Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners GoldenEar Triton Two

Never heard Axiom before, but yesterday got a chance to hear the Triton Two. I liked the sound of Triton, but don't know how it compares to M80 (that I intend on buying).
Has anyone with m80's heard the triton's?

Never heard of them so can't comment on the sound but they do look good. You can probably find somebody in your area that would let you audition M80s. Even if they would sound better than the M80s, you're comparing $1300 speakers with $2700 speakers, so you would have to decide if they sound $1400 better.. One thing I would say is that I wouldn't think that combining a subwoofer within the tower's enclosure would be a good idea, at least for vibration and resonance issues, but I'm no speaker designer...

Bruno,
Cost is not a reliable factor; it would make audio life way too easy . . .

bdf, that's what we love about Axioms, they hit over their weight class. Axioms are direct from mfgr. I assume the Tritons are distributed conventionally, which means the cost of mfgr of a $2,700 should be similar or less than that of the M80.

If the tritons sound better I'd be disappointed.

JC, I didn't mean that the Tritons being more expensive will sound better, what I meant is that if they would sound better (which is possible), would they sound $1400 better?
The M80s are an excellent value, there is absolutely no question about that, but there are speakers that do sound better, the question is will the small improvement be worth the big price difference.
The example that comes to my mind is when I heard the Paradigm (I think it was the studios 100), I found them to sound very similar to the M80s and maybe a bit better, but not $1000 better, that's what I meant.

I will my Epic 80.500.180 starting with M80's. This system will be used for 70% music and 30% movies. Although, the Triton's Two cost almost twice the M80's, but the system cost for Triton's with a center and two surrounds is less than Axioms (since they don't need extra subwoofer).

But in this case, cost is not the criteria, the sound is. Moreover, I don't like the cloth finish the triton's come with.

An honest review of Triton's from someone who currently owns m80's will be helpful. Not that It will change my decision, but I'll be a bit more aware of m80's since i have not heard them as yet.

Thanks

I haven't heard of these Triton speakers, however, it's not a good idea to incorporate subwoofers ito your mains since you can't independently position the best place for your speakers that way. You mains require a certain position, toe-in, distance from listening position, from back/sidewalls ect...your subs can't be placed in their optimal location since they are part of the mains so your fidelity will likely be compromised.

The listening window (horizontal +-30 degrees) is above average of most loudspeakers. Even at 60 degrees the reviewer went on about its great off-axis capabilities (this is very important to overall sound quality).

Its impedance dips to a low of 2.9 ohms with a nominal of around 5 ohms and sensitivity of 90dB. I wouldn't run these speakers off any run of the mill receiver.

Yeah, those speakers have a great pedigree and the S&V guy swooned.

I HATE the fabric sock finish. HATE. Stabbity.

+1 on Adrian's observations about the subs. Where you place the mains may NOT be where you want to place the subs.

I'd like to hear them, but that is more money than I am willing to pay for a pair of mains at this point in my life.

Don't show this picture to 2x6. After his erection fades, he might ask Axiom to put something like it into their next speakers.

That's inappropriate, pmb. I expect a little better than that from you.

I must have missed something.....

And for what it's worth, that's exactly what I expect from Peter. Or ANY of us.

It's how we roll in this forum!

Yeah, all I heard when I saw that picture was "WHOOOOOSH", going right over my head.

Dan Quayle: "That was uncalled for, Senator."

Should I have drawn breasts on it?

Ooh, Peter, you just got schooled. By an an elementary school teacher from the 50s, apparently.

Personally, I just shook my head when I saw Peter's original post.

I think he thinks I was referring to his erection when I said "he might ask Axiom to put something like it into their next speakers."

That would be inappropriate.

Somewhere, BigJohn's ears are burning ...

Ears? Really? Ears?

Seems people with M80's have achieved nirvana with their speakers and do not find any need to keep up with the new products coming out.
Anyways, I'm impressed by the sound stage, detail and vocal clarity of the Triton's. I would have been very helpful if an axiom owner could tell me how it compares to m80's.

