As some of you may have caught on over the last few months, I've had quite the odyssey of monitoring. Moving from my beloved, cheap-arse generic Chinese Mann PMA6 monitors to a pair of 2nd hand Event ASP8s, to having those ASP8s serviced and a temp pair of Rokit 8s, back to the ASP8s, then finally to the final destination of Event OPALs.
I thought I'd write down some of my impressions and experiences here for those of you who may be curious about the top-end of Event's monitoring line, both current and yesteryear.
Back when I was first in the market for some reasonable midrange monitors, the ASP8s were the flagship monitors that Event were selling. Hearing them next to other monitors in the same price range, it soon become obvious that they were one of the best choices available at the time. They quickly gained a reputation as great 'bang for buck' monitors, with huge extension and a general 'all-rounded' quality to them which qualified them as great mains for project studios. As I was never quite able to afford them when they were on sale, when Event finally pulled the line and went underground I was without a set to buy.
Fast forward a few years later, I ordered a pair from Rode microphones here in NSW (the parent company of Event Electronics). Upon arriving and setting them up the very first thing I noticed was 'why aren't they level-matched'. Upon tweaking the rear input levels and mismatching them drastically, I got what could be considered an even SPL level from both monitors. The first realization upon trying the monitors was: 'oh god, mids overload'. After moving them back as far away from my head as possible and reducing the midrange overload, I found that they were symptomatic of one of my worst fears: one-note-bass. As they had to be positioned so far away from me, that put them directly in front of the back wall/window, which reinforced some serious low-end, exacerbated further by their heavily porting-based design.
Third realization upon listening was that the center image was not very strong at all. After testing some material in mono it soon became apparent that the two monitors I had been sent were not in fact matched whatsoever. They sounded like entirely different beasts. After going through the procedure of RMAing the monitors, I finally got them back (along with some complementary corner chipping, caused by the courier).
I set them up once again in the same position that had been designated their 'ideal' in this space. Immediately I noticed a much better center image, and a bassier response. When testing in mono I found that, though much improved, the speakers were still not matched. One had a distinctly different tonality to the other. It was at this point that I resigned myself to the idea that I would have to eventually replace the monitors. In the time I had them, I mixed a few projects on them, but nothing about them made it particularly easy to do so. They have an uneven, un-honest tonality that doesn't represent many real-world speaker systems well. As well as the hugely extended, 'fake' bass, they just threw absurd amounts of core mid at you, whilst removing low-midrange - making it very hard to balance guitar-oriented mixes in crucial areas.
So, fast forward another ~6 months and I finally got the opportunity to purchase a top-tier pair of nearfields - the Event Opals.
I first heard these monitors by complete accident when walking into a local pro audio store. I remember thinking 'wow, I wonder who's demoing the PA system?'. After realizing the music was coming from the monitor demo room, I walked in to find the sound being emitted by two large, unsuspecting, unattractive looking near-field monitors. The first thought was: 'how could two-ways be producing sound like this!?'. After reading up about the concept and project, I soon came to understand that these monitors would be the closest I was going to get to my beloved O300s, in a range that was nearly half the price. The more I read and the more I heard them, the more impressed I became. The transient response was amazing, the highs pristine and the low-end response unlike anything I've ever heard a two-way system put out, nearfield or otherwise.
Anyway, since this rant is starting to get rather large, the crux of it is that I'm currently listening to a pair of Opals as I write this. They have just broken in and are putting out what I would call the 'source', more free from added coloration and interpretation than I have heard from any systems short of mastering grade. They are like a breath of fresh air after the ASP8s. Like being forced to hold one's breath for too long and coming up for air just before the point of unconsciousness. The reference material no longer sounds muffled and choked, but rather open, breathing, deep, 3 dimensional and lively. Good mixes actually sound GOOD, and poor ones show their flaws immediately, but in a way that doesn't fatigue nor offend. The Opals offer a simple 'here's the issue, it's your call on how to tackle it' approach. They don't throw ludicrous amounts of 2k at your ears and burn out your hearing within an hour, nor do they throw distorted high midrange at you in the hopes of exciting the source material.
Between the two, the Opal experience has so far been a far greater one. Event have come a long way in a few years, and it seems that the investment in research and development of this new product has been more than worth it. They are selling like hotcakes and receiving rave reviews all over. Freedman's claim that they are the lowest distortion, most accurate studio monitors currently in existence are yet to be proven one way or the other, but if I had to throw my hat in, I'd take his side on this one. I've never quite heard anything like this before. They are so accurate that it was immediately obvious that the major flaws lie within my acoustic space, monitor controller and output DAC and not the monitors themselves anymore. It's a liberating feeling, because from this point on I don't need to worry about upgrading my monitors. I simply need to upgrade everything around them - not in the least my ears.
