Unsatisfactory Performance From GoldenEar Triton 2+ Speakers.

[DALFA]

Hello everyone,
I'm a newbie to this esteemed forum which has tremendously increased my awareness, interest and knowledge of all things, "Audio!"

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions, feedback and/or practical solutions to the issues I'm facing with the above mentioned speakers. Here, in India it's extremely difficult to have a live audition of one's speakers of choice as the respective brand showrooms are spread across the country and aren't consolidated in one single, regular brick-and-mortar dealership. Therefore, I had to rely on the umpteen rave online reviews, and bought into the hype. Needless to say, I have now have big-time buyers remorse!

From what I've observed, the High, Low, and Mid frequencies from the Triton 2+ seem to be disjointed and do not seamlessly blend into a cohesive sound stage. The Highs are fantastic, the Lows are acceptable, but the midrange seems to be recessed and there is no body to the overall presentation, resulting in a disappointing, depressing listening experience.
I've tried toeing them in, moving them around, using 2 SVS subwoofers to try to even out the response, all to no avail. I'm using an Anthem pre-power combo and even Arc Genesis isn't measuring up to the task.

I bought these speakers soon after the lockdown, so being only 3 years old makes it hard to justify selling them for a loss as dealer prices for all brands in India are anywhere between 30-50% higher than the MSRP in the U.S, due to customs duties and other factors.

I'm seriously considering buying the Revel 228Be, but if that feels like a lot of money in the U.S, believe-you-me, it feels 3 times worse, here in India; it actually Hurts and takes away some of the joy of buying a new toy!

Please feel free, candid, and even blunt, to share any ideas or experiences which may alleviate my present predicament and Many, Many Thanks in advance!
With best wishes, PRod.

 

[Yasuo]

Maybe you need to post more details? Like room size, listening distance. These speakers look huge from what I've seen on a quick search.

 

[DALFA]

Hi Yasuo, thanks so much for the quick reply. My living room is 20x15 feet, so around 300 Sq. Feet. Listening distance is an equilateral triangle, 17 feet from the speakers and subwoofers.

After reading about finer details of Anthem ARC, it appears that bass becomes anaemic after room correction, so I'm going to reset the system and try Manual corrections instead.

Once again, thanks much for taking the time!

 

[Apesbrain]

"Unsatisfactory performance" can be due to any number of physical and mental factors. Your GoldenEar speakers have been well-reviewed and others have gotten good results with them, so start by looking elsewhere. It sounds like your speakers are against one wall of your room and your listening position is against the opposite wall. Start by moving things out from the walls: a few feet for the speakers and 6' for the listening chair. Place the speakers about 8' apart and your listening chair 8'-10' from the plane of the speakers. Aim the speakers such that their "toe-in" crosses slightly behind your head when in the listening chair. Listen at a moderate volume: 65-75 dB as measured by a phone app.

You mention SVS subwoofers, but your speakers have subwoofers built into them. Get the extra subs out of the room and be sure your speakers are plugged into power and the sub level turned above 9 o'clock.

Try listening with and without the Anthem ARC room correction. As you say, try "manual" tone correction.

You don't mention your sources. Are you listening to a turntable? A streaming service? Does each source exhibit the same subjective deficiencies?

Finally, what is the room like? Lots of hard, reflective surfaces (e.g. bare walls, glass) will challenge good sound from any speaker. Soft furniture, carpet or a large area rug with pad, draperies on windows: all these help tame excess reverb. Is there a flat-screen TV between the speakers? Often this can be a source of unpleasant acoustics. Get the speakers out in front of the TV, or temporarily throw a blanket over it.

Report back with your findings.

P.S. Sometimes we fall out of love with a particular component and little will remedy the situation. Another speaker may appeal, but you still need to address the room placement issues above. Having speakers against one wall and listening position against another is a recipe for unsatisfactory performance.

 

[Curvature]

Welcome.

