Could a verbalizer review make you emotional enough to cry ? Give me a few minutes , and we ’ll find out .
The occasion for this article is a loudspeaker review — specifically , the GoldenEar T66 . If you ’re not familiar with GoldenEar , you will be shortly , and you may be surprised to know that the talker stigma hails from a distinguished lineage of speaker unit brands with which I ’m fairly sure youarefamiliar .
Before I get into the speakers themselves , though , I need / require to tell you a very personal news report for two reasons . One : I just could n’t do this review any other fashion , and I opine you ’ll sympathize why in just a bit . Two : This story explain a sure bias I had going into this review . You want to love where that bias comes from , and the degree to which I am able to set it by for an documentary evaluation .
If you want to pass over ahead , you may scroll ahead to the Review section . But I go for you stick with me here , because … well , this is super significant to me .
Video review
Darryl Denison
I do n’t often get super personal in reviews , but I need to do just that . I ’d like you to meet my dad .
Darryl Denison . have on the island of Oahu , Hawaii . transplant to California as a vernal adolescent , my daddy had a somewhat toughened life growing up . Both parents were in the military machine — at Pearl Harbor during the onslaught that differentiate the United States ’ official ledger entry into World War II , in reality — and that meant a very exacting , no - frills upbringing .
My dad was always a operose worker , but he did n’t make a lot of money . After he served as an air traffic comptroller stationed in Okinawa during the Vietnam War , he met and married my mum , and supported his folk through an eclectic series of leftover jobs . He was a church building pastor , a carpenter , a seismograph operator for a blasting company , and so much more . The family grew , and after my chum and baby were born , we moved in with my grandparents so he could go back to school and realize his breast feeding degree — it was time for a career .
Stereo gear and music were a mutual passion that always land us close together .
Like I said , we did n’t have much money growing up . But we always had some sort of two-channel system . At first it was a niggling all - in - one turntable / receiver paired with cheap loudspeaker . After he graduate from the nursing program and commence his first decent - paying business , he bought an RCA rack system at JCPenney that look far cooler than it sounded . He afterwards give the petty turntable system down to me and my brother , and I got to have it in our way .
Over the geezerhood , my dad come to learn that I bonk electronics and music as much as he did . And it became something we could bond over . I always had a complicated relationship with my pa , but stereophonic gear and music were a mutual heat that always brought us tight together .
I ’ll never block the day my pappa make up one’s mind to grease one’s palms the family our very first high - end audio recording system . He was finally making some comely money — having worked his tail off for years — and had save up for something prissy .
I was so worked up to be by his side as we took a trip down to Fred ’s audio of Music in Portland , Oregon , to cull out components for a newfangled scheme . Together , we listen to a clump of gear . And together we decided on Carver separates and , ultimately , Paradigm speakers .
I was so proud that my opinion count that day . I feel a level of trust and acknowledgment like I had n’t before . It ’s a feeling I ’d continue to go after , even as an grownup .
I was haunt with how this system fathom . My male parent beamed with pridefulness as I dug into speaker positioning , learned about stereo imaging and holography , and played around with the various buttons on the Carver gear in search for the good sound .
A new reviewer, a new speaker
tight - forward to about 2012 . After getting lay off from a speaker company during the recession in 2008 , I was bring on as a speaker reviewer for Digital Trends . I think my first review was for a subwoofer . And then I vex a set ofOrb Audio ’s speakers . I worked my elbow room up as a speaker reviewer , but nobody knew who I was , and I was n’t recognize as an expert in tech by anyone — include my dad .
I think my dad was proud that I had managed to turn lemons into lemonade and purchase my years of mania and experience in audio into a Book of Job that helped support my minuscule family . But despite the ten of 1000 of page persuasion I got on my reviews , I could tell my papa did n’t hold me in the same regard as the reviewer he respect from the magazines he loved to scan .
Dad had a certain sort of reverence for writers like John Atkinson , Michael Fremer , and Steve Guttenberg .
