[ Opera Audio Loudspeakers, Consonance electronics and Marià Moya's loudspeakers ]

On the 31st of March and 1st of April were in Barcelona the first public demostration of the products from Opera Audio, Consonance and Marià Moya. Opera Audio is a german audio company that builds horn loudspeakers based on Lowther and AER cones and that also imports and distributes the products (tube audio electronics) made in China by Consonance. Opera Audio operates in Spain thanks to Eduard de Cáceres, and audio lover that after a long time searching his audio nirvana, found horn speakers and tube amplification. Eduard, after been convinced of the acoustic qualties of the horn based speakers decided to start the adventure of importing Opera products to Spain and also Consonance tube products. Opera distributes in Spain a horn loudspeaker, the Opera Acousta 115 (based on Lowther y AER MK I cones), an integrated amplifier based on 300B triodes, an integrated amplifier based on EL34 and a phono preamplifier. All the products have an excellent build quality and also an excelent sound quality.
In addtion to Opera+Consonance products, we could also listen in the auditions the products made by Marià Moya. Marià Moya is an engineer highly specialized in acoustics that design completely his loudspeakers. As I say the design process is complete and includes, for example, the selection of the papers used in the construction of the cones. The quality of his products has no equivalence in the spanish audio panorama. Excelent finishes at the highest level and an amazing sound. And very important..with a moderated price. Marià has to be very proud of his designs and we, the spanish audiophiles, very happy to see that here we could find excelent products at the same level that those made by foreign companies. The quality of these products is begining to be known in Europe because they are been sold in France with wide acceptation. In a future perhaps we will see these products in Germany. Personally, I am very happy and satisfied to see such excelent speakers and to know that I can buy high-end products made in Spain.

During the two days we could listen to three basic configurations:

This sytem was very influenced by the presence of the Acousta 115 speakers. This kind of speakers, where only one cone reproduces all the frequency range without any filtering, have a very particular sound. Sometimes it remembered me the sound of the electrostatics, due to the ability to reproduce so well high and medium frequencies. On the other hand they lack some bass but thanks to the Klipsch subwoofer this was compensated. This lack of bass is what the audiophiles tend to critizice from horns. The people who knows these desings, as Eduard de Cáceres, says that the true qualities of the horn are only apreciated after long listening sessions when the apparent poor bass turns into measured bass, not boomy, more realistic that the bass we get from traditional speakers. I must say that the audition doesn't produce any fatigue and that can be as long as you want. Also, we must know that all these "problems" are in fact designing concepts.
In this system we also could find the Consonance J500 integrated amplifier. The sound of this amplifier was the usual sweet triode sound. The amplifier is very well built and offers a very enjoyable sound. The system, with the help of the subwoofer offered a very good sound, clear in mids and highs (thanks to the Acousta 115) and in the bass (thanks to the subwoofer). I would define this system as a system for the people who is trying to find something different. People who wants to get very good musical reproduction and very good products. This has been my first audition of horn based speakers and I must say that I have enjoyed them a lot.

  • System 2 - Philips SACD 1000
    - Consonance M100SE integrated amplifier (push-pull EL34, 40 wats per channel / 8 ohms)
    - Marià Moya Dux loudspeakers ( 3 ways, Bass reflex, 5 transductors, 30-20.000 Hz, 92db/1w/1m, 4 ohms)

    This was one of the two system where were combined Consonance and Marià Moya products. In addition to this, we could listen to the new SACD player from Philips. This is the new universal player from the dutch company and it can play SACD, DVD-Video and conventional CDs. For 1000 sterling pounds we can have the all-in-one machine. But we are talking about other products....
    The M100SE integrated is the more interesting amplifier of the two shown in the auditions. With 40 watts per channel it can drive many types of speakers and it also have a very interesting price. Well built and with a very nice sound. What I call a solid contender.
    The second star product in this system was the Marià Moya speakers. I must admit that they were a big surprise. I couldn't imagine a high level like the shown here. What level? ACME. A speaker built after many hours of intensive work. As I said before Marià does all the building process of the speakers from zero. Studies of paper density, design of the enclosures, filters....everything. And the final result is extraordinary. The built quality and the sound were very, very good.

