Hi ART,
Sorry for not getting back to you. Yes I got your email.
Thanks, Rich

Rick,

From the very first time I connected my Triton Ones to my Onkyo (before I owned the Cambridge), I was not happy with the musical bass "oomph". At that time, my Onkyo's two sub outputs were connected to the Ones' LFE inputs, but there was no active Double Bass. Furthermore, my audio connections at that time were analog from CD players. So, the Ones were playing the Onkyo's speaker-only signals and processing whatever bass was contained therein in accordance with whatever the crossovers in the Ones were doing. Analog bass was musical, but offered little "oomph".

However, there was always plenty of bass when there was an LFE signal presented to the Ones from a multi-channel digital input to the Onkyo - either HDMI or Digital Audio.

Then, I discovered the Double Bass settings in the Onkyo. As I excitedly reported in a post several years ago, the first time I switched Double Bass On, I was astounded at the increased bass level - in fact, way too much with the Ones' LFE control set to mid-point (12 o'clock).

I'll bet that nothing is happening to the standard analog signals in either the Onkyo or the Cambridge to intentionally reduce the bass at the speaker-output terminals. What is a puzzle to me is why feeding a line-level pre=amplified audio output directly to the Ones LFE jacks produces so much more bass. Audibly, the difference is much more than "Double Bass". Unfortunately, I have nothing else to employ to conduct a similar setup experiment.

It is worth noting that both my Klipsch and my Paradigm subs are designed to be driven either by an LFE signal, or by a line- level analog output signal from an amplifier or pre-amplifier..

Perhaps overall volume levels play a role. I don't listen at loud levels, Perhaps the feared double bass effect really is not important when the volume level at the speaker-level terminals isn't at full room volume (whatever that is). Perhaps I am really just adding back the bass which is being audibly lost because of the relatively low overall volume level (normal bass roll off to the ear at low volume levels - remember the old "Loudness Control"?).

You are correct - this is a thorny subject and more subjective than objective by its very nature.

Best,

Art

Hi Art, et. al.,

I admit to being a purist when it comes to 2ch playback so my opinions on such matters are biased. I applaud your and others efforts to "play" until they are happy with the results. Obviously we are all happy you are doing so with GoldenEar speakers.

In my travels I have been in dealers' stores where the powered Tritons (T2's back then) sounded wrong. I discovered that if I removed the speakers from the receiver/speaker demo room/or whatever environment and set them up on a basic integrated amp, voila - there they were. People in the store would look at me and go, "Oh, THAT's what they sound like, wow". Sometimes it was obvious what was wrong before, sometimes not so much.

Art, you appear to love to listen to music and it is something you enjoy and spend hours at - plus tinkering time. I can't think of anyone that would value the addition of the Triton Reference more than you. It's a lot more than just more.... Maybe your local dealer would take a trade on one of the other Triton pairs from your system to ease the cost and allow you to just substitute rather than add.

Hi Mr. Moderator,

Thanks for your comments. I am still considering the Refs and, as I listen to my latest and current speaker/amplifier arrangement, I can readily envision my Ones in the Rear and my Sevens on the Side. Probably no need for a trade in. I just have to make a decision.

There is actually a local GE Dealer here in Johnson City, TN. However, I am working with Audio Advice in Raleigh, NC - the dealer from whom I purchased the Ones. It is unfortunate that I got crosswise with the local dealer here in Johnson City. but the situation developed during the time I was considering purchase of the Ones and I simply moved on. We go to Raleigh about every two months and Audio Advice is about 10-15 minutes from my daughter's residence. I have enjoyed working with them and plan to continue to do so.

So far as the Refs are concerned, they would almost certainly be direct shipped to me from GE via motor freight, regardless of which dealer I purchase them from. Yes, I would have to set them up myself with no local help, but that is not a determining issue for me.

Best,

Art