I think it will be tough to find any comparisons to Axioms in general. However, there is a very long thread on AVS forum discussing GoldenEar Triton speakers with commentary also coming from the lead designer/engineer Sandy Gross. You might want to ask that question over there regarding comparisons of the Tritons Two's to other loudspeakers.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1215469

Hi Sarang and Dr. House,

Sandy Gross is not a designer/engineer. I have known him for many years. He was the former promoter par excellence and marketing guru behind Definitive Technology, whose speakers were designed by a French Canadian, Don Givogue, who has (or had) a Quebec residence not far from the National Research Council in Ottawa, where I used to run into him on occasion.

I expect Don designed the Tritons. He is a good speaker designer and while the DefTechs were quite good but with overly fat and heavy bass, I'd expect any speaker from Don would, at best, be "similarly good" to a pair of M80s. I don't know whether DefTech ever used the double-blind comparison protocol of the NRC.

Regards,
Alan

The simplest would be for you to call Axiom and ask how much the shipping back from your place would be, I suspect it won't be too bad as Axiom has special rates from Purolator. Order just the M80s for now and listen to them. If you find that you like the Tritons better and that they're worth the money, simply return the Axioms. It is cheaper to return 2 speakers than the full system in case you're not happy. So compare the mains and build your system from there.

They actually use their own large-scale anechoic chamber that they built themselves according to their website surprisingly. One of the few companies that has their own to conduct measurements. Harman, Axiom...who else?

Paradigm. I'd think that Mirage, Energy, Athena ect must have had their own chambre unless they used the NRC's facility.

I forgot about Paradigm, good one! I was under the impression that the API brands used the NRC facilities along with PSB.

I'm sure if someone had heard them, they would have mentioned it.

Looking at the specs, -3.5db at 30Hz will be fine for most music, but will not give you HT performance. You need to get down to at least 20Hz for the really rumbly rumbling.

Putting the Sub-bass in your mains limits you in positioning and you could run into trouble with room modes and bass nulls.

Alan, every time you post, I feel the urge to burst out into a round of 'its a small world after all'.

How many NON-AXIOM-FORUM members have heard these speakers anyway? My impression is that they are a very new company (albeit with a fine pedigree) and that true brick-and-mortar audiophile shops are getting more scarce all the time. And if you're seriously in the market for a $4,000/pair speaker, you're going to have an awful lot of choices in addition to Axiom.

But they're not necessarily going to sound better.

Did I mention that I hate that effing cloth sock on the Tritons?

Tom, i'm in the market for a 5.1 system costing around $3,500. Triton Two (the front LR speakers) cost around @2,500 but with the center and surrounds it is in the $3,500 range.

Completely agree that the cloth socks look awful. Triton's does not work for me because I'm looking for a multi-voltage system, and Triton's as sold in US only work on 110V (subwoofer).

Aside from finding someone in your area that has them to audition there is not much else you can do but buy them and put them through a home audition.

According to the FAQ return shipping would be $45/Box on the towers. So that would be $90 to return a pair of M80's. Instead of buying the whole package at once, just do the M80's and if you like them order the center and surrounds after that.

Sorry - I was mistaken about the cost.

An audition at a nearby owner would be my preferred method although it's pretty much accepted that it's best to hear the speakers in your own environment. The only thing about ordering a couple of M80s first, is that you'll lose the 5% HT discount for 5 items if you order the rest of the system afterwards (around $150-200).

I was able to get the 5% discount but you had to order the rest of the system within the 30 day trial period,IIRC I was a few days outside of the 30 but still received it.

I think they've tightened that up; the 5% is pretty much them passing on the savings on bulk shipping.

To bad , I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask if it is still possible to do it in stages within 30 days.

Bummer...I was hoping that I would find more out about the comparison of the Triton2'S and the M80's as I am considering making the switch to them.

The only hold up for me is the center channel offering from GoldenEar..

After talking on another forum, it has been recommended to me to play around with the settings on my receiver along with considering adding a new subwoofer to the mix. It would be great to solve my dilemna with a new subwoofer..