Triangle Titus 202 Opinions?

I do take them with a grain of salt. Heck, something that sounds good in the bedroom can sound like hell in the living room so these are generalizations. One note that you brought up is that the Titus got more expensive, and it did. And while it may be put in a more competative class in the real world, the Stereophile ratings are not based on value,but just overall performance. So a class B speaker wether it be $500 or $5000 should be able to get the listener to the same level of performance if the rest of the chain is up to snuff. The Titus was not just a great $500 speaker, but a great $2000 speaker.

The fact Triangle hiked the price and lost some footing in the strereophile rankings (which is extremely coveted by all manufacturers listed)to me = dissapointment.

-rob

I would say the price hike is due to the dollar being pitifully weak and not Triangle trying to make more money.

Having done some research ( about time I did, blush ) I discover that the Titus ES doesn't compare with the old Titus 202. The ES line's 202 replacement is called the Stella. The new Titus ES is a new speaker. That's what the dealers say, anyway. Certainly the Stella is sized ( and priced ) more like the old Titus.

I listened to the Stella when my Dad chose his Titus ESes and I liked it OK. Next to the Titus, though, it was boxy. The Tituses did a better disappearing act.

Don't forget that Stereophile ratings are NOT fixed, but relative to the advances in audio: A speaker that got an A rating in 1995 might not make the C list in 2005. So, I will bet that a/b comparison of the Titus XS (which got the B rating) with the new version would leave the original XS in the dust. Simply, the competition is just stiffer and expectations higher, making a higher standard for the B class than four years ago. Just my 2 cents....