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Focal Sopra 2's vs Titron GoldenEar Reference speakers

Hello there, After a long and drawn out process, I’m finally down to a couple of choices for my New Speakers. The two speakers are the Focal Sopra 2 and the Golden ear Triton Reference Speakers/ I’ll either buy the golden ears new or buy second hand sopra’s 2’s only used for 2 months. The price is the same either way. I have heard both speakers in perfectly attuned rooms that were tweaked out. The last set of speakers I purchased sounded very different in my NON dedicated listening room than they did in the store. After this speaker purchase " which is a big one for me at these prices" I don’t want to even think of buying new loud speakers for years. I’m not one to change his gear often. Though I do change my underwear everyday. That was a very poor attempt at humor. If any of you reading this have heard both of these speakers, I would love to hear your thoughts on them good, bad or indifferent. My non dedicated listening room DIMENSIONS are 8 FEET HIGH,20 FEET LONG and 14 FEET WIDE. I will be using Mcintosh solid state preamp and power amp for the new speakers. After the speaker purchase, future purchases and time spent reading about hi-fi will be dedicated to room improvements. I like to listen to music loud, very rarely do I listen at low volumes. I’m 50 percent split on the music of my youth, Metal and punk. The other 50 percent Diana Krall, Duke Ellington
and more audiophile like music. It seems to me at the 11 Canadian price point it’s hard to find a speaker that does it all well. I have to admit I’m a huge mark for the look of the sopra 2 loudspeaker. Of course the Golden ear reference come with built in woofers which is a plus. I’m not a big bass head though. If any of you fine people could offer me your opinions or some insight to either speaker, It would be greatly appreciated. I;m a bit antsy as this is a big purchases for me and I don’t want to mess it up. A huge thank you for taking the time to read this long winded post. Would love to hear some strong opinions. Enjoy the music.

Mikey

riverboat
audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy
3,586 posts
 
Have to agree with Emcdade, the new Sopras are fantastic and the new sound of Focal is way less metalic then the older versions.

At Axpona the Sopras on a Naim Uniti Nova sounded very good, but that system was not amazing. 

The Golden Ear's at Axpona sounded amazing, the system was not a super expensive one but we think it was more expensive than the Nova however, the speakers cost almost 1/3rd the price

The take away was the Golden Ear Tritron 1R were spectacular at Axpona.

We were so impressed by the demo there we signed up to be Golden Ear dealers on the spot after having mixed feelings about them for years.

After having our demo pair for a few weeks they are very impressive, not as transparent as we would like, but smooth, big soundstage, fantastic bass.

On a few passages they were spooky as certain effects and voices on some tracks just popped out of the loudspeakers. 

As a home theater rig again spectacular.

The Golden Ear Tritron 1R are just an insane bargain and they do give more expensive loudspeakers a run for their money. 

On our last client demo we compared the Tritron 1R to the Legacy Signatures, the Paradigm Persona 3F and the PSB T3, each speaker had a few strengths, the Golden Ears won for price, performance, deep bass and of course stunning value, the only issue is they come in one color gloss black.  We were going to switch in the Kef Reference 3 but ran out of time.

The take away is the Golden Ear Trion 1R are vastly superior to the older non reference models and the fact that a $6k loudspeaker can easily hang with $10k and above models is testment to what a great job Sandy Gross did with the new models.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Golden Ear, Legacy, PSB, Paradigm, KEF dealers
papafrgog
101 posts
 
I’ve owned GE triton 1s. Paired w aesthetix eclipse amp & pre. I loved the smoothness of the muds and high end. Detailed but not harsh. The bass, being adjustable, helped keep the sound right for me. I replaced them with Burmester speakers bc I liked the ribbon tweeter sound but with more detail in the middle. I kept the GE and moved them to a home theater application where the bass really shines. I do agree that the GE product punches well above its weight class. Good luck. Get what you ears tell you to get
ejr1953
895 posts
 
I have had a pair of Sopra No2's since they first came into the U.S.  It's been mentioned by others the importance of matching an amp to this (and in my opinion) or any speaker for that matter.  I first auditioned the Sopra's with a Naim integrated amp (I believe it was around 80 wpc), and found them to sound "thin" and "lifeless".  I later heard them driven by a McIntosh MC452 and was absolutely smitten.  I find the smoothness of the McIntosh amps pairs well with the Sopra's.  I have mine driven by an MC452 with a McIntosh C2500 tube preamp, a very nice combination, so nice, I'm off the "upgrade train", probably for a long, long time!
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,250 posts
 
@ejr1953...........i have the GE Triton References with a McIntosh C2500 tube preamp and an MC302 power amp. Like you, I am off the upgrade train as well.
audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy
3,586 posts
 
EJR the Naim Uniti Nova is hardly a thin and lifeless sound with the Sopras, the issue is that many Naim dealers use Naim cables which are really okay sounding, because the amplifiers are designed to be used with a cable with a known inductance, and  many higher end cables are low inductance, with better speaker cables the Naim Nova sounds really good, however, with $14k speakers we do like to see more expensive electronics used as the speakers will sound far better. 

So we would agree with your choice of the better Macintosh gear, if you heard the Sopras with the higher end Naim separates you would have also been smitten 

As per the battle of these two great speakers you couldn't lose with either. we would agree with the Sopras having a bit clearer midrange and top end,  with the Golden Ears having a smoothness and deep bass that is better than the Sopras.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor Golden Ear dealers
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