Let me begin by saying that I own a pair of the Acapella Triolons which replaced a pair of Campanile Highs which I owned for about 5 years and I have had the opportunity to hear the Triolons in two other set-ups, my home and Audio Federation. I have already posted lengthy comments about what the speakers sounded like in both set-ups. More importantly, I have been able to hear the speakers with a number of partnering amplifiers, from very low powered SET's like the Lamm and Audio Note to high powered transister amps like the Edge Reference and the Parasound JC-1's and the Campanile Highs with an FM Acoustics 411. Each sounded different and each emphasized certain aspects of the speakers' performance. The comments that follow are in two parts: (i) context around the sound of the speakers at the RMAF, which some will dismiss as making excuses, and (ii)what the speakers actually sounded like at the RMAF, at least in my opinion, focusing on the sound Thursday night and Friday vs the sound Saturday afternoon and Sunday.
The Triolons are handbuilt after an order is actually submitted to the factory and it takes 4-6 months for the factory to build and ship a pair. The pair of Triolons at RMAF belonged to the importer and have seen about a month of actual play. Although this has little effect on the horns and plasma drivers, it does have a significant effect on the 4-10" SEAS drivers in each cabinet which require an extended break-in period. In the case of my Campaniles, this took about six months of playing them two or three hours per day almost every day. Prior to break-in the bass was somewhat loose and lacked the last bit of extension and dynamics, particularly at the loud end of the spectrum.
Many of you will remember the room used at RMAF for the Triolons as one that in the past was used for the VR-9's and the Evolutions last year. The room itself has problems particularly in the bass. The room this year did have significant sonic treatment by Golden Acoustics; however, there are limits to what can be accomplished in a day and with limited treatment modules. This year was clearly the best that the room has sounded by a large degree acoustically. In comparison to the room at the importer's home which has seen about $30k of custom treatment designed specifically for that room, the room at RMAF did not compare (3% wall treated vs 13%). The drop in ceiling at the hotel is also a significant problem which the rooms on floors above the first floor did not have to contend with. Note that the review of the Triolons by Constantine Soo of Dagogo was at the importer's home. AC power at the show was also variable, but generally bad to horrible. Finally, the Triolons are a strange load for an amp. I have heard magical things from them with the right SET (ML2.1's and Kegons) and also with the right high power solid state amps, but they reveal the limitations of many amps of both types.
Now, on to what I heard. There were two Acapella set-ups at RMAF, High Campaniles driven with the FM Acoustics 411 and the Triolons driven with two pairs of Einstein 60 watt OTL's. Both speakers share the same woofers in very similar boxes. The Triolons are marginally more efficient but have the same impedance curve as the Campaniles, essentially 4 ohms from about 36 hz to 40k hz but with a very narrow impedance spike around 28 hz of 30 ohms. On Friday, the Triolons sounded good from the upper bass through the lower highs, but something was definitely amiss in the bass and the upper top end was missing some of the extension and clarity that is so characteristic of the plasma tweeters. Female voices and stringed instruments sounded particularly good. Image size was believable but focus was a bit soft as was attack. At this same point, the Campaniles next door were also a mixed bag. Note that the Campaniles were a 5 year old pair that had been thoroughly broken-in. The Campaniles were creating excellent bass with incredible attack. They were also extremely clean and extended at the top. What they lacked on Friday was a believeable, fully fleshed out midrange. Things began to change dramatically on Saturday for both set-ups. In particular, the Campaniles began to exhibit a much more balanced midrange and a sweeter top end while retaining the speed, precision and control in the bass and incredible dynamics. Likewise, the Triolons began to exhibit better control of the bass and the bass began to sound more coherent with the other drivers, more of a whole cloth. By Saturday late afternoon, both the Campaniles and the Triolons were sounding very good and given ones personal preferences, one might have chosen either over the other. Sunday morning was a different story, one that favored the Triolons by a significant margin. The bass had reached a point where it was nicely controlled but very natural and organic and now sounded coherent with the other drivers and the top end was extended and sweet in the way that live unamplified music is. The Campaniles driven by the FM Acoustics amp remained tighter and better controlled, also more dynamic but they never sounded quite real in the way that the bass of the Triolons sounded. The midrange of the Campaniles had also continued to improve but never raeched the levels of the Triolons driven by the Einstein OTL's, just as its top end never seemed to have the sweetness of the Triolons driven by tubes. Were the Triolons perfect by Sunday? Not really, but they were damn good and by a considerable margin the best system that I heard at the show. The Triolons are a speaker that is capable of magic in the right system, but this requires a great deal of care and the right room and associated equipment. I have never heard the Triolons in the importer's acoustically optimized room but have no reason to doubt that they are anything but magical. Have I achieved magic with my Triolons in my home? Not yet, but there have been ocassional glimpses and I hope to get there in the near future with a little help from my friends.
