GoldenEar Triton Seven Home Theater Speaker System

Introduction to the GoldenEar Triton Seven Home Theater Speaker System

Best of 2014 Awards

GoldenEar Technology has been making some fairly dramatic waves in the loudspeaker market over the past few years. Co-founders Sandy Gross, formerly of Polk Audio and Definitive Technology, and Don Givogue, also from Definitive, have used their combined experience to help develop a well-regarded product line that could cover most of the needs that a home audio or theater enthusiast might have. Their design philosophy is summed up by a quote from the company’s website: “We hear very well and we care enough to set the same sonic goals for every loudspeaker we create, whether it is our least or most expensive. We don’t feel that having less to spend means that you are looking for lesser quality. We lavish the same kind of care, expertise and experience that is usually reserved for the highest-priced high-end speakers on every GoldenEar speaker that we create. We do it because we can – and because we know that you will enjoy and appreciate the result.”

That brings us neatly to the surround system that we are here to review. Anchored by the Triton Seven stereo loudspeakers for front left and right channels, the rest of the system consists of the SuperCenter XL center channel speaker, the ForceField 5 subwoofer and two pairs of SuperSat 3 bookshelf speakers for side and rear surround duty. This makes a full 7.1 channel home theater speaker setup with an MSRP of about $4200. That’s definitely not home-theater-in-a-box money, but it’s actually a reasonable sum to spend for someone who cares about getting good sound. So….let’s see how these babies stack up!

GOLDENEAR TRITON SEVEN HOME THEATER SPEAKER SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS

Mains | Triton Sevens

  • Design: 2-way Floor-Standing, sealed loudspeakers with passive radiators
  • Drivers: One HVFR™ High-Velocity Folded Ribbon Tweeter, Two 5.25″ High-Definition Cast-Basket Mid/Bass Drivers, Two 8″ Planar Sub-Bass (Passive) Radiators
  • MFR: 29 Hz – 35 kHz
  • Efficiency: 89 dB
  • Nominal Impedance: 8 Ohms
  • Dimensions: 39.75″ H x 5.75″ W (Front) x 7.25″ W (Rear) x 11″ D; Base – 10.5″ W x 14.5″ D
  • Weight: 32 Pounds/each
  • Finish: Black Cloth Surround with Gloss Black Top Cap and Base
  • MSRP: $699.99/each USD

Center | SuperCenter XL

  • Design: 2-way, Center Mount with Passive Radiators
  • Drivers: One HVFR™ High-Velocity Folded Ribbon Tweeter, Two 5.25″ Cast-Basket Mid/Bass Drivers, Two 6.75″ x 8? Quadratic Planar Low-Frequency (Passive) Radiators
  • MFR: 36 Hz – 35 kHz
  • Efficiency: 91 dB
  • Nominal Impedance: 8 Ohms
  • Dimensions: 5.75″ H x 29″ W x 11″ D
  • Weight: 21 Pounds
  • Finish: Black Cloth Surround with Gloss Black Side Caps
  • MSRP: $799.99 /each USD

Surrounds | SuperSat 3

  • Design: 2-way Wall Mountable, Sealed Bookshelf Loudspeakers
  • Drivers: One HVFR™ High-Velocity Folded Ribbon Tweeter, Two 4.5″ High-Definition Cast-Basket MVPP™ Mid/Bass Drivers
  • MFR: 80 Hz – 35 kHz
  • Efficiency: 92 dB
  • Nominal Impedance: 8 ohms
  • Dimensions: 12″ H x 4.75″ W x 2.75″ D
  • Weight: 5 Pounds/each
  • Finish: Gloss Black with Magnetic Grille
  • MSRP: $249.99/each USD

