Triad Owners Thread

[DigitalDawn]

Control4 Buys Triad

From Larry Pexton:

After exactly 37 years as the founder of the enterprise known as Triad Speakers, I have found a worthy successor. Control4, the leading provider of smart home solutions, came to me just after my 70th birthday with an unsolicited and very fair offer to acquire our company. Through the course of spending time together working on the transaction, which was formally announced today, the Control4 management team has consistently shown a deep appreciation of and respect for what we have accomplished and the team that we have assembled here.

I can't imagine finding a better home for my company, our employees alongside whom I have worked the last decades, and our most cherished asset, our global dealer base. Moving forward, the same Triad people will be supporting your businesses and building your speakers with the same care and attention you've always enjoyed. However, now that we are part of Control4, the Triad team will enjoy new development, training and marketing resources that were always just beyond our reach under the Pexton family ownership.
Control4 is committed to continuing the quality, service and customization you have come to expect from Triad. Now Triad will be able to leverage Control4's depth of bench to continue to innovate for years to come, provide unmatched custom design services and make doing business with us, much easier.

From Control4 to their dealers:

Entertainment is at the heart of the connected home, which is why we are thrilled to announce that Control4 has acquired Triad Speakers, Inc, a leader in advanced audio technology and high-end speakers. With over 80% of Control4 installations integrating at least one receiver, audio entertainment is clearly central to your projects. Now, we have a full line of speakers to bring all the audio in your installations to life via bold, beautiful sound.

Triad's 30 year heritage of delivering exceptional audio solutions is rooted in its unwavering attention to design and detail, its focus on the quality of the listening experience, and the unique customization of its products. Triad builds a comprehensive range of built-to-order premium audio speakers, engineered to exact specifications and meticulously assembled to deliver uncompromising sound for every space in and around the home. The end result is an audio system that is voiced to sound the same, regardless of whether the speakers are in-wall, in-ceiling or in-room.

Larry Pexton, Triad's renowned founder, and his entire team who have been together for decades, will join Control4. We welcome Triad's proven premium-acoustics experience and innovation to the company, enabling us to immediately expand our entertainment offering and develop new integrated-audio experiences for the future.

 

[sebgrady]

I think I have 20 year old Gold series Triads and one is blown. It is in wall mounted and has the tweeter in the center between 2 maybe 6 inch cones.

The tweeter works but I can’t hear anything out of either of the 2 cones.

How do I troubleshoot and if blown replace the driver or speakers?

Thx for any advice!

 

[DigitalDawn]

You will need to contact Triad at (503) 256-2600. Ask for the repair dept. They should be able to help.

 

[sebgrady]

You will need to contact Triad at (503) 256-2600. Ask for the repair dept. They should be able to help.

Thank you Digital Dawn.

 

[sebgrady]

Digital Dawn, thank you so much for your help. I called Control4 and spoke to Brent Passmore in service who is a really smart guy and was very helpful.

I bought a $150 Triad In Room Gold Speaker from Ebay and plugged it in to make sure it worked and it worked great.

I replaced the two drivers and the crossover from the Ebay speaker per Brent's instructions and then resync'ed my Denon surround sound and the setup is sounding as good as new!

This probably would have cost $1500 if I went through my local Control 4 dealer for only one speaker and rip out the old speaker and put in the new one. They have zero interest in fixing anything and would have been happy to just sell me a new speaker or maybe even 3 new speakers.

Business is business and I have no issue with this - I get it.

These speakers work as good as they did Day 1 it sounds like to me and speaker technology doesn't seem like it has changed much in years.

I am one happy camper and want to thank you for your help!

I once paid a custom installer $15K for my setup 15 or 20 years ago. The other thing I did is get rid of that ponzi scheme remote control they sell and bought the $350 Harmony Remote and it works great. Every time I had to add anything or change or fix anything a house call had to be made for $500 --> $1,000.

