Triangle Borea BR08 lackluster sound quality & a potential resolve for it.

[PaulRR]

I've had these for 2 weeks, bought heavily discounted from Adorama scratch/dent section of the site, but overall, they're in new like condition minus the defects. Paid $185 for 1 that had slight damage top rear left with vinyl peeling & MDF exposed & $150 for the 2nd speaker for the Tweeter not working, the grill & spikes are missing, but overall, they look brand new.

The 2nd speaker, the tweeter, was not working due to one of the wires not connected. Once connected, out of the box, they were both flat, no body, bass & mid-range lacking warmth & depth.

The mid-range & tweeter did exhibit very nice detail, extension & imagining, but the tonal balance from this point to the 2 woofers were terrible. They sounded bad on all 3 of my Denon's: 2808ci, X4300H & X4500H. Burning them in for 3 days did nothing. Comparing these to my DCM TP260-CH tower speakers & Wharfedale Diamond 230, I knew then something was wrong here because I expected a shootout between the speakers, but the BR08 didn't come close to any of the good aspects of the other speakers...

Tweaking the EQ curve, burn in, room placement all had a nil effect. Out of frustration, I opened up one of the speakers to inspect the insulation & the crossover. Didn't find any issue with the insulation, but I noticed something odd with the crossover.

2 separate PCB's. The main signal arrives at the mid-range crossover pcb and the 2nd pcb is for both tweeter & woofer and is tapping off the mid-range pcb. All of the wires appear to be 12awg from start to finish, but I noticed the wires that connect the 2 pcb's together appear to be 16awg. Those 2 wires looked wimpy. I've soldered 12awg wires in place of those 16awg wires & now they're fuller, bolder, more richer & the tonality with some serious bass is finally there.

If this is the original configuration as far as the crossover wiring & most owners & reviewers are delighted with the sound, imagine the huge potential just by upgrading those 2 wires between the crossovers.

I surmise a robust Amp would mask this issue here versus the equipment I got.

Is there anyone else who thinks their BR08 are lacking in sound? Or is it just me....

 

[dfuller]

Yeah I'm not going to lie I don't think it was the 6 inches of 16AWG getting changed to 12 that did it. More likely in my book is that there might've been a cold joint, and by virtue of replacing the wire you reflowed the joint.

 

[PaulRR]

Yeah I'm not going to lie I don't think it was the 6 inches of 16AWG getting changed to 12 that did it. More likely in my book is that there might've been a cold joint, and by virtue of replacing the wire you reflowed the joint.

That maybe true for 1 speaker, but both sounded like pure trash before i added the thicker gauge. The solder points on both boards were shiny & the 16awg wire was intact. I'm sure in some scenarios your statement is true, it doesn't seem likely here...

It's really hard to say what fixed it at the point. Hopefully someone else with a pair can chime in on this.

 

[RamboCanuck]

I have these speakers and I can relate your comments. It actually took me almost a year to warm up to them and I did change the speaker wire and boosted the amplification with an EMotiva power amp. They are definitely warmer and fuller to my ears now, so they may have burnt in overtime. (or maybe it’s just me.) Either way I’m quite sure curious about your fix and would like more information. As others have confirmed the resale value on these is not that much so if I can get any little bit more out of them than I already have, I’m willing to try your suggestion before opening them up. If you had any photos of what you changed, I’d appreciate it. And also, excuse my ignorance, but is the wire you’re talking about just regular speaker wire or is it certain kind of wire for inside the speaker?

 

[Overseas]

Tested BR09 a lot at home, they sound great and powerful.