12
Nov

More about Triton One Stereophile Product of the Year

November 12th,2015

Dear Wylie,
Stereophile Logo

Here is more info, as I promised, about theTriton One‘s selection asStereophile’s 2015 Loudspeaker of the Year.

You know, winning Stereophile’s Loudspeaker-of-the-Year is, perhaps, the highest honor that a loudspeaker can achieve in the world of high-end audio.Plus, this is doubly significant for such an affordable loudspeaker as the Triton One, when you realize that the co-winner sells for $25,000 a pair. Otheryears’ winnersoften sell for $50,000, $100,000, or $200,000 a pair, and you have to go back to 2007 to find another winner under $20,000 a pair (at $18,000, not much under). And, of course, Borderline Class A, which was also written about, is a similar, very special achievement, when you realize the average Class A speaker this year sold for $54,000 a pair. And to cap it off, the Triton One was also a finalist for Overall-Product-of-the-Year! Quite an amazing honor.

Stereophile 2015 POY Award Logo

What did they say?
For one-fifth the Blade Two’s price (the other winner), the more conventional-looking GoldenEar Triton One is, in its way, no less dazzling. This besocked tower uses GoldenEar’s High-Velocity Folded Ribbon (HVFR) tweeter, plus two 5.25″ midrange cones, three internally powered 5″ by 9″ woofers, and four 7″ by 10″ passive planar radiators, to cover a range that, according to GoldenEar, stretches from 14 Hz. to 35 kHz.
Robert Deutsch confirmed that, in his room and system, a pair of Triton Ones extended down to at least 20 Hz in a manner that stressed “quality rather than quantity of bass”.
Robert’s verdict: not quite Class A sound for Class B money, but accomplished enough to warrant comparison to much more expensive speakers.
In fact, in Robert’s write-up of the Triton One as his choice for Overall Product-of-the Year, he wrote,
“I came this close to buying the review pair.”
(It is interesting to note, BTW, that The Absolute Sound’s Tony Cordesman did, in fact, buy his review pair). And Tom Norton, in his write-up of the Triton One as his choice for Overall Product-of-the-Year, wrote,
“The Triton One can hold its own with many speaker designs selling for deep-pocket money.”
Honestly, I have to say this award is so exciting to me that I can not fully express it in words.Please, share this with your team, your customers, and get the Triton Ones front and center on your sales floor!

Onward and Upward,


Sandy Gross
President and Founder
GoldenEar Technology

www.GoldenEar.com

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11
Nov

     GoldenEar Triton One is  Stereophile 2015 Product of the Year

TritonOne 2015
Stereophile POTY

I’m Guilty of Favoritism

 I regularly read the GoldenEar Technologies Anticipation thread on AVS Forum and slowly it dawned on me that the vast majority of the members are writing about their home theater systems. I vow to give home theater compensatory coverage in future.

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3
Nov

An owner reviews the GoldenEar Triton 7

I’ll start this review with a summary of what I look for in the reproduction of recorded music. It is a step for making the review useful to others that is often missing. I don’t know how many rave reviews I’ve read only to find that the speaker in question is of little interest to me when I actually hear it. That inevitably ties back to the reviewer being impressed by attributes that aren’t high on my list.

I look for a speaker does a good job reproducing the sound of unamplified acoustic instruments including voice — correct tonality across the frequency range without undue emphasis or manipulation to “improve” the sound quality. The spatial presentation of a speaker system is also important to me. I like the sense of space one hears at a live acoustic concert, but short of hearing a small ensemble at a small venue, one rarely hears live the sense of pinpoint location that audiophiles seem to value so highly. This tight imaging is more an artifact of recordings and can often be rather unrealistic — I don’t know how many drummers I’ve heard with a 10′ arm span or piano keyboards that extend the entire width of the room.

But, it is what it is, as they say, so I look for a speaker that will portray what is on the recording with stability. Failure to do this well will cause the image to wander back & forth as voices and instruments go up & down the scale — very annoying.

What doesn’t interest me? High volume capability, mass quantities of deep bass, extra sparkle or the alleged ability to “fix” or enhance poor recordings.

Having said all of this, what of the Triton 7 speakers from Golden Ear Technology? Simply put, they are excellent, and an incredible value to boot. I had lived happily with a pair of Spendor SP1/2Es for the past 7 or 8 years. They have a well deserved reputation for neutral reproduction of voices and acoustic instruments, and their known deficiencies were all in areas that didn’t mean much to me. However, the wife was tired of their 1970s boxy appearance in our relatively small TV/living room and she finally convinced me it was time for them to go.

I enjoy music, and I like good audio systems, though I long ago decided I did not want to be an audiophile. I was familiar with many of my alternatives to replace the Spendors — a simple one would have been one of the new “A” series from Spendor, but they are a bit pricey. Another alternative would have been a used set from Spendor’s recemtly discontinued “S” series which share the more modern look of their current models. However, I decided to give the Tritons a try as the wife approved of their appearance and the reviews have been consistently good.

I initially heard the Triton 5s as they were ones the dealer had set up when I arrived. I brought an eclectic mix of music — classical, folk, rock, jazz — and spent about two hours listening. The dealer uses his own living room for equipment auditions, so even though his room is larger than mine, it was still a home setting instead of the typical retail store environment. The bass was definitely stronger than my Spendors and female voices were excellent. Male voices seemed a bit more reticent than my Spendors. The tweeters were very well integrated with the midbass drivers and there was no hint of harshness or overemphasis — I often find one or the other of these sins in many audiophile speakers.

