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Proudly made in Australia for more than 30 years.
Now in 16 countries.
T988 and T1288 unipivot
Main bearing & Spindle
The WAX Engine has been updated to include the Well Tempered Lab "Zero Clearance" design platter bearing. This is in cooperation with our Well Tempered Lab partners.
Design philosophy-Rotational Stability of the spindle
The Well Tempered Lab spindle rotates in a teflon bearing with a triangular hole. The apex of the triangle is orientated towards the motor. This results in vanishingly low friction and a high degree of stability.
Design philosophy- Bearing Noise
The Well Tempered bearing uses a Teflon thrust bearing. The stainless steel spindle has a precision point and rests into a small hole in the Teflon thrust bearing to achieve very low noise.
The DC motor is a high quality Mabuchi with a patented DC servo supply.
The tonearm is a "unipivot" design which is not unique and although have known advantages also have well recognised problems. Rather than a "needle" point commonly used, Wax Engine features a proprietary low friction brass bearing in the horizontal mode and "pre loaded stainless" in the vertical. The arm tube is aluminium, terminated in a low mass headshell, antiskate is achieved by a rod and rider weight. A remarkable achievement in a tonearm at this price level.
All mounted on an aluminium "T" section chassis with isolation feet. A serious attempt to give the recordings their best shot.
Specification
Voltage: 12VDC, 1A adaptor
Tonearm: 9” effective length
Speed accuracy: Within 0.01%
Motor power supply: 12VDC, 1A
Dimensions: 145 x 385 x 345mm (H x W x D)
Weight: 6kg
Review: (Translated by Google Translator. )
Believe it or not: Hierarchically there is audio Technica's bread-and-butter cartridge, the AT95 and an even cheaper one, the AT91 is available in the Trade for around 20 euros to buy. It does not feel clean, sounds discolored and is dynamically limited. This was unfortunately what the Opera LP 6.3 was delivered with.
So first thing you can confidently do and should do is to dispose of the AT and tfit it with an Ortofon
OM10 or 2M Red to really make it operational (even an AT95 brings clear sound advantages!).
The upgrade is worth it. Because the Opera LP 6.3 is constructed above everyone's expectation. That doesn't show later until the listening test (with the suggested System upgrades), but also the Measurements with our reference MC (Benz Ace). The almost spartan structure of the drive is based on a lightweight
cruciform aluminum body with a permanently installed drive. The speed change from 33 to 45 revolutions is done manually by changing the belt to the corresponding groove on the pulley. A tiny trim potentiometer on the back is used for Pitch fine adjustment; the small toggle switch next to it for switching on and off the motor.
The Opera uses a simple but proven bearing design: the axis is firmly attached to the plate, an the audio jacks also mounted on the body. But as with the Opera Isolde (AUDIO 9/14), when assembling the 6.3 a slight bearing play is apparent, As soon as the belt tension comes on, this disappears. The intention: The bearing will run more quietly than with a tighter fit.
Once equipped with a rather simple Ortofon OM10, the Wax Engine showed Emma Lee's “Backseat Heroine”("Great Women Of Song", In-Acoustic) her vocal strengths: Lee's voice appeared cleanly accentuated and precisely placed on the stage. The bass sounded rich, but especially in very hectic passages slightly undefined. Another entry level turntable (test in AUDIO 8/14, 1400 euros, equipped with the superior 2M blue needle) gave a more precise sound and a slightly deeper bass foundation than the LP 6.3. This was forgiven, because the Opera Audio managed to get a wider, airier room image into the AUDIO listening room and project and even more light-footed presentation and sound more alive than other turntables in its class.
Characteristics; Opera audio LP 6.3 Wax Engine
Sales Opera Audio: 07 23 1/298 83 68 www. opera-online.de (Germany)
List price:1300 euros
Guarantee period: 2 years
Dimensions: W x H x D 40 x 14 x 35 cm
Weight: 5.3 kg
Drive belt Speeds: 33, 45 Manual speed changeover • Arm height adjustment • Height adjustable feet •
Pitch control • (mini pot) • Fully automatic / limit switch. - / -
Particularities -
Strengths:
A vigorous, multi-faceted sound,
airy Stage illustration.
Puristic design.
Sound: (drive without system) 90/100
Equipment: good
Service: good
Processing: very good
Sound judgment: 90 points
Price / offer: Very good
The Opera tonearm offers all the important strengths:
Setting options and is suitably good for pickup upgrades.
Prefers heavier cartridges.
Possible weaknesses:
In especially hectic passages, can sound somewhat undefined.
The Opera LP 6.3 showed very good rumble measurements after a short break-in period (rumble distance 79dB with coupler, Fig. 2). The medium-weight arm shows up in the frequency response measurement (not shown) except for a tiny peak at 330 Hz with low resonance. The synchronization is very good at 0.11%, the synchronization sound spectrum is nice and narrow (Fig. 1), whereby the motor causes negligible interference (not shown).
and look more alive than most drives in its class.
