Upgrading front 3 speakers to GoldenEar Triton Reference or B&W Nautilus 800?

Is this mainly a HT system or is 2-channel important as well?  What speakers/subs and electronics do you have currently?

@hoboboston - your front three speakers (left/center/right) should all be the exact same manufacturer / series.  Otherwise, you will have noticable sonic signature difference across the front stage during movies.  This is not a good thing.  The surrounds are not as critical and can be different, as long as they are close in sonic signature.

Hi Steve,

Which speakers did you end up going with and what do you think?

I'm currently trying to decide b/w Goldenears, B&Ws, or Martin Logan ESLs.  I'm thinkin going with Goldenears (T1 / T1+) for the L/R and possibly the Goldenear XXL (or Ref) or something else for the center (maybe the B&W, or maybe a ML ESL -- haven't decided which models)...   

Which speakers did you get and what do you think of your setup?

'No Matter how you configure it, the center channel should the the anchor for dialogue, and should run 2 centers for a couple reason #1 directionality and #2 phase cancellations, So I would skip it.. As far as the biamping you should use the same amplifiers due to gain structure and level matching...
Ditch the second center, especially moving up
As for your biamping question, I run  monoblocks on front left and right, mains, and a sigma amp5 on my center, surrounds, at one time was biamping my center channel with a Proceed amp5 before my Config Change. Would prefer to run 1 center and biamped mains if I had that option in your case.

Hello frostdotcom

I hear you

BUT
WHY do you say that I should not run 2 centre channels if one is in the ceiling?
Steve

you should never run 2 center channels especially if one of them is in the ceiling.

Hi Steve. The Triton's cannot and should not be bi-amped.

ONLY 300 Watts???  That's a ton of power that should drive almost any speaker available.  Just as an example, back in 2009 Kal Rubinson ran the 802Ds with the lower powered CA-5200 just fine (https://www.stereophile.com/musicintheround/music_in_the_round_36/index.html), so I'd be shocked if your 5300 didn't have plenty of juice to fully drive 800s without biamping.  The 800s are 90dB efficient but do drop below 4 Ohms through a good part of the midrange, which does make them more difficult to drive.  But here's a quote from the Classe website regarding your amp:

"* Specifications for output into 4 ohms are omitted because the AC Mains/power supply cannot support all channels driven simultaneously at this level, which would require over 5,000W and only occur under a special test condition. The amplifier easily drives lower impedance loads."

Translation -- your house will run out of juice before your amp does.  Suffice it to say I think you're worrying needlessly over the power issue.  You have a beast of an amp. 

Soix

I have never bi-wired before, but  if I do as you suggest, that seems to me that I will be using only 1 channel of the Classé (which is 5 x 300w) and send basically only 300 watts to each speaker, which, from what I have read, may not be enough power for those Natilus 800 speakers. If I actually use 300w for the top and another 300w for the bottom of each speaker, it may give the speaker that little extra to be a little smoother sound.
What are your thoughts on this scenario?

Steve

You wouldn't need another amp to bi-wire the B&Ws.  Just get internally bi-wired cables that have one connection on the amp side and two on the speaker end, or attach two cables to the same output on the amp if you're running a full shotgun pair. 

And yes, I absolutely do think that highly of B&W center speakers.  I have a feeling it'll sound much better than a ribbon tweeter sandwiched between midrange drivers as with your XXL center. 

Soix

Thanx for your response

You really think that the B&W centers are that good!

I did make a mistake when I said "bi-amp"

I did mean "bi-wire".

At this time I have 12 channels running,

with 2 amps

a 5-channel Classé 5300 with 3 channels running my front 3 + 2 rears

and a 7-channel Emotiva running 2 sides, 4 Atmos ceiling speakers, + a second center channel in my ceiling.

What I would do if I purchase the B&W is bi-wire the 2 fronts + the lower part of the center channel with the Classé,

and purchase an additional 3-channel amp to run my upper part of the new center channel + the 2 rears.

I am hoping that this new set-uip would be much better than what I have now.

Steve

Full disclosure, I’m not a big fan of B&W speakers for 2-channel music as there are others I prefer. BUT, that said, if I were building a system mainly for HT B&W would be near the top of my list. Why? Their center channel speakers are fantastic! Especially since you’re less than thrilled with your current center speaker, to me this is a no-brainer choice if it’s just between these two manufacturers.

Many years ago a friend of mine had the B&W Matrix series speakers in a HT setup, and even that relatively lower-end center speaker in that system sounded awesome. Completely uncolored, not boxy, and with excellent dispersion and uniformity across the room. I think one of the most important reasons for this is that they mount the tweeter above the mids (or midwoof) instead of between them as most models do. Personally, I’d never buy a center channel unless the tweeter is mounted above the mids.

If I’m you, I’d buy the best B&W L/R/C you can afford that are of the same series so there’s a seamless match across the front. As for the amp situation, given your amp’s power I’m not sure you need to biamp at all, especially if you’re using a subwoofer (or hopefully 2).  I’d just buy the speakers and try driving them all with a single channel each and see what you think (or perhaps even try bi-wiring your front speakers instead of biamping them to see what that does if anything). My hunch is you’ll be perfectly happy given the power reserves of your amp, but if not you can add a supplemental amp later. Anyway, hope this helps and best of luck!