Audio Advice Live

JVC is renowned for the quality of its D-ILA projectors. They offer some of the highest native contrast that you'll see in a projector that doesn't cost as much as a house. And in this show demo, the company pulled off its usual spectacular exhibition of its projectors' capabilities. In this case, the range-topping DLA-NZ9 ($26,000) took care of business with its 3000-lumen output that filled the screen with convincing HDR.

Meanwhile, GoldenEar is known for its high-performance home theater-friendly speakers, many of which feature integrated subwoofers. All of the company's speaker designs use AMT (folded-ribbon) tweeters, including its new T66 towers that were also demoed at the show.

For the home theater 7.2.4 demo, Triton Reference floorstanding speakers effortlessly handled the front left and right channels. The company also makes several powerful standalone subs and had twin SuperSub XXLs in the mix.

In this case Triton Reference floorstanding speakers effortlessly handled the front left and right channels. And running is all? An Arcam AVR31 AV receiver.

Click here to see a full list of everything in the JVC/GoldenEar/Arcam home theater demo room.

The demo featured scenes from Doctor Strange, Ready Player One, and Top Gun Maverick. These scenes are more than sufficient to demonstrate the quality of a high-performance display, I did notice a tiny bit of speckle or texture to the screen itself, which is attributable to the choice of a relatively high gain ambient light rejecting material, which makes sense in this context, but is not as visually flawless and clean as a diffuse reflective (matte) screen. However, such screens don't offer the mix of higher gain and ambient light rejecting properties that help the HDR pop off the screen.

The deep bass heard in this demo came from a pair of Goldenear SuperSub XXL subwoofers, which is a dual opposed 12-inch sub that also has dual passive radiators, all mounted in force-canceling alignments. I am "deeply" familiar with this model of subwoofer, having reviewed it years ago for AVS Forum, and having had a pair in my system for several years after that.

This system may not be pretty with the room lights on but it is beautiful when the lights are off.

The glorious thing about Goldenear's Triton Reference speaker is the powerful integrated subwoofer. So, what you wind up with in a system like this is the equivalent of four high-powered subs handling the front stage. You can sense the ease with which the system produces sound, it never strains.

Ultimately, this room showed what a high-end but not over-the-top system can do. Simply put, it's a setup that is designed for lights-off, home-theater-style immersive viewing where the all-black GoldenEar gear disappears into the background. Your focus is on the spectacular visuals put on the screen by the JVC. But make no mistake, it is the fluid and high-fidelity performance of the goldenear and Arcam audio system that complete the effect and make you feel like you're in a movie theater.

Notes from the Demo
"In Ready Player One, three-dimensionality and rendition of textural detail are our visual highlights, as well as the smooth continuity of the motion and the preservation of detail even during busy scenes."

"Unquestionably, the HDR... it looks like real HDR whenever the camera is showing car headlights or an explosion or just panning past the sun. Brightness level is really notable, it makes your retinas feel the heat. All luminescent elements have a realistic glow."

GoldenEar T66 Towers

In a separate room, GoldenEar showed off its new T-66 tower. This is the first product released by GoldenEar under its new ownership by AudioQuest, a company best known for its premium audio and AV cables. Therefore it is unsurprising that the company had a hand in the speaker's internal wiring, in addition to the radical aesthetic redesign of the exterior.

Click here to see everything found in the GoldenEar 2-channel demo room.

The new GoldenEar look retains the slender tower form factor, but now features a curved, perforated metallic grille and a paint job that is available in either classic piano black gloss or a rich and deep red that costs a few hundred bucks extra but Looks suitably luxurious and because it is a deep dark red it effectively disappears when the lights are out.

I chatted with the GoldenEar reps about the new speaker. Here are some key quotes that came out of the conversation.

"One of the things we've done regarding attention to detail is using AudioQuest for all the internal wiring. This offers a higher level of copper with controlled directionality. The crossover boards have been redesigned and re-voiced for the speaker. This is similar to the approach in the Niagris where all internal capacitors are pre-cooked and formed in Irvine before being installed into Niagara. The same approach applies to the T66. The main advantage is that your speaker is close to being fully broken in right from the start. Additionally, if there's a faulty component, it will be identified during the cooking and forming process."

" The wiring was chosen for its performance rather than ease of handling. It's solid core wiring which can be somewhat tricky to work with. Initially, arranging it through the cabinet was challenging. But the main point is that we're paying more attention to small details inside. A series of minor improvements might seem inconsequential individually, but collectively they can make a significant impact."

"The primary color is black, priced at $6,900 for a pair, while the limited Santa Barbara red is priced at $7,200 for a pair. If the red version sells well, we might produce more."