Well my rosewood, or Bordeaux, or red as I would call it, Triangle Heliade loudspeakers arrived yesterday. They are still in the boxes, but will be connected this weekend. I'll post up sound and audio evaluations and pix this weekend..............I'm really excited to have these new Triangle speakers.
Well here is the lazy butt update - see pic. Still in the boxes, stuffed in the back room. Soon to be opened pending a possible new apt move. Here is my TRIANGLE audition analysis. All that you read and such about Triangle is true. There is an open, clear, airy, revealing, depth, midrange rich detail to the sound. There is no thunderstorm bass with a 6.5 woofer. The only concession I could find with a near 3 hour audition, comparison, price point testing etc. For the $1300, no KEF (Q7), Paradigm, Jamo or PSB had the OVERALL neutrality and upper/lower midrange detail, esp in voices than these HELIADE. The Paradigm v5 Monitor 9 (appx $1k) was second choice,(tonally a bit thin tho') but there HELIADE were on clearance for $800, so it was a no brainer. The only negatives, mildly restricted LOW LOW Bass response, with it's 6.5 woofer and I prefer CONCRETE HARD cabinets, but not found at this price point. The bonus with these is the fanciest, super tooled, hi-tech tweeter you're likely to find. No simple soft-dome aluminum or ti job, this thing extends really well. I'll bi-wire them up and let them break in and report back........soon........I hope!
well I"m using the NAD C372 and the NAD 525BEE with WireWorld Equinox 5 interconnects and the StraightWire speaker cable pictured above. The HELIADE doesn't have the fancy spike/plinth plate as it's bigger brothers, but the salesperson showed me a trick with it's current spikes to optimize the sound. When they come out of the boxes, I'll post close-up pix of the tweeter and speakers themselves. Funny thing is I auditioned the HELIADE with the NAD Masters series amp & cd player. But I own the little brothers!
well what a suprise! I heard it ( not only ones and specially from diffrent people which prefert diffrent type of music) that nad and TRIANGLE are not a good match. INteresting. NAD master series are brighter than basic nad amps then???
I found the NAD masters series to be full, clean, rich, quick - detailed and musical. I audiitoned the HELIADE with some $600 speaker cables from Audioquest and was completely impressed with the sound; sufficient to purchase them. My NAD amp and CD player are going to be a perfectly good match. While the NAD master CD player is a better performer than my 525BEE, mine was also $1500 less. The C372 amp is clean and quiet. I don't know what you could possibly be refeering to as "not a good match" - clean amp, clean CD player, very upgraded cables and interconnects on completely full range speakers.
Well I finally got ONE Of the speakers out of the box and took some pix. Now I'll be gone for the weekend.....YEESH! The pictures are cropped COMPRESSED.
Before you purchase any expensive cables, interconnects, etc., you should look into a better CD player. The 521BEE is a very good player for the money, but isn't in the same league as the rest of your system.
Try out a 542 to see what I mean. For even more money, the Rega Apollo is almost impossible to beat.
AS I outlined above I have the 525BEE (not a 521), as I sold my 541i. I e-mailed NAD and they told me there was a replacement for the 542 due out at the end of 2006 and that model never happened; so I got a 525BEE to try the BEE series and have a player as I finally found a C372 amp. The REGA Apollo is on my list of players to audition in 07 as the 542 model is "dated". I already have upgraded interconnects and cables; won't do without them.
by ''not a good match'' i thought because tweeters are very much a like horn tweeters, which means that they are very efecttive and CAN be harsh if they are not conected with very soft int. amps such as valves ( yes even warmth of nad is not enought - in some cases afkors...)
very nice speakers by the way (like the red cabinets)! I wonder how they get with rock or even metal sounds.... Please report some more info Chicobiker.
I can tell you that the tweeters are completely free of grain, treble harshness, hiss, "s" sound ringing, or crossover artifacts. These tweeters in my opnion are more high-tech than the rather "ordinary" paper/pulp/cellulose old-fashioned look of the bass and midragne. My Straight wire cables are marvellously free of skin effect and I put my ear right up to the tweeters during the long audiotion. I made SURE I was getting a HUGE improvement in treble and midrange performance over the paradigm Monitor 5's I recently sold on audiogon. Details after this weekend.
Well I finally got the chance to cable the speakers. A 9/16" wrench fit in the terminal area very nicely snugging up the spades. The salesperson taught me a set-up trick, signifcant for my audition and purchase decision, but too difficult to photograph. I installed the adjustable supplied spikes to give about 15% tilt (or so) to angle the speakers slightly upward. This demonstrated the benefit of improved dispersion and changed the "footprint" of the cabinet vibrations transmitted to the floor. A surprising and FREE tweak that is well worth trying for those who have spikes on their cabinets. Now to pull out the amp and CD player to cable the amp and actually start the break-in of the Heliades.
