Italian connection

Italian connection, Sonus Faber is the most recognised loudspeaker among its native compatriots namely Opera, Chario and Aliante. They all sounded differently, but they do have one thing in common, midrange eccentric. Think of the great Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli, opera is big in Italy. The thing is that local culture play a major influence to the voicing of the speaker, afterall they exist to serve them. Though, they are other makers that make their name first in foreign land and later enter local market. Whilst female vocal sounded good on most speakers, male vocal is exceptionally well on Italian makes. Got ummph! The got the upper bass right. Everyone knows Sonus Faber sounds. The vocal is unmistakeably magical. Dead neutral, I'm sorry they are not.

Opera Prima 1.5

The discontinued Opera Prima 1.5 is the subject of this posting. It belongs to a banker as he craves for real wood. Slightly bigger than the diminutive LS35a, they are about 19 volumetric liter. Both tweeter and driver are sourced from Seas, housing in a real wood shoe box. Yeah! You don't get much real wood speaker box these days and Italian has a way with wood craftsmanship. Rounded box made Prima looks elegant. Many find the real wood appealing, given MDF and plywood are widely used for commercial reason. I'm not a typical eye fi but I find their aesthetically likeable, more importantly I want to know how do they fare compare to the competitors. What is the point of speakers that do not sound as good as it look?

Pushing small car

Prima does not present a difficult load to the amp. Driven with a modded Copland pre and 402 power, they do not sound happy if pushed hard in pentode mode. I like triode better, it does justise to the timbre. Owners of Prima do not play complex and heavy music. You will trade density and sweetness with power and dynamic. There are others can do a better job.

The system is equilateral positioned with the speakers eight feet apart. The bass quality is nothing to shout about, just mediocre by today standard. The enthusiasm to play double bass is lacklustre. Nothing much beyond 70Hz, hence murmurs below those frequency range. I have heard better bass from similar size speaker but the price is double. Within its range, the bass is nevertheless clean and quick. Prima begs for sub to stand tall.

Popped eyes

The highs, hmmmmm does not liked to be pushed. Sound unwilling and hard. Let's be honest, 80-85dB, the highs shows sign of strained, peaky and shouty. They lose their poise.

Give me my cheese, I show you my strength

The mid is the strength of these babies. Not particularly thick and dense like LS35a, British monitor but suffice to say it is musically satisfying. Imaging is palpable. Dynamic and transient is commendable.

The above listening experience could be due to the modded pre, I have no way of finding out. A little advice, the buyer must know what are the mods implemented on an equipment or otherwise, it is a risk and you are left clueless of its sound. Prima requires careful equipment matching to be rewarding. They eagerly yearning for some bass reinforcement aka sub woofer. To be honest, Prima is not my cup of tea.

In sync

No speaker is perfect. That's why you require hi fi skills to bring the best out from the speakers. Synergistic matching and passive tweaking are inevitable. These are the very essence of this blog.