Review: dBTechnologies Opera Unica 12
Monday, 27 May 2019
When I was researching for purchase, I was lent some Opera Unica 12s to do some comparisons against other speakers, and I felt the throw, clarity, feedback rejection, and low weight made them a very attractive proposition; almost a no brainer.
CX ROAD TEST by Gary Eastwood
As a gigging musician-about-town, I play at lot of venues in Melbourne, including residencies; one of which Iâve played every Sunday night for 19 years. I mix myself on my smaller solo gigs, and employ a sound technician to mix the gigs where I play with a band.
In the rooms Iâm familiar with, Iâve worked out the EQ, settings, and a basic mix I can run myself. When Iâm playing with a three or four piece, the engineer handles everything.
My solo shows are a simple set-up with no outboard. The Opera Unica 12s have their own processing on-board, and are flat enough that they donât really feedback, except in terrible acoustics like glass-walled rooms.
I run a basic 12 channel analogue desk that has three band parametric EQ with sweepable mid on the channels. It has Lexicon effects built-in, but other than that, thereâs no other processing. I use a couple of different vocal mics, a guitar, and a stompbox for kick drum.
Iâve always found that if you use a good mic, a good guitar with good pickups, and do a good mix, youâll get the best out of the speakers.
Comparison and Performance
When I was researching for purchase, I was lent some Opera Unica 12s to do some comparisons against other speakers, and I felt the throw, clarity, feedback rejection, and low weight made them a very attractive proposition; almost a no brainer.Ultimately, I chose the Opera Unica 12s because of their price, size,  weight, and performance. Compared to other brands of powered 12s, I found that theyâre close in performance to those that are double in price.
Thatâs value for money.
Iâve owned a lot of speakers over the years. With most of them, Iâve had to boost or cut frequencies, and when you change things, thatâs when things start to sound unnatural. I run the Opera Unica 12s flat and they sound great with no tweaking. I switch them on and I donât have to EQ, except in highly reverberant rooms with a lot of reflections, where I might take some bottom end out.
Iâve found I donât need any outboard compression or GEQ. I now own four Opera Unica 12s, and I run two a side in the bigger rooms, which is more than ample. On smaller events, like the pub I play on a Sunday, I can use one, and it cuts it even with around 500 people there.
Iâve found the Opera Unica 12s sound good both at low volume and pumped up. When I use them with my dbTechnologies SUB 18H, the throw distance and level is surprising for boxes of their size. The Unica 12s have a wedge profile, and Iâve used them as foldback. The 12â driver gives them enough power to get a vocal to really cut through. Theyâre very robust.
Sound
To my ears, the Opera Unica 12s sound âaliveâ. Their response is not honky or bassy, and voice and guitar just come to life. They enhance vocals and you get all of the range and tone â they donât camouflage anything. Their response is like pressing the âLoudnessâ button on a home stereo; everything boosts and comes forward.Theyâre not âbrightâ per se, more alive without being unrealistic.
Weight and Handling
At 15kg, the Opera Unica 12s weigh less than most of their more expensive competitors and deliver the same quality sound. There are two handles, one of the top and one on side, and it doesnât bother me there arenât two side handles. Theyâre easy to manoeuvre, and anyone can put one on a speaker stand with no problem, even at height.Theyâre easy on the body, especially when youâre solo and doing production yourself. While light, theyâre still extremely robust; however they engineer the components and cabinet to be both light and powerful, theyâre doing a good job. Theyâre a workhorse of a speaker.
Reliability
Iâve never had a problem with a dBTechnologies speaker, not even a blown fuse. I drive them hard and get the maximum out of them, and Iâve still never blown a tweeter or a cone. They are definitely solidly manufactured.Support from the distributor, NAS, is great, and Iâve never had any dramas.
Conclusions
Iâve noticed that dBTechnologies isnât as well known in the market as some other brands. When I bring them to use on gigs where Iâm employing an engineer, sound techs tend to ask âWhat are these boxes?â After theyâve used them, theyâre usually impressed, and some say theyâre going to buy some for their own systems.Iâve had mates who have bought them after hearing my rig, too. Itâs all about the price and performance. dBTechnologies products are getting noticed, and I think people need to hear them. If you lined the Opera Unica 12s up in a blindfolded listening test against the competition, I believe most engineers would put them near the top.
dBTechnologies develop their products, and theyâre getting better all the time. Theyâre comparable to all major brands, and theyâre definitely in the top-tier category.
dBTechnologies OPERA Series
Opera Unica 12 â The Specs
- Speaker Type: 2-Way Active Speaker
- Usable Bandwidth [-10dB] 67 â 20,000 Hz
- Frequency Response [- 6dB] 73 â 20,000 Hz
- Max SPL: 132 dB
- Horizontal Directivity: 100° (85° up/120° down)
- Vertical Directivity: 85° (+ 25°/-60°)
- RMS Power: 900 W
- Peak Power: 1800 W
- Crossover Frequency: 1600 Hz
- Limiter: Peak, RMS, Thermal
- Housing: Polypropylene PP
- Width: 350 mm
- Height: 642 mm
- Depth: 349 mm
- Weight: 15 kg
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