10Qs For Aure'lie Gonzalo, Export Sales Manager, Triangle Industries S.A.S.

With the KLIAV show gaining strategic importance as a regional AV showcase, I see more and more industry executives making their way to be part of the show. It means something for so many manufacturers sending their executives, despite Malaysia being a rather insignificant market by size.

However the effects are all good, so that I can talk to and get some first hand information out of the hifi manufacturers. A rose(and exotically French!) made her way here, in a hobby and industry dominated by thorns. I had a date with her, chaperoned by Maxx, Triangle's Malaysian distributor. So here we go, ladies first!

Ms Aure'lie Gonzalo is Triangle's Export Sales Manager.

Big E: How did you get in to the hifi industry?

AG: I was formerly working for Elipson, who also makes hifi, but targeted at less traditionalist buyers. Then in January this year, I joined Triangle, and here I am now.

Big E: How do you pronounce Triangle in French? And how should the non-French speaking say it?

AG: In French, it's pronounced as Trie-an'gle, whoever for everyone else in the world, Triangle(the English word) is fine and very valid.

Big E: Other than your home market France, where else is Triangle sold in big numbers?

AG: You may find it surprising, we are no.2 in our home market, after Focal, a competitor whom we highly respect. However our loudspeakers are also very popular in Germany as well. Our next big market is likely to be India, which is a huge and un-tapped market.

Big E: Are most of the French who buy hifi music lovers or audiophiles?

AG: I am not sure how to answer this, but most homes in France do have a hifi system, because music is culturally important to us. However, it would be hard to determine if most of our buyers are audiophile or music lovers. There's also a group of buyers who like to balance their priority of good sound reproduction with decor friendly finishing, which is why we made the Color range of speakers. We certainly see an expansion of this market segment in the near future, based on the successful market penetration of the Color range. How about in Malaysia?

Big E: The people in Malaysia who buys hifi are more likely audiophile first, then music lovers(Maxx nodding in approval). Do you agree with the general statement, that loudspeakers do reflects their country of origin, as in French speakers sound different, compared to English speakers and German speakers have their own sound?

AG: I absolutely agree! I think French speakers are musical sounding, with a softer tone, compared to the German speakers, which I can't stand. English loudspeakers have their own sound which is strong on vocals. However, these are just my personal observations only.

Big E: Anything new from Triangle you'd like to share with us here?

AG: Yes, we are about to revamp our Genese' range of speakers, which have been in the market for a long time. We feel we can make the Genese' range sound closer to the flagship Megellan, because it'll contain a lot of trickle down technology.

Big E: Tell us more in detail about the trickle down technology?

AG: First, the new Genese' range will benefit from a titanium tweeter very similar to those found on the Megellan, the only difference being it'll be stamped instead of being moulded in to shape. The tweeter flange(or horn) will be made from aluminium, just like in the Megellan. Next are the all new mid/woofer drivers and x-over design. Lastly, the cabinets will, once again, be made in France, because it will feature more complex bracing and resonant control techniques.

Big E: You mean at present, the cabinets are made elsewhere, and which country in particular?

AG: The cabinets for the present Genese' range is made somewhere in Asia, however we cannot be too specific about the country which makes them. Very sorry, but it is confidential trade information.

Big E: I noticed you mentioned titanium tweeter, which was very popular in the 1980's, the speaker world today talks about more exotic materials like beryllium, or diamond for example, for tweeters. Do these exotic materials truly offer technical advantages or just marketing speak perhaps?

AG: At Triangle, we have tested all the so called alternative or exotic materials for use in tweeter production, but in the end, each material has it's merits and disadvantages, depending on what one is looking for technically. We still think the titanium metal dome used in conjunction of our phase plug design, combined with machined aluminium flange is the most effective match to our choice of x-over application and overall speaker design philosophy.

Seen here with Maxx Loh(left) of Maxx Audio, whose showroom is in Seremban.

Big E: Coming back to the speaker cabinet manufacturing, is it practical and cost effective to move production back to France?

AG: There seems to be a trend where manufacturing the speaker cabinets outside Europe no longer yields any cost advantages, further more we can control quality more tightly if the components are made near the factory. Triangle is in the process of moving back all component and assembly production back to it's in house facilities where possible, and if not, hopefully the work is done not too far away. We feel that brings stricter quality control, and where possible, the pride of having our products made in house, to give them a unique identity, not available else where, in today's competitive market place.

At this point, Maxx Loh was saying that he'd have to offer the existing Genese' stocks in his showroom for clearance, to prepare for the arrival of the newer range soon. Any takers out there?

Maxx Audio Visual In Seremban.

KL hifi gang bangers making their way in to Maxx Audio Visual. See if you can spot the identities these guys?

Maxx Audio Visual showroom is located at 66, Jalan Toman 4, Kemayan Square, Seremban town, about an hour's drive from south of Kuala Lumpur. A few KL hifi gang bangers were making a day trip to Seremban to meet up with like minded enthusiast, and sample their audio systems, plus tuck in some of those famous original Seremban Siew Pau!

