Loudspeakers

The three sets of floorstanding stereo speakers you see on these two pages were all locked in a contest for this award. With all three up on a comparator, it was easy to spot the differences, but not so easy to place a permanent preference. Although all the judges leaned towards the Triangles for the sophistication of their midrange in particular, we could equally see how the Richters’ full bodied musicality could be the preference for many listeners, as could for others the Q Acoustics’ command of a performance, their poised and perfectly balanced presentation. Loudspeaker preference is the most subjective call in hi-fi — there are definitely ways to get speakers wrong, but many ways to get them right.

So all are recognised in these awards, but it was the beguiling sound and slimline aesthetics of the Frenchdesigned Elara LN05 which become our Speakers of the Year under $2000 (they’re $1999). This company’s ranges go up to models that cost tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars; the company designs its own drivers and is particularly noted for its horn-loaded tweeters. Those do not appear in the Elara range — it is the highest from the company not to feature this style of tweeter, instead using very well-made 25mm-diameter soft-dome tweeters whose fabric dome is driven by a neodymium magnet, and which are very slightly hornloaded by a rubberised moulding. Below these, each speaker has a pair of identical bass/midrange drivers, which act in concert to deliver low frequencies, whereas only the uppermost of the two delivers the midrange frequencies. It’s this characteristic that defines a twoand-a-half-way (2.5-way) design.

Even without the higher-end tweeter, this Triangle design delivers breathtaking realism in the midrange, the stand-out area of these speakers’ performance, followed very closely by their uncanny ability to create a totally realistic stereo image: one that had not only width, but also height. No matter what we played, we could, with eyes closed, visualise all the performers on the stage. There was even appreciable depth to the image, which is a rare find at this price-point.. It was almost a studio monitor sound, the kind of crisp, articulate sound that allows you to hear the minutiae of musical performances: bows on strings, strings buzzing on frets, the almost-imperceptible intakes of breath before a vocal entry. It’s impressive at the price and with this quality of finish, showing that Triangle’s decision to produce the Elara range in China rather than France has paid off in value terms.

The bass you’ll hear from the Triangle LN05s is fleet enough to keep up effortlessly, while being deep and impressively extended, while high-frequency performance was capable without being exceptional, nicely balanced against the mids and more than extended but perhaps, if being picky, a tad ‘polite’.

Slim, modern and stylish, the Triangle Elara LN05s are very light on their sonic feet, delivering clean and musically satisfyingly sound quality. Triangle has included a centre speaker in the Elara range, and we suspect we’d be even more impressed were we to hear them in 5.1-channel concert format with Triangle’s LN01s as surrounds, LN02 on centre duties, with a suitable subwoofer. Versatile and vivacious. More info: www.audiomarketing.com.au