GoldenEar Triton Five floor standing

Description
There are three drivers in each 40lb golden Ear Triton Five: two 6" cast-basket woofers, plus what golden Ear calls a High Velocity Folded Ribbon (HVFR) tweeter. Mounted on the speaker's sides are four 8" "Planar Sub-Bass Radiators," which are passive and reflex-load the woofers. The Triton Five is 44.25" high by 6.625" wide (front) by 8.125" wide (rear) by 12.375" deep and is really a sealed box in a sock: A polyester sleeve is stretched to cover the entire speaker, except for the top and base—just like the old Vander Steen 2, DCM Time Window, and Quad ESL-63, all of which I thought looked très moderne in a wide range of domestic environments. The whole sock idea appeals to me: I think it makes all of those speakers look timeless (even a bit genderless?), while avoiding the dings and scratches inherent to wood-clad boxes. The Triton Five is a big tower speaker, but without the polished giant-robot look I find so immature and obtrusive. Obviously, golden Ear does not feel the need to show off all their drivers and radiators to prove the speaker's worth.

Listening
The GoldenEar Triton Fives have been in and out of my system for months now. I've listened critically and uncritically, with and without the sock. (Actually, they look pretty smart and sound livelier and more detailed when they're stripped nude.) But until now, I hadn't interrupted my listening to think about the Triton Five's dispersion, which always seemed okay. The tweeters are 36" above the floor; my ears are 35"–37" high when I sit in my main listening seat, and 44" when I'm at my desk, to the right of the right speaker. Moving my head from side to side and up and down while sitting at either place produced an unstressed evenness of response that I associated with an absence of obvious peaks or dips. But when I sat down to write this review, recollections of my earlier MTM experiences caused me not to believe my ears.

Description:
Two-way, reflex-loaded, floor standing loudspeaker. Drive-units: High Velocity Folded Ribbon (HVFR) tweeter, two 6" woofers, four 8" planar passive radiators. Frequency range: 26Hz–35kHz. Sensitivity: 90dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: "compatible with 8 ohms." Recommended amplification: 15–400Wpc.

Dimensions:
 44.25" (1135mm) H by 6.625" (170mm) W (front) by 8.125" (210mm) W (rear) by 12.375" (320mm) D. (Height includes base, no spikes.) Weight: 40 lbs (18.2kg) net, 56 lbs (25.5kg) shipping.

Finish: Black cloth.