Sandy Gross, previously with Polk Audio, founder of GoldenEar Technology

silvertuner

finally heard two different sets of these. the first was powered by a peachtree, did NOT do well. absolutely horrible sound is what me and the other listener heard. i can honestly say ive heard *gasp* bose that sounded better, maybe even hearing aids...

the second set really came to life being powered by a 60wpc cambridge if i remember correctly. very bass heavy, but still had good detail in the midrange and top end was a little "tinny" sounding to me. dont ask me why, just what i could really hear from them. demo'd most of "gorillaz - plastic beach" cd, and felt they did well on vocals, but could not handle the up-beat tracks such as some kind of nature and stylo. empire ants was very well played.

overall i did not find these to be extremely musical, but once switched to an acceptable amplifier, they did seem to get a lot more life in them. decided to play the beginning of star trek, and they really excelled there. i would not choose these for strictly musical purposes, but i can see why these would get "good reviews" in home theater usage.

would i personally buy these speakers? no. i would spend my money elsewhere, but i am not interested in home theater at all, but would give them a second listen to just solidify my decision in not choosing them to be 100 percent sure. are these terrible speakers? absolutely not, they have their purpose, unfortunately they are just not for me. i would recommend these to someone looking for home theater in this price range, but, again, not for 2 channel listening.

DMara

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote: »

I could actually see those doing good in a home theater only environment.

The bass they put out is super impressive. The top end is kind of lackluster though. Would not be very dynamic.

This is just like giving an F to the Golden Ear Triton Two speakers. For home theater only, I'd rather run separate subwoofers because no built-in subs can compare to a pair of good separate ones. And if the top end is "lackluster," it wouldn't do any good even for home theater environment.
I've read a lot of good things about this Golden Ear Triton Two set, so maybe the above statement is just an anomaly.

treitz3

Reading about, then actually hearing them in person are two completely different things. No anomaly here. 3 people who have heard a wide range of audio products heard them in person and the rig was setup and calibrated by Sandy Gross, himself. All 3 agreed that they pretty much bit, with the exception of HT maybe. While a new person to audio may find them appealing, we did not.

This is not brand bashing. It's an honest review and/or observation of what we heard. If you still believe it's an anomaly, go get a listen on for yourself and feel free to chime back in. Reviews aren't always what they are cracked up to be.

silvertuner

treitz3 wrote: »

Reading about, then actually hearing them in person are two completely different things. No anomaly here. 3 people who have heard a wide range of audio products heard them in person and the rig was setup and calibrated by Sandy Gross, himself. All 3 agreed that they pretty much bit, with the exception of HT maybe. While a new person to audio may find them appealing, we did not.

This is not brand bashing. It's an honest review and/or observation of what we heard. If you still believe it's an anomaly, go get a listen on for yourself and feel free to chime back in. Reviews aren't always what they are cracked up to be.

exactly. if i listened to reviews online and in magazines i guarantee i wouldnt be nearly as happy as i am now with my current set up. going out and experiencing this stuff for yourself is the BEST thing you can do. what one person likes, another person may hate (ie: bose for example, lets throw them under the bus while im at it). ive listened to a lot of speakers in just a few years, and i can honestly say these didnt make me say "wow" one single time. very few have actually done that, and the only polk's that have ever made me say "wow" were SDA's unfortunately. i will not brand bash, i will always give things a chance. these were a/b/c compared next to a pair of paradigm studio 20's and some new model maggie 1.7's, and while the golden ears had a broader spectrum of overall frequency response, i still felt they fell below speakers of half their size and price as far as what i could hear and experience with them. there is more to this hobby/career/lifestyle than sheer LOUD, and i felt thats what they did best.

blueboxer

This is kind of a relief for me, after getting the Mythos I saw this with the ribbon tweeter and thought that the speakers might offer smoother highs, but it seems like I made the right decision for now.

DMara

treitz3 wrote: »

Reading about, then actually hearing them in person are two completely different things. No anomaly here. 3 people who have heard a wide range of audio products heard them in person and the rig was setup and calibrated by Sandy Gross, himself. All 3 agreed that they pretty much bit, with the exception of HT maybe. While a new person to audio may find them appealing, we did not.

This is not brand bashing. It's an honest review and/or observation of what we heard. If you still believe it's an anomaly, go get a listen on for yourself and feel free to chime back in. Reviews aren't always what they are cracked up to be.

I agree with what you said: got to listen with one's own ears to come to a true conclusion I understand most site & magazine reviews are quite bias.

mantis

treitz3 wrote: »

Reading about, then actually hearing them in person are two completely different things. No anomaly here. 3 people who have heard a wide range of audio products heard them in person and the rig was setup and calibrated by Sandy Gross, himself. All 3 agreed that they pretty much bit, with the exception of HT maybe. While a new person to audio may find them appealing, we did not.

This is not brand bashing. It's an honest review and/or observation of what we heard. If you still believe it's an anomaly, go get a listen on for yourself and feel free to chime back in. Reviews aren't always what they are cracked up to be.

As I read this is still a personal opinion , so it should be taken as such. I respect everyones finding and look for what was said about them. The heavy bass which they are powered towers this can easily be fixed with proper calibration. Placement can be altered to see how they react in a given room. What kind of music that gets played will determine many things.

After I get my ears on them which they may end up in my shop , I will report back on my findings. I have proper gear to play them , proper wire to wire them , proper placement to place them and proper rooms to demo them in. These factors all play a roll in what we hear out of a given speakers. I'm looking forward to hearing them on Bryston and Cambridge Audio followed by Pioneer Elite SC , B&k , Anthem and NAD.
I'll probably wire them with Cardos as I have it in plenty and i feel Cardos does nothing wrong. I also really like the Cambridge Audio 840C cd player which I find to have probably the best overall sound quality out of a stand alone under 2K .

treitz3

You are correct, it is an opinion. I get this distinct feeling that you want to like these speakers and our observations do not agree with what you want to hear. That's cool, I can respect that. That said,

michaeljhsda2 wrote:

Has anybody heard this award winning speaker of 2010?

He asked this question and being some of the obvious few that have actually heard this speaker, we offered our observations. Good or bad. I don't lie when it comes to audio and I show no bias towards any gear or equipment. We would have loved to have given a glowing review but from what we heard, unfortunately, we could not.

michaeljhsda2 wrote:

I'll get a chance to audition these speakers in the very near future

As you see, he will have the chance to audition them in the near future. His observations may be the same and they could be completely different. I seriously doubt that our observations would sway his opinion of these speakers after he has gotten a chance to audition them. He simply asked a question and being some of the few that can actually answer it, based upon having said experience with, we answered.

mantis wrote:

As I read this is still a personal opinion, so it should be taken as such.

That goes without question. With any reviewer.

geoff727

michaeljhsda2 wrote: »

Has anybody heard this award winning speaker of 2010?

I heard them in a setup last week that I thought was quite nice, and I really enjoyed the demo. They should hopefully be quite competitive at their price point. It was enough to make me seriously consider the smaller ones (with only the M-T-M drivers) for a bookshelf system.

G~