LOUDSPEAKERS TRIANGLE COMETE Es 25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION WOJCIECH PACUŁA Translation: Krzysztof Kalinkowski

In the year 1981, when in Poland the war state was prepared, the rest of the world lived normally. There was eating and drinking and buying, the people just lived normally. This was for example the year, when Renaud de Vergnette founded the company Triangle Electroacoustique in the beautiful France. From the very beginning, just as with another French company JMLab-Focal, exceptional was the key word. Until today if we think “Triangle” we speak “tube”. The most prominent element in this French project is the tube tweeter. Just beside it further “gems” are visible, like midrange speakers and mid-woofers with rigid upper suspension made from impregnated fabric. Just like in stage equipment. But those are just ways to achieve a goal, and not the goal itself. In simple association those two features point towards a maximally high effectiveness. And when we say “high effectiveness” we think “tubes”. And this is, in my opinion, one of the most twisted situations, that must have led to many disappointments. The promise of high effectiveness and next piece of the puzzle – strong, even a bit underlined treble, seemed to predestine the Triangle to cooperate well with tube amplifiers, whose low output powers and slightly warm sound should make them feel comfortable with the French speakers. Those that burned their fingers know – that nothing in life is so simple. The Triangle, as long as I can remember, had a very difficult impedance curve in the bass region, what, together with large phase shifts in that region, required strong transistor amplifiers to drive the products from Seine river banks. But those high frequencies … a compromise was to drive them in bi-amping configuration, what was a bull’s-eye shot from the sonic point of view, but had practical constraints. And I was probably not the only one with problems in setting up those speakers, and although I recommended them to tube amplifiers, being convinced that it is better to get treble in grip than bass. And I recommended, because the Triangle presented some characteristics, that were not easy to find elsewhere, and among those speed and dynamics should be put in first place. Here the tube tweeter and rigid suspension proved themselves splendidly. But times do change. On one hand the tube amplifiers lost their coloring somewhere (at least the better ones) and do not warm the treble anymore, but rather present the tissue of the sound rich in harmonics, most of the time with the right tonal balance. And then came the right reaction from Renaud de Vergnette and showed, that the companies success is not by chance, but results from thorough consideration and sensitivity bound with a clear idea of the goal. With new speakers of the ESW series we received much better balanced sound, and the problems with the bass disappeared largely, or have been diminished enough, to not be troublesome anymore. It appeared, that it is possible to construct quick, dynamic speakers that do not shave off your ears.

The tested model Comete Es is a kind of homage, that the company made to itself, because this stand mount speaker is the best selling model in the company’s history. Named Comete Es 25th Anniversary Edition received a beautiful finish in natural, beautifully varnished wood and some upgrades in the cross-over. When we look at this model, it is not hard to understand what attracted listeners for so many years – it looks beautiful. The speaker is produced in limited quantities, every pair has a unique number and a big plate on the back that describes the whereabouts.

LISTENING EXPERIENCE

Triangle Comete proved to be an easy load for the amplifier. Starting with the TRI TRV-300SE (test HERE) with 8W per channel, through my beloved, incredible Lebena CS-300 (test HERE) with 12W power, Model 5 Avantgarde Acoustic with 27W, ending with Accuphase A-45 (45W), in any case the amplifiers did not have much to do, and the increase in power did give some additional control in the lower frequencies, but this was more a slight correction than a qualitative change. What is important, after the switch from the Harpia Acoustics Marcus (test HERE) the tonal balance did not change by much. There was less bass, of course, but it was not shocking, in the end I do know what can be achieved with stand mounts, and in addition it turned out, that the makers of the Comete did not “beef up” their sound on the lower scale. Only on the utmost treble there was bit more energy present. I started the listenings with the splendid disc Zaprzepaszczone Siły Wielkiej Armii Świętych Znaków of the Polish group Coma (Sony&BMG 852982, CCD), one of the best rock masterings, not only in Poland. The disc is opened by “Intro” – the sounds of a man in the street, later coming into a flat, that in some way calls from memory the last piece of Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother album. The whole introduction was reproduced splendidly. From the beginning, it can be heard, that the speakers have an outstanding ability to disappear. Just like Frodo in The Lord Of The Rings the Triangle, just after putting a disc on the shaft of the Prime CD player, just disappeared. Those feelings were emphasized by the guitar, entering the stage from the right, behind the speaker, not from it, but from behind it, as if there would be nothing between us and the instrument.

