Tower Speaker Reviews

So far, so good. But the part I can’t quite get my head around with the Triton One is how in the hell GoldenEar managed to fit three active, forward-firing, 5 x 9-inch woofers and four 7 x 10-inch passive radiators into what is essentially the bottom two-thirds of the cabinet and not have the speaker woof itself to pieces after the first drumbeat. I know it can’t be true, but there almost seems to be more woofer surface area on the Triton One than there is cabinet surface. I’m suspicious that the passive planar radiators are so passive that they’re really just painted on, but Gross assured me that they’re real. He also said that the placement of the passive radiators—two on each side, with one above the other—takes advantage of floor coupling. Having this staggered arrangement helps to minimize the effects of the typical “floor bounce” response dip.

All elements of the electronic circuit topology—from the speaker inputs on the back of the cabinet through the high-resolution DSP and electronic crossovers to the 1,600-watt subwoofer amplifier—are balanced in order to reduce as much induced noise as possible. Rather than a single, large power supply, the Triton One’s sub amp “utilizes many small, separate power supplies for each circuit section to provide isolation, so there is little opportunity for coupling through the power supplies.”

A Living, Breathing Speaker
After “forcing” myself to listen to a pair of the Triton Ones, I began jotting notes, such as: revelatory, ultra-dynamic, seamlessly seamless, addictively addictive, cosmically orgasmic, removes wrinkles, rejuvenates bald spots, better than Viagra, who farted? (oops, that was me), holy crap! (that was about the speakers), I am not worthy, and Is that pair 5,000 U.S. dollars or 5,000 Euros? Needless to say, I quickly ran out of appropriate approbations and lavish laudations and had to resort to hijacking adjectives from foreign languages—to the point where I eventually ended up consulting my tattered Egyptian Hieroglyphics-to-English scrolls. (“These speakers absolutely embalm the competition!”) My point is that GoldenEar’s Triton One speakers are members of that rarest of rare breeds for which words can do little justice. You simply have to listen to them—no, experience them—firsthand. While adjectives may not suffice, I can give you these words of advice: Make sure you have some spare underwear with you the first time you listen to the Triton Ones. One way or another, these speakers are going to move you.

GoldenEar’s HVFR tweeter sounds just as spectacular in the Triton One as it does in the other Triton towers. But as much as I love this tweeter, it’s almost a minor character in the performance here. What makes the Triton One so special and oh-so-worthy of over-the-top plaudits is how dramatically dynamic and unbelievably seamless the entire speaker is—and there’s not one single magic ingredient or special tweak to point to that makes this so. Sometimes people will compare one speaker to another by noting that the better speaker sounds like a veil has been lifted away from it. Because the Triton One is so open, so full of energy, and so low in obvious distortion, it doesn’t sound like a veil—or even a blanket—has been lifted. It sounds like a flippin’ doublewide set of Venetian doors has been thrown open.

The speakers are so well balanced sonically that it’s difficult to decide which piece of music to discuss first. No single track stands out because they all stand out. For example, in “Una furtiva lagrima” from Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, as heard on Joshua Bell’s Voice of the Violin, the tension in the strings and the fragility of the wood in the body of the violin are visceral. Even with your eyes open, it’s practically impossible to make yourself realize you’re not listening to living, breathing human beings playing actual instruments in front of you. Likewise, pick any track from Peter Gregson’s Terminal (originally commissioned by Bowers & Wilkins, by the way), such as “Spin” or “Cello Counterpoint,” and Gregson’s cellos sound magical and alive thanks to the fact that the drivers in each Triton One are so beautifully matched. It’s as if that splendid HVFR tweeter, the pair of 5.25-inch mid drivers, and all that woofer surface area were being moved simultaneously—not by the power of watts, but by the power of distilled emotion. Peppino D’Agostino’s acoustic guitar in “Desert Flower” is equally as vivid, and you can hear and feel a lush texture within the low sounds of the strings and drums.

When it comes to bass response, I’m not sure there are many pieces of music that would come close to taxing the powerful woofer assembly in the Triton One. Mickey Hart’s Global Drum Project certainly didn’t, despite the recording’s blend of acoustic and electronic percussion. “Funky Zena” was an especially interesting track to audition because of the continuous low bass tone that lasts throughout the song. In addition to being an important unifying aspect of the music, that tone began to come alive via the pair of Triton Ones—almost as if it were a sentient presence in the room. The bass on that and so many other songs, such as Steely Dan’s “Cousin Dupree,” was so smooth throughout the room that each drumbeat almost made a transition from music to a living breath.

Conclusion
In the beginning of this review, I made a poor attempt at summing up Sandy Gross’ 42-year career in the speaker industry. I shouldn’t have tried. There’s no way to do it justice in print. I’d have done better by simply telling you to go out and listen to a pair of the Triton Ones. They are the perfect summation of a legendary career—a magnificent magnum opus—and no one can say that better than the speakers themselves. With the Triton Ones, GoldenEar Technology has fully ushered in the Golden Age of the Loudspeaker. I have no idea where Sandy Gross goes from here, whether he collects more art or finds some other way to astound the audio world. (After all, 2030 is still a ways off.) In the meantime, I know where I’m going. I’m heading back to my theater room to take another listen to the Triton Ones.

For additional observations about the Triton One, see Darryl Wilkinson’s comments here.