Subwoofer | ForceField 5

  • Design: Front-firing Active Driver with down-firing Passive Radiator
  • Drivers: One 12″ Long-Throw High-Output Bass Driver, One 13″ x 15? Quadratic Planar Infrasonic (Passive) Radiator
  • Amplifier: 1,500 watt ForceField Class D Amplifier
  • MFR: 12 Hz – 250 kHz
  • Inputs: Hi-Level Speaker Binding Posts, LFE RCA
  • Outputs: Hi-Level Speaker Binding Posts
  • Dimensions: 14.6″ H x 15″ W x 18″ D
  • Weight: 46 Pounds
  • Finish: Matte Black Enclosure with Cloth Grille
  • MSRP: $999.99 USD
  • GoldenEar Technology
  • SECRETS Tags: GoldenEar, Home Theater, Speakers, Surround Sound, Triton
  • Where to Buy: GoldenEar Website

 

The Design of the GoldenEar Triton Seven Home Theater Speaker System

In discussing the Triton Seven’s development with Sandy Gross, he made it clear that in order to get this model made at the price point that they wanted; the design team knew that they had to forgo some of the complexity and expense of the powered bass drivers used in the pricier Triton Two and Three models. So (paraphrasing here) they started with a clean sheet of paper and concentrated on the basics of tried and true speaker design, refining the details, taking the time and using the technology in the smartest and most resourceful manner in order to achieve their goal.

The Triton Sevens themselves are a rather elegant looking pair of speakers. They are of a modest height, barely reaching my waist when I stand beside them. They have a thinner width in front and are wider in back giving the speakers a wedge shaped cross section. That shape, combined with having a larger base area and a smaller slanted top means that none of the speaker’s surfaces are parallel to each other. This along with having a gentle swept back rake to their design (intentional for aiming the sound of the tweeters to arrive at your ear level) makes for a very striking look. The towers are covered with a black fabric “sock” which is not meant to be removed, save for a service technician. The fabric is meant to provide extra damping to the speakers and, working in conjunction with the narrow front baffle, results in what GoldenEar calls “The Seven’s precise and totally box-less image characteristics.”

The Triton Seven’s main driver compliment consists of a rather interesting High-Velocity Folded Ribbon Tweeter placed between a pair of 5.25″ mid/bass drivers. This is commonly referred to as an MTM design or D’Appolito array named after its initial developer, Joseph D’Appolito. The internal pressure created by the mid/bass drivers during their operation is channeled to the base of the speaker where it couples with and excites the two opposing 8″ passive radiators. These radiators exist in place of more commonly seen tuned ports and help to create what is essentially a fully sealed speaker design with unexpectedly robust and accurate bass reproduction.

The High-Velocity Folded Ribbon Tweeter or HVFR™ as it is named by GoldenEar, is similar in design to an Air Motion Transformer or Heil type tweeter. What are the benefits of such a driver you may ask? Well, whereas a more common dome or ribbon tweeter projects it’s sound by vibrating a diaphragm back and forth, the HVFR™ looks and acts more like an accordion, pressurizing the surrounding air and launching the sound out at an extremely fast speed. The folded design of the diaphragm means it has more surface area and that subsequently more air can be moved than a competing dome or electrostatic tweeter of the same size. The increased surface area allows the accordion’s movements to be very small to move a given amount of air, resulting in inherently low driver distortion. While originally developed in the early 70s and used on some high end speakers of the day, these types of drivers are still not in widespread use currently, although some manufacturers like Emotiva and Legacy are incorporating them in some of their offerings. In general, this driver type is said to require great care and attention to both cabinet and crossover design to achieve the best results. Obviously GoldenEar must feel like they are on to something good here, as they use the HVFR™ across their entire speaker line.

The 5.25″ mid/bass drivers are also unique to the Triton Sevens. These rigid cast basket drivers were custom engineered to work in tandem with the twin passive radiators. These drivers were developed to have an extra-long throw without generating any additional distortion and they use no phase plugs to ensure that the Triton Sevens remain completely sealed so that the passive radiators can operate effectively.

