Golden Ear Triton One Speakers $$$

I obviously only speak for myself, but I'll throw a few thoughts at you about these...

They look like they need a big room - I read one review where they were 8 feet apart, and 4 feet more each from the side walls, and 3 feet from the back walls. That's not a huge room, but it's a good-sized room. This is likely a gross generalization on my part, I grant you, but usually people who can afford that kind of real estate, to give speakers like that the room they need to breathe, also have the affluence to buy speakers more expensive than this so maybe for someone with the affluence to have a listening room this large a $5000 speaker doesn't have enough panache. In other words, if you can afford a living room to hold a speaker like this, you may be buying Wilsons, or Magicos, or B&W 802, etc. etc. Not necessarily because they sound better, but just because you can. I can't help but wonder if these are right there on the fence, a marketing-pricing dilemma...is it possible they're priced too low and are being disregarded by the affluent crowd? Being priced too low can be just as damaging sometimes as being priced too high.

For everyone else, without big dedicated listening rooms or living rooms (mine is maybe 12x16?), they're just too much speaker - specifically too much subwoofer and too many bass radiators.

And I don't visually mind the socks at all, but they wouldn't last 2 days in our house, with dogs and cats. In that same review, the reviewer said in conversations with someone from Golden Ear that they've never run across anyone who had any damage to a sock from a cat. Seriously? Not one customer had to replace a sock? But even setting that aside - these aren't the only speakers that have cloth coverings, of course - think of the guy/gal who has the $$$ to give these speakers the necessary real estate. If you've got some money to burn, what looks cooler to burn it on...B&W 802D, or some Raidhos, or these covered in black fabric?

Again, I don't mind the sock (cats aside), I'm just trying to put myself in the mind of someone putting together a system in a large room and imagining what kinds of options they have and how they'd think of it if you allow for a little vanity.

I own the Triton Ones and I absolutely LOVE them. My living room is only 16 by 18 with a 9 1/2 foot ceiling and the speakers sound incredible. I have had many other speakers in my living room like Vandersteen, DeVore, Paradigms, Odyssey and Von Schweikert. To my ears, the Triton Ones trounce all the other speakers I have lived with over the years.

The speakers were very easy to place and after about 60 hours of playing time, really opened up. The folded ribbon tweeter is so smooth and sweet sounding. The midrange is perfect and the bass will rattle your windows and walls. The imaging is unbelievable, the sound is almost holographic. I purchased these speakers in very early January and I am more enthused with them now than when I first bought them.

I am amazed every time I fire up the system, and I no longer fall asleep listening like I did with all my previous speakers. I listened for 3 hours straight this afternoon, listening to The Stone Temple Pilots "Core", "Broken China" by Richard Wright (Pink Floyd) and "Dire Straights" by Dire Straights. If I didn't have to cut the lawn,. I would have sat there all afternoon.

While I am not crazy in love with the sock look of the speakers, I would rather have true audiophile approved high end sound, than a walnut cabinet. I know there are a lot of haters because the speakers are also used for home theater, but if you pass them by because of that, it's your loss.

Stereo5, is that the only room you've tried them in? I hope more owners chime in - I'd like to know what is the smallest room someone has had success with these. I dont want to rattle walls, but maybe they could work in smaller living rooms...

Also, are all the models great at their price point or is the Triton 1 the standout in the lineup?

05-16-15: Bcgator
Also, are all the models great at their price point or is the Triton 1 the standout in the lineup?

I have heard the Triton 2 when it was just being released at $2500/pair, the Aon 3 a year later, the Triton 7 (twice as a prospective buyer), and a GoldenEar center channel speaker plus sub.

They are all excellent values at their price points. My personal favorites are the Aons. Read between the lines of some professional reviews and the Aons are outstanding values. The Aon 3 can easily fill a mid-sized room (say 14x16) without a sub.

All the GoldenEars have that sweet, smooth folded ribbon tweeter. They also have cast basket midranges with phase plugs for wide dispersion and unusually wide bandwidth.

