Golden ear triton 1 vs tekton double impact speakers


With so much positive information about both do you have a preference? Have you heard both?
tooth2th
Sorry, my apologies for the double post! Moderators, please remove this and the second post above this one. Thanks!
Owned the Triton 2’s and sold then soon after. I’m loving the Tekton DI SE right now.
@Roberjerman

Sticking a dozen tweeters in a cabinet is just plain bad engineering!

  1. Genesis
  2. Infinity
  3. McIntosh
  4. CBT by Keele and Button
  5. QSC

Maybe you should enhance your engineering background a little before you opine?

Listening would also help.

Best,
Erik
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Kost,

How many speakers have you successfully designed and brought to market? The DIs especially at their price point are absolutely a success. Do you see a thread with thousands of posts debating your prized Focals? Your ridiculous. I await your snarky little response. 

Personally I don’t care if there are 9 tweeters or 1.

As long as I like the sound. 
There's no reason to believe stuffing a single driver in a box is any kind of engineering, but people still love the things.

My point is, speaker design is more about implementation than components.  If you don't understand how Erik designs his speakers with his tweeter array, it is easy to dismiss them.  Essentially, it is his take on a dual concentric driver. 

I struggled to see the value in his design.  I have now heard the DI SE and can say they are impressive speakers for the money.  My expectations (bias?) were eliminated and I was left with simply good sound.

There’s no reason to believe stuffing a heap of tweeters in a box is good engineering. Given the paucity of such products and the general lack of success for those that do exist, it would seem the virtue is lacking.

Throwing parts in a box is never good engineering. However good engineers can make great systems with multiple drivers. If you actually followed engineering research, or had experienced good line arrays you might feel differently.

Speakers come and go due to more than engineering, as you should know. Cost is definitely one of many issues, as is form factor. I find these simultaneous attacks on the general idea of line arrays from multiple accounts pretty curious, and universally ill informed.

Line arrays are heavily researched, by professionals and many papers have been presented at the Audio Engineering Society. Whether any particular line array is any good, or whether you like them or not is a different issue.

But to call a line array poorly engineered because it is a line array, well then, show me your engineering credentials, because I call bs on you.

While I have not heard every GE speaker, the one pair I heard was among the very very worst speakers I had ever heard. I have no experience with Tektons at all.

Best,

E
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You are a funny guy, Kosst.

While I appreciate a good AMT, I've never heard GE speakers use one. Also, having measured them several times, I have no idea what this artifact is you speak of, do you have a paper to point me to? 
Also, while the issue of comb filtering has been thrown out, there's a great deal of debate about measurement techniques in terms of actual listening location. If comb filtering occurs, it is incredibly easy to hear it. Move your head. Come filtering would cause rapid changes in frequency response. No one who has heard a tekton has complained about it. Therefore, the point seems like poor matching of theory to perception and measurement. Not good engineering at all.

Best,
E
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You’ve never heard a Golden Ear speaker with an air-motion transformer? They all use air-motion transformers.

That’s not what I meant to say. I meant that I’ve never heard GE use a good one. I’ve heard the Triton one and it was awful. The FR response explains what I heard. The severe and deliberate coloration in the top octave sounds like an ear drill to me. This is possibly a good match for those with matching hearing loss in that octave however. To me it was not only bright, but severely compressed.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/goldenear-technology-triton-one-loudspeaker-measurements

As for those anomalies caused by the grill, no, my Mundorf AMT’s do no such thing.

Golden Ear, like  others, sometimes favors having peaks and valleys to make them appear to stand out in detail in some areas, so no wonder they would pick an AMT with such issues. 
Wow. This reads like the script from a high school argument from the late 1960s about whether Ford V-8s are better than Chevy's.

Every well regarded speaker that's ever been made has its fans and its detractors. Name a speaker, any speaker, and it won't take you long to find people that think its terrible. 

I've read nice things about the Tekton, but never heard them, so have no comment. I happen to have a set of Triton 7s and enjoy them immensely. I think they are a great buy for the money. But, I decided a long time ago that I did NOT want to be an "audiophile." I just happen to enjoy music and also have audio as a hobby.  Pity that some need to get so petty about what makes others happy.
I have heard both these speakers. In fact,, I happen to have both in my dedicated theater/listening room right now. I know I'm very late to this party which seems to have devolved into pointless and meaningless insults about concepts the writers have no understanding of whatsoever. I'm not going to address any of those issues here and simply give you my impressions as an experienced listener to shed some light on the differences and benefits of each of these speakers.
First, I long ago had experience with speakers with built in subs and I was very unhappy with them. It took a long time before I would consider looking at one of these again but the reviews and awards for GE's Triton series required a more serious look-see. 
I've had the Triton 1s for quite a while now and I like them, especially for home theater. 
The benefits;
-they more than replace having separate subs which can be a space saver
-very good full range sound
-I liked that I didn't have to constantly adjust the sub output dependent on volume or source