After the listening session, I went home and listened to my Spendors. The SP1/2E does have a certain magic not found in many other speakers, but the Triton was close. The 5 model was simply too big for my room, so I put in an order for the 7s which were in stock. It turns out that this was a better choice sonically as well as visually. Even the 7s have more bass than the SP1/2E and my room is not terribly big (14 X 15 X 10 feet with a 6 foot opening at the back into another room). It is clear to me the 5s would have been too much.

It also turned out the 7s are very slightly warmer in the low midrange meaning that I find male voices and instruments such as the cello and piano slightly more realistic on the 7 than the 5. Not a bad deal for a $600 savings and a slight reduction in bass that would have likely caused me problems. The speaker is also very good with percussives and does a wonderful job across the full range of a piano. Integration between drivers can be difficult and many speakers don’t do this task well. The Triton suffers no such problem and the sonic presentation is seamless as one moves up the frequency scale. That is one advantage of using a relatively high crossover frequency (3.5 KHz) as it avoids changing speaker drivers in the fundamental range of most instruments, including voice. The tweeter itself is also excellent. It has an extended range with no evidence of edginess.

The soundstage is also good — instruments stay in position, and in good recordings remain identifiable even in complex passages. The sweet spot is typical of other speakers. It isn’t terribly big, either laterally or vertically, but that’s never been a big issue for me. If I’m listening intently, I’m sitting where I need to sit. If I’m listening casually, then imaging isn’t important. The main issue when I’m listening casually is natural tonality, which this speaker has.

As respects appearance, it is obvious that Golden Ear saves a lot of money in production since there is no wood cabinet to finish. The speakers are tall, relatively thin enclosures that are entirely covered by a “sock” in the same fashion as Magnapans. The foot of the speaker and the top plate are high-gloss black plastic which seems popular these days — I’m so-so about the look as even light dusting tends to eventually show in the gloss. However, the total effect of this speaker’s appearance is, in my opinion, one that does not draw as much attention to itself as a more traditional wooden box. That worked out perfectly for my wife as it fixed the one problem she had with my Spendors. Such a look is not for everyone, but the savings over a finished cabinet with costly veneers definitely helps explain why these speakers are such a good buy even though they skimped on nothing on the technology side of things.

I will note the speakers are more attractive in person than in photographs. I guess it is just hard to photograph lots of black and capture the nuances.

In summary, if one is looking for a neutral sounding speaker that does an excellent job of revealing what is on your recordings, take a good look at the Triton series. They are definitely an incredible buy and easily compete against much more expensive competitors.

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31
Oct

Customer feedback email on an Aon3/ForceField 3 sat/sub system

I’m always happy when a customer likes his purchase, and even happier when they write me saying so. A review puts me over the top.

Hey Wylie,

Here is an update on the Aon 3’s with Forcefield 3 in my bedroom listening area. I am about 12 ft from the speakers that are on a wide dresser, about 5 ft apart and just a touch below ear level.

Running the Marantz 1403 with main line outs to a pair of HCA-1000 Parasounds in MONO Block configuration.

Kimber Kable speaker cable and Canare Interconnects through out the system.

Panasonic DVD/Blu Ray you recommended to me.

On Sandy Gross’ recommendation I am running the Aon 3’s at full range and the sub at 40hz and lower.

Sounds is excellent and spatial placement is very solid. Vocals are quite amazing on good material and the low end is rather substantial in that room as is clarity of the mid bass and treble. Really some gems with these speakers. Very natural and revealing.

Posted in Bookshelf Speakers, GoldenEar Technology, Speakers, Standmount speakers | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Customer feedback email on an Aon3/ForceField 3 sat/sub system
24
Oct

NEW – GoldenEar Technology XXL subwoofer

It has bass coming from all four sides! There are two 12 inch woofers, one front and one back, and two 12″ x 14″ passive radiators, one on the right and one on the left. In addition to moving a huge amount of air, the opposing forces cancel so the cabinet is free of vibration. It’s so free of vibration that Sandy Gross has balanced a nickel on the cabinet during show demos. Power is a 1600 watt amp with digital signal processing.

It’s priced at $1999, which is really a lot of money. Frankly, not everybody wants that much bass, especially when the other GoldenEar subwoofers perform so well. I’ve had the $499 ForceField 3 shake the room in my home theater, but then it’s a small room and I don’t do action movies. My first thought was – maybe I don’t want prodigious bass. On the other hand in my larger main listening room my experience with the Triton One and Two makes me think that maybe I do want that much sometimes. I’m already imagining a sat/sub system with Triton Five, or the Gallo Strada 2.

What I have found about GoldenEar subs is that they are accurate – their most important quality is their excellent transient response with great definition and musicality. Not all subs are that way – often it’s just a lot of boom, which is pleasing to the average customer but not to audiophile music lovers.

Below is the first review of the XXL for you but for those who don’t want to read it all I’ll give you the part that is most impressive to me.