You know Johnnyb53, I think I've been guilty of the exact thing I mentioned in my first response, except with the Aons. I looked those up after reading your post, and put 2+2 together and remembered I have seen those in a shop. And at $499 each I remember thinking, "how good could they possibly be at that low of a price?" So the very thing I wondered about wealthier audiophiles doing with the Triton 1, I may have done myself with the Aons, disregarding them too quickly.

I spoke with Sandy Gross about the room size and placement before I bought the Triton Ones. I was worried the bass would overload the room, especially since one of the speakers is closer to the rear wall than the other. I was assured by Sandy that the level control on the speaker for the bass output would take care of any problems I might encounter. He was 100% correct. I didn't audition any of the other GE Speakers as I was only interested in their top of the line product. If I settled for less, it would have eaten my heart out wondering.

I have never, ever heard a pair of speakers that does all music well before these. Very highly recommended.

^^^ What Stereo5 said.

WIth active controls for the subwoofer portion of the Tritons 1, 2, and 3, you can adjust the bass down to whatever size room you have.

The Triton 7s are another story, however. It's an all-passive design, and on both of my shopping auditions, their bass overloaded the demonstration room. Although my own listening area is a lot larger, I didn't want to mess with trips back and forth from the store, and went with the Magneplanar 1.7s instead.

As for the Aons, Googling for the reviews will return a wealth of praise. You will find unqualified raves from Stereophile, TAS, Soundstagedirect, Tone Publications, WhatHiFi, HIFi+, etc. They consistenly say that the Aons sound much larger--and more expensive--than they are. There is also a lot of praise for their smoothness, seamless integration, dynamics, and imaging--all hallmarks of refined and more expensive speakers.

I think the are interesting and I would like to hear them. The box did look a little noisy on the sterophile measurments though.

I have two JL audio d112 subs in s 12x15 room and it is not an issue. With volume control on the subs. I am sure these speakers are a non issue too.

Just echoing Stereo5's praise for the Triton One's as I recently (December 2015) purchased and installed them in my coop/apartment. My room size is virtually identical to - albeit slightly bigger - than Stereo5s.

Incredible speakers and moreover an incredible value. I have heard a pair of Alta Statement Towers that retail at $200,000 a pair (among other high end speakers) and can honestly say the T1s are as good or better than anything I've heard. Simply cannot be beat for the price. Period. 

Also, the bass adjustment can in fact be used to compensate for close proximity to walls and/or small rooms. I have mine set at the 11:30 position, which equates to a -1db. Subtle, nevertheless, meaningful.

  I heard a set of them,I believe the $2000. models and was very not impressed what so ever with them at all.After hearing them they must be the most over rated piece of equipment to date.To be fair though I didn't have time to position them as that was out of my control.

Plapen, the $2000 model would be the Triton Five, a completely different model than the T1s (the model this thread is about). The T5s are passive only while the T1s are powered. Besides the positioning, other variables such as the equipment used to drive them would also be a factor. As to the Tritons being over rated, you certainly are entitled to your opinion, but there are so many numerous high praises from both "professional" reviewers, customers and prospective customers that I’d have to believe the reviews are legitimate and that GoldenEar couldn’t afford (monetarily or otherwise) to pay or otherwise persuade so many. In this case, their speakers go beyond praise in that many models have been awarded some sort of "best in class" rating. Again, while theoretically possible money or other incentives could have been used to bias opinions, one would have to think that simply couldn’t be possible given the number of positive reviews, awards and relatively low cost (compared to other high end speakers).

And just to reiterate, I own/use the T1s and am not saying they are the last word in terms of speakers, but in terms of overall value (performance and price considered), I wasn't able to find anything better.

This topic does indicate that there is no love for these speakers here on this forum and frankly I cannot understand why. The video link posted by the individual who started this thread has the audio removed, so I cannot comment on that. If someone can re-post a link to that video I’d be interested in watching it.