Unfortunately, for my purposes, the list of shortcomings is notably longer;
-due to the design of my theater room, the speakers had to be brought well into the room and away from the back wall to perform their best.
-the low end is great for home theater but not as much for music. It lacks the punch and detail for pleasurable music listening and is muddier than one might hope for.
-I found the high end very good but the midrange seems to have a void in it no matter the source components or material. In some songs and try some Eagles out on these for example, as soon as the vocals started it was like the speaker from a clock radio cut in. It's very noticeable especially when you're familiar with your music collection on lots of equipment over many years. I found there was an overall lack of fullness with big emphasis on the low and high ends. Overall, I would still call it very good.
-It really doesn't matter in my particular space but not a particularly attractive speaker

The Tekton DI benefits
-remarkable full range sound from deep down, fully and completely, coherently, through the high end
-the low end is very impressive, accurate, quick and can't wipe the smile off my face satisfying
-very forgiving respecting placement
-works well with all kinds of gear
-very easy to listen to at any volume, any genre. These speakers never seem to give up or breakup
-excellent for music listening and would work well in most home theaters without a sub

The shortcomings
-as with the Tritons, not a particularly attractive speaker but you can have them just about any way you want them so this can be overcome, at a cost.
-the most serious audiophiles might hope for a more clinical presentation, if only for certain recordings
-if you've got the space and equipment, you may want to add a sub for home theater for those subterranean frequencies you can only feel.

My conclusion - these are both exceptional speakers for the money but in my world, the Double Impact comes out well ahead. 90% of people are not going to need or miss a separate sub with these in their home theater and they're simply outstanding and "can't wipe the smile off my face" satisfying to listen to music through. They're very forgiving in placement which makes them easier to get to locations that look good and not just sound good. If your emphasis is far and away on home theater, you may find the Tritons more satisfying. If you like to cover both music and home theater with a single product or a dedicated music system, you'll certainly enjoy the DIs

Hopefully this is helpful to those considering these speakers. It's a good comparison as these are similar size, similar price, smart and effective engineering in both.
@no2headphones  An exceptionally well presented and thoughtful personal walk-through of these two speakers. Helpful, absolutely. Thank You!
I’d like to present a different perspective regarding the Triton 1’s.
I don’t have a home theater.
Perhaps because I listen mainly to classical music, I find none of the flaws you mention.  The speaker, in my room, from top to bottom is exceedingly smooth with an exceptional mid range.  It certainly has a full and rich sound. The imaging with symphony orchestra and other venues is remarkably precise with everything in the proper perspective. I certainly have never heard muddy bass.  When the bass is present, you hear it well, and it’s exceptionally clean. 
Maybe electronics is the variable. I have a Conrad Johnson tube amplifier which evidently matches the speakers very well.

Interesting that we have such a different opinion.
I had mildly muddy bass with the Tritons when I had them but I was running with a tube amp. The internal amplification seemed to accentuate the tubes. Much better firmer bass when switched to high current ss amp with tube pre. 
@rvpiano........................................

i agree with you. I have never had muddy bass or bright/shrill highs on either my Triton Ones  which are driven by a Mac 200wpc integrated.  I also am using. Mac tube pre with a Mac 150wpc power amp on my Triton References and the music is wonderful.  I don’t do home theater  either.  The stores where the people had a terrible audition tells me the speakers were just plopped in a spot and hooked up.  That was the case with the Triton Ones when I auditioned them. I almost didn’t buy them but they were playing mp3 on them so I took a chance. I am very glad I did. 
That may be interesting but it's not remarkable.
I'm not trying to insult anyone's gear or choices.
We all know that sound reproduction and listening and personal preferences are highly subjective things. A large part of that is the room characteristics, the upstream equipment, the source material, etc., etc.
I just happen to be in the position of having both of these products on hand and wanted to provide the most comprehensive impression to the inquirer.
If five of us were in the room at the same time, listening to the same things and went off to write our own reviews, no doubt you'd have five different opinions. If we all sat at a table to discuss and went back and forth to the listening room, we could probably agree on a few general statements about each product. There are certain characteristics in particular that we personally regard in different ways according to our tastes, where and how we use the products and so on.
I had the Triton 1s long before the DIs came along and had the DIs never come along, I was thoroughly and completely happy with the Tritons. Put these same products in someone else's listening space and the impression of them could certainly be different. Certainly, the most important impression when listening to different speakers we intend to purchase is our own.
Stereo 5,

I auditioned the GE’s in two different Hifi emporiums.  In the first one they only had the References.  After hearing them,  I decided to stick with the speakers I own.  I couldn’t believe how poor the the presentation was. Just on a hunch, I went to the second store which happened to have all three speakers I was interested in.  By a slim margin the Triton 1’s sounded best.  Good enough for me to ask them if I could audition the demos at home. I took them home the same day.
Holy Crap!  
They sounded fantastic.  No comparison to how they sounded at either store.  I don’t know how these guys stay in business if not for the home theater crowd.  At one time, both establishments were really remarkable.
 I agree with no2headphones that two people (or five) may not hear alike or listen to the same type of music or have the same equipment.  But, objectively, none of the negative traits described come close to what I hear.  The speakers in my setting are truly stunning.
If I was buying speakers unheard I'd go for GE's solely because their best
reviews come from  reputable classical musicians .
I’ve heard the Impacts and they are amazing. Im
undecided if they are the sound I’m gunning for but it’s possible. Haven’t heard any GE speakers but would love to.

Its fun reading “engineers” knock speakers they’ve never heard. It truly is the “oh yeah well my dad is bigger than your dad” stuff I did when I was like 5.