“… incredibly sweet and detailed….Like other GoldenEar subwoofer offerings, the SuperSub XXL excels at detail retrieval in the lower registers. When listening to music in particular, you really start to notice the different pitches down in the low end more. Plucks of a standup bass, a piano hammer hitting a low A, and kick drums all seemed to deliver a clearer sonic story versus the typical “thump, thwack, or thud” from some other subs I’ve heard. And while it does distinguish itself at the presentation of the subtleties, this sub will hit hard when you ask it to.”

Below here is the review

 The GoldenEar Technology SuperSub XXL is the first model in a new line of high performance, compact subwoofers brought to us by GoldenEar Technology co-founder Sandy Gross and his development team.

It aspires to bring high levels of low octave bass which is both tuneful and powerful to your listening environment. The design brief also specified that the final product be of a relatively modest size and have an attractive finish to suit any décor. GoldenEar’s solution incorporates some novel twists on subwoofer technology, some of which, we’ve experienced in their ForceField line of subs. Sandy and his team have garnered an enviable reputation for delivering products with exceptional sound quality at approachable prices. Have they done it again with the SuperSub XXL? Let’s have a look shall we?

Highlights

GoldenEar Technology SuperSub XXL Subwoofer

  • Powerful, clean, and detailed bass reproduction for both movies and music
  • Strong response right down to 20 Hz
  • One sub is potent enough for a medium to large size room
  • Compact size allows for easy integration of multiple subs
  • Novel use of dual opposed drivers on the horizontal axis and dual opposed passive
    radiators on the vertical axis
  • May require a little extra care in placement for optimum results

Introduction

GoldenEar has a thing for bass. Don’t get me wrong, it’s quite obvious that they work hard to achieve a high quality, well-balanced sound in all of their products that I’ve encountered. A quick listen to any of their Triton speakers will get that point across pretty clearly. But GoldenEar does have a knack for extracting surprising levels of bass from speaker and subwoofer enclosures with sizes that would cause you to expect otherwise. One of the ways they accomplish this is through their clever, and unconventional, use of passive radiators in place of traditional porting schemes. In regards to subwoofers, I noted how effective I thought these strategies were in my review of the GoldenEar ForceField 5 last year.

GOLDENEAR SUBWOOFER REVIEW SPECIFICATIONS

DESIGN:

Dual Driver Subwoofer with Dual Passive Radiators

DRIVERS:

Two 12” Long-throw High-output Bass Drivers
Two 12 ¾” x 14 ½”Quadratic Planar Infrasonic Radiators

FREQUENCY RESPONSE:

10 Hz – 200 Hz

AMPLIFIER:

1,600 Watt ForceField Digital/DSP Amplifier

LOW PASS FILTER:

12dB/Octave Continuously Variable from 40 Hz – 200 Hz (Stereo Inputs)

INPUTS:

Direct Coupled, Unfiltered LFE Input/Low Level Left and Right Channel Inputs

DIMENSIONS:

17.6″ H x 19.75″ W x 15.9″ D

Weight:

78 Pounds

MSRP:

$1,999

COMPANY:

GoldenEar

SECRETS TAGS:

GoldenEar, Subwoofer, Passive Radiators

The SuperSub XXL looks to take the formula of the ForceField 5 and effectively double most of the parameters while keeping it all in a single box with a manageable footprint. That’s two long throw 12 inch diameter drivers firing in a horizontally opposed orientation (left and right if you will). This isn’t such an unusual arrangement in subwoofers these days but adding a pair of large passive radiators, also in an opposed configuration (firing up and down), is something a little different.

Add in a significantly more powerful amplifier, a good deal of increased DSP processing horsepower and a larger (but not too large) well braced box, and you have all the ingredients for a very compelling low octave sonic generator. The fine folks at GoldenEar were kind enough to send two of these little beauties for my review as I like to run twin subs in my stereo setup and in my home theater. Hmmm. I wonder what possible trouble I could get myself into?

Design

The GoldenEar SuperSub XXL does endeavor to pack a lot of technology into a moderately sized and smartly dressed package. From a purely aesthetic angle, the SuperSub XXL eschews the standard rectangular box by incorporating softly rounded edges and some inverted beveled front corners with a deep, gloss black piano finish all around. It definitely has a handsome and distinctive appearance with echoes of some simple art deco design cues. It’s a sturdy little box as well. Rapping your knuckles on the front of the enclosure gives you a distinct sense of solidity, and sore knuckles!

From a technical standpoint, the SuperSub XXL sports two 12” long throw bass drivers, similar to the one found in the GoldenEar ForceField 5 subwoofer. These drivers are mounted in a horizontally opposed configuration so that they fire out the left and right sides of the enclosure. In addition to these active drivers, GoldenEar couples two large oblong passive radiators, also in a horizontally opposed setup, firing out of the top and the bottom of the box.

This driver and drone arrangement is said to have a couple of major benefits. The first being that, since the active drivers are configured for bipolar operation (both cones move out of the enclosure at the same time, and inward at the same time, and are, thus, in phase), any inertial forces from the operation of a single driver, which would normally be transferred to the box as wasted energy, get cancelled out by the other driver. The second is that because there is sound radiating from four different axis, the SuperSub XXL should have a better time coupling with the room and, subsequently, smoother overall response. The subwoofer’s electronics package consists of a 1,600 watt class D amplifier controlled by a 56 bit processor section with a 192 kHz sampling rate.