Like a portion of aspirational armchair audiophiles , my dada was really into Stereophile magazine . He also had Sound and Vision and Absolute Sound mags piled up around his home base . He had a certain kind of fear for writers like John Atkinson , Michael Fremer , and Steve Guttenberg .
They were the big Pisces , and I was a small Roger Eliot Fry . Objectively , he was right . I was n’t at that level . But I wanted to be at that same level in his eyes . And not just because I was his son .
One daylight I engender an unexpected email from Sandy Gross , father of Polk Audio , Definitive Technology , and GoldenEar Technology . I do n’t know why he chose me to review his former speaker , but I was thankful for the chance .
When I got the speakers , I was floored . And I knew that I had to do mybestwork . Better than I had ever done before . So , I took my metre . I lost eternal sleep over the review . I even felt sick the day my review of theGoldenEar Triton Seven speakerswent subsist on January 30 , 2014 .
I do n’t make love how much dealings that review get . But I do remember that GoldenEar was stoke about that revue .
What would it take for Dad to put me on the same footstall he ’d put these other writers ?
In fact , GoldenEar liked it so much that it used a quote from my review in a full - page ad in Rolling Stone magazine . Can you guess what it was like for me — a nobody speaker reviewer — to see their name impress in Rolling Stone magazine ? I was over the Sun Myung Moon . And I could n’t wait to show my dad .
He was proud of me , for certain . I mean , it was Rolling Stone ! But he did n’t seem to see it the same direction I did . I felt to me like I had finally made it . But I did n’t feel that proof from my dad . I was a niggling hurt . Deflated . I know my dad loved me and was proud of me . What would it take for him to put me on the same pedestal he ’d put these other writers ? I may be wrong about this , but I got the touch sensation he ’d have been more mad if he ’d go through my name alongside those other writers — intheirmagazines .
When you know you made it
Only this time , the quote was n’t in Rolling Stone , and I was n’t the one who discover it . My Dad found the ad and the quote in his precious Stereophile powder magazine . Andheshowedme .
If you ’re not an audio nerd , that might not carry much weight . Maybe you do n’t understand why the mere memory of that minute sparks so much emotion for me . I opine you ’ll just have to trust me when I say that was a big , big trade .
I in conclusion matte up like my dad respected me . I ’m certain he always did , that ’s just how I felt at the time .
Anyway . I run on to kick upstairs as a reader . I moved into television as my primary focus , but I ’ve always treated myself — and , I hope , others — to a speaker system review article when I think I ’ve found something special . And that include , among many others , theGoldenEar Triton OneandTriton Referencespeakers .
I could n’t yield to buy my dad anything quite as fancy as the Triton One , rent alone the Triton Reference . But I did manage to grease one’s palms my dad a pair of Triton Fives — the same speaker that land my name in Stereophile magazine — even if it was n’t because I was writingforStereophile mag .
And , tribe , I ca n’t separate you how tickle my dad was to get these speaker unit from his son . The boy he work so intemperately to raise and support . The boy who sent him off to process myriad graveyard teddy at one line only to have to turn around and mold mean solar day shifts at another . The boy he insisted on learning how to speak and write proper English . The male child with whom he divvy up this misunderstood passion for sound and audio gear .
live with , evaluate , and reviewing the new GoldenEar T66 has been an emotional journeying for me .
My daddy get down to enjoy those loudspeaker system in his tiny home for a solid six month and then . … Quite suddenly he was in the infirmary fighting for his spirit . Esophageal Crab .
He was gone in two weeks .
My final memories of my pa from before he got sick were sit in his midget little life room and heed to medicine from our past tense on his GoldenEar verbaliser . I had convert an former Genesis springy concert cassette into a CD , and we sat there , recall the past 35 age and how we get at that very import . And we call out .
That ’s the last time I see to it my daddy outside of his deathbed . Together , in that fiddling elbow room , with his GoldenEar Triton Five verbalizer .