What a waste of money. No offense to Dawn or anyone else on this list in that business. Many folks don't want to fuss or muss with anything and that makes sense for them.

 

[DigitalDawn]

Glad it worked out!

 

[DigitalDawn]

New Triad InCeiling Silver/6 LCR

While the InCeiling version of the Silver LCR has always been available at additional cost as a custom product, Triad has now made it available as a standard speaker.

The MSRP is the same as all other Silver LCRs ($1000) and the cabinet dimensions are: 19" x 10-3/4" x 5-15/16".

 

[TheWarrior]

New Triad InCeiling Silver/6 LCR

While the InCeiling version of the Silver LCR has always been available at additional cost as a custom product, Triad has now made it available as a standard speaker.

The MSRP is the same as all other Silver LCRs ($1000) and the cabinet dimensions are: 19" x 10-3/4" x 5-15/16".


View attachment 25708

The roof over my living room creates a 16' peak gable ceiling. So InWall's won't work for height channels. Have you had anyone using the OnWall models in this type of arrangement? Other thoughts?

 

[DigitalDawn]

Yes we have used on-walls for this type of ceiling. Send me a photo and I'll get the Triad engineers to weigh in on the best approach.

 

[TheWarrior]

https://imgur.com/pxcKxWL

Housewives are my FAVORITE!!!

https://imgur.com/HA34Msb

 

[DigitalDawn]

Alex,

Email me about this in 10 days. I'm still traveling and so are many of the Triad folks. It's certainly a difficult room but we'll get it worked out.

 

[TheWarrior]

Alex,

Email me about this in 10 days. I'm still traveling and so are many of the Triad folks. It's certainly a difficult room but we'll get it worked out.

No rush, as I am far from sold on any processor upgrades that are needed to facilitate this anyway! (And I LOVE what JVC unveiled)

The room itself really only has troubles with seat to seat bass variation and the loss of the ceiling reflections. The boundary distances that are open to the speakers really call for an LFE x-over below 80 hz. My RBH surround speakers cannot allow for this, and I have already designed their replacements which are a 3-way that will handle more bass.

My only concern is I believe Triad uses Revelator tweeters, whereas 6640 Beryllium will be used up front, I am undecided if the surrounds will still get the 6640 or if I opt for the less expensive soft dome 6620. But this is why I am only interested in the Silver or Gold models as I doubt I can justify building THAT many speakers, myself.

 

[huskydriver]

If Paul Scarpelli is still available on this forum, I have a couple of questions about Triad speakers. Does anyone know how I could contact him for a brief question or two. Thanks.

Huskydriver

 

[DigitalDawn]

Hi,

I haven't seen Paul here in a while. I guess I am the remaining Triad Audioholics expert. How can I be of help?

Dawn

 

[nathan_h]

If Paul Scarpelli is still available on this forum, I have a couple of questions about Triad speakers. Does anyone know how I could contact him for a brief question or two. Thanks.

Huskydriver

I believe Paul is off enjoying his well earned retirement.

Dawn, who replied, is a great resource with inside connections, and lots of thread participants, here and on other forums, are quite well informed. So posting your question is likely to lead to good results.

 

[DigitalDawn]

Hi Nathan,

Nice to see you over here.

 

[huskydriver]

I have followed Triad for a long time and have finally decided to take the plunge and purchase a complete set to replace the older Snell THX speakers that I have. I still like the vintage Snell's, but it's time to change. Most of the Triad dealers that I have contacted have very little experience with the brand and mostly just read the literature to me when I ask questions. Actually, I tend to know more about the speakers than they do. Frustrating! By the way, I just retired and need a new project.

I have several general questions and a few specific questions about Triad recomendations for a home theater/music room. About 75% of my use is listening to music and the rest movies. I have been told in the past that good music speakers are also good movie speakers, but not necessarily vice versa.