On the back of the subwoofer we find the main inputs and controls. There is no ON/OFF switch as the subwoofer is auto signal sensing so only a blue status light indicates a state of activity. To the right of that is a toggle switch to select either LEFT/RIGHT or LFE input. Beside this are two rotary dials, one for setting the Low Pass Crossover frequency and the other for setting the overall level. Right below these dials are a pair of LEFT/RIGHT RCA input jacks. The LEFT jack also doubles as the LFE input and is switchable via the aforementioned toggle switch.

Again, this as a lot of stuff to be cramming into a box smaller than a 20” square cube.

Setup

For the majority of my testing, a single subwoofer was used and set up along the side wall nearest to the front right speaker. I found that this sub didn’t seem to like the normal spot that I usually locate subwoofers (front wall behind the front right or left speaker). After a bit of experimentation I found that the SuperSub XXL seemed to prefer a side wall placement in my habitat. That location seemed to result in the best coupling with the room and the smoothest raw overall response before any speaker calibration was applied.

GoldenEar was nice enough to send two identical subwoofers as I usually run twin subs in my home theater to help even out the bass response amongst all the seats. So after all the preliminary testing and measuring was done I incorporated the second subwoofer into the system, just to “gild the lily” a little bit.

Associated equipment used: Denon AVR-X4000 receiver, OPPO BDP-103 Blu-ray player, Salk Songtower main speakers, Zaph Audio ZD3C center channel speaker, Rocket RS300 quasi-dipole surround speakers, Pioneer 50” KURO plasma display.

In Use

I’ve had a fair amount of subwoofers in and out of this room, most have been bigger with some being significantly so. My initial listening impressions were that the SuperSub XXL does an excellent job keeping up with the bigger boys particularly where it counts. No, it won’t give much useable content below 20 Hz if that’s what you’re after. That sort of performance would require a noticeably bigger enclosure and bigger drivers than what the SuperSub has in order to deliver the required SPLs and keep the distortion level minimal. That’s just simply the physics of it.

I suspect GoldenEar has used some clever design and technology to obtain what they feel was an optimum balance between performance and size. And that line happened to fall right at 20 Hz, the traditionally accepted lowest frequency of human hearing. But for everything at 20 Hz and above, where most of the movie and music bass content is, this sub sounds incredibly sweet and detailed.

Like other GoldenEar subwoofer offerings, the SuperSub XXL excels at detail retrieval in the lower registers. When listening to music in particular, you really start to notice the different pitches down in the low-end more. Plucks of a standup bass, a piano hammer hitting a low A, and kick drums all seemed to deliver a clearer sonic story versus the typical “thump, thwack, or thud” from some other subs I’ve heard. And while it does distinguish itself at the presentation of the subtleties, this sub will hit hard when you ask it to.

There was plenty of wall rattling during challenging movie passages and there were more than a few times I felt the bass hit me square in the chest when called upon. When I eventually added the second SuperSub XXL into the mix, positioning it directly across from the first one on the other wall, things just got even better! With more headroom at my disposal, everything just became more impactful.

The bass also became more even from seat to seat in my home theater, with a good deal less variation when I moved around. As I mentioned in the setup section, I did have to relocate this sub as I didn’t get the impression that it was performing to its potential in my usual subwoofer location. Whether that’s a result of its unique 4-axis design not meshing well with the room at that spot, I can’t rightly say. However it does underscore the importance of taking one’s time when integrating a subwoofer into a room because the sidewall, where the sub ended up being, was not someplace I would have considered ideal.

Once there and calibrated though, the bass fell in line perfectly. At no point in my listening did the bass ever seem disconnected from the rest of the system, whether listening in stereo or surround. My wife was quite surprised at the levels of bass coming out of this relatively diminutive (for us) box. She, of course, liked the fact that we could see more of our room and less of the equipment with the SuperSub XXL, so married folk, take that into your considerations as well. A few of the standout music and movie samples during my time with the SuperSub XXL were:

Jim Brock “Tropic Affair”

Tropic Affair by Jim Brock on Reference Recordings CD. This live to two-track recording is an oldie but a goodie. Jim Brock’s drumming and percussive skills give the SuperSub XXL a proper workout. With kick drum hits that catch you properly in the gut on songs like “Ladies Of The Calabash” to the detail and weight of the lower register conga type drums on the song “Anya”, the SuperSub XXL kept pace with the dynamics and never once got sloppy with the sound. The rich electric bass lines of “Tropic Affair” and “Palm-Palm Girls” were also replayed with excellent weight, sustain and decay by the GoldenEar sub. The final track, “O Vazio”, begins and ends with loud and deep percussive strikes that can shake the room at volume. The SuperSub XXL passed that test extremely well, getting me to feel the initial strikes and the reverberations thoroughly.

Donald Fagan “Morph The Cat”

Morph The Cat by Donald Fagan on Reprise Records, DVD-Audio 5.1 Surround. This disc is known for its aggressive electric bass lines and in full on surround, it does not disappoint! From the opening strains of the title track, the SuperSub XXL digs deep and keeps time, rendering the basslines with authority. Beyond the reproduction of the initial string pluck, the sub precisely renders that resulting reverberation and decay of the notes so perfectly that you get a good sense of just how much the bass player attacked those strings. This little bit of sonic heaven continued on with the funky tempo of “Brite Nightgown” and the smooth jazziness of “Mary Shut The Garden Door.” Bass and kick drum throughout these tracks just sounded palpable and richly textured.

