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
I have the Triton 1r's driven by an old Classe Audio Fifteen amp (175 W) through a Prima Luna Dialogue Premium preamp. My listening position is about 8 feet away and rarely do I need to move the volume control on my preamp beyond 9 o'clock. I've also found it necessary (in my room) to turn the bass driver amps down to 9 o'clock as well. Probably will switch out to a pair of lower powered tube mono blocks down the road. If i turn the volume up with my 175 W amp, the Triton 1r's can peel my skin off. 

J.Chip
Both of these speakers are far from neutral to my ears, with the Golden Ears being the less refined of the two. Either would be a terrible choice for punk rock IMO, but the Focals would be the easy choice between the two.

As for the GE AMT, it's not a Heil, not remotely close.
helomech,

Curious, what speakers would you consider neutral in the price range?

ozzy
@ozzy 

If talking large, full-range speakers, a used pair of Revel Salon 2s, which have a superior Be tweeter to my ears. Those or an old pair of Spendor SP100s. Different sounds, but each produces a superior top-to-bottom balance, and with smoother highs, IMO of course.
For what its worth, at AXPONA 2019, the Triton 1r's were very favorably reviewed. One of Absolute Sounds reviewers considered the GoldenEar Triton 1r's to be the "best sound for the money" calling it "no contest".

J.Chip