Went in with spouse to demo Triton 2+ at local dealer. Ended up spending nearly 2 hours demoing, and…..deciding on a pair of Reference instead (!!!!). Doing A/B/C testing between Triton 2+, 1, and Reference on the same tracks, we played through all sorts of jazz, rock and classical in the listening room. Both of us agreed that in our opinionthe 2+ outshone the 1's, - but the Reference blew them both away. It was a very challenging purchase to reconcile internally as I am not one to usually be upsold from what I have already researched, and I had been following Goldenear for years but had never owned. Now we needed new speakers so the time was right for GE to join the household, and I had already thought the 2+ would be great value --- they did sound good, but the Reference simply sounded that much better.

My opinion is that in listening to the 1s and 2+, if I never heard the reference I would think they sounded stellar. In a store without Reference on display, the 1 and 2+ would be outstanding. Unfortunately for my wallet (or fortunately for the dealer, and my ears), there was a Reference pair there to make the 1's/2+ sound like they had another bit still out there to give, like they were working at 85-90%. Switching mid-songs to the reference, back and forth, it was like breaking through a ceiling and all of a sudden the sound you had mentally imagined could be there WAS there, filling the room. It sounds hokey to say especially as the 2+ are delightful speakers for the price, and sounded awesome in their own right, but at one point I literally said out loud after we switched to the Reference – “this is the sound I’ve been waiting for”. It put a pure smile onto my face.

Vocals sound so lifelike through the reference that it’s almost creepy, you would think the singer is hiding behind the amp cabinet. That Dean Martin ‘Fools Rush In’ demo track that GE has used (and that our dealer had loaded on their system), makes Dean-o sound like he has come back for one show only. Beach Boys harmonies have never sounded so lush to me.

Jazz sounded amazing – my spouse said that it was the closest she had heard to what it sounds like when we have been at basement jazz clubs in New York, sitting 20 feet from the trio.

Meanwhile on rock tunes, the guitar solos were really what got me – switching A/B between 1|2+|Ref, I was stunned at how different the solos came out. I said to my spouse in one track, listening to the Reference, “that is how an overdrive/compressor really is supposed to come out’. The sound left you feeling like you couldn’t ask any more of it. Cue up Chicago’s ‘25 or 6 to 4’ and both the gritty intro and ending guitar solo will make you feel like you are hearing the song for the first time, a revelation. On these speakers, all the nuances of guitar technique/amps/pedals come through shining – from rough growls to crystal harmonics.
For an hour I basically was trying to convince myself to stick to the 2+, even A/Bing without the Reference for a while. But damn it – after hearing the Reference there felt like there was still that aforementioned bit missing, and as soon as we cut over to the Reference in the demos there it was again.

I had a moment of purchase panic over the price (after all, a big leap from what I’d mentally budgeted), and went back to the listening room. There I finally played “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” by Journey, a track I had avoided in the original demoing lest it get stuck in my head - and a track that some hard core audio buffs on the web might not be playing through their system. But oddly enough, Journey is what finally sealed it for me – I swear I have never heard that song sound so good as through the Reference speakers (other than after many beverages singing along with friends to a cover band at the end of the night, a hard situation to replicate at home).

So excited to get these home and broken in...what I am most looking forward to is cuing up my personal audio nirvana of Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane's amazing collaboration, and just reveling in the sound. If the speakers can make Dean Martin sound that good, I can't wait to hear the sounds of Hartman and Coltrane.

Welcome hot_rod and good for you!!!!!!
Good thing for me I don't have one of those stores around, not even in the same country as me.
Enjoy and let us know how they work out?
God Bless,
Wayne

Thanks for the Journey reminder hot_rod.. Just played it on mine, wow..... Everything sounds new and refreshed on the Reference.. Good luck and enjoy.