I mentioned the substantial energy of the treble – please do not fear it, these are not the times, that the triangle was all treble. Even if the company’s boss says that not much changed in the buildup of the cross-over, it is evident, that somebody worked on the sound of the “anniversary” Comete, as they sound much better than the older version. Or it seems so to me… The new models of Triangle are not brightened, they do not sting with needle pins, that once helped the lazy tube amplifiers show their better side, but these days, when “tubey” does not mean “slowed” and warmed, would be a catastrophic mistake. Similar to the newest Esw series (Altea Esw test HERE), the treble is much more tempered than before. Nothing ticks, nothing is pricking the ears mercilessly, and even so explosive pieces from the mentioned disc like “System”, come with dynamics and kick, and show the timbre of the treble and the rest of the frequency range well. It turns out, that the thing that was the biggest asset of these French speakers, being dynamics and speed, are not depending on brightening, and that this can be achieved with an (almost) even frequency range. I would say, that compared to the Marcus in the Comete the midrange of about 900Hz is a bit emphasized, as vocals were slightly separated and pushed forward. Together with a strong treble it gave a clear, vivid, clean sound without brightening, that showed the characteristics of the speakers: speed and balance. Because, for the money the cost, the Triangle showed dynamics. This is a thing that I value in the Marcus, and that is very hard to find in other speakers. The hits on the edge of the kettledrum did have a bit hard timbre, not as vivid as when the bludgeon hits the center of the membrane, but nothing comes for free. Or not yet.

I mentioned the space – the monitors build a deep, clear stage, although they are far away from the leaders. Only when we take into consideration their price, everything returns to the right proportions. Because when in the piece “The Swan” from the disc FIM Audiophile Reference IV (FIM029 DV, HDCD24; review HERE) somewhere far, far in the back a percussion instrument sounds, then on the Triangle it flows a bit to the speakers. It is shown far away, but is not as focused as in the Marcus. Harpia's speakers, show this event as a continuous, having a beginning and and ending, whole. Also on demanding material, like in the recording “Georgia in My Mind” of Maria Nakamoto from the same disc it can be heard that this is a small speaker, and the contrabass, that opens the piece, strong and a bit hard, cannot be reproduced like from a floor standing speaker. On the other hand, the Triangle did not show it worse than the floor standing Phoebe II, and had an even better articulated upper bass. Let us come down to the earth – this small, stand mount, inexpensive speakers, that maybe look like they would cost much more, are what they are – a budget speaker. Then, for some time, we can be enchanted by the beauty of the sound and start to demand too much. You have to put and end to that and say to yourself, that these are fine speakers, and you should be happy with what you have. As you could imagine, recordings where there are many percussive instruments, like triangles, perform best, splendid, because the tube with the gold phase corrector reproduce those with beautiful dynamics and a very nice timbre, without thinning and coloring (at least I cannot hear those, but in the end I can be a little deaf – so much listening...).

When we play something from a SACD, then we can be mistaken that these are quite large, floor standing speakers. It seems that this platform is especially suited for the Triangle, as well as vinyl – Walking in the Sun from Barb Jungr (LINN, AKD 283, SACD/HDCD; review HERE). A part of the vocal has emphasized sibilants, this narrow raise in the speaker's treble, that does not always appear, but dynamics and the overall culture of the sound are splendid. It is not about brightening of the upper treble, this is not here, but about the lower range of it, related to the hard reproduction of some percussion sounds, I mentioned earlier. Interestingly, with this disc the midrange was a bit lacking – something I never heard before. And we just have to be careful with material with large energy in the upper midrange – it can sound a bit loudly, especially when we turn up the volume. And this is not necessary, as the Triangle play nice with medium and low levels, as they always remain clean and clear, showing the midrange and treble without any flattening.

BUDOWA

The Triangle Comete ES 25th Anniversary Edition speaker is a special edition of the Es stand mount model. In both models a shielded, tube tweeter TZ2400 is used, with a titanium membrane, and the mid-woofer T16PE82c with a coated paper cone. The tube and the spider are made from ultra-rigid aluminum cast. The front was rounded and covered with high gloss varnish, as well as all other sides of the enclosure, covered with beautiful natural wood veneer. Comete is a two way, stand mount, bass-reflex speaker. The bass-reflex outlet in the shape of two small holes of small diameter is located below the mid-woofer (the bass-reflex tubes are very short – about 5cm). The inside is partially damped. The cross-over is screwed to double, gold plated terminals. There we find air coils, polypropylene capacitors (that were the Triangle logo, as well as the mass resistors) and electrolyte capacitors. The inside connections are made with plaid copper wire with the company branding on the sleeve, On the back plate a name plate is located with printed information about the gem we deal with and the serial number of the speaker pair.

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