You did not post measurements so we can't know for sure what the issue is, but we can use other evidence to make good guesses.

GoldenEar Technology Triton Two loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements The GoldenEar Triton Two's B-weighted sensitivity on its tweeter axis was 91dB/2.83V/m, which both agrees with the specified figure and is significantly higher than the norm. The electrical impedance (fig.1) drops below 4 ohms in the midrange and above the audioband...

www.stereophile.com

The above are measurements of the previous version of your speaker. Looking at broad trends, they have good horizontal directivity (in other words, consistency of sound radiating to the sides) and poor vertical directivity (same thing but up and down—a feature of all AMT and ribbon tweeters). They don't seem to have to midrange issues, and they might have an issue crossing over to the low frequency drivers. Let's assume the + version has made some improvements to all of that.

You are likely hearing a combination of two things: speaker boundary interference response (SBIR) and vertical directivity. SBIR causes cancelations and boosts to the bass and midrange between 100Hz-500Hz, and can be roughly calculated by knowing the distance between you, your speaker and the walls, floor and ceiling. This is a fact of room acoustics and happens regardless of what speaker is involved. However, the results will be affected by speaker size and drive unit location, and different directivity patterns (dipole, cardioid, etc.). Vertical directivity is what I wrote above, to do with how evenly your speaker radiates sound above and below the tweeter (or thereabout; the acoustic center of a speaker is not necessarily the tweeter). I personally dislike listening to ribbon or AMT (folded ribbon) speakers because of the vertical behaviour. The ideal listening window is so narrow that the spectral balance shifts depending on how you sit or stand, although this will tend to be less of an issue the farther away you listen.

A "lack of body" with "acceptable lows" and "fantastic highs" probably means that SBIR is the main issue. You need a measuring microphone and a method of EQ. Measurements will give you a lot of information about your room and what you are hearing. EQ will make the overall sound much better but likely not fix all problems because SBIR issues are nonminimum phase (think of it like direct sound from the speaker and multiple strong reflections from the room surfaces are fighting each other, while you only have the ability to adjust of the spectrum of direct sound alone through EQ). The two methods of mitigating SBIR are to use true bass traps (Helmholtz, panel, limp mass or electronic types, all of which are specialty constructions and are large and expensive) or to use mixed phase EQ, which can be done manually with a lot of learning, or can be done fairly easily with newer automatic EQ systems by companies like Dirac or Trinnov.

So, to summarize: don't buy new speakers, you will have the same basic issues because of room acoustics (and your room isn't "bad"—SBIR is a consequence of physics). Buy a measurement microphone and figure out a method to EQ.

 

[Curvature]

A "lack of body" with "acceptable lows" and "fantastic highs"

Let's say the highs were bad: probable issues would be tweeter directivity due to speaker design (baffle, crossover) or mechanical issues (resonances).

If bass was bad: probable issues would be room modes (due to room shape and dimensions) or weak output or extension (to do with driver size, speaker design or amplifier power).

 

[DALFA]

Thank you All, for your insights and detailed, well thought out, practical solutions!
Will do what you'll have recommended and report back.

 

[DALFA]

Thank you All, for your insights and detailed, well thought out, practical solutions!
Will do what you'll have recommended and report back.

I had no idea that a corner placement of the speakers would so negatively Influence the soundstage and overall FR!

All I had to do was move the speakers around 2 feet from the wall, ahead of the entertainment unit Voilà, everything sounds perfect; it was indeed a simple, no-cost fix!

I turned the 2 SVS subs to a lower output and turned up the volume on the Triton 2+ internal subs. However, I am going to be adding castors to the speakers, to move them back-and-forth as required, as I need to maintain the overall aesthetics of the living room. Aiming to buy the smallest castors available so that the tweeters will not be over 2 inches than where they are, at present. Hope it doesn't create overly high, highs.

Once again, Thank You All for taking the time to read and help me solve my difficulties, it's much appreciated!