At the 2011 CES, I wander into the GoldenEar Technology room. Sandy Gross, cofounder of Polk Audio and Definitive Technology, who started up this new company with former Definitive partner Don Givogue, welcomes me. The speakers are the GoldenEar Triton Twos: slim floorstanders, their…
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Visiting the high-end audio exhibits at a Consumer Electronics Show, it's easy to get desensitized to the price of equipment. A nice-looking, two-way, stand-mounted loudspeaker costing $10,000/pair. Yes, it sounds very good. Here's another one, for only $5000/pair. Seems like a bargain in comparison.
Sound
I think of loudspeakers—and of audio systems in general—as potentially providing two sorts of sonic illusion: transporting me to the concert hall or recording studio in which the recording was made ("I am there"), and bringing the performers into my listening room ("They are here"). The Triton Twos were able to conjure up both, but were particularly adept at the first. Listening to Live, a familiar disc of 10 operatic arias and duets recording in concert with Luciano Pavarotti and Mirella Freni (CD, London 421 862-2), I found that, with my eyes closed, it was easy to imagine that…
I think of loudspeakers—and of audio systems in general—as potentially providing two sorts of sonic illusion: transporting me to the concert hall or recording studio in which the recording was made ("I am there"), and bringing the performers into my listening room ("They are here"). The Triton Twos were able to conjure up both, but were particularly adept at the first. Listening to Live, a familiar disc of 10 operatic arias and duets recording in concert with Luciano Pavarotti and Mirella Freni (CD, London 421 862-2), I found that, with my eyes closed, it was easy to imagine that…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1.06" by 1.31" High-Velocity Folded Ribbon (HVFR) tweeter, two 4.5" cone midrange units, two 5" by 9" cone woofers powered by an internal amplifier, two 7" by 10" passive radiators. Crossover frequencies: 150Hz, 3.5kHz. Frequency range: 16Hz–35kHz. Sensitivity: 91dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Recommended amplifier power: 20–500W. Built-in subwoofer amplifier: class-D, 1200W.
Dimensions: 48" (1230mm) H (with base, no spikes) by 5.25" (135mm) W front by 7.5" (190mm) W rear by 15" (385mm)…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Source: Ayre Acoustics CX-7eMP CD player.
Preamplifiers: Simaudio Moon Evolution P-7, Convergent Audio Technology SL-1 Renaissance.
Power Amplifiers: Audiopax Model 88 Mk.II monoblocks, Simaudio Moon Evolution W-7.
Loudspeakers: Avantgarde Uno Nano, Focal Chorus 826W Anniversary Edition, Monitor Audio Platinum PL200.
Cables: Interconnect, speaker, AC: Nordost Valhalla.
Accessories: Totem Acoustic Beaks, PS Audio Perfect Wave Power Plant power conditioner, Arcici Suspense Rack, PolyCrystal amplifier stands, Furutech RD-2 CD…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The GoldenEar Triton Two's B-weighted sensitivity on its tweeter axis was 91dB/2.83V/m, which both agrees with the specified figure and is significantly higher than the norm. The electrical impedance (fig.1) drops below 4 ohms in the midrange and above the audioband. Though there is a combination of 4.2 ohms magnitude and –45° electrical phase angle at 150Hz, due to the high-pass filter in the feed to the midrange units, the speaker will not be too difficult for the partnering amplifier to drive.
Although the traces in fig.1 are free from the small…
Back in the late 1980s, it seemed a good idea: Separate a CD player's transport section from its D/A circuitry so that each could be optimally designed, and, as D/A technology improved, the sound of your CD player could be upgraded by replacing the outboard D/A processor. The catch was that the transport and D/A chassis needed to be connected with a serial data link: S/PDIF in optical or electrical flavors, or balanced AES/EBU. To minimize the number of cables required, the format of that link embedded the clock data within the audio data, which rendered the link sensitive to interface timing…
This high degree of resolution, however, was not achieved by exaggerating detail, which would emphasize a recording's flaws. I do much of my classical radio listening these days via the Internet, using my Logitech Transporter. With this connected to the M1 via S/PDIF, I could enjoy live classical concerts from Chicago's WFMT, for example, without being reminded overmuch (other than the missing top octave) that the music was being squeezed through a lossy pipe.
So the Bricasti M1 offered superb soundstaging, extended and weighty low frequencies, and a cleanly musical midrange. How did it…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: 24-bit, 8x-oversampling delta-sigma digital/analog converter with seven choices of reconstruction filter. Digital inputs: AES/EBU on XLR, S/PDIF electrical on RCA and BNC, S/PDIF optical on TosLink. Word-clock input on BNC. Analog outputs: 2 stereo (1 XLR, 1 RCA). Sample rates handled: 44.1–192kHz. Maximum output level: 4V, balanced (adjustable); 2V, single-ended. Output impedance: 40 ohms (balanced or single-ended). Frequency response (44.1kHz sample rate): 10Hz–20kHz, +0/–0.2dB. Dynamic range: >120dBA. THD+noise at 1kHz: 0.0006% at 0dBFS, 0.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP & DX-5 universal players; Apple G4 Mac mini running OS10.5.8, iTunes 10, Pure Music 1.84; Shuttle PC with Lynx AES16 soundcard & dual-core AMD Athlon processor running Windows 7, Foobar 2000, Adobe Audition 3.0; dCS Debussy, Weiss DAC202, Logitech Transporter D/A converters; Halide S/PDIF Bridge, Empirical Audio Off-Ramp4 USB-S/PDIF converters.
Preamplifier: Ayre Acoustics K-5xeMP.
Power Amplifiers: Classé CT-M600, MBL Reference 9007 (both monoblocks).
Loudspeakers: BBC LS3/5a, Sonus Faber Amati…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used Stereophile's loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system to measure the Bricasti M1 (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It"); for some tests, I also used my vintage Audio Precision System One Dual Domain and the Miller Audio Research Jitter Analyzer.
The Bricasti's electrical inputs successfully locked to datastreams with sample rates ranging from 44.1 to 192kHz; the TosLink input would not lock to datastreams with sample rates greater than 96kHz, which is normal. As supplied for review, the M1's maximum output…