Have had a set of Triton 2 since just about the beginning of the line. Have been using them in our family room, as the front speakers for home theater with a SuperSat 60 for the center, and B&W CM1 speakers for the rears. (I had them around from when I stopped having an office outside the house.) Completely loved them. When I brought the Triton 2 home and set them up, my wife, who says she can't tell the difference blah blah blah but it's something I love... stood in the room listening, and then between songs said, "I can tell the difference, these sound amazing." Many guests became GoldenEar customers after listening. So why upgrade?
Well, I had a great year at work... so the funds were there. I'm pretty disciplined about money, but also believe in rewarding myself with things that will give me more pleasure than bank account numbers, and music is my drug of choice. And, I went to a GE showcase event "launching" the + models of the Triton line, so I got to do some comparative listening. Unfortunately they weren't set up to let me listen to music I'd brought, but Sandy was there with a couple disks in his pocket, and there were three tracks on one of the disks that I know VERY well. First, I listened to the 2+. They sounded excellent, a little more dimensional (which is hard to believe, because the Triton 2 speakers I had were spookily dimensional, to the point of sending our dogs into frenzies from time to time looking for who'd snuck into the family room...) There was a touch more crispness to mids and lower-mids. I couldn't tell how much better, though, because the space was so weird (they were set up in the biggest open area of the store).
Then I went around the corner and listened to the Triton 1 setup, which happened to be using Marantz AV separates similar to my own, and in a room that was about the same size as my family room, including a high ceiling about the same height. Two tracks of listening, at really low volume and then at "you are there" volume. SOLD. The dimensionality was outright startling. If I was within 8-10 feet of the speakers, I felt like I was on stage with Miles Davis. The Triton 2 always impressed me with how you didn't have to pay attention to the "sweet spot" - they sounded great and imaged well no matter where you were until you got almost beside them. The Triton 1 were even more so. And the bass... oh the bass...
Have had the Triton 1 now for two days. Not broken in, etc. But even so, in place in our house, the imaging is bigger and crisper, the dimensionality is amazing. Was listening to some Miles/Dizzy/Lee Konitz earlier, and I could place each player to the inch. It was so incredible I blew off the next two hours of chores and sat up close so I could be on the stage.
What I have noticed is the amount of bass is enormous compared to the Triton 2. We had a subwoofer with the Triton 2 that kicked in only with movies, for audio it was out of the system because the Triton 2 had plenty of bass for music... but when the alien ships cover the sky in Independence Day, well, you appreciated the sub-woofer because it created waves in your glass of wine. With the Triton 1 - well, the bass is so powerful. I had the speaker amplifier in the Triton 2 set to just shy of 3/4. With the Triton 1 and no sub, I'm set to slightly less than half, and it's still rattling the windows. I suspect the aliens will cause plaster dust to fall from the ceilings. The boost is all bottom end, not always real, which tells me that the slight additional bottom capability and larger radiator surfaces match up with my room's natural resonance. Enough that I just ordered some room treatments - I could get the Triton 2 in control in our room because the room resonance problems were in the subwoofer range, so with music, leaving the sub out, everything was fine. But the Triton 1 has just soooooooo much bass power so low, that it's kicking up room resonance issues ALL THE TIME. I'm not complaining, believe me... hard to blame the speakers for a room resonance problem. Just that with the Triton 2, the problem wasn't so obvious, but with the Triton 1... the room issues are in your face obvious.
I will say this. Our family room is about 20x24 feet, with a two and a half story ceiling, and there's really not much wall behind, so effectively we've got an equivalent size space behind us with a second floor balcony across the middle of the big open space. With all that space to fill, the Triton 2 did an awesome job. They were plenty of speaker for that much space. If you've got a huge space and don't have the budget for the Triton 1, you're not giving up anything, trust me. (Other than maybe room resonance issues...) Very pleased with the bigger imaging. When they're broken in I suspect I'm going to be happier still. They don't look all that much bigger than the Triton 2. something my wife commented on.
And the Aon 2 replacements for the B&W CM1? I think they sound better than the CM1. Mostly in precision in the upper mids and highs. Not going to do the balancing work until I've got another two weeks of break in time, and not until I have the bass traps set up, but watching sports car racing today, I could tell the RPM of the P class cars from how they sounded in surround within a couple hundred RPM. That's pretty good.
So, I'm a GoldenEar fan twice over. (Thrice over?) I've got another system in my photography studio with speakers that 18 years ago cost me over 3x what the Triton 1 cost today, and were on every "best speaker no holds barred" list at the time. I much prefer the Triton 1.
System: Marantz AV separates. Exasound e22 DAC. Oppo video. Hand built streaming video and audio server. (Geek, I am.) Triton 1 plus SuperSat 60 Center in front, Aon 2 in back. Traveling Wilbury's singing in the room for me. No, really, right THERE.
Upgrade from Triton 2 to Triton 1... all goodness
