Opera Prima V2 Speakers Review
It
has been quite a while since I had a pair of Italian speakers in for review,
with the last ones being from Sonus faber, which was about five years ago, so
long overdue. There is something very satisfying about how good traditional artisanal craftsmanship from Italy actually is, with beautiful design and styling that really do set them apart from the traditional boxes so many
speaker manufacturers use. Just like their clothes and cars, Italians seem to
outperform many others in product design and appearance. I am half Italian and have spent a lot of time in Italy, so I have always admired how
talented they are with fashion, cars, and, of course, their
delicious food, which I love. Now I also admire how good they are at designing
and building beautiful-looking, sounding speakers.
Opera Loudspeakers has a rich history spanning nearly four decades. Founded by Giovanni Nasta, whose deep passion for music is reflected in every design, the company creates loudspeakers that combine beautiful aesthetics with exceptional musicality. All models are conceived and built in-house at the company’s factory in Treviso, in northern Italy, just north of Venice, drawing on the region’s long tradition of artisanship and craftsmanship. Using fine woods and leathers carefully selected from local suppliers, Opera Loudspeakers produces speakers that not only sound outstanding but also look timelessly elegant - each one hand-built in Treviso, Italy.
When I found out Karma AV were the new distributor for Opera speakers in the UK I was delighted and was offered a choice of speakers to review, the Classica V2 line of speakers have been completely reimagined for their second iteration and now features two floorstanding designs and two standmount speaker designs, the Mezza and Prima, I have the new Prima V2 here for review which is the flagship standmount of the Classica V2 line.
Build Quality and Features
The Opera Prima V2 speakers arrived extremely well packaged in a single, substantial box, with each speaker weighing 14 kg. This hefty load immediately hints at the quality within. Each speaker comes protected in a beautiful felt bag bearing the Opera logo and name, and as soon as I pulled back the cover, I was struck by how stunning they looked. There are two colour/finish options available: the Rosewood wood-effect finish, which I have here for review, and a more contemporary concrete look. In my room, the Rosewood finish looks superb and exudes quality, complemented by eco-leather covering the front baffle and enclosure, giving the Prima V2 speakers an elegant, decidedly premium appearance.
The R&D behind these new Prima speakers has clearly been extensive, with Opera collaborating closely with Dutch driver manufacturer Scan-Speak to develop and customise both the tweeter and mid/bass drivers. The tweeter uses a custom 26 mm soft dome, while the mid/bass unit features a custom 180 mm anodised aluminium cone that is extremely light and low-mass, enabling a very clean, linear response. High-grade components have been employed in the crossover, including Vishay resistors and Mundorf capacitors, all wired together with thick pure copper-gauge cabling.
The cabinet design of the Prima V2 has also been beautifully engineered. The internal structure is optimised to tackle internal resonances and to keep internal bracing to a minimum, with the front, rear, top, and bottom panels all angled rearward in a tapered fashion to minimise resonances and colouration, effectively controlling the speakers’ internal behaviour. The cabinets are constructed from MDF of varying thicknesses, with high-density polyurethane used for internal damping to further reduce internal reflections. The Prima V2 is rear-ported and carefully tuned to deliver a controlled, extended low-end response. A plinth is integrated into the base of the cabinet, allowing for easy and stable placement on stands.
On the rear panel you’ll find a pair of high-quality speaker binding posts, and from any angle the Prima V2 looks gorgeous, with the eco-leather finish reinforcing its sense of luxury. The new Prima’s nominal impedance is 6 ohms, and with a sensitivity of 90 dB they present a relatively easy load for a good amplifier, with a recommended power range of 25–100 watts. The specified frequency response is conservatively rated from 50 Hz at the low end up to an impressive 28,000 Hz at the top. As with many modern designs, the Opera Prima V2 speakers feature magnetic grilles that are delightfully simple to remove and refit. They look just as refined with the grilles in place, giving the speakers a clean, elegant and stylish look.
Setting up the speakers was very straightforward. I positioned them in exactly the same place as my own ProAc speakers, with a very slight toe‑in towards my listening position, and they were soon dialled in for optimum imaging. Because the Prima V2 speakers are rear‑ported, they require a good amount of space from the rear wall; otherwise, you can end up with excessive bass build‑up that ruins the soundstage. I have them about 1.2 m from the rear wall, which works extremely well in my room, allowing for well‑defined, nicely extended bass. For this review, I am using my Cyrus Audio integrated amplifier, connected to the Opera speakers via Montaudio Chatham SH‑1 speaker cables. Source duties are handled by my Cyrus Audio CD8SE2 CD player, while streaming is via a Bluesound Nano Node feeding a Chord Electronics Mojo 2 DAC. Vinyl playback is managed by the Denon DP‑400 turntable fitted with the DL‑A110 MC cartridge, which is then connected to my iFi ZEN Phono 3 phono stage. A mix of Chord Company interconnects ties the whole system together.
