Triangle Borea BR03 Review (bookshelf speaker)

[MacCali]

Adorama usually has it on sale for 249-349 for the pair, recently seen it 279

 

[IowAudio]

I have noticed over the years there are a few YouTube reviewers that get excited with a product for what ever subjective reasons and start a hype train. Its ok, its their experience and they should be able to convey it in their review. But the viewer or buyer also has to take these things with a grain of salt. If you choose to buy a product based on subjective info fine but don't be surprised later if you find out it measures bad and it offends your buying decision. If you like it ignore the measurements and go about your day. If not sell it buy something else. I own speakers that measure good and bad. I use them for different things no biggie. I don't think measurements are everyrhing but they definitely play a big role in what makes for good audio gear. I'm a reviewer myself and have tried to throttle my excitement since I'm only able to give subjective adjitives and not much objective. I will admit I've gushed over the Sony CS5 but regardless they are unbeatable when on sale for $73. But $120 the hype ends as they're other good options. I'm to skeptical to spend thousands or even hundreds on a single piece of audio gear based only on subjective and anacdotal marketing. Like any other product I buy I want to to see objective data first.

 

[MacCali]

I have noticed over the years there are a few YouTube reviewers that get excited with a product for what ever subjective reasons and start a hype train. Its ok, its their experience and they should be able to convey it in their review. But the viewer or buyer also has to take these things with a grain of salt. If you choose to buy a product based on subjective info fine but don't be surprised later if you find out it measures bad and it offends your buying decision. If you like it ignore the measurements and go about your day. If not sell it buy something else. I own speakers that measure good and bad. I use them for different things no biggie. I don't think measurements are everyrhing but they definitely play a big role in what makes for good audio gear. I'm a reviewer myself and have tried to throttle my excitement since I'm only able to give subjective adjitives and not much objective. I will admit I've gushed over the Sony CS5 but regardless they are unbeatable when on sale for $73. But $120 the hype ends as they're other good options. I'm to skeptical to spend thousands or even hundreds on a single piece of audio gear based only on subjective and anacdotal marketing. Like any other product I buy I want to to see objective data first.

That's wise, but you got to kind of set your budget and choose something you can test. Unfortunately people dont feel that way and it's hard to find what youre looking seeking if you dont try a few things, so the beginning is a bit expensive.

You may, and I dont know your history or audio journey, but if you are new to it the sony would sound great. Not that I am bashing the sony. There's that douche bag on youtube who talks about cables and sells them, and he mods speakers. He moded that sony and it was amazing. But that's like investing another 200 on internal parts which sony ditched out on.

But Speakers are really all about measurements for sure, there's not much to argue about that. I think the JBL stage A130 would probably be a good addition to your collection if you plan on expanding and not blowing a lot of money.

I am just regurgitating what ive heard, this is direct from Amir and the measurements are clear. I am new to audio, less than a year, and I dont fall into that hype crap. I watch reviews almost everyday, I like audio so I like to see what's out there. But on headphones, speakers, amps, dacs, and all the goodies ive spent nearly 10k. BUTTTT I am done, im not going to buy no more crap and in addition I saved nearly 4-5k on products. I could have spent that much without sales. I never buy full price but I buy new.

Also, I've been listening nearly 6-10 hours per day. Movies here and there, so it's paying off.

I'm not trying to brag or boast, but I just filled in all the spaces I needed. I needed a home theater, got it. Needed a stereo setup, got it. Headphones for nights and times I cant be loud. Not a cheap hobby, but I tried everything prior to buying and I am really happy. It may just be purely my lack of experience, however I am really happy. I'm good.

That's what happens when all these mom and pop shops are being washed out by the internet.

 

[Xyrium]

Adorama routinely sells these for $350/pr, but even at that price, the Stage A130 appears to be better and cheaper. With the JBL on sale and/or with EQ for the high bass hump, I don't think there's much of a contest. Meanwhile at the $500 MSRP, you're within spitting distance of the Debut Reference or dealer discounted M16, both of which also appear to be better speakers.

