New Event Opal Monitors - not your regular speakers

[Ty Ford]

The roll out was last weekend in Las Vegas.

Here's the way I see it.

http://web.mac.com/tyreeford/Site/Ty...Road_Trip.html

Regards,

Ty Ford

[jayman]

Did they give any indication of a release date? I've seen your post on 3 other forums.... you must be sort of excited about these?

j

[jayman]

I can't get any audio from that vid on your idisk.

[dragonxking]

3000 bucks. id rather get a pair of s2a's (not a big fan of room correction software)

[Ty Ford]

Dragon,

Then I'm going to guess you didn't hear the parts about how the Opal is constructed.

There's some new applications of technology at work here.

Room correction software is the LEAST of what's going on with the Opal.

Regards,

Ty Ford

[Ty Ford]

Originally Posted by jayman

Did they give any indication of a release date? I've seen your post on 3 other forums.... you must be sort of excited about these?

j

Jay,

Not excited, but very interested. When I saw the engineering behind them I thought it was something different. Something worth checking out.

It's really impossible to tell a lot about a monitor in a demo room, so I'll want to hear them here, but the 1" bass excursion and linear magnetic field throughout that excursion seems "new."

Rotatable tweeters (so you can adjust for vertical or horizontal mounting) made out of beryllium, internal geometry considerations, 750 watt peak power......what is that in rms, about 525 watts?

All I'm saying is Opal looks like something new.

It's weird that some computers are having trouble with the audio. If anyone knows exactly why that's happening, I think we all could benefit. Just goes to show that video codecs are still far from universal.

Regards,

Ty Ford

[dragonxking]

Originally Posted by Ty Ford

Dragon,

Then I'm going to guess you didn't hear the parts about how the Opal is constructed.

There's some new applications of technology at work here.

Room correction software is the LEAST of what's going on with the Opal.

Regards,

Ty Ford

since i haven't actually heard these yet, i'll reserve judgment. i'm hoping they don't rely on that room correction software though. i do like that the tweeters can be rotated though, but I wonder how that's done (by hand? and if so how can you make sure that the rotation of the tweeters are symmetrical?).

[Ty Ford]

In the presentation, the software was treated more like a tertiary afterthought.

The tweets are mounted into the curved mounting plate. Four screws hold the mounting plate in place. You unscrew them, pop it out, hit the switch inside from horizontal to vertical (or vice versa) to adjust for phase, rotate the plate and screw it back in, thus preserving the dispersion angle of the tweets.

They did some interesting work to remove hard edges inside the enclosure and the long slots on either side of the lengthwise cabinet dimensions are the ports.

The Opal is HEAVY. I tried to lift it and it felt like 50 lbs. Not scientific, mind you, but dense for its size. Huge heat sink on the back and the controls are on the front (down at the bottom under a flap) so you don't have to reach around back.

ABOUT MY VIDEO CLIP

Please let me know if the audio works or not for you.

I can download the file from my own server and play it fine on two of my three Macs, but experimenting further this AM, on my 3rd Mac...no audio. Even if I bring the file over the network from the machine I rendered it on...no audio. And the "get info" doesn't describe the audio. both running Quicktime Version 7.5 (149.5) How weird is that?

It's as if the audio is being scraped off for some computers, Mac or PC, but not others.

Anyone with an explanation, toss in.

Fascinating.

Maybe I'll try another render. Got any suggerstions?

Regards,

Ty Ford

[DivineMusic]

the said they were working on some flagship monitors.. if they msrp at 3000, hopefully they'll hit the street around $2500...
the do seem rather interesting though

btw i have no audio either

[Ty Ford]

Originally Posted by DivineMusic

the said they were working on some flagship monitors.. if they msrp at 3000, hopefully they'll hit the street around $2500...
the do seem rather interesting though

btw i have no audio either

Right, the price quoted was $2995. My impression was the Opal is the flagship.

Regards,

Ty Ford

[GYang]

Event is excellent company and although I mostly use 5000+ monitors, I always enjoy listening on their boxes, too.

[tobymusic]

Originally Posted by Ty Ford

Right, the price quoted was $2995. My impression was the Opal is the flagship.

Regards,

Ty Ford

$2995 a piece, or a pair? Since it's an 8 inch woofer, I'd say a pair. But let's see.

Toby

[azwun25]

Originally Posted by tobymusic

$2995 a piece, or a pair? Since it's an 8 inch woofer, I'd say a pair. But let's see.

Toby

$2995 per pair MSRP. Theya are indeed very heavy.

[Barbary Ape]

Originally Posted by Ty Ford

Rotatable tweeters (so you can adjust for vertical or horizontal mounting) made out of beryllium, internal geometry considerations, 750 watt peak power......what is that in rms, about 525 watts?

I saw one website list them as 500 watts rms. It also has AES inputs. There could be different models though for digital and analog versions.

[Ty Ford]

They showed a digital input module (DA converter) with its own power supply. I think it may attach to the back of the Opal. Freedman was holding it in his hand. It was about the size of a softball.

