CES 2013

GoldenEar Does It Again

Robert Deutsch  |  Jan 11, 2013

Sandy Gross has done it again! At CES 2011 I was blown away by the sound quality and value offered by the GoldenEar Triton Two, my highly positive impression confirmed by more extended listening (see my review). At CES 2013, Sandy introduced a speaker with possibly an even greater quality/value combination: the Triton Seven. This is another floorstander, but much smaller than the Triton Two (or the Triton Three that was introduced last year). It uses similar drivers as the Triton Two, including the High Velocity Folded Ribbon (aka Heil) tweeter, but, unlike the Triton Two, the bass is not powered. The lack of a powered subwoofer has allowed Triton Seven to be priced at $1399/pair. Surprisingly, the bass, which is one of the major strengths of the Triton Two, does not appear to have suffered, and the speaker has the same sort of transparency and precise imaging that characterizes the Triton Two. The Triton Seven is expected to be available in May. Photo: Sandy Gross with the Triton Two and the Triton Seven.

COMMENTS
kevon27's picture
Submitted by kevon27 on January 11, 2013 - 5:50pm

Weird they would pair those speakers with the Pass Labs amps. One of those amps cost more than all off the speakers in the Golden Ear room.

JasonVSerinus's picture
Submitted by JasonVSerinus on January 12, 2013 - 10:28am

The model of the Pass Labs amps is not indicated, but the Class A series - the one I'm most familiar with - is extremely musical, neutral in tonality, and transparent. They manage to produce a beautiful sound without gilding the lily, as it were. If I were trying to showcase the ultime musical potential of my loudspeakers, Pass would be an excellent choice.

As for sense, if you've got the cents, why not?

JasonVSerinus's picture
Submitted by JasonVSerinus on January 13, 2013 - 1:51pm

The amps were the Pass Labs XA 60.5 Class A monoblocks.

Robert Deutsch's picture
Submitted by Robert Deutsch on January 14, 2013 - 11:41am

As well as using the pricy Pass Labs amps, GoldenEar also used the very affordable (<$1K) Peachtree Audio Decco 65 integrated amp to demo the Triton Sevens.  People could listen to the Sevens with Pass Labs or the Peachtree.  When I was in the GoldenEars room the Sevens were hooked up to the Pass Labs amps, so that's how I listened to them. 

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