Hey All,

I am the new owner of a pair of Triton Three+ and I am trying to better understand how they work, especially the internal amp/crossover. With the internal amps plugged in (normal operation), is the load on the system's power amp reduced because it does not have to drive the woofer? Or is the power that the system amp sends to the low end "wasted" and "replaced" by the internal amp? Would a Triton 3+ require less of the system power amp than a Triton 5? What happens if you drive these speakers unpowered - does the woofer receive adequate power to drive it like a passive system? I have them hooked up with just speaker wire.

Anyway, just trying to get a better sense what is going on - so thanks for any insight or elucidation,

cheers, Loren

GE T3+ towers
old onkyo receiver from storage unit (right now)
Parasound A23 (arriving Friday)
Yamaha WXC-50 (arriving tomorrow)

Welcome here Loren, first Congrats on getting the Triton Three+s.
AND those are some great questions and this is the place to ask them.
Not that I know all the answers to your questions, I don't.
But I will try to answer as many as I can.
DEFINITELY the Triton 3+s will benefit greatly from being plugged into the wall socket and letting the internal amps do the job of playing the bass for you!!!! And that will relieve the amp of some of its work, to better play the mid-range and that glorious folded ribbon tweeter we all love so much. The amp power is not really wasted, it is there like money in the bank, waiting to be used for loud passages and giving more "headroom" or reserve power. That is a great thing.
And, BTW, I believe you will love the Parasound A23 from everything I have heard of it.
Your amp will probably feel about the same load, more or less, as playing the T 5s when you plug in the T 3+s, even though you are only connected with speaker wire, the crossover inside the T 3+s will do the job sending the upper and midrange signals to the right speakers, and the bass down to the internal amp and built in woofers.
I have no idea what would happen IF you ran the speakers without plugging them into the elect. socket. But you would be missing out on some of the magic built in to the T 3+s.
You can also plug a subwoofer output into the LFE connector on the back of the T 3+s but it is not necessary, it is more for watching movies or getting more bass.
Overall, it looks like you are building a fantastic sounding system, well done. Please let us know how it sounds when you get it
all together and ask any more questions you have.
Hopefully someone can do a better job answering these than I did.
Have fun listening,
God Bless,
Wayne

If you run the Tritons without plugging them in, there will be no bass from the woofers.

Hi dogman,

As others have indicated, they don't work if not plugged in, the powered bass system does not operate passively.

In answer to the question I think you meant to ask, the driving amplifier (your receiver) does not have to do any of the "heavy lifting" required to make the speaker play bass. This will make your receiver seem a lot more powerful because it is being relieved of the bass frequencies' current requirements (bass frequencies make the big current demands on the amplifier).

Moderator wrote: Hi dogman,

In answer to the question I think you meant to ask, the driving amplifier (your receiver) does not have to do any of the "heavy lifting" required to make the speaker play bass.

That is, in fact, a much clearer way of posing my question -- and thank you for the answer. cheers.

A couple of comments. Remember that the Parasound amp is going to need 50 to 60 hours of break in and the Triton's need 60 to 80 hours....and yes it makes a difference. You have a nice system. Enjoy.