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We placed the Spirits approximately where my baseline references, MartinLogan's Prodigy electrostatics, had been in my largish listening space, and O'Hanlon began by using the title track of Shelby Lynne's Just a Little Lovin' (CD, Lost Highway B0009789-2) to distance the speakers from the front and side walls. He used the left channel of the recording, one speaker at a time, listening for the sound of the bass to make sure it met his approval at the listening position. He then had me sit down and close my eyes while he walked in front of the speaker from the left wall, repeating the phrase "…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Four-way, five-driver loudspeaker with exponentially-tapered-tube bass-reflex loading. Drive-units: HF: D26 1" (26mm) metal-dome tweeter, D50 2" (50mm) metal-dome tweeter, C125-75 4.9" (125mm) midrange with alloy-carbon diaphragm & 3" (75mm) voice-coil, two C225-100 8.9" (225mm) woofers with alloy diaphragms & 3.9" (100mm) voice-coils in 1.75" (45mm) gap. Crossover frequencies: 220Hz, 880Hz, 3.5kHz. Frequency response: 29Hz–33kHz, ±2dB on reference. Frequency range: –6dB at 25Hz and 36kHz. Sensitivity: 92dB/2.83V/m on axis. Impedance: 6 ohms…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Apple MacBook Pro computer (2.5GHz Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) running OS 10.13, Roon v.1.3 build 262, JRiver Media Center 19, iTunes 12.7, Amarra Computer Music Player, VLC, Reaper 5.52, XLD; Western Digital 2TB NAS; Western Digital, Toshiba portable USB drives; Oppo BDP-103 universal BD player; Meridian Digital Media System (formerly Sooloos) Control 15, QNAP TS-669 Pro NAS; Apple iPad Air 2 & iPhone 6. Ayre Acoustics QB-9DSD, Benchmark Media Systems DAC1 USB & DAC2 HGC, Meridian Explorer2 DACs.
Analog Source: Oracle…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
With a loudspeaker as large and bulky and heavy as Vivid's Giya G1 Spirit, I decided to measure them at Jon Iverson's home on the California Central Coast rather than have them shipped to my Brooklyn lab. I therefore used a test setup different from my usual system of MLSSA software and hardware, which is not readily transportable. When I visited Jon, I took with me my MacBook Pro running SMUGSoftware's Fuzzmeasure 3 app, along with an Earthworks QTC-40 microphone and a FireWire-connected Metric Halo MIO2882 audio interface, the latter sampling at 96kHz.
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Back in January 2010, in Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show, I was prowling the corridors of the Venetian Hotel when I bumped into loudspeaker auteur Sandy Gross, cofounder first of Polk Audio and then of Definitive Technology. Knowing that Gross was no longer associated with Definitive, I asked him what he was getting up to in his retirement.
Retirement? He showed me a photo of a plain, cloth-covered, black tower speaker and promised to keep in touch. When next I heard from him, it was to announce that, along with his wife, Anne Conaway, and his former partner at DefTech, Don…
The Triton Reference is a lot more sensitive than other speakers I've had in my room in recent months, or even years—I had to turn down the volume control on the DACs I was using by 10dB or so to set the playback level to what I'm used to. I used the MBL Corona 15 monoblock amplifiers during Gross's visit, which he didn't feel were quite optimal for the Triton References. As I was scheduled to measure the Pass Laboratories XA60.8 monoblocks, to accompany Jim Austin's review of the Passes in the December 2017 issue, I hung on to them after the testing. My review findings are based on driving…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker with powered sub-bass section. Drive-units: High-Velocity Folded Ribbon (HVFR) tweeter, two 6" MVPP mid/bass drivers, three 10" by 6" sub-bass drivers, four 10.5" by 9.5" passive radiators. Subwoofer power amplifier: 1800W. Frequency range: 12Hz–35kHz. Sensitivity: 93.25dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: "compatible with 8 ohms." Recommended amplification: 20–750Wpc.
Dimensions: 58" (1473mm) H by 6.75" W (172mm) W front by 9.25" (235mm) W rear by 18.75" (476mm) D. Base: 13.5" (343mm) W by 22.25" (…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Source: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Arkiv B cartridge.
Digital Sources: Aurender N10 music server, NAD Masters Series M50.2 digital music player; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream D/A converter; AudioQuest JitterBug, UpTone Audio ReGen USB cleaner-uppers; Mac mini running Audirvana 1.5, Pure Music 3, Roon 1.3, Vinyl Studio; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 USB A/D converter.
Phono Preamplifier: Channel D Seta L.
Power Amplifiers: MBL Corona C15, Pass Laboratories…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the GoldenEar Triton Reference's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and in-room responses. The GoldenEar's sensitivity is specified as a very high 93.25dB/2.83V/m; my estimate was close to that at 92.5dB(B)/2.83V/m, which places the Triton Reference in exalted company. Speakers this sensitive are rare. Fig.1 shows how the impedance and electrical phase vary with frequency. The magnitude does dip below 6 ohms in the midrange and high treble, with…
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…