The 8″ passive radiators are installed in an opposing configuration at the base of the Tritons Sevens to help cancel out any unwanted vibrations while they operate. In its simplest form, a passive radiator is like a speaker driver without a magnet and motor assembly. It’s a precisely weighted membrane that is excited by the internal forces in the speaker cabinet generated by the other drivers, usually a bass or a mid/bass driver. Passive radiators can be used in place of tuned ports in speaker or subwoofer designs to help generate the lower frequencies. The advantages being that sometimes ported speakers can exhibit “chuffing” sounds as air exits the port. Passive radiators generate no such unwanted noises and they can also be used in smaller speaker and subwoofer designs where longer tuned ports would be impractical to use.

The main downside to passive radiators is that it is more expensive and complicated to design such a system over a similar one using a tuned port. Sandy described the interaction between the mid/bass drivers and the passive radiators this way: “I had a discussion with Bob Johnston, our head of engineering, to go over the bass loading in more detail, as it seems to have worked out extremely well. He told me that they worked 3 months on getting it right. Basically, it has what I am going to call, Frequency Differentiated Damping or FDD. What Bob explained to me is that the cabinet has a fairly dense fill of a special hollow polyester fiber in a very specific configuration (less fill behind the upper driver, quite dense down to just above the passives, which have no damping between them and then damping at the bottom of the cabinet). This functions much like a well damped transmission line down to about 80 Hz (which loads and controls the drivers really well) and then becomes much more acoustically transparent below 80 Hz. This allows virtually all the internal bass energy generated by the 5.25″ drivers inside the box to be effectively coupled to the two 8” passives down on the bottom on the sides where they effectively couple the bass energy to the room. Also, since they are opposite each other, their inertia is effectively cancelled, which we call “Inertially Balanced”. I think this is another example of utilizing and incorporating technology which has clear acoustic benefits which doesn’t necessarily cost more to do (well actually the fiber is relatively expensive, but not crazy) but just requires knowledge, experience, time and caring to get it right. Basically a hallmark and cornerstone of what we do.”

Moving on to the accompanying speakers, both the SuperCenter XL and the SuperSat 3 share the same HVFR™ tweeters as the Triton Sevens. They also share the same type of High-Definition Cast-Basket Mid/Bass Drivers with Multi-Vaned Phase plugs, 5.25″ diameter on the center speaker and 4.5″ diameter on the satellites respectively. The center speaker also has a pair of oblong shaped passive radiators on its top side, again like the idea on the main speakers, these are meant to extend the low frequency reproduction beyond what you might expect of from a speaker of this size. Like the Triton Sevens, it also wears a matching non-removable fabric covering and is finished with glossy black end caps on either side.

I was initially concerned that the SuperCenter’s driver layout may limit placement flexibility for some users as you’d want to keep some measure of breathing room around the passive radiators up top. However, Sandy indicated that: “In reality, the center channel only needs a couple (2) inches of clearance, as what is coming out is actually a very low frequency pressure wave and the added slot loading (from an AV rack shelf) actually improves things slightly, rather than causing any problems or boominess.”

The SuperSat 3’s design is very stylish and svelte at only 2.7″ deep and 12″ tall. These speakers feel very solid when you hold them in your hands. I originally mistook them for all metal or aluminum construction, but according to GoldenEar’s literature, they are in fact made from “a rigid, non-resonant marble powder infused polymer.” They also come with easily removable curved magnetic grilles and both a small bracket, which acts as a stand for shelf placement, and built in keyholes for wall mounting.

The ForceField 5 subwoofer is a stout looking little affair. Comfortably sized at roughly 15″ wide by 18″ deep by 14.5″ high, it wears four rather large (palm sized) nubby-rubber isolation feet on its underside. Jammed inside this small trapezoidal package is a full on 12″ long-throw subwoofer driver mounted in front, a 13″ by 19″ oblong passive radiator in the bottom and a built in digital amplifier rated at 1500 watts.

Weighing in at 46 pounds, the ForceField 5 feels very dense, both when you rap your knuckles on the cabinet and try to it pick up. The user controls are fairly standard for a powered subwoofer. There is a Low Pass Frequency dial, a Gain dial, an LFE input jack and High Level Inputs and Outputs. There is also no on/off toggle switch as this little guy is strictly auto signal sensing.

