Paradigm s6, Golden Ear Triton, Martin Logan Purity

D

dem beats

Senior Audioholic
A novice compare and contrast type review on 3 speakers. Powered tonight by Sailor Jerry, a rack of smoked ribs, and a man movie night (mostly)wife free. Jack will be providing back up drool and foot warming assistance when needed.


:D

The golden ear Triton 2 towers
http://www.goldenear.com/products/triton-two-tower

The martin logan purity
http://www.martinlogan.com/products/purity

Paradigm signature s6
http://www.paradigm.com/index.php?option=com_mtree&task=listcats&cat_id=144&Itemid=2

I will preface this review with a few facts, starting with the fact I purchased the MLs so I am biased. I will also state that price matters. That influences all my purchases. However the price change from these 3 speakers was not enough to sway me one way or another. I'll also pass on what my wife feels about these speakers. On to the review.

I listened to all 3 pairs of speakers in 2 different rooms. One large room and one small room. They were all powered from a pre pro and amp in the large room and a similar lower budget rig in the 2 chan room.

I'm going to start with general descriptions of the sets of speakers.
The S6's, to me, hand's down win the best looking award. I originally set out to audition the s8's or the studio line. Of all the paradigms I listened to the s6's were the best. They were the most flat sounding speaker at moderate listening volumes. The imaging had real depth and the s6's had amazing detail and clarity. They had a decent size sweet spot where you could get that great imaging and clarity that I wanted to experience. Perhaps this is also the cause of my complaint, as I think all of the imaging and detail came from a really amazing use of the tweeter. This may be a sensitivity issue to me alone but my wife then shares it. There is a harshness to the 'digms in all their detail. While all the instruments in that highest frequency were really put forward in the music, they also had the ability to make me wince. Even at normal talking volumes my ears would get sensitive in 10 min of listening to anything with a flute or the highest keys on a piano. With the combination of looks and brilliant clarity, and the ability to still have impact into the mid bass really made me with they didn't wear on me so quickly. One other small niggle is that since the highs were so in your face it messed with the imaging in the mid range. They had the least change in sound based on placement. If you like these but don't want to cough the cash up, I think the NHT classic 3's are really close in detail and perhaps have better imaging.

The wife's thoughts on the s6 are that they were clear and balanced, and much brighter than the other 3.


The golden ears were maybe the best overall speakers I have heard in a LONG time. Def techs never appealed to me, but these sounded much cleaner to me. They have an amazingly versatile sound with a lot of bass reinforcement, and a great ability to use that huge bass power without overpowering the rest of the sound. Even if you give the bass a little boost it never made the rest of the music muddy or stressed like some other super sub speakers can. The tritons could be at home in a theater or in a dedicated 2 chan room and I think make the best compromise for a theater. Even more so if you may be going with only 2 speakers for a while. While I wouldn't want to go without a sub because I love over the top LFE, only quite demanding tracks or those who run the bass hot would complain. Music was powerful and lively. There was more punch in these speakers than anything I listened to that day. These bad boys really filled up the larger room with bass to the point I could feel the energy and vibration in my pants and in the seat.

Wife likes that they made big sound without being insane monoliths, and that she liked that you didn't have to sit exactly in front of them to have impressive sound.


Finally the ones I decided to live with, the Puritys. The MLs have such an amazing deep, rich, realistic sound. They bring out vocals with a clarity that is above the other 2 by a huge margin. At first this could sound like softened background and it wasn't exactly appealing, especially if your recording is compressed or badly recorded. Many people have mentioned that rock or metal or punk doesn't work on Logans but I will tell you right now if you listen to pop in Pantera and play a little cemetery gates you will know why so many metal heads worship Dime Bag Darrell. In general electro stats that I have heard have all had a capacity to work the mid range and these are up to that. They also have a lot of mid bass punch, and that's something unique to electro stats of this size. I might hold them on a pedestal but the Maggie 20s are the only other speakers that can bring imaging and depth to the table with more impact than the Martin Logans. With the 'digms and other image champs like the NHT classic 3 you get the height and to a certain level depth. The Purity make that soundstage wide. The best analogy is like going from a 720 wide screen TV to a better than 1080 3d anamorphic imax kind of image. Why I felt these speakers are some of the best I have ever heard comes down to the fact that where it counts they do their job. Maybe they loose some "sparkle" in the super high hz, and they don't have space shuttle like bass, but they bring razor sharp detail. The purity has imaging that when I close my eyes, I can nearly plot each instrument on a map. And finally they have a depth of sound that I can't describe without sounding like some emotional high fi nut. The best word to describe that "mocha cocoa mids" might be that they have an extremely rich sound.

How my wife described them when asked. She threw up the horns and said "They are cool, like boobies." She also likes the look and that the"are modern and classic. They also sound great for music, more than anything she can remember auditioning. Multiple types of music sound good, and that was a great surprise.
 
B

Boerd

Full Audioholic
Between the three - my choice would have been the same. ML all day.
 
D

dem beats

Senior Audioholic
I am extremely happy with the ML's.

