Opera Classica Prima V2 speakers
Preconceptions are never stronger than when reviewing Italian loudspeakers. There’s an expectation about how they will look, the breed nearly always taking its cues from expensive, hand-crafted Italian furniture, heavy on the wood and leather. How they will sound is just as much of a lazy cliche: smooth, warm, organic, ineffably romantic – as seductively easy on the ears as they are on the eyes. Whisper it who dares, the perceived characteristics have run so deep for so many years, some critics might be tempted to phone in their thoughts from the beach.
If they did, they’d come royally unstuck with the Prima V2, Opera Loudspeakers’ update of the larger 2-way, ported standmount in its entry-level Classica range. All right, the look is spotlessly Italianate. The Prima V2 sports meaty, luxuriously tactile timber-effect cheeks mildly tapered inwards towards the back. These book-end eco-leather cladding that wraps round from the front baffle to the rear panel with its substantially engineered single binding posts and bass reflex port.
Under the lush Latin exterior, however, much has happened to recalibrate the Prima’s sonic profile and, as we’ll discover later, it’s something of a ‘can’t believe it’s Italian’ shocker. There are new drivers, a revised crossover network and thoroughgoing, standing wave quelling cabinet modifications, all with the aim, as Opera puts it, to improve on the outgoing model and create a loudspeaker that sounds more natural, coherent and emotionally engaging.
Let’s start with the cabinet. Contributing to an overall weight of 14kg, it clearly conforms to the mass damping school of design, seeking to render the construction inert as possible. Chasing that objective, the previous Prima’s proportions have been remodelled (a critical change to the ratio of the cabinet dimensions, says Opera) with the intention of reducing resonances and the amplitude of undesirable modes over a larger frequency range. Additionally, beefed-up internal damping, using a high-density polyurethane material, is said to have reduced internal resonance by an order of magnitude.
Despite this, in re-engineering the cabinet, a lighter hand sometimes proved more effective. Opera developed a technique to measure the changes in acceleration of the side walls and the resulting pressures emitted. This led to subtler reinforcement than used in the original Prima at the points of greatest stress, actually reducing cabinet colouration rather than promoting more.
Like the 26mm soft dome tweeter, the 180mm mid-bass driver has been developed in league with Danish specialist Scan-Speak. Opera claims that dome and cone masses have been carefully calibrated to achieve excellent surface damping and low mass thanks to the choice of materials. Measured against the drivers in the original Prima, the ratio of mass to compliance has been modified, along with the design of the magnetic assembly, the aim being to achieve ‘lightning-fast acceleration’ in the mid-bass and midrange.
To build on this, the woofer’s generous excursion is said to ensure excellent dynamic linearity thanks in part to the special design of the polar terminations (the geometry and shaping of the magnetic pole piece and gap structure in the driver’s motor assembly). Horizontal dispersion has been evaluated based on in-room listening – an absolute must for its designs, says Opera. Just as much attention to detail has been afforded the crossover network design which employs premium components from Mundorf to achieve what the company calls ‘phase-conscious’ integration between the drivers.
Sensitivity is quoted at 90dB, and the inevitable impedance dips look reasonably benign, making the Prima V2 an easy enough load for a wide range of amplifiers, from robust solid-state designs to valve amplifiers in the 20-30 watts bracket.
Sound quality
Wave goodbye to Elton’s rose-tinted specs. It’s sayonara to seductively rich, cuddly voicing, too. Plumped up body and plushed out stereo perspectives? Forget it. First impressions are that the Prima V2 has taken a cold shower to shed just the right amount of cosy warmth and then gone for a brisk run to tone up those fast twitch fibres. If not quite a lean, mean music machine, there’s something crisp, clean and airily open about the V2’s athletic and precise presentation.
And yet the bambino is still resolutely splashing around in the bathwater. Refreshed ‘hi-fi’ metrics maybe, especially in transparency and timing acuity, but it’s tonal veracity and musical communication that remain at the core rather than initially impressive but stone-cold and emotionally barren analysis. It all makes for a highly engaging, musically supple speaker with a real spring in its step and is huge fun.
Serious hi-fi speakers usually fly or dive according to a sensitive balance of attributes, and this is where the Prima V2 is nothing short of masterful. Voices sound palpably authentic, textures rendered with convincing body and presence, avoiding both excessive warmth and cool detachment, aspects perhaps shown off to no greater nape-tingling effect than Sarah Bairelles’ pristine pipes wringing every last drop of beauty from Michael McDonald’s exquisite I Can Let Go Now from the album Nathan East streamed on Qobuz.
The spare piano phrasings and lush massed strings have harmonic richness without edge or glare and oodles of tonal texture. Yet it’s the way these assets are layered and anchored in an expansive soundstage that makes the presentation so believable and rewarding. Whether it’s intimate ensemble jazz, folk or large-scale orchestras, the midrange possesses a naturalness that’s informs the whole.
So treble is just as beautifully judged; extended yet relaxed and composed, rendering detail without the too often noted spotlit dazzle. Bass works from the same playbook, producing low frequencies of undoubted weight and authority that could easily embarrass a compact floorstander while, more importantly, exhibiting fine pitch definition and timing, and integrating cleanly with the midrange. Dynamic expression is unusually good for a standmount design, too. Nothing feels hyped or juiced up. Rather, subtle inflections are handled just as fluently as wholesale shifts in intensity, the sense of realism and flow largely putting listener fatigue to the sword.
Verdict
For those seeking perhaps hi-fi’s greatest stereotype – the fat, ripe, rich and rosy Italian sound – the Opera Prima V2 may come as something of a shock. It’s a faster, cleaner and more incisive customer than that. Yet, much to its maker’s credit, although the romantic excesses have been shaved away, what remains is more rewarding still: tonal beauty, natural vocal reproduction, expansive imaging and effortless musical flow. At the price, it doesn’t get much better than that.
Pros
Excellent tonal balance with natural, lifelike vocals
Spacious, well-layered soundstage and imaging
Fast, precise timing with strong musical engagement
Deep, controlled bass for a standmount design
Refined treble with plenty of detail but no harshness
Easy amplifier matching thanks to high sensitivity
Cons
Lacks the warm, lush classic Italian voicing some may expect
Precision-focused presentation may seem less romantic than rivals
Larger than average for a standmount speaker
Premium finish and engineering is reflected in the price
Requires quality stands to perform at its best