GOLDENEAR TRITON 2 REVIEW FROM STEREOPHILE.
Comparisons
The last two speakers I reviewed were the Monitor Audio Platinum PL200 ($8000/pair, April 2010) and the Focal Chorus 826W Anniversary Edition ($3495/pair, November 2010), both floorstanders of about the same size as the Triton Two. The obvious question was how the GoldenEars Triton Two would compare with these more expensive speakers.
Not an easy question to answer. The Monitors and Focals were returned to their distributors some time ago, so I wasn't able to make direct comparisons with the GoldenEars. Although I don't think auditory memory is quite as unreliable as some people claim, I wouldn't want to bet the farm on the accuracy of my recollection of sounds I heard a year ago. Perhaps an even greater problem is presented by subsequent changes in my system. Since I reviewed the PL200 and Chorus 826W, I have replaced PS Audio's Power Plant Premier AC regenerator with their PerfectWave Power Plant 5, now use Nordost Platinum Sort Kones rather than wood blocks under the Ayre CX-7eMP, and have substituted a Hi-Fi Tuning Supreme fuse for the stock fuse in the CAT SL-1 Renaissance preamp. These changes add up to a very significant overall sonic improvement that would present a confounding variable for comparisons with the Triton Two even if my auditory memory were perfect. This is not a copout, but reality.
But there are a few things I can say without going out too far on a limb. Of the three speakers, the Triton Two had by far the most extended and powerful bass. The ported woofers of the PL200 and the Chorus 826W, while certainly respectable in their performance, simply couldn't match the bass from the powered built-in subwoofer of the Triton Two.
As for the more subtle and subjective aspects of sound quality, and for the moment putting aside the confounding variables of system changes, the GoldenEar was very much in the same sonic league as the other two speakers, the Monitor having perhaps a notch higher resolution, at the cost of a touch of brightness. In soundstage depth and width and precision of imaging, the Triton Twos were easily a match for the other two speaker pairs—neither of which is exactly a slouch in this department.
Judgments of a product's appearance are also subjective, but the Monitor Audio Platinum PL200, with its hand-rubbed wood veneer, was the most beautiful of the three to my eye, though I find the Triton Two attractive as well. But if you want your speakers to look like pieces of furniture, the PL200—and, to a lesser extent, the Focal Chorus 826W—will be more to your taste.
I was able to directly compare the Triton Two with my reference speaker, the Avantgarde Uno Nano, a horn hybrid with a powered subwoofer ($17,000/pair when last available; the German company is currently having problems with North American distribution). The Uno Nano is, overall, the "better" speaker: it's able to produce the illusion of live music more successfully than the Triton Two, with high-level dynamics that the GoldenEar can't match. This, of course, comes at a cost: you could buy six pairs of Triton Twos for the price of a pair of Uno Nanos, and still have money left over for some really good interconnects. But if price is not a deterrent, the Avantgardes will give you a closer approximation of live music.
The fact is, I was quite content to listen to music through the Triton Twos. In my high-end system, whose speaker cables cost more than the GoldenEars, there was no indication that the speakers were a weak link in the chain. I was in no hurry to switch back to my Avantgardes.
Conclusions
Given the technology that these speakers represent, not to mention their sound quality, I would not be surprised if they retailed at around $10,000/pair. But they cost only a fourth of that: $2499.98/pair. I don't know how GoldenEar can sell the Triton Two at that price and still make money for themselves and their dealers. Having the speaker being made in China certainly helps—but nowadays most speakers, even ones with pedigreed names, are made there. Sandy Gross wrote, in an e-mail, "We lavish the same care, expertise and experience that is usually reserved for the highest-priced high-end speakers on every GoldenEar speaker we create. We do it because we can—and because we know that you will enjoy and appreciate the result."
Finally, a caveat about auditioning these speakers at a dealer: The Triton Twos' relatively low price means that dealers will likely combine them with electronics and source components of similarly modest prices. This will not bring out these speakers' best. One audiophile told me that he'd heard the Triton Twos at a dealer driven by a midpriced home-theater receiver (with who-knows-what source) and was not that impressed with the sound. I'm not surprised. A speaker can reproduce only the signal it's fed; if you give it a mediocre signal, it can produce, at best, mediocre sound. The Triton Two is good enough to deserve associated equipment of high quality—which doesn't necessarily mean high price. Combine it with something like a PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium integrated amp, an Oppo BDP-95 universal Blu-ray player, and Nordost Leif cables, and you have a seriously good system for less than $7000 that will take you through these recession-prone times.
read the full review here:
http://www.stereophile.com/content/goldenear-technology-triton-two-loudspeaker
