Product Review
 

Triad Platinum LCR Speakers, LCR-Center Speaker, Silver Monitor Speakers, and Platinum PowerSub Subwoofer

Part III

July, 2006

Chris Groppi

 

Home Theater Performance

Since the primary design goal of the Triad Platinum series is home theater, I targeted the majority of my critical listening on this application. From the very first movie, it was clear that every single area of the Triad system's performance was stupendous. I expected fantastic dynamics, weight, power, and extension, but the more subtle areas of performance were very surprising and are what make the Triad Platinums something special.

Imaging and soundstage are qualities that I particularly value in a loudspeaker. The reason I have kept my trusty Platinum Audio Solos for so long is because they excel in this area. The typical large loudspeaker has a very difficult time equaling the performance of a small speaker for a very simple physical reason. The large size of the front baffle causes increased diffraction from acoustic power traveling across the speaker's front panel. The Triad system immediately proved itself to be a soundstage and imaging champ, especially with movie sound tracks. Reproduction of spatial transients is what makes a movie soundtrack sound "real."

Many people think that a 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound system will provide this imaging performance for free, regardless of speaker quality. This is most definitely not correct. Speakers of the quality of the Triad Platinums fill in the space between the speakers with their ability to effortlessly image outside the speaker cabinet. The Triads excelled in precisely locating sounds in the soundstage, especially outside the LCRs, partially filling in the space to the right and left of the listeners without the use of side surrounds.

While having people over to watch The Matrix, a ringing telephone for an "exit" caused every person in the audience to turn their heads completely to the left. The image appeared to emanate from several feet to the left of the front-left speaker, with such convincing dynamics and timbre that I couldn't wipe the grin off my face for quite some time.

Even with far more subtle material, the Triads excelled at the reproduction of dialogue. The increase in clarity, and the realistic reproduction of timbre were akin to having completely remastered sound tracks. The Triads were able to extract every last drop of dialogue character and quality, without ever becoming compressed or confused.

In Guy Ritchie's films Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, the funky soundtrack never muddled or confused any dialogue. Movie sound tracks were clearly the best I have ever heard. When I watch the Cohen brothers epic O Brother Where Art Thou, I am normally left a bit disappointed in the quality of the music compared to the CD and SACD sound tracks. On the Triads, the quality of the performances, from the rhythmic "Man of Constant Sorrow" to the a capella "Down to the River to Pray" and Ralph Stanley's classic solo performance "O Death", there never seemed to be any lack any depth, excitement, or clarity.

Timbre, or the ability to accurately differentiate the character of one unique sound from another, is a commonly overlooked trait especially in a home theater loudspeaker system. Accurate reproduction of timbre, however, is one of the key qualities necessary for maximally realistic sound reproduction. From the human voice, to a telephone ring, a car engine or a gunshot, correct timbre is required for a realistic reproduction of a soundtrack. The Triads were fantastic in this area. Most of the kudos go to the LCR center channel, as the majority of a soundtrack's midrange detail is broadcast on the center channel. Many would argue that a $6,300 center channel is a ridiculous extravagance, but I disagree. For the most accurate reproduction of a movie soundtrack, the center channel loudspeaker is the most vital.

The almost full-range performance of the LCR center and LCRs infused dialogue with a richness and weight impossible with small monitors. This wideband performance also added a great deal to one of my favorite action movies, Ronin. As a person whose first word was "car," I think that any film with realistic car chases like Ronin (where all chase scenes were filmed without any CGI or blue-screen, at full speed and in real cars) gets my vote. The quality of the engine notes in Ronin were as close to real as I think it is possible to get from a home theater when played back at high SPL. Even with the scream of a BMW M5 in the background, the accompanying dialogue and sound effects were never covered up or blurred. It's this ability to maintain uniqueness of sounds (both in an imaging sense and in a timbral sense) even with a very complex sound scape and at high volume that make a speaker great, rather than merely good.

My Platinum Audio Solos begin to get confused at high volume, although they deal very well with a complex sound field. The Triads can take any complexity of source material, at any volume level, and still perfectly resolve the soundstage and the timbral qualities of every image in that soundstage. I believe that the high sensitivity of the Triads is vital to this performance characteristic. With a high sensitivity loudspeaker, the amplifier will always be able to easily reproduce all micro and macro-dynamic contrasts and timbre changes with a minimum of effort. My low sensitivity Platinum Audio Solos offer very good performance at low to moderate SPL, but begin to falter at high playback levels, in part due to the load they place on the amplifier driving them (which in this case is a 150 WPC Plinius 8150i integrated amplifier).

