Hey all,

So it's a bit premature to post in the show-off your system section, but I just had to express my excitement. After months of research and saving $ I've finally ordered a pair of Triton Threes from the fantastic guys at Audio Concepts, Dallas, TX.

Now I just have to wait for GoldenEar to ship them my speakers.

So in other words, hurry up and send them GoldenEar!

Should be on the way - make sure to let us know once you get them going!

They're finally here!!

So I'd like to let them break in a bit more before giving a full impression, but here are my initial impressions. I've added a before and after picture.

First, Aesthetics:
As you can see by eliminating that big black subwoofer box I've been able to consolidate my electronics into one area making my set-up look much cleaner overall.

Second, sound:
(This is only after a couple hours of listening, once the harshness started settling after letting the speakers flex their muscles. I'm still waiting for it to go away completely compared to how I know they'll sound. It's all part of the fun of buying new speakers.)

Compared to my old Polk speakers, which I still love and would highly recommend, I'm not yet 'hearing sounds I've never heard', BUT everything that I didn't like about my old system have been solved by the Tritons. The topend brightness, the inconsistent midrange, the low frequency (that in my tiny cube room with only one subwoofer would excite frequencies based on little things like how I tilted my head), etc… All gone. What's left is just a NATURAL sound. Nothing more, nothing less. It just sounds like you'd expect a person/instrument/effect to sound given the quality of the source material.

Also, I don't miss the fact that I removed my center channel as well in the slightest. The imaging is just that good.

I cannot wait till these things break-in more.

Hi Dark,
It looks MUCH better, and I trust it sounds better than your old system too.
Please keep us informed with a good update when they are better broken in.
In fact, that is one thing I am interested in hearing from you, about long do you think it takes to break in the Triton 3s?
I hope you can get a better listening position too.
Enjoy Sir!!!!
Wayne

Okay, so less of an update and more just had to share this experience with you all.

But first, in regards to Wayne's questions, after the first week or so letting the tweeter mellow out and the midrange tightened up (neither of which took very long) I haven't heard much of a change in the sound. Although this is coming from someone who has never heard speakers at this level and who is driving them with a cheap Onkyo AVR. I'm itching to upgrade to an NAD asap. Can't wait!

Also, as a side note. I know there's been a lot of back and forth about the use of Audessy room calibration with these speakers. For me, running Audessy 2EQ notably improved the bass imaging and it didn't alter the sound of higher frequencies at all. It was a definite improvement and I'm glad I decided to try it.

Now, as for the experience I absolutely had to share:
I just finished listening to Kanye's new album (which is very... interesting. It's overly aggressive and experimental, but with a lot of interesting sonic textures and shifts in technique that made it worth listening on such transparent speakers). That's what I wanted to share. Just how unbelievably transparent the imaging is with these speakers. The opening song takes place largely in the very center of the two speakers with very strange electronic sounds mixed with Kanye's rapping. I did not hear the Tritons at all. It honestly sounded like there was just one large speaker in the center of the room and when I closed my eyes I could not tell if the Tritons were 6 feet apart or 60 feet apart. It's just unreal. Lower frequencies sounded like they should, that is to say then just sort of emanated from the imaginary floor underneath that imaginary speaker in the center. It was (almost) entirely non directional in front of me.

It was in that moment that I realized what all those seemingly unusual design decisions Sandy Gross pushes for in his speakers (such as subwoofers in the towers and not in a separate box and their strange trapezoidal and narrow front baffle) were ment to accomplish.

Of course that's not to say the speakers are perfect. As amazing and wonderful as the imaging and soundstage width are, I don't hear (at least in my current set-up) much size in the height or depth. In fact midbass (I'm guessing) sounds seem to consistently image lower physically than other frequencies. It's especially noticeable in sounds that are anchored to a particular speaker. In Red Hot Chili Pepper's Slow Cheetah the opening guitar sounds incredibly transparent, but it does still sound like it's elongated unaturally along the entire forty-something inches of the speaker's height. It's a bit strange, and does draw attention to the speaker, but it doesn't take away from all the subtle details you can hear in those guitar strings.

When all is said and done though, nothing in life is perfect and there's things I wish I could change (mostly with amplification and getting a much higher quality DAC). The biggest compliment I can give is that between these speakers and the new Google Play all access pass (which gives you access to every song that google has available at an enjoyable 320kbps) that I've subscribed to I've listened and enjoyed more music in the past week than I ever thought I would. I bought these speakers expecting to listen to music a bit more than I already do, but I never imagined that most of my free time at home would be spent listening to music and I can't thank GoldenEar enough for that.

Thanks for all the great feedback. The speakers will actually continue to improve, although the most dramatic is in the first few hours of playing time as you noted. Glad to hear Audyssey did a good job for you in your room - results seem to be very dependent on the situation.

The sound quality will improve substantially with better electronics - I've heard then on everything from modest receivers to cost no object ARC and Pass Labs separates - they are very revealing and forgiving, but boy do they light up with high-end electronics in front of them. Enjoy - thanks again!