I still have those Speaker , and will until the day I become flat .
But , yeah , you could imagine that survive with , evaluating , and reviewing the raw GoldenEar T66 has been an emotional journey for me . And hopefully , you could understand that there ’s just no way I could talk about these speakers without acknowledge what the stigma has meant to me in person .
With that said , I still think I can provide a pretty objective recapitulation of these Speaker . And it is with a great amount of joy and relief that I am able to severalise you that they areoutstanding .
Review
That leads me to how I really need to start out this review . The T66 are the first Speaker produced by GoldenEar Technology since Sandy Gross stepped down as president emeritus . And I do n’t consider there ’s anyone conversant with Sandy Gross and the GoldenEar story who could n’t have just a little bit of concern about whether the troupe could or would successfully carry on Sandy ’s bequest . Like it or not , I think we all be given to mold some level of worked up attachment to the brands we wish — and reverence any change that might interrupt that . ( I feel the same agency about Klipsch right on now , but that ’s a story for a different daytime . )
But clip march on . And here we are with the T66 which , as it turn out , is an outstanding speaker unit .
There are some notable switch away from elements that historically made GoldenEar speaker iconic . For example : The T66 feature an integrated , non - obliterable metallic grill rather than the cloth - covered plastic grills or full - on “ sock - vogue ” wraps we ’ve seen on speakers past .
There are also bi - wireable loudspeaker terminals on the back , And , internally , GoldenEar would wish you to know about the function of AudioQuest wiring and AudioQuest - approve crossing over components ( The Quest chemical group now owns GoldenEar Technology ) .
GoldenEar points to a few other developments alone to the T66 — the gloss of Santa Barbara Red finish we have here , to the stock gloss - back finish , a new cast - iron home , and “ dramatically augmented crossover design . ”
Save for the differences , much of the verbaliser ’s design and technology remains unmistakably GoldenEar , let in the use of a DSP - keep in line subwoofer amplifier , shape - handbasket mid - deep drivers with phase plugs , the stalwart AMT ( Air Motion Transformer ) folded ribbon tweeter , and planar bass radiators , which are activated by two 5 - inch by 9 - inch quadratic subwoofer drivers .
The result is a tall , lissome speaker that come in at about 48.8 column inch high , 14.75 inches deep , and just 7.5 inches all-embracing .
But permit ’s get back to the driver accompaniment and the subwoofer amplifier . What we have here is an MTM ( mid - tweeter - mid ) agreement up top — a 4.5 - inch mid - bass equipment driver , the AMT ribbon tweeter with a finessed wool material on the baffle to absorb diffraction , then another 4.5 - in mid - deep driver .
Just below that we have one of the five 5 - by-9 - inch active woofers , and the other active woofer is all the way down here at the bottom . GoldenEar says spacing them out this direction aids in ride these two passive freshwater bass radiator on either side of the speaker .
The active subwoofer drivers up front are driven by a 1,000 - James Watt DSP - controlled amplifier . When they move in and out , the inactive bass radiator move sympathetically . So , essentially you ’ve got four freestanding surfaces produce freshwater bass in each speaker unit . More on that benefit in a moment .
I used AudioQuest NRG - Z3 power cables that were sent along by AudioQuest as a incentive , though I am quite certain the stout power transmission line that come with the speakers are perfectly sufficient . Not gon na lie , though — I like how these expression , gibe with the wrap on the AudioQuest Rocket 33 speaker cable that were also sent for this revaluation .
The T66 have a sensitiveness rating of 91db per James Watt as quantify from 1 meter . This makes them slimly more sensitive than most “ high - end ” speakers , but not quite as easy to ride as , say , a horn - loaded Klipsch speaker .
That is to say you do n’t want a massive A to labor these speaker . In fact , I drove them to very satisfying sound pressing story with my small 35 - watt - per - channel Dynaco ST70 tube adenosine monophosphate . But I will say the speaker offer far good dynamic when I used ourAnthem STR integrated amp .
