GoldenEar Technology may have had the fastest rise to the top of any speaker manufacturer in history. The company started less than 2 years ago. Yet its very first product, the Triton Two tower speaker, was named Sound+Vision’s 2010 Audio Product of the Year — and practically every other audio publication raved about it, too.
It shouldn’t have come as too big a surprise, though. GoldenEar is the creation of Sandy Gross, a co-founder of Polk Audio and Definitive Technology, and engineer Don Givogue, the other co-founder of Def Tech. Still, to have people comparing your $2,500-per-pair speaker to $10,000-per-pair models is an accomplishment.
GoldenEar designed the new Triton Three for those who found the Triton Two too large or pricey. At $999 each, the Three sells for $1,000 less per pair than the Two (which just went up to $1,499 each) and stands 4 inches shorter. So it’s not a radical change from the original.
Nor do the guts represent a radical change. The Three uses the same High-Velocity Folded Ribbon tweeter found throughout GoldenEar’s speaker lineup. The HVFR employs a thin ribbon diaphragm that’s folded about 20 times. It works sort of like an accordion, squeezing the folds in the diaphragm to force air in and out, thus making sound. The midrange driver is the same 4.5-inch cone, but where the Two has a pair, the Three has just one.
Like the Two, the Three incorporates a powered subwoofer, although it’s got less oomph. The Three has just one oval-shaped woofer to the Two’s two. Also, the Three’s dual passive radiators are smaller, and its 800-watt internal amplifier is only two-thirds as powerful.
The powered sub section presents some advantages over using a separate subwoofer. Because the woofer has its own amp, Givogue and his team could use a digital low-pass filter on the woofer to fine-tune the blend between the woofer and the midrange driver. The digital filter is a complex series of first-order filters at different frequencies, while the midrange uses a passive, second-order high-pass filter. (The midrange/tweeter crossover is also passive.) A knob on the back lets you adjust the level of the subwoofer section so that it balances perfectly with the midrange and tweeter, and an LFE line-level input lets you get optional added oomph when playing movies.
The disadvantage of the powered sub section is that you have to position the towers where the midrange and tweeter drivers work best, at least a couple of feet from any nearby wall. (With a subwoofer, you’re free to position the sub as well as the satellite speakers wherever they work best with your room’s acoustics.)
If you’ve hung on my every word here, you now know what a fascinating and complex engineering exercise the GoldenEar Triton Three is. Now it’s time to take a seat in the listening chair see if the engineering worked.
Incidentally, those who want to expand the Triton Three into a full home theater system can add the matching SuperSat 50C center speaker and SuperSat 3 surround speakers.
In his Test Report article posted on March 20th 2012, re: Goldenear Triton Three Speakers, Brent Butterworth mentioned that he had used a Denon surround sound Receiver as one of his components to test these speakers. Which model number did he use ? Look forward to hearing from you very soon..
I'm a Denon fan and need to update my current Receiver to accommodate HDMI etc. I also will be looking at these Speakers as part of my new set-up. The review was certainly very impressive.
Regards
Roger
Hi, Roger. I use a Denon AVR-2809CI, used as a preamp/processor only in conjunction with an AudioControl Savoy amp.
Mr. Butterworth-
You say that "Home theater enthusiasts, though, will almost surely want to add a sub or two" and that "the bottom octave-and-a-half wasn’t as smooth and even as I can get it in my room using standalone subwoofers. Such is the nature of tower speakers." I've often thought that a sub (typically placed off to one side) makes the sound feel "weighted" toward that side (even with the lowest possible crossover point set). But maybe I haven't heard a good-enough setup. Has S&V ever done tower vs. bookshelf+sub comparison tests?
In practical terms, my question is this: Do you think it would be better to add a sub or two (for say, $1000) to the Triton Three or just buy the Triton Two (about which your S&V colleague said "there was a bottomless quality; instead of rounding off at some distinct point, the low-end extension seemed to be without limits. The Triton Two's bass was without question the deepest, cleanest, and most nuanced I've yet heard in my room.")?
Or, if you believe low bass is inherently compromised in tower designs, would you say a combination of a sub with Goldenear's Aon 3 (essentially the upper part of the Triton3) is preferable?
Brent, Thanks for reviewing this smaller version of Triton Two. Weren't you tempted to compare the two speakers to hear how different they actually sound? Measurements, yes, we have them from the Triton Two review for comparison, but more meaningful (to the would be purchaser) would be a direct listening test with different types of source material. Do the extra drivers in the Two's influence sound quality, or just produce more headroom? Please don't take this unkindly... I just want more! more! more!