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

I have heard them and they sound really good for the money.    If you are in Massachusetts,   Audio Concepts in North Attleboro has them on display.....Good guys and great product lines,  personal service too.....

I went in to my local dealer yesterday and auditioned a pair of Golden Ear Triton One's. Based on the review I was reading online, I thought this speaker had to be too good to be true for the money.

The T1's were in a room that was set up like a standard living room. It had a door in the back that we closed for the listening session. We fired up some good music and I immediately noticed something was wrong. The speakers sounded like complete crap. Hollow, dead, lifeless. We continued to audition more music and I was so unimpressed I asked to speak with the manager. 

I asked the manager to have a listen and he agreed. Something was wrong. I asked him how these speakers could sound like this and get so much praise from reputable reviewers online.

He decided to move the Triton 1 towers to the 2 channel reference room and run them off a NAD stereo amp and pre-amp because that is what closely matched what I have at home. I told him I don't want to hear them on McIntosh equipment since I can't afford it. The 2 channel room we were in had B&W 802 D3's, B&W 804 D3's, McIntosh XR 100's, and McIntosh XRT Towers that were taller than me and cost $50,000 a pair. McIntosh mono-block amps were all over the room. Truly awesome to see!

The first song we fired up on the Golden Ear Triton One's was Wynton Marsalis - Feeling of Jazz feat. Dianne Reeves. The difference in sound we were hearing from the previous room was night and day. It was breathtaking. I have never been so moved by a pair of speakers. My best friend who is a hard core audiophile thought we were being tricked. He could not believe that was the same pair of speakers we just heard in another room.

When Dianne started singing, it was like she was on stage right in front of your singing to you and no one else. The imaging was incredible. The speakers captured highs and lows with incredible detail. The bass was accurate and not bloated. The midrange was smooth as silk. 

The second song that moved me was Rebecca Pidgeon "Spanish Harlem". WOW!. A gentlemen that came into the room was a life long B&W owner. He came in to listen to the new D3 series that was recently released. When he first walked in, he thought the B&W's were playing and he kept talking about how impressed he was. Me and the salesman never said anything and kept playing awesome hi res music. When finished we finally told him he was listening to the Golden Ear Triton One's. He was not real happy that a speaker with a sock around it could sound that good.

He was old school and to him a good sounding speaker should LOOK like a good sounding speaker, and I completely understood his thinking. The B&W speakers in Rosenut are beautiful!

I first want to say that I am not writing this post to say the Golden Ear Triton One's sound better than B&W speakers. All I am saying is you have to make sure if you audition these speakers and they don't sound good, then something is wrong. Have the dealer move them to another room or use different electronics. The dealer I was at had them in a living room set up for home theater running off of the Denon flagship receiver and they were terrible. I think someone has messed up all of the settings in the receiver or it was defective.

I was VERY persistent about auditioning these speakers properly. I wanted to hear what the reviewers were hearing. I wanted to know why they were moved so much. I wanted to know why so many reviewers were emotional about these speakers.

I guess because of the way they look, many feel they are not worthy of going into the reference two-channel room. I told the dealer, they were now going to start selling these speakers more because they are being represented properly. It would be very interesting to see the Triton One's blind auditioned against other high end speakers.

I listened to every reference speaker they had in the two channel room for 3 hours with the door closed. It was the absolute best time I have had in years!  

I bought a pair of the Triton One's. They were exceptional!

talley, I ran into the same problem a couple years ago when I was auditioning speakers. If the speakers were in the $2K-4K range, they were in the mid-fi room connected to AV receivers, and the receivers were usually pre-set to some A/V EQ contour which--combined with the hashy, compressed sound of so many A/V receivers--never gave the speakers a fighting chance to show what they could do.

I got a better sense of the speakers I wound up buying (Magneplanar 1.7s) when they were connected to an NAD C 375BEE 150wpc integrated amp. Even then, I would have preferred to play some vinyl I brought along but the turntable in the mid-fi room was some afterthought piece of crap, as was the phono stage it was plugged into. So I made do with hi-res digital sources. 

