Hello everyone!

I am a new subscriber to this forum, but am incredibly impressed by the community that has been created, and the amount of manufacturer support that The Great Moderator (Supreme Moderator? Stupendous? Something like that...) provides. The amount of love everyone has for their products reminds me a lot of the Polk SDA forums, which is a great omen for the longevity of GET speakers!

With introductions out of the way, I'll get into my setup and questions. I currently have a set of Polk SDA 2 speakers, hooked up through a Parasound P5 pre-amp and a Parasound A21 amp. My dad bought the SDAs back in 1980s, and gifted them to me a few years back when I started to catch the audiophile bug. I was limited by the SDA speakers to getting a common ground amplifier, and I'm pretty early in my lifelong quest for Audio Nirvana, but I tried to get the best quality setup I could afford at the time. I also have a REL Serie t9 subwoofer helping to fill out the bottom end of the SDAs. A couple years and a new marriage later, and I'm looking to upgrade my setup. I had a suspicion (though I'm new to this HiFi world) that the speakers are the weakest link in the chain, so I began to search out some upgrades. Long story short, it came down to either putting a few hundred dollars and a couple hours of soldering into new components for the SDAs, or some GoldenEar Tritons.

I went to my local audio store, and was fortunate enough to hear the GET Triton Reference, Triton One, Triton 2+, and Triton 3+. The Reference was obviously amazing, but they are realistically out of my price range (okay, more like out of my wife's price range ). I also really loved the Triton Ones as well, and enjoyed the Triton 2+, but was not able to hear them with the same components and the same room. I enjoyed that the Triton Ones had a little bit more depth to the soundstage, and little fuller bass response over the Triton 2+. That said, what would be your recommendations for the best combination of all these elements for overall sound quality? I typically spend ~70% of my time listening to Jazz, Classic Rock, and a little Pop and Classical, and 30% for movies (though my focus would be on music quality over movie effects, if I was forced to choose).

So in your opinions, would I be better off:
Spending the money on the Triton Ones, and keeping the same amp/pre-amp/sub?
Spending the money on the Triton Ones, and selling any combination of the amp/pre-amp/sub for an upgrade?
Buying the Triton 2+, and using the money saved to upgrade some of the amplifier components?

I suspect I would be happiest in the long haul with the Ones, but I definitely bow to the depth of experience which surrounds me in here. Thank you so much for your help, and most of all, have a great time listening to your systems tonight!

P.S. If anyone is upgrading to the References within a couple hours' driving distance of Denver and would like to sell your used Triton Ones, let me know!

Where did you visit, ListenUp? Their room was pretty solid - but the ones were in a different room than the two's. I've been to all three locations, but liked the Boulder store as they featured a nice open room with plenty of wingspan for the two+, as well as a nice rel sub (t7i/t9i - can't recall).

So, if I were buying today and *could* choose between the ones and two+, I'd always go as large as I could - and upgrade pre/pro later. When I listened to the two+ in a acoustically treated room - 2-channel music only, I didn't feel the need for a sub (and I LOVE having a sub in the mix). The two+ were amazing, and unless I had a huge room - I'd be happy right there.

I usually tell people that if you think you'll ever question your decision - or if you think that you'd be missing out on something with the two+, then go ones. I'd also mention that for a number of years, the triton two's were endgame for some folks (until newer models were released). GEt scales well: I have the original two's running off a marantz mm7025 amp (140wpc) - and they sound pretty darn stellar.

If you plan on keeping and using your REL T9 for 2.1 stereo listening, then I think T2+ are a great baseline.

Thanks for the reply!

Yes, I went to the ListenUp in the Springs, they have sold me a decent amount of kit in the past, and have been very friendly. I'm certainly not beholden to the concept of having a .1, especially since both the Ones and the 2+ have such solid bass on their own, but I thought I'd throw it in there as another option just to make things harder on those that were just trying to help .

Hi, Lampcord

Welcome to the forum!

Another feed from the peanut gallery. I completely agree that speakers are the rate limiters in a system. And your Parasound gear should drive good speakers very well. So, speakers as first priority.

I'd go for the best speakers your budget allows, and if that's T1's, or T2's+'s, either will serve you well. And yes, each step up in the Goldenear line, Tritons or otherwise, is a bigger, better version. I agree with Timecop. Go as big as you can. You won't regret it and will be rewarded with amazing sound!

Happy listening!

Rick

Thanks, Rick. I appreciate the input immensely. I'm happy to be getting into the hobby at a relatively young age, so I have many years ahead of me to enjoy listening and get upgradeitis

If I end up finding a used pair of Ones, I'll stick around to share my adventures with the others, and hopefully help out someone else who is looking into GoldenEars. Hopefully, much like my username, a few people here will think I do the job just fine (Disclaimer: definitely not trying to get into the speaker cable discussion, that is a whole other topic that rightfully deserves its own threads!)

Hi and a big welcome here Lampcord!!!
For goodness sake man, get some decent cables and throw away the lampcord, c'mon man!!!!
OK, I know you are just baiting us with that old one.
A great introduction and good questions, we are happy to have a young audiophile with us.
I would be a Northerner to you, Cheyenne, WY was home and U of WY in Laramie my alma mater. But a long way from there now.
I will second everything said above, and add my vote to getting the BEST speakers you can afford.
In your case you will be using them, listening to them for YEARS and YEARS if they are good ones, you will not need to upgrade at all. And the Ones fit that bill perfectly. They truly are exceptional.
And your electronics will be just fine for now with the Ones, give you a lot of time to enjoy the music and save up for better electronics, to satisfy the upgraditis that WILL come along. Cables will do that for you too, oh, sorry.
The thing is with the Ones, you don't have to have a subwoofer at all, even for that 30% movie watching/enjoying. Just keep your sub and use it judiciously for movies.
You can have years of fun with this hobby, hoping you get some Ones and do have fun with it.
It really is all about the music and movies. But the gear is fun.
Have a good one and welcome, God Bless,
Wayne