First stop along the way, we stop by Maxx Audio Visual and share with you, pictures of their showroom.

Maxx Audio Visual main foyer is mostly dedicated to Triangle loudspeakers and Exposure electronics. Seen here on demo are the latest Triangle color, with matching stands.

More Triangle, Genesis Trio speakers with their dedicated designed stands.

Thriangle Espirit series loudspeakers, and some pre-owned hifi selections.

Cables galore, XLO, Kimber and MIT.

Maxx Audio Visual is the authorised Triangle distributor in Malaysia.

This is the high end AV demo room,

A closer look at some of the AV components that make this room tick.

Triangle Magellan Cello(left), standing proud next to Genese Quartet, which is a bargain speaker for it's size! Interested? Call Maxx Loh to find out.

A Krell 250W stereo power amp driving either pair of Triangle floor standers.

SVS PB13-Ultra flagship sub woofer. Hear to believe the mind blowing experience!

This SVS is the biggest, baddest...ass sub woofer I've heard. It's got the power to not only shake the room, floor or sofa, but also one's pair of guli-es(balls). During the AV demo, I felt all that with my trouser's bottom flapping too!

After the totally out of this world AV demo experience, with our guli-es shaken, not stirred, we headed for those famous Seremban Siew Paus.

You can contact Maxx Audio Visual by calling Benjamin or Maxx Loh at 06 7620811 or 017 6778820. And lastly, don't worry, they are really friendly chaps!

Best Speakers 2011.

Speakers are most difficult to judge of all hifi equipments. Their interaction with a given room will determine the final outcome of the sound you'll hear.  They are also responding to the amplified signal from the power amp. Impedance/Sensitivity/Watt matching will also play it's role in the final sound one hears thru a pair of speakers.

For review purposes, most big speakers are just too bulky to lug around, but we really did try, with the help of some dealers. Odioslueth was in the mood for some speaker up grades and some of the candidates here were shortlisted. Did he buy any of these?

PMC IB2i with stand.

PMC IB2i.

You can say that I am somewhat biased on my choice here which is the PMC IB2i. For me, this is an aspirational choice, should one day my ship comes to dock! The IB2i has won numerous awards in other publications and I can see(no, hear) why. It has an effortless sense of sheer musicality, lead by a tight, deep diving bass with propulsive qualities. The mid range is as full bodied and "kau-kau"(Malaysian speak for describing creamy, aromatic, thick coffee or tea) as only a special 3 inch mid range dome driver equipped pair of speakers can provide. The highs are refined and smooth, but is not outstanding either. Top to bottom coherence is the order here. This PMC images stably within a wide, open sound stage, some thing that only well designed stand mounts do with ease. It's surprisingly easy on the amps too, as Odioslueth's 60W Pass XA mono block never seemed to run out of steam(except during the most demanding of orchestral crescendos!) when partnered with the IB2i speakers. Some have commented that it looks a little dull, but my advise to them when listening to these babies is "Cover the face, fire the bass!" Ha! Ha!


Dynaudio C4.


Dynaudio C4.

I've always loved the Dynaudio Confidence range, especially the C1. We had to listen to this pair of C4s in CMY's listening room, due to it's long, heavy packing crate which would've being too difficult to move up to Odiosleuth's 2nd floor man cave! The Dynaudio is supremely transparent, and has some of the most refined, yet pristine high frequency reproduction. Mids are true to source without any sugar coating. Bass goes low and articulate enough, but seems just a little shy from diving in to the deepest octaves. Some may complain that the C4 can sound somewhat hifi-sh, but I think that's the speaker's transparency at play here, it's simply reflecting the characteristics of the equipment chain up front, or perhaps the recording it self. John of CMY Audio & Visual tells me that Dynaudio C4 MKII is on it's way to Malaysian shores soon.


Marten Getz.

Marten Getz.

Marten Getz holds joint honours with the C4, Odiosleuth is very fond of these speakers as he always mentions about them during our hifi tea sessions. I can understand why. This speakers has open and highly extended highs, sweet mids, and well controlled bass. It really does nothing wrong except if telling the absolute truth is a crime! That's how highly transparent it is. I still can't forget how seductive Stacy Kent sounds thru the Getz. The Marten Getz offers an open window to your music collection. Did Odiosleuth made them his permanent reference? Stay tuned to find out.

PMC Twenty.21.

PMC Twenty.21

The latest PMC Twenty.21 are my current favorite small/budget speakers. They are highly transparent, and come with the famous BBC LS3/5A kinda sonic cues, if only in broad brush. Again, female vocals are their forte' providing some of the sweetest voices for the below RM$10k budget range. They are easy to position in the room and offers wider than expect bandwidth, dynamic range and volume loudness from such a small foot print. At one point during the world wide press demo, this diminutive pair of 21 silenced a crowd of 30 or so mingling seasoned audiophiles, and captivated them to listen thru a few songs until the demo stopped. It was as if time stood still for the crowd and only the music mattered, even if only for just a while. The music wasn't loud at all, but just enough to fill and immerse that rather large demo area with pure music. If that's not phenomenal, then I don't know what is?

