LOCATION: Dosson di Casier (near Venice), Italy
Opera Loudspeakers was founded in 1989, but its origins go back to the early 1980s, to an unusual but highly fruitful synergy between two cultures and two audiophiles, one Italian and the other English.
The first loudspeaker to bear the Opera name was called Caruso, and was the precursor of a series named in homage to the legendary voices of the lyric opera. Callas, Operetta and Divina soon followed, each gaining enthusiastic acclaim in the developed audio markets of the world.
Opera loudspeakers immediately appeared as a fusion between the old and the new: between traditional Italian craftsmanship in cabinet-making and the most advanced acoustic technology.
Every Opera loudspeaker, even the least expensive model, follows a tried and tested philosophy of design: the use of top quality materials allied to carefully applied basic principles of acoustic science.
The present range has been enlarged with the same ideals that fired our early creations, but with the important difference that Opera loudspeakers are now made more affordable, and so available to a much wider audience.
Today our loudspeakers are exported everywhere, from Europe to the Far East, and new models are given relevant space on the most important hi-fi magazines.
Our commitment is to create a full line of top quality products, beautiful to see and to listen; thus, we are now enlarging our offer to include amplifiers and accessories developed with the same principles that led our loudspeakers to success.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
From the very beginning, our design philosophy has been to produce loudspeakers of the highest fidelity and the best quality of construction, but especially to give music lovers a sound that they will enjoy. This philosophy of perfection has led us to manufacture most of the component parts of our products ourselves; in this way, we can be sure of the quality of the parts used and have the freedom to experiment with new solutions, to reach the peculiar sound of our loudspeakers.
It is an old but true saying that "to build a better loudspeaker, you must first build better loudspeaker cabinet". Opera is one of the very few producers of quality audio loudspeakers that build in-house all the cabinets for its products.
We select whole trees and transform them in our own workshops into elegant and fine sounding loudspeakers. Opera loudspeakers are made exclusively from solid hardwood, not MDF like most other manufacturers, so our cabinets are as dense and resonance-free as you can get. Quite simply, they are better built.
This means that we do the job of cabinet making properly, with no half-measures or compromises. So, if an Opera loudspeaker design requires a cabinet of a certain shape or type of wood, or a certain mass or thickness, then we make it exactly as it should be.
Loudspeakers drive units are supplied to our precise specification by the best specialist makers, but only after exhaustive testing by laboratory analysis and listening sessions they are finally passed for mass production.
Crossover, internal wiring and terminals are all made to the most exacting standards. And all our loudspeakers, even the least expensive, are hand assembled and tested, just as the cabinets themselves are hand built and finished by our skilled craftsmen.
All this care and attention to details would be wasted if our loudspeakers were difficult to drive, so we make sure that each one is compatible with a wide range of amplifiers, whether valve or solid state: the choice is yours.
Opera loudspeakers are made from natural solid hardwoods. Real wood is the best choice for loudspeakers cabinets for two very sound reasons. A properly-constructed solid wood cabinet does not resonate or colour the sound, and its high mass and great rigidity offer the perfect platform to allow the drive units to give their best acoustic performance.
Just as important, the look and feel of a handmade object in real wood is something very special, capable of giving a lifetime of pleasure. Each Opera loudspeaker is individual and unique, the work of our expert craftsmen.
The types of wood we use - mahogany, cherry, walnut and others - come from managed plantations in Africa and North America, where environmental considerations are fully respected.