Concerning the Goldenears, your experience matches the warnings I’ve read in a few reviews: the Tritons are so affordable they’re often paired up with mid-level A/V receivers while their high resolution and linearity demand at least an NAD integrated amp such as I heard, or better separates. GoldenEar Designer Sandy Gross uses a handmade SET amp for his Tritons at home.

Just reviewed them at Dagogo.com. Loved them. I have a huge room and they can really bring it. Smaller rooms may work better with one of the smaller though no less capable designs in the line up.

Sandy uses the Line Magnetic integrated…...

I had a similar experience similar to Talley’s with the Golden Ear Triton 3s.

At the first store, I listened to the Martin Logan 60XTs which I thought sounded terrific. This was the second time I auditioned them, so I brought my own music and I heard tone to the instruments in the music I have never heard before. The system included an Adcom cd player and a Rotel 80w integrated amp. This was a two channel system.

The next store I went to hear the Golden Ear Triton 3s for the second time but now the Triton 3 has the same powered subwoofer as the 1 and 2. This store’s setup had an Oppo Cd player and an 80w Integra Home Theater Receiver. At first the associate helping me in the store could’t connect the receiver with the CD player and had to go behind the wall to locate the problem. Finally, it was connect and I heard my music. It was terrible, the vocals were faint and buried behind the instruments and the instruments modulated back and forth. This was music where the vocals are front and center. I tried three different cds and they all sounded equally bad. This room was setup for home theater listening. The associate was busy checking his phone and not really paying attention. He apologized that he was checking his phone, he explained his daughter was sick. That was OK, I understood.

As I walked out of the store they had a two channel setup with an NAD 375bee, Rega turntable, Oppo CD player, but you couldn’t listen to them. They weren’t connected to speakers and it was just a display?

I left the store dumfounded. Why did they sound so terrible? I heard them one month prior and liked them. I think this thread explains why. I plan on going back to that store to listen to the GE Triton 3s again but first tell them to change the setup. I wouldn’t have paid $100 for these speakers the way they sounded. I listened to Kamasi Washington, Nick Cave, Joanna Newsom, and Shellac at both stores.

Any other comments or thoughts?

rkujan, as you and talley have seemingly happened upon a less than desirable in-store setup, I would add - especially if you're serious about a GET product - to ensure that the sub-woofer bass setting (knob on back of speaker) is set to 12 o'clock and then make subtle adjustments from there. To high or low a setting can drastically change the overall sound. 

By the way, there is a 3+ model you may want to check out.

Best of luck with them craftsman2009. As an fyi (although you probably already know), GET has its own forum at the goldenear.com site. Numerous happy audiophiles (customers) over there including myself who can share the good vibes that comes with ownership. As you have already found out, the exceptional value of the Triton line is basically one the most compelling reasons to buy into the brand. 

A big thanks to the contributors to this thread! I'm totally jazzed about bringing the T1s into my room, and never so confident that I don't need to spend stupid money (Spendor, or - turn and cough Revel/Wilson used) to get a speaker that can bring a smile with a broad mix of tastes. I appreciate those putting in room sizes as it helped addressing one of my biggest concerns!

Compared to what?

I think it would help a great deal if folks would include a brief description of what you listen to at home or at the very least what speakers you own. 

Wanabe(you are now), if in your travels you listen to some nicely reproduced music through another system and you return home and find yourself confirming that your speakers do the highs and lows but you're not really listening to the music then...it's my experience that speakers are exactly where to spend the right money on the right speaker.

I say this as a warning because I climbed on this very merry-go-round with another brand and needlessly went through amps, preamps, etc. My only suggestion is to begin by listening to speakers by manufactures who've been around for years and pay close attention to how you're listening to the music not the speakers.  

In the June issue of Stereophile the designer, Sandy Gross, discusses were the monetary priorities went in this design and admits to needing "a reference beyond his own products." Mr. Gross' track record is real good so I'm guessing you'll do well.