My plan is to purchase 3 Triad Gold Monitors (as Paul owned at one time according to a thead) and 2 platinum subwoofers. I do know that I want point source surrounds (I have dipoles for the sides and monopoles in the rear now). I do have a relatively large room (3500 cubic feet). All of these speakers are Inroom Triad speakers and I will do all of the work of mounting them. The undecided question is surrounds. Should I choose the Silver Monitor as surrounds or go with the Gold MiniMonitor as surrounds. In addition, I will gladly accept any other recommendations regarding the entire set of speakers.

I know this is wordy and maybe a little "neurotic", but the cost is significant and I want to get it right. Experienced Triad folks are hard to come by! (I see you are a Triad dealer)

Thank you for your time and expertise.

Huskydriver

 

[DigitalDawn]

Hi,

I am a Triad Platinum dealer and I feel your pain with the latest influx of Triad dealers since Control4 bought the brand two years ago. Quite honestly, there are over 120 different Triad speakers and this can be a daunting line for the newest crop of resellers.

Anyway, I would be happy to help. You are correct about music vs movies. Whenever a customer tells me that they are interested in music as much or more than films, the Monitor line is where I try to go. With a room size of 3500 cubic feet you are actually in-between the Silver and Gold Monitor series' (and their silky smooth Scan-Speak drivers). If you have the budget, go with Gold. Also, please keep in mind that the Monitor line is best powered by separates. Which brand/model of electronics do you plan to use?

Now, before I can feel comfortable suggesting surrounds, can you tell me how far your seating is from both the side walls and the rear wall? Same thing for the Main Listening Position.

Are you planning on doing an Atmos system?

Also, if you have the time, a floorplan with seating and dimensions would be super helpful. It can be hand-drawn, so no worries.

A few years ago I created a handy tool called the Triad Speaker Matching Chart. It tells you which Triad speakers are voiced similarly to one another. If you would like this let me know and I will email it to you.

Dawn -- A Gold Monitor owner for the past 14 years

 

[huskydriver]

Thanks for the help.

#1 The room is 17 ft x 23 ft with a 9 ft ceiling (3500 ft as mentioned)
#2 The distance to the LCR speakers are 10 feet from the primary seating area (12 ft to the front wall)
#3 The distance to the side surround (dipole) is 8 feet (7 ft straight to the wall) and it is 3 feet above ear level. It is situated between two rows of seats. There are only two rows of seats and each row has only two seats.
#4 The rear surrounds are monopoles and are 11 feet from the main seating (10 ft straight to the walls) and again 3 ft above ear level. They do not "hot spot" with music. Of course, they do when called upon in movies.
#5 I have two Snell subwoofers (18") in the front corners. Believe it or not, the bass is reasonably smooth at my primary seated position. I am familier with the concept of "corner loading", but it has not been a problem, especially with music. I understand that the Platinum subwoofers are delivered with the RackAmp 700 that does offers parametric equalizers. That might be useful for the lower frequencies. Unfortunately, no one in my area has an RTA to utilize the equalizers.
#6 I use a Bryston SP-3 processor and all the amplifiers are Bryston (25 years old and still going strong).
#7 By the way, the projector is a Sony VW385ES and the screen is a Stewart StudioTek 1.0 with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. (constant image height). The room is neutral gray with no windows and completely dark with the lights out.
#8 I have your speaker matching chart. That certainly required a great amount of familiarity with the Triad line of speakers!
#9 No atmos for me. I'm a KISS ("keep it simple stupid") kind of guy.

I will try to include a drawing of the room if I can figure out how to include a scanned document. I rarely ever visit forums of any kind, so I am a newbie at this. Even though I might appear to be a bit techie, the music and the movies are my real interest.
I think it worked! Here is a sloppy drawing of the room. Thanks again.

 

[DigitalDawn]

Thanks for all the info. Your drawing is fine and tells me that your room calls for direct radiating surround speakers. So, I would go with Gold MiniMonitors for surrounds.

As far as corner loading with subs, it's rarely a problem and we use this approach all the time.

Nice electronics and screen, by the way.