Chico, great pics! The 'spikes' one looks like a French Tickler! Your mounting and angle make really good sense for the dispersion you describe. Keep it coming.
Chico, there is more purpose to the tilt angle that the dealer should have explained. Once you have your listening position and speaker placement dialed only then do you want to start experimenting with the tilt. The primary purpose of the tilt angle will be to aim the tweeters to your ear level while seated in your listening position. It helps if there is someone else to adjust the level while you listen but you can do it yourself, just more tedious. You should hear a difference as you adjust the tilt up and down. Find the optimal spot and lock it in. A laser level is very useful in this exercise as Jan had tipped me off to.
Replying to Nuck and MIchael. Yes I will optimize and experiment with the tilt angle - I was just "getting it out there" for readers to have possible free tweak knowledge. The other idea relating to the spikes: (how to phrase this) the cabinet vibrations are now not allowed to vibrate uniformly on all 4 spikes, they are now more neutralized, re-dispersed, interrputed and tend to be directed TO THE FLOOR only. When the dealer did this (he was saavy) the speakers became much more "quiet". I push the speakers down till I hear the spikes "crunch" thru the carpet to the wood underneath. The Triangle models "above" the Heliade have a more advanced aluminum plinth plate to dampen cabinet talk and redirect front panel vibrations downward. My room is full of shag carpet, drapes, cloth couch/chairs and is not overly reflective.
WEll the first few seconds of break-in sound came out, as expected they were shrill and "swelling", too quiet then too loud. So I left them on and went for a 2 hour calorie burning bike ride. They have smoothed out enourmously. The bass performance is better than the show room as I recall. I'm going to give them a few days of break in while I'm at work. I sure do like the midrange detail and treble presence. I'm gunna tilt em a little more. The only other thing I'd be tempted to try with these is some different cables. But they are smooth, and clean.......
Well I agree they are good value for the money - provisionally. I don't know if I'd of coughed up $1300 for these per se. They are VERY GOOD, but I'd of done more auditioning at that price point. But for the $800 I payed, OH that was a no brainer. They remind me of a cross between my KEF 104.2 with their hefty, plummy bass, and my Thiel 2.2 with their midrange detail and extended highs - but with the slimmer cabinets I prefer. They are going to remain continuously on for at least a few days at volume that won't bother the neighbors to get "broken in and "warm in" the crossovers. My main concern was to FULLY upgrade from my Paradigm Monitor 5's that I really never liked.
I have never experienced such a PAINFULLY SLOW break in period with a pair of speakers. My whole opinion of them has changed. While at first I didn't think they were worth $1300, but I liked them and wanted to try some - so $800 was OK. Now that they are breaking in, and have loosened up - these speakers are DIZZY with midrange detail, spatial clues and soundstage. I"m even going to upgrade my speaker cables!
Well the bi-wire set up I have is very rich with upper midrange warmth - as the HELIADES have been breaking in, there is a little too much midrange output. I had a brief audition with the WIREWORLD Solstice, and they are a bit tighter and "faster" than my StraightWires, BUT my SWires have very little skin effect - so they are never fatiguing. My cables will be sold at attractive prices on audiogon.
Well I got the confirmation on the Wireworld Solstice 5.2 I ordered - biwire banana plugs at the amp end and bi-wire spade at the speaker end. They should arrive on monday or tuesday. My Straightwires are NOT JUNK, mind you. They are clean and fatigue free and each cable model has very definite sonic personality. I had a brief audition with the Solstice 5.2 and am going to get them back into my system as I know they will be a very fine match for the HELIADES. The SWires will be on sale on audiogon at attractive prices very soon with some of my KimberKable PBJ interconnects. I am switching over to Wireworld completely....
Now let me re-introduce myself at CHICOBIKER the blithering IDIOT. In a rather embarrassing attempt to salvage my Paradigm Studio 5 V3 - I ordered these WireWorld cables after adoring my WireWorld Equinox 5 interconnects. The cables made an improvement, but didn't salvage the Paradigms. I got all bent out of shape and returned the cables and sold the Paradigms. Now I want the cables back and they'll be here next week. They will be a perfect match for my HELIADES - after all the empirical data my brain and ears have after analyzing my StraightWire vs WireWorld. NOW I'M NEVER CHANGING CABLES AGAIN AS LONG AS I LIVE
CHICOBIKER, what do you think: are triangle good for some rock beats like pearl jam, placebo, Red hot chili peppers.Since i am listening of almost all type of types of music (soft jazz to rock bands like mentioned). Just, I wonder how triangle copes with that kind of music.
