SS Amp for Triangle Speakers

Try contacting Sam Tellig over at the Asylum. He's probably the foremost expert on Triangle speakers in the world ( outside of the manufacturer and distributor ). His recent column covers several different Triangle's and he'll be talking about them again in the March issue.

Although they aren't "integrated", you might want to look into some of the smaller ( in size ) Monarchy separates. Very warm and smooth sounding and can be had for a very fair price. Sean
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Agreed with Sean. I previously owned the Triangel Titus and thought the Monarchy Audio SM-70 ( or a pair of SM-70s bridged) made for a great combination. You could start with one SM-70 for about $350 used and add another one later (verify that the cosmetics are the same first, if that is important to you)if you require more power in your listening room. The SM-70 Pro is supposed to be somewhat better and adds about $50 or so to the used price.

For a really nice system, get the Monarchy Model 33 DAC/pre-amp and use a decent CD player or DVD player for the transport. If you use this combo you can run it in Balanced mode (with a pair of amps) and it sounds even better.

Another great smooth sounding amp is the Channel Islands Audio VMB-1. I'm using a pair in my system now and they are really fantastic.

Enjoy,

TIC

Reuben: While i've never heard the Triangle / Monarchy combo, i thought it would work quite well together based on past observations i've had with each individual brand. I'm glad to see my "guesstimate" was pretty much on the money.

While there was no mention of money here, i was thinking along the lines of ( at the least ) a set of SM-70 Pro's or the SM-100 Deluxe's. Given the relatively high bias of the SM-100's with the increased headroom, i'd rather see him go that way. Especially listening to rock music : ) Sean
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Thanks for the advice. However I live in the Philippines and my choices are limited compared to yours, I was wondering if NAD and/or Roksan are a good fit.

Wow. I must have been psychic on this thread. I was initially going to recommend NAD, but i thought you might be offended by such. After all, many people that were buying Triangle wouldn't really think about pairing it with NAD. Not knowing your budget and then thinking about the Monarchy gear gave me an easy out. I was pretty sure that it would be both a good combo and economically reasonable.

If you listen to rock, which Triangle's aren't exactly best suited for, i see nothing wrong with NAD. If you can find an older 2600 series amp, that would give you everything that you need. Since it has built in input attenuators ( volume controls ), you wouldn't even need a preamp ( so long as you you only use one line level source ). At 150 wpc, it should drive the speakers and provide plenty of headroom to avoid clipping during normal listening.

I don't know what these run down in the Philippines, but here in the USA, they can typically be found for appr $300 - $375 or so. As a point of reference, i used one of these amps many years ago to drive Klipsch Heresy's ( which are kinda bright ) with great success. Even as efficient as the Klipsch were, i could still drive the amp into clipping. Then again, i like to "rock" just a bit more than most folks do : ) Sean
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I think most here didn't notice Sean's tongue in cheek recommendation of speaking to the outside world's expert on Triangle speaker - Sam Tellig.

Knowing the history between the two (can't call Sam a gentleman), I found it hilarious!

The only thing Sean may have forgotten is that Sam would DEFINITELY recommend Musical Fidelity solid state amplification with Triangle speakers...

Joe: I was wondering if anybody was going to catch that. As far as calling Sam a "gentleman", maybe that's our problem. That is, it's hard to have a gentleman-like conversation between two people ( Sam & I in specific ) when neither of them is a gentleman : ) Sean
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Triangle's tend to be a pretty sensitive speaker. Tube or even hybrid would make sound extremely well, if you like the warmth of the lamps. If you have the money (slightly over the two grand for used) I recommend the Viva. I met the engineer in NY two weeks ago and that was his best match to his amp. I would also go for the Audio Aero or the Thule. Unison Research (the hybrid) may suit them extremely well too if you like (again) the bias of the tubes. Hope this helps.

Triangles sound a lot better with tubed gear.

I have heard once a triangle floorstander with pathos hybrid integrated amp. It was a nice sound.

I concur with the Pathos recommendation. In solid state, Audio Refinement would also be a good match, either the Complete integrated or one of the power amps.

Hi. I have not really heard the Triangle but suspect they are like the other French speaker that I have, Cabasse Farella. Sensitive, 4-ohms, EXTREMELY fast and dynamic. If they are alike, then I can say for certain they match with most tube amplifier easily and very well. As for SS, it's entirely opposite story. I have tried over a dozen SS and most simply will not cut it. NAD did o.k. and Plinius did brilliantly.

These speakers light up with tubes but I listened to the Celius in a dealer with SS and it was the brightest speaker I have ever heard.

I own a pair of Triangle Antal XS, and will have to disagree with the suggestion that NAD amplifiers will do well with these speakers. I'm using a pair of C 272 mono blocks, and they sound extremely bright and harsh with the Antals. In my opinion, tubes are the only way to go with these speakers (especially if you listen to rock music...rock cds will give you an instant headache with the NADs). Seeing that this post was from a while ago, I hope you didn't get the NADs...

I know this is an old post but recently picked up a pair of triangle zerius. With much success was i able to stick with my SS amp a Roksan Caspian MKII. It is a dark amp that offsets the brightness of the metal tweeter. So I was wondering what you ended up with as far as amplifiers go.

I'm running antrals with marantz 7025 and the combo of the dark amp with triangle floor standers is good.

I'd also recommend the middle-of-the-road Wireworld speaker cables as being able to take some of that brightness off.

Rotel power amps sounds very nice w/ Triangle speakers.

Audio note 'Oto' paired with Triangle GAÏA serie ez, sounds amazing, with  SS versions GAIA  doesn't perform to the level of Audio note's magical mid-range..

The speakers has balanced sound, controlled bass,  is able revel the difference with any kind of change in the upper chain..

Thanks for bringing back the Triangle speakers topic, I don' find 'Triangle" brand very often mentioned anywhere..

Bel canto c5i fits the bill with my Triangle Titus xs speakers.    Not bright at all and a great match. 

I use a yba passion 100 on my triangle Titus and Genese speakers outstanding sound quality!

@jafant .....no, Rotel does not sound very good with Triangle.  Have you owned this combination?  What do you own as a system!?

Hi! I own o couple of Triangle Gaïa Ez, currently with a Yamaha RN402 and a Bluesound Node.

I’m thinking about upgrading the amp to the McIntosh MA252.

what do you think about that?

I owned the NAD C370 integrated amp in a prior “C” system, so I know it’s signature sound very well.( on the dark side presentation with a rolled off top-end)

- I also currently run TRIANGLE ELARA LN01 bookshelves with a top ARCAM integrated amp in my TV 2.1 system with terrific results. It’s a great amp with the speakers , but can it be improved further ?. Yes … read on.

TO THE OP:

- In response to your direct question of NAD vs ROKSAN integrated amps with TRIANGLEs, it’s an easy strong vote in favour of ROKSAN. I would take a wide pass on NAD.

- MY OPTIMUM CHOICEs of a s/s amp with TRIANGLES: - high-end & high-current options. 

(1) YBA…. French speakers with these fine French electronics upstream is a premium matched combo.

(2) YAMAHA …. I demo-ed my TRIANGLE’s with the YAMAHA AS-3200 …. Very impressive.

in either case, the better the upstream source, the better the output.