I was thinking the same thing, especially about the Elacs. I'm, by far, not a fanboy of Elac, or Andrew Jones for that matter, but the DR line seems rather solid for the price.

 

[MacCali]

I was thinking the same thing, especially about the Elacs. I'm, by far, not a fanboy of Elac, or Andrew Jones for that matter, but the DR line seems rather solid for the price.

At that price you might as well get the UB52's, I own the 52's and i heard the debut ref's and honestly dont like the way the refs sound. A little too boomy/bass present unless you like that.

 

[IowAudio]

That's wise, but you got to kind of set your budget and choose something you can test. Unfortunately people dont feel that way and it's hard to find what youre looking seeking if you dont try a few things, so the beginning is a bit expensive.

You may, and I dont know your history or audio journey, but if you are new to it the sony would sound great. Not that I am bashing the sony. There's that douche bag on youtube who talks about cables and sells them, and he mods speakers. He moded that sony and it was amazing. But that's like investing another 200 on internal parts which sony ditched out on.

But Speakers are really all about measurements for sure, there's not much to argue about that. I think the JBL stage A130 would probably be a good addition to your collection if you plan on expanding and not blowing a lot of money.

I am just regurgitating what ive heard, this is direct from Amir and the measurements are clear. I am new to audio, less than a year, and I dont fall into that hype crap. I watch reviews almost everyday, I like audio so I like to see what's out there. But on headphones, speakers, amps, dacs, and all the goodies ive spent nearly 10k. BUTTTT I am done, im not going to buy no more crap and in addition I saved nearly 4-5k on products. I could have spent that much without sales. I never buy full price but I buy new.

Also, I've been listening nearly 6-10 hours per day. Movies here and there, so it's paying off.

I'm not trying to brag or boast, but I just filled in all the spaces I needed. I needed a home theater, got it. Needed a stereo setup, got it. Headphones for nights and times I cant be loud. Not a cheap hobby, but I tried everything prior to buying and I am really happy. It may just be purely my lack of experience, however I am really happy. I'm good.

That's what happens when all these mom and pop shops are being washed out by the internet.

My budget kinda fluctuates so over the last 20 years I've had cheap or used stuff and also had somewhat expensive stuff.

I'm definitely not new, 20 years deep of trying different things mostly DIY Audio. In my YT reviews I've been very supportive of the Sony CS5 but its based on their low price they are an exceptional value. I've had it out with Danny in a few chats about his cables and can't get any measurements or objective data out of him. What he's done with his $200 Sony upgrade kit I've nearly done with a calibrated mic , REW, and EQ APO by just basically flattening them out with EQ. My method is way cheaper and easier video coming soon. Hopefully it'll piss Danny off a bit. I've also experimented with cables up to about $250 over the year some premade some DIY and never had them make a solid decernable difference over typical good cables. So I ended my membership in cult of cable worship. Back the Sonys ,yes their good but I've made several DIY speakers for about the same price that I prefer and measure better. I also already been testimg the JBL 130 also review coming soon. It's my new favorite affordable speaker and I came to this conclusion before I found ASR reviewed it. Its a keeper.

I been doing this long enough used to read the old Stereophile and Sound &Vision magizines been to a hand full of hi end stores with crazy sound rooms back in the 2000s. For me a lot of the hi end gear does sound really good but never lived up to the hype or the insane prices for me. It never made since people would spend that much money on something backed only by subjective anacdotal marketing. So I became skeptical quite quick in my audio journey. These guys tell people to trust their ears mean while feeding them tons of marketing BS and they know bias and placibo effect sets the satge. Millions of people trusted their ears to the Bose Acoustamas home theater for years and it was crap compared to an actual theater setup. Bose leveraged marketing to make that happen. Bose should change their slogan from "Better Sound Through Research" to "Better Sound Through Marketing Research"....lol.

