Every once in a while, we come across high-end exotic audio equipment with awe-inspiring technology and design, but the ‘Opera Only’ amplifier doesn’t quite fit into the same league; it’s way beyond the rest. Designed by an Italian designer named Andrea Pivetta, it’s the updated and more powerful version of the Opera One and looks straight out of a sci-fi movie. Visually, the amplifier appears to be a piece of art rather than just audio equipment. The Opera Only amplifier measures 1.25 x 1.9 x 1.25 m (4.1 x 6.2 x 4.1 ft), and weighs 1,500 kg (3,307 lb. When idle, it sits closed like a monolith, a massive cylindrical object. Still, with the help of a remote, it opens up like a transformer with its six outer doors dividing and opening out to overall dimensions of 1.85 x 2.5 x 1.85 m (6 x 8.2 x 6 ft).
The state-of-the-art amplifier features six-30 kW triple-insulated toroidal transformers and 2,112 high current bipolar transistors, which are cooled by half a dozen fan coolers. The 2.5m-tall Opera Only amplifier can produce class-leading 160,000-watts of power, and it does that either as two 80kW channels or in six-channel form. The chassis is built out of aircraft-grade aluminum and steel, and this made-to-order amp takes 6 months to construct. The crazy amplifier comes with a crazier price tag; it costs €1.65 million (about US$2.2 million), with 35 percent of the cost payable as a deposit.
[Via – Only-Creative]