@loitering: The vast majority of the products sent to Sound+Vision (and other magazines and websites) have to be returned to the manufacturer. Manufacturers allocate only a few samples of any one product for reviews. Most reviewers are able to hang onto a few products here and there to use as a comparison standard, but no publication (or even more so, no freelance reviewer like me) has the resources to keep more than a few such products on hand - even if the manufacturers would allow it.
@freetrademan: I prefer subwoofer/satellite systems to tower speakers. Every home theater design and/or room acoustics professional I know shares this preference. Once you grasp the concept of the Schroeder frequency (http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/blog/2012/03/05/schroeder-frequency-sho...), there's no longer any serious argument.
The Triton Three and, even more so, the Triton Two both play low, but they don't have the driver real estate to match the output of high-performance subwoofers. A sub or tower speaker can play low without necessarily playing all that loud (or vice versa). To get high output at low frequencies, you need either large drivers, multiple midsize drivers, or very high-excursion drivers (a la Sunfire). Plus either a large box or a lot of amplifier power.
I can't endorse the Aon 3 without having heard it, but yes, I would gravitate toward satellites and a separate subwoofer (or two). But to each his own. If you like the form factor and setup simplicity of tower speakers, go for it.
Brent: Thanks for your reply. I understand the Schroeder frequency argument in favor of sub/sat systems. It certainly makes sense in theory. I understand that sounds below 80Hz aren't (or shouldn't be) localizable. Still, I find that I can clearly hear the low bass in music coming from the sub over there, rather than as part of the main speaker soundfield. The music sounds noticeably "weighted" toward the side.
(At the moment I'm listening to a 2.1 setup by Atlantic Tech (http://www.atlantictechnology.com/Upload/PDFs/manuals/discontinued/Sys45...). The sub is set at the lowest crossover (55Hz) and the level is just above minimum.)
Short of having two subs (L&R) or putting the sub dead center, what can I do to mitigate this "off-center" problem?
@Freetrademan: The frequency at which you begin to be able to localize sound is 70-90 Hz, depending on the person. (That's science, not me, talking.) That said, I've noticed that sometimes I get a sense of directionality when I place a sub in the corner. Not sure if that's a psychological effect or an actual audible effect, though.
Your ears simply can't localize sounds at 55 Hz and below. However, there are a couple of reasons you can get directionality even with a low crossover point. If the low-pass filter is relatively shallow (say, 2nd order), you'll get audible output even at an octave or more above the crossover point. Also, distortion will create audible harmonics above the crossover frequency, and the crossover doesn't filter those out.
That is a lovely system you have. I remember reviewing it when it first came out. I recommend double-checking your settings and wiring to make sure there's a crossover in that circuit somewhere. The sub's not in the manual you linked to. Do you have it plugged into an LFE input that bypasses the crossover? Or maybe there's a crossover bypass switch that's activated? If not, an outboard crossover might solve the problem.
@Brent: Yes, it is a lovely system. I'd love to read your old review. Can you link to it (or send it somehow)? The sub is the matching Atlantic Tech 452 (http://www.atlantictechnology.com/Upload/PDFs/manuals/discontinued/452PB... ) (Would you believe someone on Craigslist gave all this away for free?!)
I'm not sure about the crossover wiring. The Denon AVR-981 receiver (also part of the Craigslist find) simply has "Subwoofer out", not "LFE", which I connect to "Low Level IN" on the sub. No sign of a crossover bypass.
I've noticed this subwoofer directionality quite often, not just in this particular setup. I'll continue to experiment with crossover settings and sub placement to solve my dilemma. Thanks very much for your advice.
@Freetrademan: I recommend setting the front speaker size to small, then using the External Filter THX setting on your sub's crossover frequency control. This will use the Denon's internal 80 Hz crossover and may give you a much better blend between sats and subs, and also possibly eliminate that directionality you're hearing. It's certainly worth a try.
I'll try to find that old review. It was from Home Entertainment magazine, probably 2003 or 2004. I still have a few back issues. The measurements may be lost to the ages, though - we posted them on the web only and that old content has been lost through various ownership changes.
Brent, you expressed your preference for subwoofer/satellite systems. GoldenEar has the Super Cinema 3 and50 Systems. Have you heard or reviewed any of these? If so what is your opinion.
Regards, Roger
I was always taught that adding a second identical speaker would raise the spl by 3dB or double it.Yet in your review in the test bench section of the Triton 3's you state a second speaker would add 6dB on average or 4 times.How does this work?Thanks in advance.
hi Brent,
just wondering what do you think about combining the triton 3 with the martin logan electromotion C2 as the center speaker? the reason being when i went to the audio store they recommended it, i like the triton 3 a lot but with the center speaker you need to mount on a wall which i don't like much and the salesman said the tweeter GE uses is 99% similar with the ML C2. so please help me with that. many thanks!!
best regards, kenny.