The Secret of Kells

The Secret of Kells Blu-Ray, Flatiron Films. This gem of an animated movie is, visually, a beautiful tapestry of design and color woven with Celtic mythology to create a fantastical tale that was a real treat to watch. While it doesn’t have an intense bass-heavy soundtrack, this movie does have well recorded Celtic drums underpinning the music and action all through the film. What struck me was just how good these drums sounded and the how well that the SuperSub XXL conveyed the impact and textures of those drums – from the quietest moments where they were merely an accent all the way through to the intense pounding during the attack of the Vikings. The SuperSub took a part of the soundtrack that I may not have otherwise paid more than scant attention to and brought it to the fore and revealed how important it was to the overall story and pacing of the movie.

Live Free or Die Hard

Live Free or Die Hard Blu-Ray, 20th Century Fox. Now this is an action movie! Crashes, explosions, gunfire and a really foreboding soundtrack. The SuperSub XXL didn’t flinch at all during any of it. During the Tunnel scene when one of the cars becomes a flying projectile aimed squarely at our heroes. The resulting impact of that car hitting the ground completely shook the room. Another scene where the natural gas substation detonates in a series of progressively louder explosions is delivered to impressive effect with the SuperSub XXL. One of the best scenes was when the F-35 Raptor was firing its cannons at the semi-truck. The XXL made you feel each one of those rounds as they left the cannon barrel and headed straight for Bruce Willis! This sub can definitely get loud if the situation calls and the output is delivered cleanly within its operating range. I heard no distortion or any signs of distress with any of the movies or music I played.

On the Bench

All in-room measurements of the SuperSub XXL were recorded using an average of twelve separate measurements taken from various points in the listening area. This method helps to reduce the effect of room modes and helps give a more realistic indication of the overall subwoofer response in my home theater. The measurements were taken using Room EQ Wizard and a UMIK-1 microphone professionally calibrated by Cross Spectrum Labs. The graphs have no smoothing applied.

This is a measurement of a single SuperSub XXL alone, with no room correction or speaker calibration applied. Not a bad raw measurement with a modest rise from around 30-23 Hz before a steep roll off just before 20 Hz. The dip at 67 Hz is a natural occurrence of the room itself.

This next graph shows the raw measurement (green trace) compared to the response of the sub after it’s been calibrated with Audyssey XT32 and crossed over to my main speakers at 80 Hz (red trace). Overall a respectably smooth graph with a particularly flat lower end. Running this sub a few dB “hot” while watching movies will give you nice little added punch without sounding bloated.

Conclusions

The GoldenEar SuperSub XXL is a well crafted, attractive, and potent piece of low level, percussive delivery hardware. It is thoughtfully designed, solidly built and leverages GoldenEar’s expertise and technology in a novel way to deliver outstanding bass performance from a modestly sized enclosure. No, it is not a miner of sub-20 Hz material. But in its operating range, it excels in delivering all the quantity and quality of bass that you could practically need. It does this with such an emphasis on detail retrieval and a lack of distortion that it will be particularly admired by music lovers.

THE SUPERSUB XXL Delivers The Goods, Where It Counts, With Practical Performance And Style.

Posted in Gallo speakers, GoldenEar Technology, Speakers, Subwoofers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on NEW – GoldenEar Technology XXL subwoofer
29
Sep

Focus on St. Louis

The Sound Room presents
Music Matters
on Thursday, October 1 from 5 PM to 9 PM
Food, wine, and door prizes.

Demonstrations by factory representatives.

GoldenEar Technology will be represented by Mike Lang, showing the Triton Five.

The world’s only pair of the concept speaker Paradigm Concept 4F will be shown before going to another location in its world tour.

It’s a very interesting looking speaker and presumably a version of it will be go into production. Price? Even with the Internet it’s hard to find pricing on prototypes, but Soundstageglobal.com said “The $20,000 price point is one where a customer can expect to get a full-range loudspeaker a mere stone’s throw away from reference-level performance…”
( Yes, that’s a direct quote. I wonder what “reference-level” costs and how far he can throw a stone, as measured in dollars? )

Anyway, the Concept 4F looks like a terrific speaker with many innovations. Even I, discouraged as I am at the proliferation of un-affordable components, am tempted to go have a look and listen. It would be like going to a car show to test drive a Lamborghini.

Vintage Vinyl named one of the top 21 Record stores in America by Thrillist.com

“The clientele: Fans of home-grown Americana, hard rockers, and bluesmen”

“Regarded by vinyl addicts as one of the best-curated shops in the Midwest, this is a general-interest store if there ever was one. You can find nearly everything under the hot St. Louis sun, and in multiple formats: Punk CDs and hip-hop tapes fly off the shelves here as quickly as the wax does. But beyond what you can purchase, Vintage Vinyl is known for its ear-shattering in-store shows where free beer often flows. What else would you expect from St. Louis?”

The Speaker and Stereo Store, where music always matters .

Posted in GoldenEar Technology, Speakers, Tower speakers | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Focus on St. Louis
22
Sep

2015 Stereophile recommended components

I like Stereophile‘s idea of ranking components with grades. The latest ratings divide speakers into categories according to how much bass they produce and how deep it goes. This makes a lot of sense, but confuses me a bit. .

