Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Triangle Celius Speakers by J Harris

Model:	Celius
Category:	Speakers
Suggested Retail Price:	$1995
Description:	3 way, high-efficiency floorstanding loudspeaker.
Manufacturer URL:	Not Available
Manufacturer URL:	Not Available

Review by J Harris ( P ) on March 28, 2002 at 10:25:49
IP Address: 208.58.19.232

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Take this review with the caveat that I was only able to audition these at a dealer... I have not lived with these speakers, and I'm only recording impressions that I had in a single particular listening experience. That said, those impressions were not good.
I've been looking for sensitive dynamic speakers to try out with my low-wattage SET amps, and Sam Tellig's review of the Celiuses naturally caught my eye. I currently use horns and while I like my speakers a lot, I wondered if I was getting sound as airy and fast as can be available from direct radiators. Most of the comments here supported Sam's review, so I decided to head down to a new and very cool high-end salon in NYC to give 'em a listen.
I mainly listen to vinyl, so I brought some records: Dave Brubeck "Time Further Out" Columbia six-eye, Mozart 40th/41st (Szell/Cleveland), AC/DC "Powerage", and Fleetwood Mac "Rumours". I also brought a friend for a second opinion. She had been staying in my apartment, so she was familiar with my own system.
So! The friendly salesguy hooks up the Celiuses, and we throw on the Mozart 40th. The first amp was C-J solid state; the preamp Quicksilver, the table Nottingham Analogue Spacedeck, the cart the Goldring Eroica. Cabling was Acoustic Zen. We sit down -- pretty nearfield, the speakers are on the long wall of the small (12 X 16) listening room.
Soundstaging and imaging were very impressive -- orchestra right there between the speakers, instruments clearly placed, depth, height etc. etc. For my friend, seated to the right of the sweet spot, the soundstage had a hole in the middle. But these are attributes that don't interest me very much -- I'm more interested with tone. Here the highs were steely and bright in the extreme. The violins seemed to be screaming in my ear. The top was all metal and no wood.
I pointed this out to the salesperson, who admitted (as everyone here has said) that the Celiuses should be used with tubes. So we moved the speakers to the opposite side of the room, and hooked them up to a very impressive tube system. Now the preamp was a tubed C-J model (sorry, can't remember the model number), while the amps were the huge Komuro 845s at 60 watts push-pull -- truly gorgeous pieces of equipment, by the way. The turntable on this rig was the $8000 Nottingham Analogue Anna Log (sitting in an actual polished log that has a cut-out for the platter), with the Nottingham arm and a Van Den Hul MC-Two Special. Cabling again was Acoustic Zen, I believe.
We tried the Mozart again. This time, the strings were much better defined -- texture was there, and we could hear the woody low end. It didn't reach very low in the bass, as one might expect, and the "presence" of the speaker was very much above 100 Hz (it's said to be flat down to 45-50). I found it a very analytical, though quick and rhythmic, presentation.
Next was the Brubeck. Ah! Lovely. The wide stereo period recording meant that there wasn't much of a soundstage, but that didn't matter. All the instruments -- snare, sax, bass -- gloriously present. The bass was tuneful and well-defined. I closed my eyes and the music sounded startlingly real.
Then Rumours. Argh! "Second Hand News" starts, and as soon as Lindsey Buckingham's high vocal enters, that screaming treble is there again. Same with the guitars. At a couple moments, I literally flinched at the unpleasant brightness of the guitar/vocal mix. This from a legendarily well-recorded album -- a record that should shine in any good system.
The salesguy then suggested that we had to use well-recorded albums (I didn't bother pointing out that so far we'd played nothing else), and asked whether he could put on a demonstration disk -- another small-group jazz record. I assented, so on went "Jazz at the Pawnshop" (Arne Domnerius), an audiophile issue (I didn't see the label). It sounded amazing. Even better than the Brubeck. You could feel the tips of the brushes on the snare with your fingers. The presentation was toe-tapping and airy. It was a real "They are here" experience.
At that point we had to vacate the listening room for the next appointment. I asked the salesguy whether I could bring my own amps down for a listen sometime this week, and explained that I still found the system too bright on some recordings. He replied that the Triangles are ruthlessly revealing of any defects in the recording (we've heard that before)... which was why he'd put on the Domnerius LP.
After the visit I discussed the Celiuses with my friend. We both agreed that speakers that only sound good with good recordings are useless. If we all only listened to good recordings, then we'd be excluding 95% of recorded musical history -- the music has to come first, then the sound system.
But we also agreed that the Celiuses, at least in these two setups, could only sound good on sparse, acoustic recordings like the Brubeck and the Domnerius. Their ability to get snarled up in loud tuttis of orchestral or rock recordings was less than impressive. And the ear-shredding tweeter just cannot be borne on anything less than stellar recordings -- or possibly on many stellar recordings as well, based on our experience with the Fleetwood Mac album.
It occurred to me that the Triangles perhaps hadn't made it through break-in. Many people have written that they require 500 hours plus. But this store surely knows that -- they only carry two lines of speaker, and their selection and staff show that they are very knowledgeable about audio. Moreover, the Triangles sounded perfectly broken-in on the jazz records.
Placement was less than ideal, I'm pretty sure. We were probably sitting too close. But my living room, while larger, has its own acoustic problems. Nothing I heard at the dealer made me want to bring the Triangles over to my apartment to see how they fared in my room. Everything about my room (5 windows on the street) tends to emphasize brightness. You can tame this with room treatments, and I have, but if the speakers sounded that bright in a well-treated dealer's salon, soundproofed, treated ceiling, carpet, plush chairs etc., then how much more bright would they sound at home?
I went home with relief to my own speakers.
J!

Product Weakness: Bright to the point of ear-bleeding pain, at least in this particular demo. Not much low end. Stressed on complex tuttis. A certain analytical quality.
Product Strengths: Soundstaging, imaging. Toe-tapping rhythm and pace. Real presence on small-group acoustic jazz.

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	C-J solid state, then Komuro 845 tubes (60 watts)
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Quicksilver tubes, then C-J tubes
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Nottingham Analogue Spacedeck/Goldring Eroica, then Nottingham Analogue Anna Log/Van Den Hul MC-Two Special
Speakers:	Triangle Celius (92 db)
Cables/Interconnects:	Acoustic Zen
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	See above
Time Period/Length of Audition:	Two hours
Type of Audition/Review:	Dealer Demo
Your System (if other than home audition):	Click on my profile above -- Analog, sets and horns

Product Weakness:	Bright to the point of ear-bleeding pain, at least in this particular demo. Not much low end. Stressed on complex tuttis. A certain analytical quality.
Product Strengths:	Soundstaging, imaging. Toe-tapping rhythm and pace. Real presence on small-group acoustic jazz.