diff --git a/akka-persistence-query/src/test/scala/akka/persistence/query/PersistenceQuerySpec.scala b/akka-persistence-query/src/test/scala/akka/persistence/query/PersistenceQuerySpec.scala
index a7778c00bc..5e3aeff7d5 100644
--- a/akka-persistence-query/src/test/scala/akka/persistence/query/PersistenceQuerySpec.scala
+++ b/akka-persistence-query/src/test/scala/akka/persistence/query/PersistenceQuerySpec.scala
@@ -5,12 +5,11 @@
 package akka.persistence.query
 
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger
-
 import akka.actor.ActorSystem
-import akka.persistence.journal.{ EventAdapter, EventSeq }
+import akka.persistence.journal.EventSeq
+import akka.persistence.journal.ReadEventAdapter
 import com.typesafe.config.ConfigFactory
 import org.scalatest.{ BeforeAndAfterAll, Matchers, WordSpecLike }
-
 import scala.concurrent.Await
 import scala.concurrent.duration._
 
@@ -73,9 +72,6 @@ object ExampleQueryModels {
   case class NewModel(value: String)
 }
 
-class PrefixStringWithPAdapter extends EventAdapter {
+class PrefixStringWithPAdapter extends ReadEventAdapter {
   override def fromJournal(event: Any, manifest: String) = EventSeq.single("p-" + event)
-
-  override def manifest(event: Any) = ""
-  override def toJournal(event: Any) = throw new Exception("toJournal should not be called by query side")
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/akka-persistence/src/main/scala/akka/persistence/journal/EventAdapters.scala b/akka-persistence/src/main/scala/akka/persistence/journal/EventAdapters.scala
index 80628189c3..3d5183d160 100644
--- a/akka-persistence/src/main/scala/akka/persistence/journal/EventAdapters.scala
+++ b/akka-persistence/src/main/scala/akka/persistence/journal/EventAdapters.scala
@@ -16,8 +16,10 @@ import scala.collection.mutable.ArrayBuffer
 import scala.reflect.ClassTag
 import scala.util.Try
 
-/** INTERNAL API */
-private[akka] class EventAdapters(
+/**
+ * `EventAdapters` serves as a per-journal collection of bound event adapters.
+ */
+class EventAdapters(
   map: ConcurrentHashMap[Class[_], EventAdapter],
   bindings: immutable.Seq[(Class[_], EventAdapter)],
   log: LoggingAdapter) {
@@ -62,7 +64,10 @@ private[akka] object EventAdapters {
   def apply(system: ExtendedActorSystem, config: Config): EventAdapters = {
     val adapters = configToMap(config, "event-adapters")
     val adapterBindings = configToListMap(config, "event-adapter-bindings")
-    apply(system, adapters, adapterBindings)
+    if (adapters.isEmpty && adapterBindings.isEmpty)
+      IdentityEventAdapters
+    else
+      apply(system, adapters, adapterBindings)
   }
 
   private def apply(
@@ -165,4 +170,4 @@ private[akka] object EventAdapters {
 private[akka] case object IdentityEventAdapters extends EventAdapters(null, null, null) {
   override def get(clazz: Class[_]): EventAdapter = IdentityEventAdapter
   override def toString = Logging.simpleName(IdentityEventAdapters)
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/akka-persistence/src/main/scala/akka/persistence/journal/WriteJournalBase.scala b/akka-persistence/src/main/scala/akka/persistence/journal/WriteJournalBase.scala
index 8ae48406e0..20b6a60135 100644
--- a/akka-persistence/src/main/scala/akka/persistence/journal/WriteJournalBase.scala
+++ b/akka-persistence/src/main/scala/akka/persistence/journal/WriteJournalBase.scala
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ import akka.persistence.AtomicWrite
 private[akka] trait WriteJournalBase {
   this: Actor ⇒
 
-  lazy val persistence = Persistence(context.system)
-  private def eventAdapters = persistence.adaptersFor(self)
+  val persistence = Persistence(context.system)
+  private val eventAdapters = persistence.adaptersFor(self)
 
   protected def preparePersistentBatch(rb: immutable.Seq[PersistentEnvelope]): immutable.Seq[AtomicWrite] =
     rb.collect { // collect instead of flatMap to avoid Some allocations