The ten Class A (Full range) speakers averaged $58,800.  (Gasp!)

There is a Class A Restricted Extreme LF with tiny stand-mount speakers and small towers, priced from $1500 to $42,000, etc.

The rest of the ratings have lots more that is too pricey for my blood, so I’m going to point out only some of the ones I sell.

GoldenEar Technology made the speaker list in Class B (full range)

GoldenEar Triton One: $4999.98/pair $$$ ( $$$ indicates a super bargain, which makes sense if you look at their Class A speaker prices. Wylie)

Preceded in the GoldenEar line by a number of less-expensive loudspeakers, the Triton One is their new flagship: a 54″-tall tower whose cloth wrap conceals a powered, passive-radiator–loaded subwoofer system, two 5.25″ midrange drivers, and, as RD describes it, “GoldenEar’s version of the famed Heil Air-Motion Transformer, called a High-Velocity Folded Ribbon tweeter.” Other distinctions include a fully balanced crossover, the use of DSP in the active portions of said crossover, and a 1600W internal subwoofer amp. According to RD, the Triton One performed with little strain on music played at “impress-your-friends levels,” but that was far from this pony’s only trick: “I could play the speakers at a low level and all the music was still there.” He added, “the bass always tuneful and firm. In music that didn’t reach down into the deep bass, there was no midbass emphasis to give a false impression that there was deep bass.” JA’s measurements confirmed the Triton One’s high sensitivity, but noted an impedance-phase angle sufficiently challenging that the user “will require a good 4 ohm–rated amplifier to drive the speaker to acceptably high levels.” In all, JA declared this latest GoldenEar to be “another finely engineered loudspeaker.” Borderline Class A. (Vol.38 No.2 WWW)

GoldenEar Technology Triton Two: $2999.98/pair $$$ ★

Designed by industry veteran Sandy Gross and his team, and made in China, the Triton Two is a three-way floorstander with a unique array of drive-units: a High-Velocity Folded Ribbon tweeter, two 4.5″ midrange cones, two 7″ by 10″ passive radiators, and two 5″ by 9″ cone woofers powered by a 1200W class-D amplifier. The speaker’s slim cabinet is made of high-density Medite, features a separate subenclosure for the midrange drivers, and is covered in black cloth. Though it exhibited some box colorations when pushed too loud, the Triton Two offered sweet, detailed highs, an uncolored midrange, well-extended lows, and excellent dynamics, said RD. (Vol.35 Nos.2 & 10 WWW)

Bel Canto Design made Class A with the DAC 3.5 MkII, though there is now an improved DAC 3.7but it’s too soon for the reviewers to catch up. The same for the new bel canto DAC 1.7 and 2.7

Bel Canto e.One DAC3.5VB Mk.II: $3495 ★

Like other Bel Canto products, the e.One DAC3.5BV is roughly half the width of a typical audio component and boasts a black-painted steel chassis with a beautifully milled faceplate of naturally finished aluminum. It accepts resolutions up to 24-bit/96kHz and offers a wealth of inputs: RCA and BNC digital, balanced AES/EBU digital, TosLink, ST fiber-optic, and a single pair of analog RCA jacks. While its D/A section is similar to that found in Bel Canto’s e.One DAC3, the DAC3.5VB has revised jitter-rejection circuitry for improved performance with high-jitter sources. Meanwhile, the optional VBS1 power supply ($1495) provides 12V DC and adds heroic LC filtering and energy storage. EL was most impressed by the Bel Canto’s ability to produce big soundstages with exceptionally quiet backgrounds. Adding the VB-REF power cable ($495) opened up those stages even more, reduced treble grain, and lowered the perceived noise floor. On the test bench, the Bel Canto exhibited high resolution and low jitter. The Bel Canto traded the sweet tone of Weiss’s DAC202 for greater overall clarity and cleaner highs; compared with the dCS Debussy, the Bel Canto lacked some bass, but offered a warmer, more musical sound, with blacker backgrounds and fleshier images, said EL. Review was of original version; Mk.II has improved power supply and a master clock with lower phase noise. Compared to the Benchmark DAC2 HGC, the Bel Canto had a more laid-back overall sound, with a larger soundstage and better image separation, said EL. (Vol.34 No.6; Vol.35 No.1; Vol.37 No.2 WWW)

A WireWorld interconnect cable and a speaker cable were recommended but they are so expensive it’s not worth mentioning.

Four versions of ASC Tube Traps were recommended.

As always.

Music Hall’s Ikura turntable made Class B

 Music Hall Ikura: $1195
Designed in the US and manufactured in the Czech Republic, the Music Hall Ikura is a two-speed, belt-drive turntable that comes packaged with a 9″ tonearm and bundled with an Ortofon 2M Blue MM cartridge (the latter a $236 value when bought separately). The Ikura’s simple and distinctly attractive exterior—according to BJR, even the dustcover is “sexy”—conceals a clever two-plinth design, with motor and electronics fastened to the bottom structure and the platter bearing and tonearm fastened to the top, with rubber cones in between. A pre-lubricated, stainless-steel ball bearing with a Teflon sleeve, a platter machined from MDF, and a DC motor are also featured. The aluminum tonearm has Swiss-made ABEC 7 (that’s good) stainless-steel bearings, adjustable VTA, and a falling-weight antiskating mechanism. Cartridge alignment and arm height are set at the factory, although future adjustments, tools and instructions for which are included, can be easily made. In his listening, BJR discovered high-frequency performance that was “impressive for a $1200 turntable” and bass performance that was “even more impressive.” On the downside, he found that the Ikura–2M Blue combo could be flustered by unusually demanding passages. (Vol.37 No.12 WWW)

In cartridges both Ortofon and Grado had recommended models, but I’m sure you are as tired of reading this as I am of writing it, so if you want to see the whole deal visit the article on Stereophile.

