Floorstanding loudspeakers — GoldenEar Triton Five

The Triton Five is a passive floorstanding loudspeaker in the Triton series from GoldenEar Technology of Stevenson, Maryland. Unlike the Triton models with built-in subwoofer amplifiers, it relies entirely on the external amplifier. It sold for USD 1,999.98 per pair in the US and GBP 2,000 per pair in the UK, and was supplied in black only.

Key specs that matter

In the Triton Five, a folded ribbon AMT tweeter works with two 6 inch mid/bass cones in cast baskets and with four 8 inch planar sub-bass radiators with a combined surface of 211.24 cm2. GoldenEar rates efficiency at 90 dB for 1 W at 1 m into 4 ohm, which equals 2.83 V at 1 m, and lists 4 ohm as the nominal load. Typical response is 40 Hz to 25 kHz, with the anechoic bass at -6 dB on axis at 40 Hz. The recommended amplifier range is 15 to 400 W per channel. The tower is 16.8 cm wide at the front, 20.6 cm at the rear, 31.5 cm deep and 112.5 cm tall with its base and without spikes, and the base itself spans 27.9 by 41.9 cm. Net weight is 18 kg, rising to 25.4 kg packed.

Engineering and use context

The two mid/bass units sit above and below the tweeter in a D'Appolito arrangement, a mid-tweeter-mid layout, and the crossover is placed behind that block. Near the floor, the four planar radiators are mounted two per side, facing each other so that their movements balance inertially and the cabinet stays still. They are driven by air pressure from the mid/bass drivers rather than by an amplifier channel. The enclosure avoids parallel surfaces - the front and rear baffles are not parallel, the side walls converge towards the front and the top is slanted - to limit internal standing waves. The cabinet also leans slightly backwards to align the arrival of the drivers. An acoustically transparent sock covers the upper part of the tower and a removable top plate closes it.

Pairing

The low minimum power means a modest transistor integrated amplifier can run the Triton Five, provided it is specified for low-impedance loads, while the wide upper limit allows much larger power amplifiers. Since there is no powered bass section, one of the brand's powered subwoofers can extend the low end further.

Alternatives

The GoldenEar T66 is a slimmer T Series tower that adds a DSP-controlled subwoofer amplifier and two long-throw quadratic subwoofers.