just sad, they are not around any longer as part of the product line. Not sure how I would get support if it needed repair.
I purchased a pair before they stopped selling them. They are heavy, extremely solid and well built. Rode (Event) only builds great products (imo), and I have many. A great monitor with tremendous LF extension. Too bad they don't sell them anymore, but the reasoning is understandable. I recently contacted Rode for another issue and asked about the Opals. They said they still have some parts available for repair as of March 2023. Really good info from Dan....thank you.
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