{"id":545,"date":"2015-08-30T16:27:37","date_gmt":"2015-08-30T21:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.speakerandstereostore.com\/blog\/?p=545"},"modified":"2015-08-30T16:27:49","modified_gmt":"2015-08-30T21:27:49","slug":"wylie-and-tas-review-the-triton-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.speakerandstereostore.com\/blog\/2015\/08\/wylie-and-tas-review-the-triton-five\/","title":{"rendered":"Wylie and TAS review the Triton Five"},"content":{"rendered":"

Normally when\u00a0GoldenEar\u00a0has anew speaker review I get an email fromSandy Gross which I just cut and paste. Voila!\u00a0Newsletter!<\/p>\n

This time it’s different. The new review by\u00a0Jacob Heilbrunnin the September\u00a0The Absolute Sound\u00a0was at first more of the same nice stuff all reviewers say about GoldenEar:<\/p>\n

The “.. coherence, treble capabilities, and integration were striking.” “I was consistently\u00a0impressed\u00a0with the smoothness and silkiness of the Triton’s tweeter; there was no etch, no glare, no trace of the digital\u00a0nasties.” “the soundstage was surprisingly focused.” “…an excellent jump factor- they’re quite cast.” “I\u00a0was\u00a0somewhat\u00a0taken aback by the sheer propulsive energy and thwack of the Fives…” (when playing a live recording of a big band). ”<\/p>\n

Next came a surprise. He wasn’t\u00a0“… as impressed with the bass. Not quite as good as the mids and highs, which are stellar. While the Tritons\u2019 mids were creamy and full, and its treble region extremely accurate\u2014you could hear performers talking or singing with great clarity\u2014the deep bass was just a little bit murky by comparison.” As a stalwart fan of all things GoldenEar I was taken aback. I demonstrated the Fives a couple of times this week and had not noticed any murkiness – less deep bass than than the Ones (Duh!), but very well defined. I broke out my favorite demo tracks and tried to find some “murky”. I\u00a0failed. Whatever he means by murky escapes me, but I was inspired to get out my XTZ Room Analyzer to check the bass response. The blue line shows bass goes down to 25 Hz before growing weaker, a very good showing indeed. The dim green line is an earlier measurement of the Triton One. I didn’t take the time to position the Fives to smooth out the treble as I had with the Ones. My room is\u00a0fickle.<\/p>\n

\"P1020386\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pardon the\u00a0jumping\u00a0around, but I should finish the TAS review. “.. the Five’s ability to convey a direct emotional connection with the music is what makes it such an engaging product.” “… a\u00a0amount\u00a0of performance for the dough.” … “For anyone considering a loudspeaker under $10,000, the Triton Five isn’t just an option. It’s a must-audition.”<\/p>\n

Now for my review. While listening to those favorite demo tracks I found that the clarity and definition sounded better than the Triton Ones! Track after\u00a0track\u00a0I heard more of those fun\u00a0details\u00a0that add liveness to the sound. Less deep bass of course, … then I remembered one of the old lessons – bass takes away midrange. I realize that sounds stupid, but give me a chance. When a speaker has less bass your attention is better focused on the midrange and highs. Years\u00a0ago TAS tried to match subwoofers to the LS3\/5a and finally gave up. Whenever\u00a0they added the extended the bass the famed LS3\/5a sound the mids and high clarity suffered. This explains the fantastic audiophile reviews for tiny speakers. If they have excellent sound from 100 Hz up they can sound wonderful, unless of course you play them past their SPL limits, or play music that needs the bass.<\/p>\n

So am I recommending the Five over the One? Not quite. Not in my large open space because sometimes I want the loud less-distorted sound that large speakers allow. And not when I want to hear and feel the power of the deepest notes. Of course with the powered One, Two, and Three I could always reduce the bass\u00a0with\u00a0that little knob on the back. Maybe I’ll try that when I return the Ones to my main room and put the Fives in the bedroom.<\/p>\n

I can heartily recommend the Fives. The joy of listening is way up there, and all they lack is the deepest bass that costs so much money.<\/p>\n

GoldenEar Triton Five<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n