Полочная акустика — Opera Loudspeakers Opera Mezza

The Opera Mezza is one of two compact stand-mounted designs in the Classica line from Opera Loudspeakers, a company founded in 1989 in Treviso, Italy. The current version is sold as Mezza V2 and uses two drivers in a vented cabinet with a rear-facing port. In Italy the price is EUR 2,300 per pair. The Classica line also includes the Prima bookshelf speaker, the Grand Mezza and Quinta floorstanders and the SP1 stand, and the Grand Mezza shares the Mezza tweeter and aluminium cone drivers in a taller two and a half way cabinet with a rear double resonator.

Key specs that matter

A 26 mm soft dome tweeter with a dual ferrite magnet and an aluminium front plate is paired with a 150 mm midwoofer that uses a black anodised aluminium cone and a ferrite magnet. The midwoofer was developed with Scan-Speak. Opera rates the frequency response at 55 Hz to 28,000 Hz at -3 dB and sensitivity at 88 dB for 2.83 V at 1 m. Nominal impedance is 4 ohm with a minimum of 3.5 ohm. The speaker accepts up to 100 W without clipping, and the maker recommends amplifiers from 25 W to 100 W. Each cabinet measures 203 mm wide, 382 mm high and 372 mm deep and weighs 12 kg.

Engineering and use context

Opera gives the box an internal volume of about eight litres, and its proportions were chosen to control standing waves inside the box. The front panel is 4 cm thick so the drivers sit on a stiff baffle, and internal reinforcements stiffen the remaining walls. Edges are curved and wrapped in eco-leather to reduce reflections at the cabinet corners. The crossover network uses air-wound inductors, damping resistors and Mundorf M-Cap capacitors made in Germany, with attention paid to phase behaviour between the two drivers. Two finishes are offered - Cement Grey and Rosewood, the latter with real wood side panels. Because the port vents from the rear, the speaker needs some free clearance to the wall behind instead of sitting into a closed shelf, and in a 20 m2 room it works best on stands at ear height.

Pairing

Since the load is low in both nominal and minimum terms, it needs an amplifier comfortable driving low impedance, and Opera's suggested power span fits most mid-sized integrated designs. Opera makes the SP1 stand for its bookshelf models, which brings the tweeter to seated listening height.

Alternatives

The Opera Prima is the other two-way bass reflex bookshelf speaker in the same Classica line.