And since I ’m talk about gear , here ’s what else I used to judge the T66 . On the source side I have theEAT B - sharp turntablewith Ortofon Blue Cartridge , aCambridge Audio Alva Duo phono pre - amp , aMagnetar UDP-900 disc player — I used the consecrated balanced stereo production only — and then there was the Dynaco PAS-3 tube pre - amp , ST 70 tube amp . And I even tossed theNaim Unity Novain the admixture just for fun toward the goal .
I used a mix of pristine vinyl records , redbook CDs , SuperAudio CDs , 4 jet Blu - ray , and high - reticuloendothelial system lossless cyclosis from Apple Music for my content source .
Gripping sound
How to distinguish the sound ? At no full stop did I ever bring in an external subwoofer . Not only did I never experience the pauperism for more bass but I was so supremely satisfied with the T66 ’s low - end carrying out that I just did n’t want to mess up with it . Now , I suppose that in a pic system one could benefit from adding a consecrated subwoofer . But if you ’re going to incommode bestow a sub to the T66 , it better be a massive , zephyr - moving giant of a subwoofer , because the only thing to realize by add together a hoagie is a surfeit of rampart - shaking , plunder massaging wedge - bass part that only a 15 - inch or turgid tank can deliver .
The T66 can make basso you may find if the depicted object call for it .
For euphony ? Leave your standalone sub off — you will neither need nor require it . For movies ? Most of you out there wo n’t need a disjoined hero . The T66 can make bass you may feel if the content calls for it .
But while the T66 can clip down in dickies and run a jackhammer like a pro , it is just as comfortable donning a tailored Armani courtship and handling the contra - basso and tympani duty at the symphony orchestra — and it covers everything in between . Gritty rock candy bass , punchy slap and funk bass , woody just acoustic jazz basso . And it gives the same musical genre - agnostic intervention to drums , too . Deep , blooming kick drums on careen record album , tight , punchy kicks on nothingness records , and massive orchestral percussion were all reproduced with agility , sanction , and truthful tonality .
And it has might in reserve , too . reliable story : My golem vacuum managed to tug unfreeze the power cable to the right speaker without my knowledge , and I listened to the T66 — just one subwoofer regalia in operation — for a good two twenty-four hour period without feel like I was missing any bass . It was n’t until I plugged the right speaker in that I actualize the truthful impact of having perfectly balanced bass in every square inch of this studio apartment .
aboveboard , I do n’t like using the terminal figure subwoofer when verbalize about this verbaliser because I worry that will have a sure connotation to the nature of the T66 ’s bass performance , which does not apply . The T66 does n’t do “ subwoofery ” freshwater bass until it is hypothesise to do that . It is just lusciously , seamlessly integrated , musical , tuneful bass , and I ’m here for it .
The most remarkable thing about the T66 is that it rend off all these awesome , lifelike musical timber at just about any volume level .
But I feel like I ’ve gotten a minuscule bit forward of myself . I had a really , really gruelling prison term getting away from my vinyl collection while evaluating the T66 . Every record I put on was rendered with such realism . There was so much life to the music , peculiarly with vocal .
I ’ve always had great respect for Nancy Wilson as a vocalist , but the T66 talker made me fall in dearest with her voice all over again . The presence I experienced made me feel like all of the existent Nancy Wilson was in my way — not just a picture of her side , ya do it ? The T66 made listening to her records feel like listening to the master racecourse at the studio as opposed to the radiocommunication edit in a car .
The same thing happened when I mind to my John Coltrane with Johnny Hartman record — it was breathtaking . Even Donald Fagen — a genus with ( let ’s be honest ) a vocal quality that ’s an acquired taste — sounded odorous coming out of the T66 . If you ’re someone who really tune up in to the vocals in music ? You ’ll love how the T66 put them in the room with you . They add nothing , and they take nothing by .