I personally wish there was some sort of parametric EQ feature, even just a single band. While I know auto room correction systems in most modern AV receivers take care of a lot of room issues when properly implemented, they can’t always tame every dip or peak in every room. If you’re the kind of person who likes to tweak your settings (guilty!) and go through the extra effort, it’s nice to have this little extra measure of adjustment for difficult rooms or if your subwoofer placement options are limited.

 

Setup of the GoldenEar Triton Seven Home Theater Speaker System

My intention with this review was to listen to the Triton Sevens in a purely stereo setup (with no subwoofer) at first in order to gauge their music reproduction abilities. Later, I would set them up with the supporting speakers in our basement home theater to put them through their cinematic paces. In our conversation, Sandy Gross made no bones about how proud he was of the Triton lines ability to reproduce music well and be a satisfying choice for audiophiles as well as home theater fans. I was only too happy to put this opinion up for examination!

For two-channel listening, the Triton Sevens were set up in my studio space which is a large basement room measuring 24 feet wide by 35 feet long by 7 feet high. The speakers were positioned just over 8 feet apart and my main listening position was just over 8 feet away as well. The speakers were toed-in such that the focus of the speaker’s sound would intersect at my head position. Normally I would aim the speakers so that the sound travel would intersect just behind my head but Sandy had mentioned that he feels the Sevens sound best when they are aimed right at you. After some initial experimentation I tended to agree. The speakers were also placed well away from any side walls. Associated equipment includes: Sony XA7ES CD player, Onkyo DV-SP1000 Universal player, Onyx DAC 25, Bryston BP-25 preamplifier, Sony XDE-F1HD Digital Tuner, Carver TFM-55x power amplifier, Panamax M5400-PM Power Conditioner and Blue Jeans Cable speaker wire and interconnects.

For cinema evaluation all the speakers were installed in our basement home theater room as a full 7.1 channel setup. The room’s dimensions are 13.5 feet wide by 18 feet long by 7.5 feet high. The Triton Sevens were placed about 7.5 feet apart and toed in towards the center listening position. After some experimentation the sub was placed along the front wall behind the main speakers about a third of the way in from the right corner. A pair of SuperSat 3s were mounted on the sidewall above and a little behind the main seating area and the other pair was installed in the back of the room on some built in shelving at roughly the same height as the side speakers. The SuperCenter XL was installed on top of our AV stand just below our plasma TV. All listening was performed with Audyssey MultiEQ calibration done and crossovers set to 60 Hz for the mains and center channel, while the surrounds were crossed to the subwoofer at 120 Hz.

Associated equipment included a Pioneer KURO 50″ Plasma TV, Denon AVR-2310CI, Panasonic DMP-BDT220 Blu-ray Player, Sony PS3, Nintendo Wii, Panasonic LX-900 Laserdisc Player, Motorola DCH-6200 Cable Decoder box, APC H-15 Power Conditioner and Blue Jeans Cable speaker wire and interconnects.

 

The GoldenEar Triton Seven Home Theater Speaker System In Use

Stereo Music Listening

I began my stereo listening with Holly Cole’s “It Happened One Night” on CD. Even though it is a few years old, I’ve always considered this concert to be one of the better recorded live CD’s that I’ve come across. From the opening notes of “Get Out Of Town”, I knew the Triton Sevens were going to do well with this material. The speakers rendered the slow burn of Holly Cole’s voice with utmost detail and delicacy. You could easily make out all the subtlety of her whispering the lyrics and breathing between words as the song gets going. As her voice gets louder and her range expands, the Triton Sevens handled the dynamics of her vocals beautifully. The speakers floated her image dead center between them with the reverb of the theater wrapping itself around me.

There was also no sense of harshness or grain to her vocals as her notes got higher, just clean and light throughout the whole song. Another thing that became imminently clear was the quality and quantity of bass the Sevens put forth. It just plain floored me! Again, this was listening to the speakers alone with no subwoofer. The stand-up bass solo on this track was just marvelous, rendered pitch perfect with plenty of depth, detail, weight and decay. I have not heard this level of bass reproduction from speakers of this size and price before. And it’s not your typical overbearing, sloppy “One-Note-Boom-Box” style bass either. It was textured.