With more drive power and headroom, the situation gets better (see my review of the fantastic Classé Audio CAP-2100 Stereo Integrated Amplifier), but the Triads need no such coddling. While these speakers deserve the finest quality amplification, they do not require kilowatts of drive power from solid state amplifiers that could double as arc welders. Even 100 WPC (probably even 50 WPC) will result in exceptional performance. Just don't think of driving these with a low-priced receiver. Anybody who chooses to drive a $26,000 loudspeaker system that way needs to have their head examined, but I doubt that any Triad Platinum customer would use anything other than separates for source electronics. With this level of sensitivity, even moderately powerful tube amplifiers would be a fantastic choice.

If a large high end speaker system can do nothing else, it should sound large. The Triad Platinum speakers have two abilities that fulfill this need, and set them apart from any other loudspeaker I have ever heard. These speakers can play louder without losing performance than anything I have heard. In addition, the macro and micro-dynamics are absolutely spectacular. The high sensitivity of the Triads are vital to both the high SPL ability and the dynamic performance. The high sensitivity allows very high acoustic power output with a minimum load on the power amplifier. In addition, both small and large dynamic contrasts require much less from the associated electronics. Sensitivity is necessary, but not sufficient, for world class sonic reproduction.

The high SPL performance requires very good control of mechanical resonances, both in the enclosure and the drivers. The dynamic performance requires careful crossover design, with good time domain performance in addition to low mass drivers with fast, low reactance coils. The result of the careful design of the Triad Platinums was nothing short of jaw dropping. I was asked by Triad to "stretch the legs" of the system. I listened to the system played as loud as I could stand several times, and was amazed every time. Not a single area of performance was compromised, even with peak playback levels approaching 120 dB. Imaging and dynamics remained as focused and expansive as at "normal" volume. Most impressive was the fact that the Triads maintained clarity, separation of images, and separation of timbre for all images in the soundstage regardless of SPL. When my ears hurt, I stopped turning up the volume.

I never found the SPL level when these speakers might start to fall apart. I assume such a volume level exists, but I cannot imagine that anyone would ever find that point unless they have a home theater the size of a basketball stadium. The bass power and extension were appropriately subterranean, with the ability to maintain high output all the way to 20 Hz, never falling behind the main speakers. The accompanying RackAmp 1000 never got more than warm, and the 1000W RMS power was sufficient to fill my room to the aforementioned ear splitting level. If you actually needed more output, it is easy to daisy chain multiple PowerSubs and RackAmps for 3 dB of peak acoustic power gain with each unit.

Note by Ed Mullen: Co-located subwoofers will yield a 6 dB gain. The term co-located is defined by the distance between the subs and the wavelength of the
frequency in question. Typically you would want the subs to be less than 1/4 wavelength apart at all frequencies in the pass band. So if you are using an 80 Hz crossover setting, placing them within 3-4 feet of each other will yield a 6 dB gain at 80 Hz and below.

Two sound sources will typically yield a 3 dB gain if they are much farther apart than 1 wavelength, and have random phase with respect to one another.


While the high volume performance of these speakers is unmatched in my experience, it was their dynamic ability that made me covet them. You might not even know what dynamics at this level even sound like. I certainly did not, and now that the Triads are gone, I miss it. The most important thing exceptional dynamics add to musical reproduction is excitement. With poor dynamics, movie sound tracks and music sound flat and dead. The Triads made every movie, every audio track sound alive with excitement and emotion.

In real life, we are used to tremendous dynamic contrast, from the sound of rustling clothing to a car horn. Something as simple as a telephone ring has a huge dynamic contrast compared to the volume of normal conversation. Most audio systems have tremendous difficulty in reproducing realistic dynamic contrast. Watching movies with the Triad system proved to be a new experience every time, even with DVDs I had seen dozens of times before. In The Hunt for Red October, the sound of the sonar pings produced a dynamic contrast so startling that my listening room sounded like a steel tube hit by a wrecking ball. This surprise and amazement was repeated with every explosion and gunshot (as expected), as well as every telephone ring and slamming door (unexpected). It is virtually impossible to give tangible examples for micro-dynamics. Systems with good micro-dynamic performance just sound more "alive" and "exciting." It was these characteristics that drew me to the Triads regardless of source material or playback level. Almost everything else I have ever heard sounded flat and dull by comparison.

Click Here to Go to Part IV.

© Copyright 2006 Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity

Go to Table of Contents for this Issue

Go to Home Page

 

About Secrets

Register

Terms and Conditions of Use
 

PAGEFEEDBACK
Our Vault pages may have some display quirks. Let us know if we need to take a look at this page or fix a bug.
SUBMIT FEEDBACK
Connect with us
  • Instagram
  • Google+
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
Secrets "Cave"
Facebook
Close