I do agree with Amir 90% of the time good measurements should give you good sound. The exception is everyone is entitled to their preference. But these companies should also be obligated to provide a certain set of measurements done to a industry standard just like thousands of other products. Right now cheap Chinese DACs are winning and they provide the measurements. May not be much longer and cheap Chinese amps, speakers, streamers will take over as well. Mom and Pop stores are long gone and it won't be much longer the big box stores will be gone too.

Like I've said before we're long overdue for a guy like Amir to come along to help people see the truth and expose these audio crooks. The audio industry has gone on unchecked WAY to long.

 

[jayhawk1]

Hope I can supply some insight into the Borea which I just purchased before I read this report. On first listening I was a bit disappointed, I found these had a bit of mid range "shout", and boomy bass. My surmise was that the cabinet needed proper dampening material, and had what I call too much over lap in the crossover between the woofer and the tweeter. When I saw the graphs and what your commits were it seems that bump in the roll off the woofer is the problem. I don't think I'll mess with the crossover for now but after removing the woofer ( a delicate operation) I removed the useless material in the bottom section of the cabinet and replaced it with 3/4" compressed style fiberglass on the sides and 2" loose fiberglass at the back, There are other types of suitable materials, but I like loose and compressed fiberglass. The difference in sound after this mod was great, boomy bass was now tight, resonances through the port we low or gone and the hollow sound in the mid bass and mid range is gone. As you found using an E.Q. won't solve these problems, it's surprising to me that the manufacturer would fail on such a simple issue. With this one fix the speaker is now pretty nice sounding, maybe someone will come up with a simple fix for the crossover and take down the "shout", which would make this a great value in this price range of speakers. For those wishing to try this fix, just beware that too much dampening material will kill the bass, try some and add more if needed. I hope this sheds some light on the performance of the Borea and help out other owners.

 

[lizhuoyin]

Hope I can supply some insight into the Borea which I just purchased before I read this report. On first listening I was a bit disappointed, I found these had a bit of mid range "shout", and boomy bass. My surmise was that the cabinet needed proper dampening material, and had what I call too much over lap in the crossover between the woofer and the tweeter. When I saw the graphs and what your commits were it seems that bump in the roll off the woofer is the problem. I don't think I'll mess with the crossover for now but after removing the woofer ( a delicate operation) I removed the useless material in the bottom section of the cabinet and replaced it with 3/4" compressed style fiberglass on the sides and 2" loose fiberglass at the back, There are other types of suitable materials, but I like loose and compressed fiberglass. The difference in sound after this mod was great, boomy bass was now tight, resonances through the port we low or gone and the hollow sound in the mid bass and mid range is gone. As you found using an E.Q. won't solve these problems, it's surprising to me that the manufacturer would fail on such a simple issue. With this one fix the speaker is now pretty nice sounding, maybe someone will come up with a simple fix for the crossover and take down the "shout", which would make this a great value in this price range of speakers. For those wishing to try this fix, just beware that too much dampening material will kill the bass, try some and add more if needed. I hope this sheds some light on the performance of the Borea and help out other owners.

Sounds interesting. Any tutorials, pictures or videos to open the speakers up?

 

[lizhuoyin]

See this video about BR02. It mentioned how to open it up. Also it talks about steel framed woofer which may contribute to the vibration/resonance.

 

[jayhawk1]

Sounds interesting. Any tutorials, pictures or videos to open the speakers up?

