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Tower speakers w/ integrated subs - Def Tech BP9060 vs GoldenEar Tritons?

4206 Views 25 Replies 12 Participants Last post by lefthandluke, Sep 26, 2019

zew

Discussion Starter · Sep 24, 2019

Hi, I'm looking to upgrade my current system (2.1) to floorstanding speakers that have powered subwoofers built-in. I use it for equal parts music listening & TV/movies. My budget is $1500-3000 for the pair. Rich bass is important to me.

I've been eyeballing the Definitive Technology BP9060's for a while, but was wondering if anyone thought I needed to strongly be considering the GoldenEar Triton Two+ (or Three's)? Or any other brands I'm not considering? I believe the GE's would be a big leap in terms of price - do you feel the quality is substantially better?

I've never heard the Tritons. I've demo'd the DT's a couple times at Best Buy - once I was blown away, once I thought it sounded hollow and odd (I wondered if maybe the employee didn't know what they were doing and had some weird setting enabled? Or if the room placement was off?). I really prefer the minimal, clean aesthetic of the DT's compared with other tower speakers.

Thank you in advance.

1 - 20 of 26 Posts

pbz06

· #2 · Sep 24, 2019 (Edited)

I have the 9060s and they're great for my living room setup. I also love their aesthetic. They deliver good clean bass down to about 30-32hz before dropping off. I do have a separate sub and cross them at 80hz, but they still play down to 40hz with the slope being -12dB per octave. Frees up the mids and highs to play a little cleaner.

Best buy allows returns so try them in your room for more accurate assessment. Plus who knows what settings or dsp or correction they have, probably not optimum setup. Thy likly just crank them up.

Reactions: 1

derekmoore

· #3 · Sep 24, 2019

^ exactly.

I'd love to hear the GE's myself, but have not unfortunately. Sandy Gross is the main designer behind both speakers if I'm not mistaken.

The GE's use a type of folded ribbon tweeter which I would love to hear. I'm not aware of much difference in design philosophy beyond that.

Used DT BP speakers can be had for very good prices if you can be patient and are willing to take the chance. DT is very good with customer service and often times will repair/replace parts, socks, end caps etc for free if in stock regardless of the warranty period or if you are the original owner or not. GE might have the same philosophy, IDK.

Keep in mind, having your "sub's" placed in the same position as your mains is not always optimal. DT, GE, and others with powered towers like to promote that you don't need a separate sub with this design but that is strictly room dependent. YMMV.

Many still cross over the biggest of these power towers at 80htz and run multiple separate subs.

What does your current system consist of, and what are you hoping to improve upon with new speakers?

3K could get you some very nice used towers along with a new badas$ sub.....or two.

Room size and usage would be helpful too.

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zew

Discussion Starter · #4 · Sep 25, 2019

derekmoore said:
What does your current system consist of, and what are you hoping to improve upon with new speakers?

3K could get you some very nice used towers along with a new badas$ sub.....or two.

Room size and usage would be helpful too.

Currently have Pioneer SP-FS52 towers and a Polk PSW10 sub. I'm very happy with the Pioneer towers (cheap as they are) but they def require a sub and I think they're pretty ugly. I'm striving for a more elegant minimalist look, and would love to avoid separate subwoofers to free up space. Even if there's a trade off with these integrated sub towers.

I live in a small NYC apartment - even if we move elsewhere, I expect to have pretty small living rooms. Usage is 50% music, 50% TV/movies. To me, it's important to have rich sub low end for the music, but I don't care about booming house-shaking bass for movies.

zew

Discussion Starter · #5 · Sep 25, 2019

pbz06 said:
I have the 9060s and they're great for my living room setup. I also love their aesthetic. They deliver good clean bass down to about 30-32hz before dropping off. I do have a separate sub and cross them at 80hz, but they still play down to 40hz with the slope being -12dB per octave. Frees up the mids and highs to play a little cleaner.

Some of the DT critics (and those who are telling me the GoldenEar's are way better) say the tweeters are harsh and the treble is very fatiguing. Do you find that to be the case, in any usage?

Funny, my crappy Polk PSW10 sub is only rated down to 40hz, so the 9060s would already be a big improvement even when getting rid of the separate sub altogether.