Further evidence of this was heard in the next song “Cry If You Want To.” You could still make out the detail of the hand slaps on the drum skins while you felt the impact of their sound on you. The kick drum hits in the middle of the song had plenty of weight and authority to them and then of course the previously mentioned stand-up bass just continued to impress. Her cover of Tom Wait’s “Train Song” is another stand out track. It showcased the speaker’s ability to balance that impactful bass power, against the detailed renderings of the maracas and haunting vibrato guitar that weave in and out of that song.

Continuing along the jazz theme but with a twist, I decided to load up “The Best of Paolo Conte.” The Italian jazz pianist and composer has such a distinct gravelly sound to his voice that is not easy for many speakers to do justice to it…..but the Triton Sevens did! Listening to “Sotto Le Stelle Del Jazz”, the grit, detail and texture of his voice comes through in spades. Certain speakers I’ve heard can make Conte’s voice sound too thin even when he sings deep and low. The Triton Sevens reproduced his vocals with the appropriate weight but without masking any of his vocal detail. And while we’re on the subject of weight, few things bother me more, musically, than hearing poorly a reproduced piano. Too often I’ll hear piano music played back somewhere and it inevitably sounds thin and empty, the notes lacking any sort of substance or dimension. Even when played softly, live piano music has a body to the sound that is very difficult for speakers to capture. The Triton Sevens were more than up to the challenge here. Using their impressive dynamic range and significant bass capability, they rendered Mr. Conte’s piano with all the weight and density necessary to give his key strikes wonderful musical life.

Stringed instruments can often be a challenge for some speakers to get right without sounding edgy or harsh at the top end. Vivaldi’s “The 4 Seasons” is a great standby for testing the abilities of both the tweeter itself and how it transitions into the midrange. This particular version featuring Gil Shaham on violin with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is an excellent example of this classic work. Now this review is the first time I’ve had a chance to extensively listen to the style of tweeter that’s fitted to the GoldenEars and if I could sum up its qualities in just one word, it would have to be smooth. Smooth, without lacking in any of the musical details and I was particularly happy for those qualities here. As the mass of strings swelled to the higher notes, the sound was admirably light and airy, devoid of any of that cringe-worthy edginess strings can get on some speakers. The midrange clarity was also very good with this music. The sound was detailed and quick as the tweeters handed off to the mids pretty seamlessly. Then as the music worked its way down the scale, the mass of strings became more solid and the weight of the cello and bass became almost palpable. The “Summer Presto” movement (Track 6) shows these skills off particularly well. All this with a soundstage that makes you feel like you’re in this particular performance and not just watching it from the outside. Good stuff indeed.

Slide guitar master Sonny Landreth is a regular staple in my CD playlist and “Grant Street”, recorded live in a Louisiana dance hall, has just a great amount of atmosphere that is captured on the disc, along with that searing guitar. The Triton Seven’s dynamic range was put to good use here as it reproduced all the impact of a hard driving Cajun/blues band which begged to be played at a fair volume. The speakers, being rated nominally at 8 ohms impedance, are a pretty easy load to drive for most amplifiers and receivers, but they appreciate being able to tap into some good available power reserves with music like this.

My Carver amp is rated at 385 watts into 8 ohms and as the volume got louder the speakers showed no audible signs of discomfort or strain. Sonny’s vocals and guitar were imaged front and center with his band clearly placed around him. Kick drum impacts felt solid, almost visceral. Bass lines were detailed and easy to follow without sounding smeared. The slide guitar had great bite to its sound with just the right amount of edge while not sounding irritating or fatiguing. The capper for me though was how the Triton Sevens reproduced the sound of the venue.