    The sound from the system was great. Excelent bass and clear and very well defined mids and treble. No listening fatigue at all. I hope that Eduard and Marià will have the succes they deserve with combinations like this.

  • System 3 - Philips SACD 1000
    - Consonance M100SE integrated amplifier (push-pull EL34, 40 wats per channel / 8 ohms)
    - Marià Moya Religium II loudspeakers ( 3 ways, Bass reflex, 3 transductors, 30-20.000 Hz, 91db/1w/1m, 8 ohms)

    I fell in love with this combination. If I would buy rigth now a new hi-fi system these combo would be in my selection list. It's my system. If all the other systems were good, this was the best. Let's see...built quality second to none. And the sound....I knew what 40 watts of tube power could do, but in combination with the Religium II they reached other level. Extraordinary bass. Not boomy, just the rigth bass, controlled, fast. Cristal clear mids and treble. Rebecca Pidgeon sounded like angels and Diana Krall's voice was glorious. Also Pat Metheny and orchestras, blues, etc. Everything.. And the best thing.. The price of the system: 535.000 pta. High quality hi-fi with a moderated price. If you could, try to listen to this combination. You know....have you had the experience of remembering everything of an audition when you are back at home? Remembering every listened note and hoping to listen to them again. With this syetm I have had this feeling. And with a product fully engineered in Spain. May I hope more? My congratulations to Eduard and Marià.

    Now, some pictures of the products shown in the auditions with a brief comment. Enjoy them


  • Consonance J500SE amplifier and Opera Acousta 115 speakers.




  • Consonance PM1 Phono Preamp and Acousta 115 speakers with the Klipsch corner subwoofer.




  • Different types of Lowther cones that can be fitted in the Acousta 115. A detail of the disassembling process of the Lowther cone in the Acousta 115. Easy...four screws and that's all.




  • System 2: Marià Moya Dux speakers and Consonance M100SE amplifier.




  • Marià Moya Dux speakers. 3 ways, 5 transductors.




  • Marià Moya design and built the drives you could see here and that are used in the speakers shown in this article.




  • System 3: Marià Moya Religium II speakers (3 ways, 3 transductors) and Consonance M100SE amplifier.




  • Marià Moya Religium II speakers.




  • Consonance M100SE amplifier used in System 2 and System 3.





    • Finally, thanks to Eduard and Marià for giving me the chance to see and listen their products.




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    May 18th, 2001- The spanish representative for the Opera Audio-Consonace products has informed us about the new addition to the tube amplifier range.

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    After intensive tests, the Germany based company Opera Audio is proud to present the new Consonance products.

    First, new electronics in the Reference range: the Consonance Reference 1.2 tube pre-amp (with phono section) and the 845 based Reference 9.9 monoblock power amplifiers. These units will be only available under customer demand.

    Second new additions to the existing Consonace range specially for the vinyl lovers: the M100plus integrated amplifier (a new version of the known M100SE, now with phono section and automatic bias adjustment); the Phono PM2 (a version of the PM1 for MM cartridges) and the PM3 transfomer-adapter for MC.


    For more information contact: 00 34 93 418.20.01 (mornings); e-mail: ecaceres@filnet.es and also Opera Audio web site    .






    Consonance Reference 1.2 tube preamp and 845 based Reference 9.9 monoblocks.

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    May 6th, 2003-The spanish importer for opera Audio has sent this information:

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    Opera Audio Spain is no longer the exclusive importer of Consonance/Opera chinese electronics for the Spanish market. His representative in Spain since 2000, Mr. Eduard de Cáceres, will continue to offer technical service to all his customers and acting as representative of Karlsruhe's electronic firm http://www.operaaudio.de. He also will continue distributing in Spain the products from AER (high efficiency loudspeakers and transducers) and also he will continue the development of a high efficiency loudspeakers, the "Marsias Mk I". For any further information, please contact Mr. Caceres at 00 34 93 409 01 11, from 10.00 to 13.00 or send an email to ecaceres@filnet.es or operaaudio@gmpp.net.

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