Zorba922

· #6 · Sep 25, 2019

zew said:
Currently have Pioneer SP-FS52 towers and a Polk PSW10 sub. I'm very happy with the Pioneer towers (cheap as they are) but they def require a sub and I think they're pretty ugly. I'm striving for a more elegant minimalist look, and would love to avoid separate subwoofers to free up space. Even if there's a trade off with these integrated sub towers.

I live in a small NYC apartment - even if we move elsewhere, I expect to have pretty small living rooms. Usage is 50% music, 50% TV/movies. To me, it's important to have rich sub low end for the music, but I don't care about booming house-shaking bass for movies.

You don't need POWERED subs for what you're describing...any good tower speaker that goes down to 35-40Hz will be plenty for 95% of music unless you are a total hip hop basshead or listen to a lot of pipe organ music.

At $3K/pr I would take a look at the Ascend Sierra Tower with RAAL tweeters:
http://ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/SRT/srt.html

At $1500/pr I would look at:
https://www.musicdirect.com/speakers/MartinLogan-Motion-40-Tower-Speakers
https://www.musicdirect.com/speakers/Wharfedale-Diamond-115-Tower-Speakers

torii

· #7 · Sep 25, 2019

lots of speakers could be same price yet sound very different. find a few attributes that are must haves and maybe we can narrow down a list for ya. some simple ones might be size of room and avr/amp used, type of tweeters, looks, flat measurements, type of music....

pbz06

· #8 · Sep 25, 2019

zew said:
Some of the DT critics (and those who are telling me the GoldenEar's are way better) say the tweeters are harsh and the treble is very fatiguing. Do you find that to be the case, in any usage?

Funny, my crappy Polk PSW10 sub is only rated down to 40hz, so the 9060s would already be a big improvement even when getting rid of the separate sub altogether.

No way, they are more on the neutral side. I'm 95% movies and prefer the bipolar soundstage and their impact. The critics are Sandy Gross fanboys who think that once he left, the sound magically got worse. Same thing once Best Buy started selling them, folks freak out like when a music band goes from Indie to mainstream...blah.

While sound preferences are subjective, you always have to trim out the extreme opinions. They don't "suck", just like they aren't the best in the world. They're objectively and subjectively really good

https://www.audioholics.com/surround-sound-reviews/definitive-bp9080x-bp9060-cs9060-dolby-atmos-review
That's a good review...

derekmoore

· #9 · Sep 25, 2019

zew said:
Some of the DT critics (and those who are telling me the GoldenEar's are way better) say the tweeters are harsh and the treble is very fatiguing. Do you find that to be the case, in any usage?
QUOTE]

DT tweeters are not the best. They do lack in some detail and indeed can be fatiguing. But for me that only happens after extended periods with the MV at 0.00 or higher. But is a trade off I'm willing to make in exchange for the huge sound stage because I'm not often just sitting in the sweet spot.

At some point I will look to upgrade and the Sierra's w/ RAAL suggested above would be tops on my list to consider in the 3K range.

I also agree that focusing on the towers in your case first makes sense. If you want to add some low end support down the road you can make that call later.

zew

Discussion Starter · #10 · Sep 25, 2019

If I should focus on passive towers, should I be considering the SVS Prime Pinnacles? The price is nice, I've heard good things about the brand, and they are rated down to 29Hz. (Feel free to scold me if I'm placing too much importance on Frequency Response).

gajCA

· #11 · Sep 25, 2019

zew said:
If I should focus on passive towers, should I be considering the SVS Prime Pinnacles? The price is nice, I've heard good things about the brand, and they are rated down to 29Hz. (Feel free to scold me if I'm placing too much importance on Frequency Response).

What subwoofer are you using.

No need to have deep bass extension when using a quality sub; you'd cross the towers over at 80hz.

You can look through the measurements here of many speakers including the 8000 series DefTecs and many Golden Ears.

If anything the measurements tell me that the GEs have a more elevated treble.

https://www.soundstagenetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16&Itemid=140

zew

Discussion Starter · #12 · Sep 25, 2019

gajCA said:
What subwoofer are you using.

No need to have deep bass extension when using a quality sub; you'd cross the towers over at 80hz.

