Acapella Triolon Excalibur speakers at RMAF 2007

I listened to both the Triolons and Campaniles on Friday and twice on Sunday. On Friday the Triolons sounded good, but not quite as impressive as when I heard them in a personal setup in Norway a few years ago. The tonality was very lifelike with amazing transparency, but the bass seemed overblown, slightly loose and lacking in dynamics. As Fcrowder said it is possible that the woofers were still breaking in, but I would be more inclined to think that the Einstein OTLs were just not capable of providing strong enough grip on the four 10" woofers. The Campaniles in the other room were driven by an FM Acoustics solid state amp and the sound was much more dynamic and alive. When I came back for another listen on Sunday afternoon, for whatever reason the Triolons sounded much better, in fact what I heard was simply breathtaking! The bass was still loose but I got so involved in music that it didn't bother me anymore. I really can't think of a better loudspeaker system for huge spaces.

Based on what I was told by Acapella's Hermann Winters, the smaller Violons are identical to the Triolons from 800Hz up as they use the same crossover components, midrange driver and the amazing plasma tweeter. I heard them on several occasions and other then the MBL 101Es they remain my favorite speakers for a more typical listening room.

Mark xiii- it doesn't sound as if our listening impressions are that different. In comparing the construction of the Campanile Highs to the Triolons, there are many similarities but also some distinct differences. Probably the single defining difference is that the 4-10" SEAS drivers in the Campaniles cover the frequency range from 20-700hz while in the Triolons, a part of that range (170-700 hz) is covered by the new horn which employs a 12" woofer which is horn loaded. This very much changes the character of the mid bass making it faster, more dynamic and better controlled. In addition by allowing the SEAS drivers to focus on a smaller frequency range, it reduces IM distortion and improves the efficiency. The Triolon bass cabinets are somewhat larger, mainly deeper, and better damped/braced and moving the plasma tweeter from between the two sealed woofer enclosures and each side of the Campaniles seems to reduce acoustic breakthrough from the woofers from causing any smearing of the high frequencies. In general the Triolons are about 300# a side heavier than the Campaniles, most of which is in the woofer cabinets. The tweeter and smaller horn appear to be the same as you mentioned. Internally, I have no idea if there are parts changes except that the crossover must be more complex to account for the addional horn and is now divided between two enclosures. I can also say that bi-wiring or tri-wiring the speakers makes a rather significant improvement over using the jumpers provided.

Like you, I find certain things that I like about using a really good transistor amp on the speakers, particularly with respect to bass contol, bass slam, dynamics and top end extension, but am willing to sacrifice some of this and accept the somewhat looser (some would argue more acccurate bass)that is produced by the Einstein OTL's if that means that I get the top end and midrange of the OTL's. As you have heard both the Einstein OTL's and the FM Acoustics at the show and recognized their different strengths, what would your choice be for driving a set of Triolons?

Fcrowder: Having listened to different OTL amps (Joule Electra, AtmaSphere and Einstein) I would generalize that although they do so many things right, bass is simply not their forte. The Triolons need something capable of controlling their woofers, and it certainly must be a tube design as I can't think of a solid state amp that would not take away something form the midrange (although the $80K FM Acoustics amp was pretty nice...).
If I were to select a single best amp for the Triolons, my choice would be the 200 wpc 300TL transmitter tube based Amber Wave monoblocks. They were demoed in one of the rooms upstairs and I could not find a single thing that I didn't love about their sound. Bass control and dynamics better than any monster ss amp, the midrange, treble and soundstaging like the best single ended triode and at the same time an amazing transparency. All of that with a pair of $6K worth of medium sized monitors! I think that these are THE AMPS for the Triolons. All things considered, at $44K they also seem to be a "bargain" compared to two pairs of Einsteins required for the Triolons.

The Amber Wave were incredible to look at and listen to! It was like a science project that got out of control. I could only imagine my wife's reaction to these amps if I attempted to bring them into the house. They are about 3-4 feet wide! If you haven't seen them, there are pictures posted of them at the various websites that covered the fest. The only problem is that the pictures really don't convey the size of these creations. I would love to hear them on the Triolons. Maybe Fcrowder can arrange an auditon!

I would like to thank everyone who attended this years RMAF and visited our room in the Larkspur Suite. This was the first year that we displayed in this room, and as most of you know we only had 1/2 day to set up this monster system and make all the necessary adjustments.

Once the show started on Friday there were to many people coming in to fuss around, and directly after the show on Friday and Saturday night I took several people back to my home/showroom in Parker (20 miles away), for some additional listening to the new Eben speakers.

I would like to set the record straight on the complete system cost, which included a full Isoclean power system, Acapella cables, platforms and tuning weights. The total system cost was $373,000 (not $600,000). We also has an additional $20,000 worth of Golden Acoustic room treatment panels.

As some visitors have stated the system improved greatly during the show, and by the last day was singing beautifully. It's also true that these Triolons are near brand new and the woofers need several months to reach there full potential. Although the sound we had towards the end of the show was quite wonderful, I know from experience with the High Violons, that these Triolons will continue to improve for a full year.

My Triolons are back in my showroom now, and I welcome everyone to contact me for a private demo. We also have several other Acapella speakers on display, as well as several models of the new Eben speakers. Our room is professionally treated with Golden Acoustic equalizing panels.

Regards, Brian
Aaudio imports