GoldenEar T66 Tower Speaker Review.

So how does this new iteration differ from the prodigious Triton series (Reference, One, One.R, Two, Two+, Three, and Three+)? The new T series builds upon the Triton series but has some significant improvements. Besides a gloss black finish, there is a new color called Santa Barbara Red. Choice is good! The acoustically transparent fabric in front of the drivers has been replaced with a steel mesh cage, giving the speaker a more finished elegant look. I was never happy with the “sock fabric” on the Tritons because I had seen some at dealerships where the fabric was dusty and sometimes a bit threadbare. The base on the T66 is made from cast aluminum, instead of glossy plastic. All you need to add are the spiked feet, metal for carpets, or the supplied rubber ones for hardwood floors. The Martin Logans I recently reviewed offered rubber feet, too. I hope other speaker manufacturers follow suit.

Established by the eminent speaker designer, Sandy Gross, GoldenEar has a storied audio design and performance legacy. Their early speakers boasted an AMT tweeter and, in most cases, offered extended highs and deep bass in a small package. They also offered surround systems and subwoofers to complete their line-up, with the Triton Reference being their “statement” piece. I remember sitting down with Sandy and listening to a John Rutter choral selection with a pipe organ. This was in a hotel room in Las Vegas during CES a dozen years ago and I was amazed at the room-filling sound of the newly introduced Tritons. Although the speakers were placed about nine feet apart and each one located near a corner, they filled the whole center of the room with delicate sounds bolstered by powerful bass. Sandy retired after 50 years of building speakers and sold GoldenEar to The Quest Group (parent company of AudioQuest) back in 2020. The self-acclaimed “crazed audiophile” still has his soul linked to the GoldenEar brand and The Quest Group is building upon it.

• The Linkwitz LX521.4MG Open Baffle Loudspeaker System Review
• PSB Imagine T54 Tower Speaker Review

I have already mentioned some of the design changes to this new T series speaker. As cited before, the styling is better, in my opinion, with a cast aluminum base (instead of plastic) and a built-in powered subwoofer with DSP and 1,000-watt peak (500-watt RMS) output. Color choices of black or red (Santa Barbara Red will cost $300 extra, but it looks gorgeous!), dual passive radiators with a total surface area of 53 inches, one HVFR AMT tweeter with two 4.5 inch mid/bass cast basket drivers in a D’Apollito array, and two 5×9-inch long-throw quadratic woofers (one being close to the floor for added bass reinforcement).

The DSP subwoofer has a dial for fine-tuning bass output and a blue power indicator light on the back. Also, in a first for GoldenEar, you can bi-wire the T66 by removing the jumpers on the cable terminals. The LFE inputs let you take advantage of the powered sub. I now look forward to reviewing some of the newer receivers with four independent sub outputs to configure my media room from two independent subs to a quad format. Because I need more bass? No, but four subs, EQ’d properly, will smooth out my bass response throughout the entire listening space. Should you not use the LFE, when set to large, the T66 subs will still produce bass and the amp section turns off automatically after about a half hour of no audio signal being detected. I told my wife it would be wasteful of me not to use them (…as she rolled her eyes).

The internal wiring is done with AudioQuest cabling. I’m not sure what other speaker manufacturers use, but having a well-established cable company doing the wiring in a speaker is likely not going to hurt the sound quality. Around the AMT tweeter is a pad of felt to tamp down any high-frequency reflections off the cabinet front. AMT tweeters are my favorite tweeters because, unlike a dome, they have a larger surface area, and a broader sweet spot and can usually be crossed over at a lower frequency to blend into the mid-ranges. And they usually offer lower overall distortion. I have never had an AMT tweeter that sounded harsh or fatiguing over time. The cast mid-range speakers have a multi-vane phase plug to help blend with the AMT tweeter and widen the sweet spot more evenly across the listening area.

Though I consigned the T66s to a rug in my media room, I placed the rubber feet on them because I could slide them into position more easily. I placed the T66s about eight feet apart with toe-in to cross about one foot behind my head. This provided me with the best imaging, but experimenting was easy with the rubber feet. My amplification was from my Emotiva UPA-1 200-watt monoblocks, and most of my music listening consisted of high-resolution Qobuz streams run through my PS Audio Perfectwave Directstream DAC, via my Marantz SR 6015 receiver with Audyssey XT32 room correction software. My subs, when used are the SVS Micro 3000 and an RSL Speedwoofer10. Now, let’s dive into the GoldenEar T66’s performance.

I placed the T66s about eight feet apart and 18 inches off the front wall. The side walls were a bit over five feet away, so early reflection was practically eliminated. The floor in front of each speaker was covered by a rug and my listening seat was dead center and a little over eight feet back. With the rubber feet in place, I found sliding and toeing in each speaker to be an easy one-man job. I ran each one’s power cord into a line conditioner (APC Line R-1200). I dialed the woofers’ volume dials to 12 o’clock and was able to tweak them for my specific room. Later, I would adjust the whole system with Audyssey XT32 along with two additional subwoofers to help take room modes out of the equation.

After several hours of just breaking everything in, I started to hear some of the qualities that set GoldenEar speakers apart from other manufacturers. The extended treble was smooth, detailed, and non-fatiguing. The mid-range was dynamic with a sense of snap that gave the T66s a more forward presentation than my Sonus faber Sonetto Vs. The bass was tight and extended, almost to the point that I could live with the T66s alone and not necessarily need a subwoofer at all. Their narrow profile allowed them to all but disappear in a home theater setting. Imaging was remarkably deep and wide, too. Over the years, I have found that a slim profile speaker images well, probably because there is less surface reflection off the front of the cabinet and that reduces secondary sound reflection reaching your ears. To compare the T66s to my Sonus fabers, I would describe them as having more energy and a heightened sense of excitement. I love the overall sound quality of the Sonettos’ more neutral characteristics, but I really enjoyed the livelier sound of the T66s.

To round out their flexibility, I played several movies through the T66s. Titanic, Godzilla v. Kong, Dune, Blade Runner, and the first three John Wick films were all enhanced by the performance of the T66s. These speakers will perform admirably in the front of your home theater room. Dialog panning was clear and articulate, bullets whizzed around the room with crashing cars and building explosions that all had weight and detail. Bravo!

The GoldenEar T66 Tower Speakers are dynamic, detailed, holographic, and beautiful. They perform equally well playing music or movies in a home theater setting.

The GoldenEar T66 speakers are very well made and have an energetic sound that enhances music and movie enjoyment. The AMT tweeter works well with the mid-range drivers and the powered woofers give a solid foundation to its performance that other speakers in this price range can only dream about.

If the T66s are the “new” GoldenEar, then I look forward to the next generation of GoldenEar speakers yet to come.