Posted in Components, DAC, Phono cartridges, Preamplifier, Speakers, Tower speakers, Turntables | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on 2015 Stereophile recommended components
17
Sep

Hurrah for WireWorld and GoldenEar Tchnology

Danish audiophile magazine Nomono

reviews WireWorld’s Aurora power cable.

Here’s the conclusion:

Our listening comparisons showed that especially the precision in the left/right sound stage was significantly better defined with the Wireworld cable than with other existing power cables. When we switched to others like Ansuz or Nordost, the soundstage still had width, but never with the separation across the stage of the Wireworld Aurora 7. Conclusion We got a lot of precision and musical joy when Aurora was in the chain. And this was a great surprise when compared with cables at 10 times the cost. It is incredible that Wireworld has not previously taken a foothold in Denmark or Scandinavia.

The full review is available at this link: Nomono

So cables are just cables?

Who would know? That guy on the Internet forum who says it’s all snake oil, or the world-renowned mastering engineer of the newly remastered The Beatles: The U.S. Albums? If you think it’s that guy on the Internet skip this part of the newsletter.

Last April David Salz of WireWorld and Jeff Dorgay from Tone Audio Magazine sat down with Greg Calbi, Senior Mastering Engineer at Sterling Sound in New York City, who’s mastered some of the best sounding and biggest hit records of the ’70s through today. Greg had just seen the release of his newly re-mastered “The Beatles: The U.S. Albums,” and Jeff interviewed him about that release, mastering in general, and why he uses Wireworld Cables throughout his signal chain. They made a video of the interview that is well worth watching. Link: YouTube

Another email from Sandy Gross:

September 3th, 2015

Dear Wylie,

Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity

We are thrilled that the Triton One continues to build up the most amazing collection of fantastic reviews that I have seen in 40 years! And, there are more coming, to be sure. This latest, fromPiero Gabucci in Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity is certainly terrific, and I love that he calls the Triton One “A Game Changer”. That is, after all, one of the most powerful and important comments that could be said about a product. Of course his statement in the conclusion, that the “Price can’t be touched” is pretty cool too.

Going right to the In Use section, Piero gets started with the simple statement,

“It does what every speaker strives for, clean clear and natural sound.”

Then, the best possible comment,

“The Triton One is remarkably very much live-sounding.”

To my ears (LOL) no better compliment could be paid.
Secrets' Piero Gabucci Reviews the Triton One

Then going on in more detail,

“The Triton One has the exceptional ability to play the subtleties from the low distant charging sound to the final buildup and explosion of the full orchestra. The percussion simply shine and ring clear without harshness…music at its best.”

Further raves,

“The Tritons are expressive at even the lowest volume…pushing the One to higher volume thresholds, I’m struck by the clean control and lack of distortion.”

More important comments abound, like,

“The Triton One’s mid-range is exceptional…a sense of layering is obvious…it all works just beautifully. This is precisely what music playback is supposed to sound like, give the Triton One full credit.”

And then, talking about the bass,

“Bass adjustability in itself is a significant feature on the Triton One, but what is astounding is how well the bass sounds… most importantly clean, articulate bass where the nuances of instruments, vibration and notes that extend and ring out.”

But, not just the all important musical subtlety,

“The Triton reverberates throughout my own space; rattling pictures on walls, flutters my pants leg and sends deep chills through my stomach.” In conclusion, among other things,” It will blow you away…I find that epic.”

Please, click here or on the image above to read the full review and then share this with your team and your customers. And, believe it or not, we still have dealers who do not have Triton Ones on their sales floor! If this is you, please realize that this is the goose that lays golden eggs, and it is not often that this goose comes around. The strong selling season is upon us. Do it! The One’s momentum and trajectory is just beginning.

Onward and Upward,


Sandy Gross
President and Founder
GoldenEar Technology

www.GoldenEar.com

Stay in touch

Posted in Accessories, Cables, GoldenEar Technology, Power cables, Tower speakers, WireWorld cables | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Hurrah for WireWorld and GoldenEar Tchnology
16
Sep

Vincent Audio, ASC, GoldenEar

Just a slice of life from my stereo store in my home in St. Louis MO. I’m no Music for Pleasure or Sound Room but I do a nice job for my clients.

Buyer report on Vincent integrated amp
I sold my demo SV237 amp (hybrid tube/solid state 150 watts x 2) to my friend Al. He buys and sells high-end audio, so he hears a lot of gear, and is a source of trusted opinion. He said that the SV237 is the second best integrated amp he has heard. The the best was a $12,000 amp, so that’s not a bad showing for a $2400 amp. Nevertheless he still prefers the Vincent separates – the discontinued SA-T1 preamp and SP331 power amp.

