Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Manufacturer's Comment

Editor: Everyone at GoldenEar is thrilled that JA so enjoyed his time with the Triton References. This was especially meaningful as he had spent much time over the last year listening to many hyper-expensive top-of-the-line speakers from hallowed names like Magico, Rockport, Vandersteen, Vivid and Wilson; the least expensive of which sells for over four times the cost of T Refs.

As JA observed, T Refs are significantly more efficient than most other speakers that he has had in his room for a long time. It was a challenge to engineer an extremely natural sounding, uncolored speaker of this efficiency level, where normally speakers of relatively high coloration live. This was a specific design goal, as we wanted the References to be able to be well-driven and enjoyed, paired with a wide variety of amplifiers. I myself am something of a SET fan, and certainly wanted to be able to indulge in my favorite SET amps with T Ref.

I have always found that piano is one of the most difficult to reproduce instruments, and we use piano extensively in our development work. As JA points out, "solo piano is very revealing of colorations." Given how focused we were to develop a highly efficient, extremely dynamic and very wide range loudspeaker which was also very low in coloration, JA's statement that "In fact, piano recordings sounded consistently superb" was very high praise. As with any great speaker, T Refs allow you to hear the subtle differences in electronics as well as program material. I was pleased that a great recording like "September in Montreal" ". . . was crystal clear and the sound and size of her voice were both superbly natural" as it should be. Finally, the comment that ". . . classical orchestral music sounded a touch too magnificent" simply brings joy to my heart.—Sandy Gross, GoldenEar Technology