And that pass not just toward genuinely represent voices and instruments but to the soundstage of the recording itself . It is effortlessly wide and deep , but alsotall . At one point I was pick up sound coming from well above the rarefied TV in my setup . It ’s all from sonic holography and psychoacoustics , but it sound like I could find out an 8 - metrical foot - tall Michael Breaker in the front of my elbow room when I play Joni Mitchel ’s The Dry Cleaner from Des Moinesoff herShadows and Lightalbum .
But perhaps the most singular thing about the T66 is that it pull off all these awful , lifelike musical qualities at just about any mass level . Sure , I listened at reasonable volumes and unreasonably loud volumes , and the T66 never gave up on kinetics ; never got rough or strained ; never got shouty with compressed midrange . But , magically , the T66 sound amazing at super - low mass level , too .
If you ’ve ever felt like you may as well not bother turn on your hi - fi system late at night because you ca n’t listen at the bulk floor that bring out the honest in your system for fear of wake someone up or disturbing them ? If you ’re in an apartment and just ca n’t turn your speakers up much ? stress the T66 — they will ravish you at ANY volume level , including top-notch - scurvy stage .
There is no ‘perfect’ speaker
aboveboard , I could go on gush — and , mayhap I will — but I do need to acknowledge that the T66 is not going to be everything for everyone . I love the T66 and will gayly keep them forever if GoldenEar will let me . But I also recognize that there are transonic characteristics that they simply do not own .
For example : If you ’re really into bigger Klipsch speakers — say you ’re a fan of Cornwalls , Heresy , or Forte serial publication Klipsch speaker , which have this big , bluff , organic thunk , thump , and slap to them ? The kind of rock ‘ n ’ curl authenticity that transforms your listening space into a careen arena , consummate with the 110 - db , ear - splitting experience that get with that surroundings ? The T66 do n’t really dothatthing . No doubt , the T66 sway . But they tend to rock with a bit more decorum . They are less Harley - Davidson gas hog and more Ducati Diavel . Still a fire - breather that will get you there , but in a different style .
I want to go on . I want to say that as a trumpet player , how a verbaliser reproduces brass overtones is a critical performance metric for me , and the T66 return . How light the speakers are to set up is another all-important factor of consideration , and I witness that the T66 are about as casual as they come in that esteem . But I know I ’m getting a scrap long - pursy . So get ’s wrap this up .
Value beyond price
Are they expensive ? Yes . $ 7,000 a twosome is a lot for most folks . Though I would argue — as GoldenEar speakers always have — that the T66 laugh at loudspeaker system costing three times as much .
I suppose that ’s what tickle my dad about the GoldenEar speakers I gift him . He finally got the sort of sound he had always dreamed of take heed in his own menage , but think he would never get to experience because he was certain that kind of sound came with a damage tag that , despite his voiceless piece of work and life history advancement over six decennium , may always have been out of reach .
Over the last few month I ’ve spent hours mind to phonograph record that specify my puerility family relationship with my dad . He ’s been lead for over seven years , yet I feel closer to him than ever before .
Heirloom speakers
I think a raft of folks lean to look at loudspeakers as toys — bro wants a rad stereo — or as tools . You like to find out medicine and you take something to make it in your house . But , if the experience and memories I made with my dada have teach me anything , it ’s that a pair of speakers can be as personal and treasured as a fancy watch that gets handed down from coevals to generation . A syndicate heirloom . An objective that can hold the spirit of the loved ones who enjoyed it before us , evoking memories of a sentence farsighted past .
peradventure the T66 are n’t the exact same speakers that my dad and I pucker around just week before he left me , but they carry on the same custom — one I will divvy up and pop off along to my own girl . When I ’m gone , I want my little girl to retrieve the times we spent on the couch , listen to music together , escaping the disturbance of the humankind around us in favor of the transonic consonance and dissonance that literally shapes our souls . And when she does , I imagine the GoldenEar T66 will be there , too .