As the second track “Broken Hearted Road” starts up with a heartbeat bass line and the slide guitar, you also are well aware of the ambience of the Grant Street Dance Hall. You hear and feel the reverb off the walls, the talking patrons, the clinking of beer bottles, etc. A good pair of speakers should render this soundstage so that you’ll hear these sounds on this track all around you fairly convincingly, wrapping you up in the environment. The Triton Sevens did all that and more. As a matter of fact, the effect on this track was almost the best that I’ve ever heard it, practically holographic. It was actually borderline eerie how well they cloned the space.

I listened to several other types of music during my time with the Triton Sevens and they handled everything I threw at them with aplomb. The synergy of these speakers from top to bottom is really, really good. And, again, the amount and the quality of bass that they are able to muster from their modestly sized, stylish cabinets is pretty darn remarkable. Impressive enough I think that unless you were looking to hear that last bottom octave from your collection of pipe organ recordings or you want to feel the lowest of the lows in the Tron Legacy soundtrack, these speakers should meet most people’s needs exceptionally well.

I should also point out that the amount of bass you’re going to get with these, or any speaker, is going to be dependent on placement in your room. I think I was fortunate enough to get the speakers to couple pretty well with my studio and therefore the bass showcased itself enviably. Your mileage may vary. If I could level any sort of complaint against the Triton Sevens, it would be that, for me, you have to really stop what you’re doing and listen to these speakers to really appreciate them. While there are some speakers out there that will still sound really good when you are sitting way off axis or doing something else in the room, the Tritons are not those speakers. They sound best when you are near their general listening window.

For example, my drawing desk is closer to where I would sit and listen to the speakers normally and as such music sounds great when I’m drawing. My computer workstation is off to the right of the room and from there I hear a noticeable drop off in treble energy and detail. A similar situation happens if I am standing up and painting. Things don’t sound quite as good unless I am closer to the sweet spot and sitting down. Now, to be fair, this has more to do with my listening habits and environment than is an issue with the speakers at large. But I think it’s worth noting if you plan on a lot of casual listening while doing other things.

Home Theater

Once everything was set up and tuned in our home theater room, the first movie into the Blu-ray player was Pacific Rim, an absolute bass-fest of a film from the word go. The 7.1 DTS Master Audio soundtrack was suitably powerful, dynamic and engrossing. The Triton Sevens did an excellent job of establishing the soundstage with a sonic image that was wide and deep. The SuperCenter XL was excellent at keeping the dialog clear and intelligible while still effectively rendering the sound effects and score parts it was tasked with.

The SuperSat 3s proved themselves to be true champs in surround duty. They were equally capable at picking up all the subtle nuances of whirring gears, clicking switches and other background ambience along with all bombast of explosions, crunching metal and roaring alien monsters without any signs crying uncle. I initially had my concerns that such small surrounds crossed to the subwoofer at 120 Hz, as per the speaker manual and Audyssey’s recommendation, (the front 3 channels were all crossed at 60 Hz) would result in some unevenness in the sound between front and back.

I typically like to keep the crossover levels of all the speakers in my existing surround system at close to the same level with no more than a 20 Hz deviation between any of them. But I heard no noticeable difference or unevenness. Sonic pans seemed just as consistent front to back as they were going from side to side. The little ForceField 5 sub proved itself to be an overachiever, fully capable of rattling the walls, doors, picture frames and anything else not suitably tied down.

I do confess to raising the gain dial just a touch on the sub’s back panel after Audyssey had finished its work. I typically like to run the bass a touch hot for action movies and this subwoofer seemed to have plenty of headroom to flex its muscles. “Season to Taste” you could call it. The ForceField 5 showed no signs of strain as it hit hard with solid, impactful bass in a room that has not been known to be bass friendly. Every Jaeger and Kaiju footfall, every punch was heard and felt and then my mind started to wonder, “What I could do with two of these babies!”

Switching it up a little, the Blu-Ray of Eric Clapton’s latest Crossroads Guitar Festival Concert was up next. Shot on film over two nights at Madison Square Garden last year, the production values looked like something more akin to a high brow, well edited documentary as opposed to just another concert video. The sound quality also did not disappoint. With that unique folded tweeter and closely matched drivers throughout the whole system, everything sounded cohesive, balanced and natural.

