Product Review
 

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

Part II

July, 2006

Chris Groppi

 

The tweeters on the LCR are mounted on pivoting sub-enclosures to adjust the tweeters for the height of the listening position. The LCR centers are equipped with adjustable feet that allow the entire enclosure to be pivoted in the vertical axis. The LCRs were provided with custom pedestals, with the same high quality MDF construction and finish. The pedestals are sand or lead shot-fillable, and are secured to the speakers with four large threaded knobs. The LCRs alone are quite compact for a speaker of this performance level, and could easily be integrated into a theater rather than used with the pedestals.

The LCR center can also be used with a pedestal, but my modest 37" LCD panel was mounted too low to use a pedestal with the very large LCR Center. I used a couple of cinder blocks to raise the center channel to the proper height for the review.

All three of these speakers use the highest quality of parts in their crossovers, visible behind aluminum trim plates over the binding posts. The three Platinum LCR speakers make up the majority of the system cost, and it is easy to see why.

The Platinum PowerSub uses a single 18" woofer in a large, sealed enclosure built to the same standards as the other Platinum products. A removable fabric grille protects the driver. Self-leveling rubber isolation feet are mounted to the cabinet. Connection to the Triad amplifier is provided by two high quality five-way binding posts recessed into the cabinet bottom. The included Rack Amp1000 is a 1000W (into 4 Ohms) rack mountable mono amplifier with adjustable gain, crossover frequency, and phase (0 or 180 degrees).

The amp has line-level inputs and outputs to allow running multiple amps from a single subwoofer input. Either a mono subwoofer input or full range stereo inputs are usable. The amp is in a very nice black, anodized, machined, and extruded aluminum case, with a trim panel that bolts on, covering all switches and adjustments, save the power switch. The amp never ran hot, even when running the system at ludicrous SPL.

The Silver Monitor loudspeakers used as rear channels are Triad's midrange "Bookshelf" type speaker. They use a pair of custom 5 1/4" midranges and a custom 1" fabric dome tweeter. While one could use a set of Platinum LCRs as rear speakers, this would only be justified if the customer were interested in multi-channel high definition audio. The Silver Monitors share the same construction techniques as the Platinum series, but are built with a simpler cabinet made of thinner MDF.

While made of lighter materials, the Silver Monitors still weighed in at a hefty 34 pounds each. I mounted them on the back wall of my listening room using wall mounted shelves rather than my usual Vantage Point ceiling brackets due to their considerable weight. Had I more time in the review period, I would have liked to listen to these speakers alone as the monitors they were designed to be. It was a bit unfortunate to relegate a $4,000/pair monitor to rear channel duty.

With speakers of this mass (the shipping weight of the full system was more than 600 pounds, packing deserves a special note. All the very heavy speakers (LCRs) were shipped on CNC machined MDF sleds with built-in handles and bonded foam packing. The sleds were invaluable for removing and especially re-packing these very heavy speakers. It's this sort of attention to detail that put these loudspeakers into an elite class.

Click Here to Go to Part III.

© Copyright 2006 Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity

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