I should start by saying I am not getting any email notations letting me know someone has responded to my reply so I guess I'll have to check this site occasionally. I did look at that link but since I didn't see a detailed enough explanation for how to safely remove the woofers I'll post how I did it.
First thing needed is a jewelers flat screwdriver to pry under the front edge of the chrome ring and as you lift it use another screwdriver to follow it around and pry so that there is no strong force applied at any single point. These rings are just plastic and spot glued so they stick in some areas and not others, lift gingerly. Next and just as sensitive is using the small screwdriver to lift the rubber surround. Trick here is to place a very thin piece between the surround and the wood face. I first slid a very thin laminated piece of paper from a membership card since credit cards are too thick, very thin plastic or aluminum etc could work, something is needed to protect the wood which could be damaged from prying the rubber ring up. As I recall I had to pry hard to lift the rubber gasket up and again chase it around to get it loose. As a note, these are one of the hardest woofers to remove because of the system and very tight fit, I've also got to admit it's a very well built system. Once all that trim is removed the rest is just screw gun simple. Do not over stuff a ported speaker unless the ports are firing directly at a wall that is too close, this is a better method than putting stuffing directly into a port, or especially a sock which some have done!
If someone wants to mess with the material inside, other products that can be used are 1-1.5 inch foam, egg crate foam, and Acousta-stuf brand has a great following. (Regular Dacron is too loose for ported speakers in my opinion and I've never tried Acousta-stuf).
Have fun and see if you can find a good combination that works for you.

 

[Musicm8kr]

Fair enough

True, but low Q filters amplify the ability to notice the change, and that 1dB low Q boost at 350Hz would be synergistic with the change to the 800Hz filter.

Hi Robbo99999,

Is this the EQ setting that you're recommending (pic attached)? I'm new to the whole EQ thing and not familiar with all of the terms and nomenclature. I'm using the built in DSP effects (EQ processing) from my RME Babyface Pro. Thanks, M

 

[Robbo99999]

Hi Robbo99999,

Is this the EQ setting that you're recommending (pic attached)? I'm new to the whole EQ thing and not familiar with all of the terms and nomenclature. I'm using the built in DSP effects (EQ processing) from my RME Babyface Pro. Thanks, M

I dunno man, you're quoting a very old post of mine. My main points I was making to Amir was that a bunch of small changes can add up to a noticeable difference if those EQ changes are working together. My comments were really to just make the EQ more accurate/flat. I was eyeballing it based on experience with using REW & Equaliser APO. If I was you I'd play about with different filters in REW to see what they do and how far they influence depending on Q value and Gain. In fact, a great tool for me to use was VirtuixCAD program, and then using the SPL Trace tool within that program to take visual graphs/pictures of frequency responses that you find on the internet & this tool traces those curves and turns them into text file format - x&y datapoints that can be used to import the frequency response into REW which is a graphing tool to see the effect of different EQ filters on the frequency response......so you can effectively use this procedure that I've described roughly to start doing your own EQ's or at least becoming familiar with how different EQ filters function. I then actually use EqualiserAPO on PC as a means of actually implementing the EQ filter set to my music. If you start getting involved with that you'll be able to answer your own questions.......I can't answer yours with any greater accuracy unless I do all these steps I've loosely described to the frequency response of this speaker for you. Instead it's more useful for you & less work for me if I just point you in the right direction.

 

[RosalieTheDog]

Interesting.

These are my first hifi speakers, clearly influenced by the gushing online reviews and a good deal (300€). Demoing speakers is sadly difficult, since hifi shops in my area usually don't exactly do budget gear.

I'm liking them, although I have few references, but the boomy bass was definitely there. I managed to improve it a lot by moving the speakers closer to the back wall (40-50cm), in contrast to advice I've read online.

Since they're standing in the living room, I have to admit I was also very much seduced by their looks compared with similarly priced alternatives (notably the Elacs).

 

[Twiceboss]

I actually managed to get these with pretty darn good sounding. Im pairing these with SMSL DA9 and Matrix Audio X Sabre. I have a small room so it doesn't sound bright to me. What I want is airier sound. Is any way for me to improve the current setup? Placement etc. I did a lot of placement adjustment etc and this seems the best for now. Not sure how to get better air extension. Could be the limitations of the BR03. If so, what's next bookshelf speaker for me, small room, need load of air extension as I like it that way.