On Earl Klugh’s performances of “Mirabella” and “This Time”, the resonance and harmonics of his acoustic guitar just echoed through the room with such clarity and sweetness. Gary Clark Jr’s powerful one-man-band performance of “Next Door Neighbor Blues” was raw and intimate as the speakers placed me front row center. I could make out almost every scratch of the slide down the neck of his steel resonator guitar; its distinctive, metallic echo came though cleanly rendered by the mid-range drivers. Kick drum hits were solid and tight being easily felt in the chest. And while it may not seem like much, the ambiance of the crowd coming through the surround speakers was also notable in that it didn’t sound like just a diffuse mass of sound. I could easily pick out all sorts of little details from the audience and for me it just adds to the believability of the whole presentation.

Two other stand out songs, “Walking Blues” and “Duck Diving Blues,” were sung by Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’, two guys with really distinctive and powerful voices. The SuperCenter XL showcased all the power and grit in the bluesmen’s pipes and it made the case for having a good sized and capable center speaker very convincingly. No harshness or stress was detectable no matter how loud their voices got.

Lastly, I wanted to hear some well recorded surround music without any visuals so I elected to go with a selection of string pieces by The Fry Street Quartet. This 4 channel SACD recording of the talented string ensemble is engineered by Ray Kimber using his “IsoMike” technique. Playing this disc using the Dolby IIx Music mode on my receiver to expand the sound to all seven channels was just breathtaking.

I have played this music many, many times and I have not ever heard these strings sound so achingly beautiful in this room before. Not a hint of edge or grain coming from any of the speakers, those matching folded tweeters doing their “thing” and imbuing the highs with just a natural and appealing ease to the sound. The notes of the violins and viola danced quickly through the air sounding balanced and sweet all around me. The cello was shown off perfectly with all of its textures precisely rendered and it also had the proper weight and heft as it played down to the lower registers.

The subwoofer sounded completely musical with the material, not sounding overbearing or loose with the low cello notes. It struck me somewhat funny that this system could reproduce music so sweetly when it was only a few days earlier, engaged in marathon video gaming rounds with my kids and their friends. From upstairs, we could hear explosions, magical spells and something called “Boss Battle” victories eliciting squeals of joy out of the younger set doing their level best to break in the system. My son’s friends were not used to hearing such dynamics out of their video game systems. Surely plaintive conversations would ensue at various dinner tables in the future if they hadn’t already. The thought of annoyed and slightly envious parents aside, in the end none of that really mattered. All I could do at that moment was just sit there and smile, completely surrounded by lovely music. I was enjoying the heck out of this.

 

Conclusions about the GoldenEar Triton Seven Home Theater Speaker System

In case you hadn’t figured it out yet, I really enjoyed my time with the Triton Sevens. What GoldenEar has on their hands here is nothing short of impressive. The entry level speaker to their Triton line doesn’t come off as any sort of value play or afterthought in the range but is, in fact, a well-rounded performer in its own right. It incorporates some of the same technologies from its larger brothers as well as some bespoke drivers and ideas that give it an identity of its own. They convey a sonic personality that is smooth, musical and impactful. All this in a package small enough to strain the definition of what we commonly consider a tower speaker. On their own, they make an excellent anchor for a two channel hi-fidelity system. The Triton Seven’s quality midrange reproduction does justice to all manner of vocals it encounters, while the unique tweeter lends a smooth and effortless sound to most instruments, particularly strings. And its bass capabilities are enough to satisfy most critical listeners save for those that are certified “bass-a-holics.” When combined with the SuperCenterXL, ForceField 5 and surrounding SuperSat 3s, you have one hell of a home theater system whose overall performance is far more than just the sum of its parts. Its sound will stun your friends, frighten your pets and make your children giggle with excitement. All this without having your spouse regard you crossly at your system’s visual excess. Hat tip to you Mr. Gross and your merry band of speaker makers. Carry on with your fine works.