Anyone compared GoldenEar Triton 7 with Triton Reference?

I get your point regarding the size of the sweet spot, but that in and of itself is unnatural. That's not how one hears things when one is at a live acoustic event when one moves around. The Ohms are much closer to the live experience with this one aspect.

All HiFi is unnatural.

As one who has mixed live sound, recorded large orchestras in great studios, attended concerts in the worlds finest halls, continues to produce live productions in our local 450 seat venue, I categorically state that NO HiFi anywhere anytime is anything but an extremely poor simulacrum of any live performance, acoustic or otherwise.

IMO, the flaw in the Walsh theory is that sound from instruments is not omnidirectional. An acoustic guitar sounds very different as one walks around a seated player. The Walsh driver takes the frontally recorded sound and flings out 360° to bounce and absorb erratically in the listening space. One may like the effect, but it is in no way similar to any live performance.

To hear a recording as made requires a system as good or better focus than the recording studio monitors.

Thanks to all for the additional comments.

stereo5, the information about room sizes and your comparison of T1 and TRef was helpful, thanks.  I'm still puzzled by my impressions from my side-by-side T7 vs TRef comparisons at each of 2 dealers, especially as your T Refs are in a similar size room to the dealers' (and so overpowering the dealers' listening rooms may not have been the issue).  It's entirely possible that my ears aren't experienced enough to appreciate such differences -- although that probably also means that if my ears weren't impressed by a speaker, I would not be happy if I purchased it.  I'm a three hour drive from the nearest GE dealer, so I had assumed an in-home demo was out, but your suggestion is a good one -- it's a good idea to ask. 

jackd, thanks for the Spatial suggestion.  I have looked into them a little, but I was concerned about placement issues, as positioning is quite constrained, for me.  How far from the wall and sides are yours?

twoleftears, I am not necessarily aiming to stick with GE.  But GE seemed the easiest starting point, as I already have the 7s and a SuperCenter XL in a 3.1 HT configuration.  [For HT, what I have is quite adequate for me. It's for music that I've found myself hankering for bigger soundstage and more detail/clarity than the GE T7's].  As far as non-GE options go, another recent thread (https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/road-trip-to-demo-10-000-speakers) was very helpful in  identifying other possible upgrade paths.

@otinkyad 

My Spatial's at the moment are 36" from the rear wall to the front of the baffle.  I tried them as far out as 5 ft and didn't notice any significant difference.  As to the side walls they are about six feet on one side and about 8 feet on the other due to the layout of the room.  The subs are at the inside back edge of each baffle.

I'd agree that all hi-fi fails to some degree to capture live acoustic performances. But, a couple of comments. First, the current Ohms are not full omnis. They have a controlled dispersion pattern. Second, instruments vary in their sound projection. A cymbal is fully omni while a trumpet has a very tight focus. Others are in between. Conventional speakers only have one radiation pattern that gets used for everything it plays, so they are just as much a compromise in this regard as Ohms, Quads or any other radiation pattern.

As for the T-Refs, they were physically too large for my room, which serves many purposes.

As for not moving around during a concert, that's true, but I also don't always get the same seat. I like the Ohms from the standpoint that I don't need to be in only one spot to get good sound -- that's especially nice if there is a group of people in the room listening.

Like everything audio, it comes down to individual taste. I really enjoyed my Triton 7s for the 3 years I owned them. They are a great buy. RIght now, I happen to like my Ohms better. YMMV.