Golden Ear Triton One Speakers $$$

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?