 

[sound_of_thunder]

What about the smaller bro's - the BR02?

 

[brandonhall]

What about the smaller bro's - the BR02?

I tried the BR02 and couldn't warm up to them. They were recessed and messy. I was comparing the Emotiva B1+ and I preferred the forward and airy nature of the Emotiva. That was my preference at the time.

The JBL Stage A130 is a significantly better option if you want a neutral speaker. For something laid back, the KEF Q150 is a great choice. For something in your face, the Emotiva B1+.

They're all great speakers and it's just a matter of preference. Turned out that I preferred the KEF but that was me and I would happily recommend the Emotiva or JBL to anyone.

 

[sound_of_thunder]

I tried the BR02 and couldn't warm up to them. They were recessed and messy. I was comparing the Emotiva B1+ and I preferred the forward and airy nature of the Emotiva. That was my preference at the time.

The JBL Stage A130 is a significantly better option if you want a neutral speaker. For something laid back, the KEF Q150 is a great choice. For something in your face, the Emotiva B1+.

They're all great speakers and it's just a matter of preference. Turned out that I preferred the KEF but that was me and I would happily recommend the Emotiva or JBL to anyone.

I was considering the q150s (perfect for my small room, easy to drive, and not too fussy with placement, it seems) but I keep hearing about problems popping up with Kef Uni-Q drivers, so that turns me off a little bit. I do prefer smoother, more laid-back presentation (as opposed to in your face shouty treble-forward sound) but not at the expense of detail or dynamics. I guess you could call that balanced neutrality but not too cold/clinical, with natural tonality in the midrange.

 

[Ninjastar]

I was considering the q150s (perfect for my small room, easy to drive, and not too fussy with placement, it seems) but I keep hearing about problems popping up with Kef Uni-Q drivers, so that turns me off a little bit. I do prefer smoother, more laid-back presentation (as opposed to in your face shouty treble-forward sound) but not at the expense of detail or dynamics. I guess you could call that balanced neutrality but not too cold/clinical, with natural tonality in the midrange.

I have the BR02 and subjectively, I like them a lot. I have a small room and I feel like the sound is smooth/laid-back and not bright or shouty at all. I think they have very natural sounding tonality in the midrange and don't sound sterile/cold/clinical. Their strength is with vocals and imaging performance.

But yeah, if you want the most neutral sounding speaker, then there are better options in that price range.

I also disagree about the Q150 not being fussy about placement. If they are too close to the wall, the bass will be boomy and you will need to use the supplied port plugs to tame that IME.

For reference, I've also owned the KEF Q150, KEF LS50, ELAC Debut Reference DBR62, Polk R200, JBL Studio 530, Infinity R162, etc.

I've just put in an order for the Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 so I'll be able to compare those soon.

You could read reviews and measurements of different speakers all day, but personally, I prefer trying them in my own system/room to determine if I like them.

Right now Amazon (through Focus Camera) is selling the BR02 for $299:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0839JX7F8/ref=twister_B09JB373K1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Sometimes the price goes up but just refresh the page at different times during the day and at least one or two of the color choices will show $299. You can try them out and if you don't get along with them, return them if you keep them in new condition until January 31 2022.

 

[sound_of_thunder]

^Thanks for the comments, duly noted.

For reference, I've also owned the KEF Q150, KEF LS50, ELAC Debut Reference DBR62, Polk R200, JBL Studio 530, Infinity R162, etc.

So you preferred the BR02s to all of these?

 

[Ninjastar]

^Thanks for the comments, duly noted.

So you preferred the BR02s to all of these?

No, not all. I do think it is my favorite in that price category of $300 though.

For example, I like it better overall than the KEF Q150, which you are also considering.

I think the JBL Studio 530 is also a good choice in that price category, but for me I cannot get past how ugly they are