5.5 GoldenEar Sonic Nirvana

We just have to write this, because we rolled our eyes when we read all the glowing reviews about GoldenEar speakers (yeah we know… “Everything you read on the Internet is true”). So for the past year or so we have done extensive research for a high-end surround sound and music system to be installed in a 24’ by 36’ (an Open Living Room, Dining Room, and Bar Area) great room. To say we listened to a lot of systems is an understatement.

First off we really didn’t have a budget (per-say), but it’s our belief that when building a high-end surround sound system there is a price to quality ratio that makes sense. We believe the pricing of many high-end systems have long gone past the marketing strategy of “whatever the market will bare”.

When we first heard the GoldenEar Triton 2 speakers we were not blown away, but we felt they had potential. So we called Sandy Gross and asked why we aren't hearing with others said they heard? After some calls back and forth he asked me to go listen to them again, he was right, they were setup wrong the first time, and they sounded wonderful.

We are now in sonic nirvana; we setup a 5.4 (soon to be 5.5) GoldenEar surround sound system consisting of 4 GoldenEar Triton 2’s a GoldenEar SuperSat 50C and soon to be a GoldenEar Forcefield 5 Subwoofer. This system already compares to the best we’ve heard. The vocals are crisp and clear, the speakers are so open they disappear and you get totally immersed. The 4 built-in sub-woofers of the Triton 2’s blend seamlessly. We were worried about the 50C not being up to the task, but we were wrong. We hear things we never heard before; we are re-watching our Blu-Ray collection!

A side note: this review is coming from a couple that has been around the block a few times. Over the years we have owned a few esoteric high-end systems such as “Quad ESL’s, Magnepan, B&W 801’s, Legacy Whispers, Hartley, Proceed AVP, Oracle, Ray Samuels Tube Amps etc. etc.

My father always said; “If an intelligent person is willing to share his knowledge with you, be smart enough to listen”! We tweaked the system the way Sandy Gross suggested and have not looked back.

The true accomplishment GoldenEar has achieved is a fantastic high-end sound (period). AND "the icing on the cake" is that you don't need a second mortgage.

Wow... thanks! Great review. I'll make sure Sandy gets to see this too, it will make his day!

Enjoy your system!

Great review, and sounds like an amazing system setup.

We need pics!!

Creating a better sonic image:

"The whole system is greater than the sum of its parts". In the past we stacked advent speakers to create a better stereo sonic image, and then we stacked Quad ESL's to create an even better stereo sonic image, with our GoldenEar Triton 2 system we have (in a sense) horizontally stacked them around the room (each speaker is about 12' apart) and created a better surround sound sonic image.

Side note: to be totally open, we have heard better stereo systems than the Triton 2's, but they always contained many very expensive amps, a very expensive preamp, the source material came from something that when you heard the price you just laughed, and the speakers were so large that you had to totally plan your living space around them.

IMHO, if you go the GoldenEar Triton 2 route you can get 90% of the way there for stereo, and you wind up with a world class surround sound system for a fraction of the cost.

One of the reasons the high-end press like Stereophile and the Absolute Sound raved about the Triton Two's was because of the speaker's performance when used the cost-no-object gear they use in their reference systems. One of the reasons the mainstream audio press like Sound&Vision and Home Theater Magazine raved about the Triton Twos was because of how good they performed as part of a music and home theater setup with "typical" electronics and sources. With the Tritons, you get it both ways!

Thanks for the comments - right on target!

We ran speaker wires from the receiver to the sub in, and ran speaker wires from the sub out to the 50C.

Our receiver is set to sub-woofer yes giving us surround sound LFE from all 5 subwoofers (we also ran LFE (RCA) wires to all 5 subs).

IMHO/ By having 5 full range speakers and 5 sub-woofers w/ LFE we have created a 3D surround sound system.

It's the most uncanny thing... the sound stage has detailed sound placed exactly where it's supposed to be, explosions in movies are also 3D.

Example: We watched War Horse and there was a scene where a series of bombs went off in a trench (left to right) and in our room it sounded like they were going off in front of us (left to right), that was pretty cool, but it's really amazing to here bombs go off in a distance with this 3D sound effect. There was a part where a cannon shot from the far right and you could hear the bomb fly over your head and explode on the left just behind the couch.

When we say 3D sound we are referring to sound that has height, depth and width. If a shot comes from a roof on the left and hits on the ground on the right you don't just hear a bang on the left and a "pa-ding" on the right, you hear the shot from the upper left of the room, the bullet travels from the upper left to the lower right of the room and when it hits you hear the detailed snap making you think... Oh, that had to hurt.

The 3D surround sound really makes you feel like you are there.