I have been listening to music non-stop since the new Opera Prima V2 speakers arrived. I’ve played a mixture of everything, to be honest, and no matter what I listen to, the Opera Prima V2s have impressed with their even-handed approach to all types of music. They offer excellent musicality, rhythm, and drive for speakers of this size.
My first album is one that I have listened to on many systems I’ve had here at The Speaker Shack. I own a FLAC version as well as the CD, though I prefer the CD, which is superbly engineered and perfect for testing out new speakers. The album is DubXanne – The Police in Dub, a set of some of the best Police tracks infused into great reggae/dub-style mixes.
Track 2, “Roxanne”, is such a classic Police track, but with this DubXanne mix, they have managed to create an excellent cover and really make it their own, which I absolutely love. The Opera speakers certainly do not disappoint in their performance here. The track has great bass and punchy bass lines that the Prima renders perfectly, with plenty of weight. The figures quoted by Opera are rather conservative in how low they go; in my room, with room gain, that 50 Hz figure certainly sounds considerably lower. You can really feel the lower bass guitar notes energising the room and underpinning the main track with a foot-tapping, infectious beat.
Imaging is excellent, with plenty of depth, width, and height to the soundstage. Vocals are projected dead centre. The mix uses some great reverb and echo effects, which the Prima V2 reproduces with lightning-fast precision, as the music pulsates from left to right across the soundstage, creating an almost wraparound effect.
The top end from the new Opera Prima V2 speakers is among the finest I’ve heard from a soft‑dome tweeter, especially at this price. Track 3, “Can’t Stand Losing You,” sounds sublime: silky smooth yet impressively detailed. The brass section, particularly the trumpet, has a wonderfully rich tone and natural tonality as it moves across the soundstage. The bass hits hard on this track, with real snap, attack, and a lightning‑fast transient response. The balance and integration between the mid/bass driver and tweeter are seamless, and the speakers drive my room with ease, making every track a genuine pleasure to listen to.
Mid-bass and lower-bass notes are tight and tuneful, with absolutely no overhang, demonstrating how well Opera has tuned these speakers. They are voiced perfectly – rhythmically pleasing with every note – and it is not long before my feet are tapping with pure enjoyment and pleasure at the music I am hearing.
Track 12, “Wrapped Around Your Finger”, is another favourite on this album, featuring vocals from Jazz’min. Her voice emerges from an inky-black background, doing her dub thing, which sounds stunning with excellent clarity and definition through the Prima V2 speakers; it's almost like she is DJ'ing and presenting on a late-night radio show. I love the way the speakers pull you in, bringing real emotion to the music.
My next album is the brilliant 1987 release …Nothing Like the Sun from Sting. Again, this is on CD and is one of my favourite albums from this iconic and talented artist. I have always loved his music, whether with The Police or here as a solo artist. I remember buying this on vinyl when it was first released, and I can’t quite believe it is nearly 40 years old – a reminder that I'm getting older, too.
Track 3, “Englishman in New York”, is my favourite from this album, and the Opera Prima V2s deliver a near-perfect rendition of what is such a beautiful piece of music. From the very beginning of the track, the tweeter shines with a wonderfully refined top end. The saxophone’s smooth notes stand out with plenty of detail but never dominate the music, before Sting’s vocals enter, placed centre stage. The piano notes seem to float out in front of me with such delicacy, yet remain well-rounded. The image in front of me has ample width and extends well beyond the speakers' confines. The instrument separation is also stunning, allowing for plenty of air around each instrument and easy placement within the soundstage.
Track 6, “Fragile”, is a beautifully written and performed piece of music. The acoustic guitar sounds sublime, with every pluck of the guitar's strings, which have an almost tangible feel to the sound that resonates through you, before Sting's vocals come in, which have excellent tonality and sound so natural and have a soothing sound with plenty of emotion portrayed from the speakers, once again the imaging is so precise and the Prima speakers create a wonderful image of the music being played in front of me.
The Opera Prima V2 loudspeakers handle music superbly across the entire volume range. At low listening levels, they preserve fine detail and clarity for an engaging experience, while at higher volumes they remain composed, delivering impressive scale, authority, and control.
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