No subwoofer - I am trying to ditch a subwoofer without sacrificing with music. My thought process was to upgrade my 2.1 to a 2.0 tower system like the Def Techs that have subs built-in. Some people in this board are advising me not to do that, and instead just focus on strong passive towers.

gajCA

· #13 · Sep 25, 2019

zew said:
No subwoofer - I am trying to ditch a subwoofer without sacrificing with music. My thought process was to upgrade my 2.1 to a 2.0 tower system like the Def Techs that have subs built-in. Some people in this board are advising me not to do that, and instead just focus on strong passive towers.

I have a very capable 15" sealed servo subwoofer but when listening to music with my 39hz rated tower speakers I do prefer 2.0.

RayGuy

· #14 · Sep 25, 2019 (Edited)

If you are not going to get a sub, then either speaker would be fine. That said, bass is always problematic, and the best position of that sort of tower for imaging and soundstage may not be the best position for bass response. So, you may have a tradeoff there.

Pick your poison. In any case, I would find a way to hear both speakers before making a purchase decision.

Kini62

· #15 · Sep 25, 2019

zew said:
If I should focus on passive towers, should I be considering the SVS Prime Pinnacles? The price is nice, I've heard good things about the brand, and they are rated down to 29Hz. (Feel free to scold me if I'm placing too much importance on Frequency Response).

If you're near a best buy it would be best to get both the DefTech and SVS Pinnacle speakers and try them both in your room. You have at least 30 days with both.

zew

Discussion Starter · #16 · Sep 25, 2019

Kini62 said:
If you're near a best buy it would be best to get both the DefTech and SVS Pinnacle speakers and try them both in your room. You have at least 30 days with both.

Yeah, I've heard the Def Techs and like them. But the Best Buys (Magnolia rooms) near me only seem to carry DT and B&W. No SVS or GoldenEar or anything else that I'd like to actually audition alongside it. So it's hard to get a sense of which I'd prefer.

In fact in all of NYC, I don't know of any locations that have SVS Prime Pinnacle demos, and when I called up the local GoldenEar dealer, he only had 1's and 7's. You'd think in a major city I'd have lots of options!

torii

· #17 · Sep 25, 2019

who is that upscale audio guy...or mean where? they seem to carry everything.

gajCA

· #18 · Sep 25, 2019

zew said:
Yeah, I've heard the Def Techs and like them. But the Best Buys (Magnolia rooms) near me only seem to carry DT and B&W. No SVS or GoldenEar or anything else that I'd like to actually audition alongside it. So it's hard to get a sense of which I'd prefer.

In fact in all of NYC, I don't know of any locations that have SVS Prime Pinnacle demos, and when I called up the local GoldenEar dealer, he only had 1's and 7's. You'd think in a major city I'd have lots of options!

B&H Photo carries many great speaker lines including the discounted Polk LSim as does Adorama camera in NYC.

Kini62

· #19 · Sep 26, 2019

zew said:
Yeah, I've heard the Def Techs and like them. But the Best Buys (Magnolia rooms) near me only seem to carry DT and B&W. No SVS or GoldenEar or anything else that I'd like to actually audition alongside it. So it's hard to get a sense of which I'd prefer.

In fact in all of NYC, I don't know of any locations that have SVS Prime Pinnacle demos, and when I called up the local GoldenEar dealer, he only had 1's and 7's. You'd think in a major city I'd have lots of options!

SVS has shipping both ways included in the price as well as a 45 day trial period. Crutchfield ships free to you, you pay a discounted return shipping and they have a 60 day trial period.

buckchester

· #20 · Sep 26, 2019

Zorba922 said:
You don't need POWERED subs for what you're describing...any good tower speaker that goes down to 35-40Hz will be plenty for 95% of music unless you are a total hip hop basshead or listen to a lot of pipe organ music.

At $3K/pr I would take a look at the Ascend Sierra Tower with RAAL tweeters:
http://ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/SRT/srt.html

At $1500/pr I would look at:
https://www.musicdirect.com/speakers/MartinLogan-Motion-40-Tower-Speakers
https://www.musicdirect.com/speakers/Wharfedale-Diamond-115-Tower-Speakers

The ML Motion 40s actually measure quite poorly.

https://www.soundstagenetwork.com/i...&catid=77:loudspeaker-measurements&Itemid=153

1 - 20 of 26 Posts

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