They create a sound so huge for their size, and the imaging it out of this world even in less than ideal conditions.

I should prbably also mention that I tested all the speakers in an against the wall or out in the room positions, and straight vs toed in correctly conditions. While personally I think the MLs sounded best in just about any situation, other than standing and off to the side, they also benifit the most from being positioned properly.

Perhaps not the easiest going speakers for just general sound reinforcement, I would rather deal with some idiosyncrasies to get into that sweet spot.
 
M

Moraga97

Audiophyte
dem beats sed: ".....I think the MLs sounded best in just about any situation, other than standing and off to the side, they also benefit the most from being positioned properly. "

I agree with that one. I auditioned these about a year ago and found that, in the 'sweet spot' the sound was like wearing headphones. If you moved your head out of that zone, that effect vanished. There is a real 'beam' of sound coming out of them. I ended up going with a pair of Vandersteen 2CE Sig II's because they were alot more flexible regarding the listening position without such a shift in the character of the sound. The ML's did sound amazing within that zone, though. I'm headed over to listen to the Goldenear Tritons again this afternoon. I had mixed impressions of them last weekend, but did love the detail and expression of the bass.
Enjoy your MLs!

Bill
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
dem beats sed: ".....I think the MLs sounded best in just about any situation, other than standing and off to the side, they also benefit the most from being positioned properly. "

I agree with that one. I auditioned these about a year ago and found that, in the 'sweet spot' the sound was like wearing headphones. If you moved your head out of that zone, that effect vanished. There is a real 'beam' of sound coming out of them. I ended up going with a pair of Vandersteen 2CE Sig II's because they were alot more flexible regarding the listening position without such a shift in the character of the sound. The ML's did sound amazing within that zone, though. I'm headed over to listen to the Goldenear Tritons again this afternoon. I had mixed impressions of them last weekend, but did love the detail and expression of the bass.
Enjoy your MLs!

Bill
I had a similar situation when I listened to the PSB Imainge T a few days ago. I took one step to the right side, and they started to sound very different.
 
M

Moraga97

Audiophyte
Well, I took the plunge and bought the Goldenear Triton Twos and a center. Taking delivery next week. My wife and I gave them a listen again, and they are doing enough things right, including being about 60% of the size of the Vandersteens (WAF factor issues) that they are worth a prolonged home audition. The Mythos ST were the only other contender in the final round, and were $1500 more. We'll use them in a room that is multi-use, for home theater and stereo, plus listening from the kitchen which is open to this room. Both speakers will be visible from where I would be cooking, so it was important for me to have a speaker that can fill 2 connected rooms with sound and be generous with it's character over a broad region.
 
D

dem beats

Senior Audioholic
moraga. It sounds like we have almost the same situation with the kitchen off of the listening room. In that second room the beam effect doesn't matter. And by far they sound better due to the clean and detailed sound. I think this has to do with the fact that in a traditional tweeter, the reflected sound from such a small surface area just gets lost. On the ML's though even though I loose all imaging, they have the same sound no matter what room we are in.

The ML's still do sound the best. For when we auditioned, and not at home, it's only when I stand up, and go to the middle of the room and walk to the right wall that the ML's flat out make me sad.... Thankfully, that's a walkway, and no seating is there. On the left side where the other seating it, we still get some imaging even.

All this being said, the ML's may find their way into my HT and the wife may get of a different pair. We're both a bit worried about the pup bumping them, and a few other non sound or asthetic related issues.

We are positive on sending the Anthem back however. Although on paper it has the lowest THD, it's not an anything that we could hear even using something with over 10 times the written THD.

We shall see where everything lands, but the $$$ saved on not getting an extremely high cost receiver will leave some room for perhaps other fun toys.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
We are positive on sending the Anthem back however. Although on paper it has the lowest THD, it's not an anything that we could hear even using something with over 10 times the written THD.
Especially in Direct modes, just about all these $1K receivers will sound the same in most cases compared to even the $5K receivers.

Speakers are the most important.
 
D

dem beats

Senior Audioholic
I went back to the shop to put in the order for the receiver I decided on, and the sales guy was busy so I got to listen to the golden ears and some of the top end digms.

Those golden ears really do perform if you like bass. It's frunny how perception can change attitude toward one thing or another. The more I chew on it, the golden ears might be one of the best values out there with how much bass they output.

I listened to the big 'digms again too. Man they sounded good too. And they looked prettier than ever. I am extremely happy with what I purchased, but I bet anyone would be pleased as punch with any of these. The differences are drastic in a side by side, but not as serious when isolated against much less amazing speakers.
 
D

dem beats

Senior Audioholic
Speakers are the most important.


This is the truth, and I just proved it with my own ears. When something is suposed to perform an order of magnitude cleaner, and it doesn't make a change in what I hear on compressed or uncompressed audio.....
 
D

daniel789

Audiophyte
Hi! Will u let me know how u like your tritons. I cant wait to audition them. I will be replacing some 15 yr old boston acoustics towers. should be a major upgrade for me. ps, the reviews are are what got me interested. are they as good all the reviewers say? thanks. Dan.
 
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