If these don't become a studio standard within a few years, I'd be genuinely surprised.
I thought I'd write down some of my impressions and experiences here for those of you who may be curious about the top-end of Event's monitoring line, both current and yesteryear.
Back when I was first in the market for some reasonable midrange monitors, the ASP8s were the flagship monitors that Event were selling. Hearing them next to other monitors in the same price range, it soon become obvious that they were one of the best choices available at the time. They quickly gained a reputation as great 'bang for buck' monitors, with huge extension and a general 'all-rounded' quality to them which qualified them as great mains for project studios. As I was never quite able to afford them when they were on sale, when Event finally pulled the line and went underground I was without a set to buy.
Fast forward a few years later, I ordered a pair from Rode microphones here in NSW (the parent company of Event Electronics). Upon arriving and setting them up the very first thing I noticed was 'why aren't they level-matched'. Upon tweaking the rear input levels and mismatching them drastically, I got what could be considered an even SPL level from both monitors. The first realization upon trying the monitors was: 'oh god, mids overload'. After moving them back as far away from my head as possible and reducing the midrange overload, I found that they were symptomatic of one of my worst fears: one-note-bass. As they had to be positioned so far away from me, that put them directly in front of the back wall/window, which reinforced some serious low-end, exacerbated further by their heavily porting-based design.
Third realization upon listening was that the center image was not very strong at all. After testing some material in mono it soon became apparent that the two monitors I had been sent were not in fact matched whatsoever. They sounded like entirely different beasts. After going through the procedure of RMAing the monitors, I finally got them back (along with some complementary corner chipping, caused by the courier).
I set them up once again in the same position that had been designated their 'ideal' in this space. Immediately I noticed a much better center image, and a bassier response. When testing in mono I found that, though much improved, the speakers were still not matched. One had a distinctly different tonality to the other. It was at this point that I resigned myself to the idea that I would have to eventually replace the monitors. In the time I had them, I mixed a few projects on them, but nothing about them made it particularly easy to do so. They have an uneven, un-honest tonality that doesn't represent many real-world speaker systems well. As well as the hugely extended, 'fake' bass, they just threw absurd amounts of core mid at you, whilst removing low-midrange - making it very hard to balance guitar-oriented mixes in crucial areas.
So, fast forward another ~6 months and I finally got the opportunity to purchase a top-tier pair of nearfields - the Event Opals.
I first heard these monitors by complete accident when walking into a local pro audio store. I remember thinking 'wow, I wonder who's demoing the PA system?'. After realizing the music was coming from the monitor demo room, I walked in to find the sound being emitted by two large, unsuspecting, unattractive looking near-field monitors. The first thought was: 'how could two-ways be producing sound like this!?'. After reading up about the concept and project, I soon came to understand that these monitors would be the closest I was going to get to my beloved O300s, in a range that was nearly half the price. The more I read and the more I heard them, the more impressed I became. The transient response was amazing, the highs pristine and the low-end response unlike anything I've ever heard a two-way system put out, nearfield or otherwise.
Anyway, since this rant is starting to get rather large, the crux of it is that I'm currently listening to a pair of Opals as I write this. They have just broken in and are putting out what I would call the 'source', more free from added coloration and interpretation than I have heard from any systems short of mastering grade. They are like a breath of fresh air after the ASP8s. Like being forced to hold one's breath for too long and coming up for air just before the point of unconsciousness. The reference material no longer sounds muffled and choked, but rather open, breathing, deep, 3 dimensional and lively. Good mixes actually sound GOOD, and poor ones show their flaws immediately, but in a way that doesn't fatigue nor offend. The Opals offer a simple 'here's the issue, it's your call on how to tackle it' approach. They don't throw ludicrous amounts of 2k at your ears and burn out your hearing within an hour, nor do they throw distorted high midrange at you in the hopes of exciting the source material.
Between the two, the Opal experience has so far been a far greater one. Event have come a long way in a few years, and it seems that the investment in research and development of this new product has been more than worth it. They are selling like hotcakes and receiving rave reviews all over. Freedman's claim that they are the lowest distortion, most accurate studio monitors currently in existence are yet to be proven one way or the other, but if I had to throw my hat in, I'd take his side on this one. I've never quite heard anything like this before. They are so accurate that it was immediately obvious that the major flaws lie within my acoustic space, monitor controller and output DAC and not the monitors themselves anymore. It's a liberating feeling, because from this point on I don't need to worry about upgrading my monitors. I simply need to upgrade everything around them - not in the least my ears.
If these don't become a studio standard within a few years, I'd be genuinely surprised.