New Tube Trap announced
Acoustic Sciences Corp, inventors of the Tube Trap, have a new IsoThermal Tube Trap design that is even more absorbent of low frequencies – the IsoThermal Tube Trap. If you have any glimmer of science in your being you might want to read about it at this link http://www.acousticsciences.com/search/node/isothermal

Image(1)
ASC Tube Traps are a guaranteed way to improve the sound of a system. They are pricey, but they work, and they don’t wear out or become obsolete. They stay in the room as your components change. As an ASC dealer I can order them for you and get you a small discount (small because they are not a high-profit product). Right now there is a factory direct sale of show demo traps. You can find it at the bottom of the page of http://www.acousticsciences.com/search/node/isothermal

A satisfied GoldenEar customer wrote me:

Just wanted to let you know I am enjoying my Triton 7s and Bel Canto C5i. They are a great combo – very well matched. I’m glad I chose the 7s as I believe the 5s would have definitely overpowered my room in the bass region. In fact, even the 7s can be a bit much compared to the Spendors if the recording is bass-heavy. While not a cube, the difference between room width & length is not as great as I’d like, though this is helped a bit by a 6’ opening to the dining room behind it.
The Spendors have been sold (I ship them tomorrow). I suspect I’ll also end up selling my Image Audio tube amp, but haven’t decided that for certain. Will shoot you details when we get to that point.
Thanks for a smooth sale for some excellent equipment.

Wylie’s note – He has a well respected tube amplifier but is probably going to sell it and use the Bel Canto C5i integrated amp instead. I point this out because Class D amps have a poor reputation for being too clinical. But Bel Canto amps are an exception to that rule.

Problem with previous newsletter –

The link to the Digital Trends review of the Triton Five didn’t work. The one below works. It includes a good video by the reviewer

http://www.digitaltrends.com/speaker-reviews/goldenear-technology-triton-five-review/?utm_source=Digital+Trends+Triton+Five+Review+-

Posted in Amplifier, bel canto design, Components, GoldenEar Technology, Hybrid amplifier, Hybrid integrated amplifier, Integrated amplifier, Speakers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Vincent Audio, ASC, GoldenEar
30
Aug

Wylie and TAS review the Triton Five

Normally when GoldenEar has anew speaker review I get an email fromSandy Gross which I just cut and paste. Voila! Newsletter!

This time it’s different. The new review by Jacob Heilbrunnin the September The Absolute Sound was at first more of the same nice stuff all reviewers say about GoldenEar:

The “.. coherence, treble capabilities, and integration were striking.” “I was consistently impressed with the smoothness and silkiness of the Triton’s tweeter; there was no etch, no glare, no trace of the digital nasties.” “the soundstage was surprisingly focused.” “…an excellent jump factor- they’re quite cast.” “I was somewhat taken aback by the sheer propulsive energy and thwack of the Fives…” (when playing a live recording of a big band). ”

Next came a surprise. He wasn’t “… as impressed with the bass. Not quite as good as the mids and highs, which are stellar. While the Tritons’ mids were creamy and full, and its treble region extremely accurate—you could hear performers talking or singing with great clarity—the deep bass was just a little bit murky by comparison.” As a stalwart fan of all things GoldenEar I was taken aback. I demonstrated the Fives a couple of times this week and had not noticed any murkiness – less deep bass than than the Ones (Duh!), but very well defined. I broke out my favorite demo tracks and tried to find some “murky”. I failed. Whatever he means by murky escapes me, but I was inspired to get out my XTZ Room Analyzer to check the bass response. The blue line shows bass goes down to 25 Hz before growing weaker, a very good showing indeed. The dim green line is an earlier measurement of the Triton One. I didn’t take the time to position the Fives to smooth out the treble as I had with the Ones. My room is fickle.

P1020386

Pardon the jumping around, but I should finish the TAS review. “.. the Five’s ability to convey a direct emotional connection with the music is what makes it such an engaging product.” “… a amount of performance for the dough.” … “For anyone considering a loudspeaker under $10,000, the Triton Five isn’t just an option. It’s a must-audition.”

Now for my review. While listening to those favorite demo tracks I found that the clarity and definition sounded better than the Triton Ones! Track after track I heard more of those fun details that add liveness to the sound. Less deep bass of course, … then I remembered one of the old lessons – bass takes away midrange. I realize that sounds stupid, but give me a chance. When a speaker has less bass your attention is better focused on the midrange and highs. Years ago TAS tried to match subwoofers to the LS3/5a and finally gave up. Whenever they added the extended the bass the famed LS3/5a sound the mids and high clarity suffered. This explains the fantastic audiophile reviews for tiny speakers. If they have excellent sound from 100 Hz up they can sound wonderful, unless of course you play them past their SPL limits, or play music that needs the bass.

So am I recommending the Five over the One? Not quite. Not in my large open space because sometimes I want the loud less-distorted sound that large speakers allow. And not when I want to hear and feel the power of the deepest notes. Of course with the powered One, Two, and Three I could always reduce the bass with that little knob on the back. Maybe I’ll try that when I return the Ones to my main room and put the Fives in the bedroom.

I can heartily recommend the Fives. The joy of listening is way up there, and all they lack is the deepest bass that costs so much money.

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/goldenear-triton-five/
Wylie Williams

St. Louis MO

Posted in Bookshelf Speakers, Speakers, Tower speakers | Comments Off on Wylie and TAS review the Triton Five