Regards,

Ty Ford

[Ty Ford]

Sorry about it. A very weird problem.

Go to

http://web.mac.com/tyreeford/Site/Ty...Road_Trip.html

and try the new file TyFordOpalEvent.mp4

Thanks, and let me know if the audio works on this one.

Regards,

Ty

PS: Thanks for your patience

[Farshad]

Originally Posted by GYang

Event is excellent company.

+1

[Macaroni]

The audio worked fine on my Mac Pro.

The technological innovations look very interesting.

Can't wait to hear them.

[jayman]

Here's the "WHEN" (Late September) - - plus a bit more info from mix:

Event Electronics Launches Opal Studio Monitors

THE FUTURE—AND MORE
Based on listening tests on a variety of material from the group of audio pros at the launch party, the overall impression of the Opals was favorable, especially in terms of the sheer amount of LF this 8-inch, two-way system can produce. Many remarked on the clarity of the critical mid-bass regions, while the upper mids in the range of the crossover and the highs seemed nicely balanced. And there were plenty of comments on the well-defined imaging within the stereo soundstage.

Slated to ship in September, the Event Opals carry a street pricing of $2,995/pair, and a dedicated room mode analysis software/calibrated microphone package will be offered as a no-cost option. Event is also developing other products in the Opal line, including a smaller 6-inch model, but that's at least months away. Meanwhile, we're keeping our eyes—and ears—on the 8-inch Opals and will provide a detailed test report under real studio conditions in an upcoming issue of Mix.

[audiothings]

much as i am looking forward to these as much as the next gearslut (they look as if they'd sound pretty damn good), i gotta ask, really, is this gadget going to pave the way for a "revolution" in audio technology? can we cut back a little bit on the hype? "revolution" is a pretty big and severely abused word i feel. well designed speakers have sounded good for well over two decades, and i'm not able to believe in a slick promo video about inch long excursions and other technial mumbo jumbo any more. speakers from adam sound great. the better speakers from jamo, kef, quad, genelec, focal, pmc, ats, k&h and a hundred other manufacturers all sound great, and have sounded great, even if way different from each other, for decades. if there are bets being placed, i wouldn't put my money on a "revolution".

who knows, i might buy a pair of these if the stars align... but i still doubt they'd be a revolution!

.02,

[Macaroni]

I understand being worn out by hype, and I agree with you to an extent. However, the slickness of their video presentation, did not, for me, diminish the technical details that he carefully explained, to make sure we understood it wasn't all just 'hype'.

He addressed all of the issues that exist with designing speakers/cabs for this purpose, and how they dealt with them specifically. Those are the kinds of details that let us understand exactly what the differences are between these and previous speakers/cabs.

Although we regularly reach technological plateaus, there are always innovations that take things to another new, higher level. It doesn't stop and it won't for the foreseeable future.

Whether or not their innovations will translate to a revolution will be revealed as they make their way into the studios for real time testing/comparing.

[Ty Ford]

Originally Posted by audiothings

other technial mumbo jumbo

One person's technical mumbo jumbo is another person's bread pudding.

I don't know anyone dumb enough to buy without hearing them unless the over arching market reaction of USERS was that they are worth the money.

Regardless, I think the guys should be given a nod for tossing everything out and starting from scratch.

Regards,

Ty Ford

[computa]

Opal's 8-inch EX8 woofer touts specs such as wide 30 Hz to 10k Hz response and 1,000-watt handling

worth listening to a pair. those specs r bananas!!!

[bmanic]

I remember RODE microphones being hyped as a "revolutionary" new design.. Peter has done it again? Oh my..

Cheers!
bManic

[jayman]

This is pretty informative:

Event Opal Monitors | Mix Exclusive Videon on Design for New Event Opal Studio Monitors

[eddierodriguez]

Originally Posted by jayman

This is pretty informative:

Event Opal Monitors | Mix Exclusive Videon on Design for New Event Opal Studio Monitors

and ahhhh, and ahhh...

when the ASP series is still top product, why the hell Event HAD TO do something better on frequency/esoteric things on the opal?!?!

i´d never buy a monitor that has a "warm sound"...

much blah there.

[Fleaman]

Any updates?

Will they have them in GC's speaker rooms?

[Ty Ford]

Originally Posted by Fleaman

Any updates?

Will they have them in GC's speaker rooms?

Dave Angress from GC was at the roll out. I don't know what it takes to get them in rooms, but GC ceratinly knows about them at the highest level.

Regards,

Ty Ford

[Fleaman]

Originally Posted by Ty Ford

Dave Angress from GC was at the roll out. I don't know what it takes to get them in rooms, but GC ceratinly knows about them at the highest level.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Considering GC sells Event and GC Hollywood has Lipinski's in their speaker room, it shouldn't be above their level to have Opals in there.....the question would of course be; 'When'?

[peeder]

I haven't watched the video yet. However, I'm wondering if you have any conflicts of interest to disclose. Have you received any compensation from Event or any of their distributors or dealers for any aspect of this marketing effort?

It seems a bit odd to go all the way across the country, make a video, and pimp it here in this fashion...