There are other speakers out there for sure, some of which are better, if not more suitable in your own room and preferences than others. I hereby list them here, in no particular rank or order,  that I've heard else where, but not formally reviewed or previewed.

1) Triangle Magellan
2) Wilson Audio Maxx 3
3) Sonus Faber Cremona Auditor
4) PMC Fact 3
5) Magnaplanar Mini
6) XTZ 99.36
7) YG Carmel
8) Franck Tchang's Super Tango
9) Linn Majik Isobarik
10) TAD CR-1

We rate the Best Power Line Gear 2011 next!

French Kiss. Triangle Gene'se Trio Loudspeakers.

I asked Maxx Loh, boss of Maxx Audio "How much does these pair of Triangle Gene'se Trio cost?" He replied, "RM$12k plus, with the dedicated stands". I was thinking to my self, "heck I could nearly get a pair of Audio Physics Tempo 6 for the money". When I told Odiosleuth about the Gene'se Trio and the price, his response was "I could get a pair of Sonus Faber Liuto with some top up!"

What's the moral of the story, you asked? I am just trying to bring up a relevant point that people tend to remember with fondness about the brands they know best. You'll see that as a previously satisfied owner of the Audio Physic Spark V pair of speakers, I immediately compared the Triangle Gene'se Trio to the Audio Physic Tempo 6 which retails for a similar price. Ditto for Odiosleuth, as a former satisfied owner of a pair Sonus Faber Concerto back then. No such loyalty for the Triangle brand unfortunately, just because of the very fact that it just stepped in to the Malaysian high end scene. The Triangle Megallan Cello demo-ed by Maxx during the recent KLIAV show certainly raised more than a few eye brows, or some inner ear hair! Maxx is bent on building that example of brand loyalty from scratch.    

Triangle Gene'se Trio in my room. Noticed the slight down ward tilt the stands bring?

The Gene'se Trio is a 2 way stand mount, sits pretty in the middle of Triangle's offering, just a series below the top flight Megallan range. As I un-packed the speakers and scrutinised it's rather well made quality, with an industrial like grade of red shade vinyl, semi gloss finished side panels which are of the currently fashionable lute shape. In contrast, the front baffle is painted smooth, piano gloss black. Then I moved on to assemble the dedicated matching triangular looking stands, finished in semi gloss black. I must advise that who ever is buying a pair of these babies, to seriously not stinge on the stands and go for generic ones, because the Triangle originals not only stylistically match the speakers, but the also contribute to the sound dispersion pattern by slightly tilting the baffle at an down ward angle, making sure the tweeter fire towards ear level, when one is seated in the sofa throne. Well, at least in MY sofa throne, it made perfect sense.


The floor spikes on both back ends of the stand. The front single large spike comwes with it's own attached coaster. These stands allows for sand or lead shot filling.

 

The stand's top panel is lined with rubber like pad. Also note the screw in holes for one to attach up ward pointing spikes for speaker to stand isolation tweak. I used the common blue tack interface instead, as I did want to dmamge the speaker's finishing. 


I started setting up the Triangle speakers in my man cave at the usual spot where my pair of PMC Fact 8 sits, which is 42 inches from the back wall and 19 inches from the side walls. I found the bass response to be on the light side, and hence I moved the speakers around and eventually settled with the final position of 40 inches from the back wall and still 19 inches from the side wall, which gave the best compromise between weighty bass response and good sound staging width/depth perception, which all the sonic properties on this review is based upon. I thought the Gene'se Trio to be one of least fussy speakers to set up, which is certainly helpful.


The back panel and speaker cable terminal allows for bi-wiring and bi-amping should one chooses to do so.



A closer look at the horn loaded tweeter with phase plug.


This is the first time I had a speaker of French origin in my place. Is my first ever French kiss unforgettable?  Read on! From the very first tune, while sounding rather seamless in frequency response, I've realised that this speaker is not exactly the most neutral. No doubt, the Frenchness(softly recessed mid range) of sound character has been reduced to a very minimal degree. Another area of concern, a ghost of the past actually, is that ear piercing high frequency reproduction emanating from a horn loaded tweeter is nearly always evident with such designs, as a result of the horn colouration. There's also no mid range "honkiness" heard during the Gene'se Trio's time spent in my system.

The highs as smooth as the best of dome tweeters, though not the most elegant sounding. There's ample "air" quality to the presentation, with cymbals and high hats sounding a little shinier than usual. The mid range is open, smooth and often make vocals sound more pleasure able than usual. Female voices like Katie Melua's are sweetened with a certain degree of sultriness, and male voices like Don William's sound buff, and throaty, due to a slight highlighting of the presence range in the frequency response. It is also this very reason that the harpsichord, an instrument with lots of string harmonics and texture, sounds so wonderfully real. The bass extends to no more than 50Hz or so in my room(I've a funny suspicion that the bass response will go lower if the stands had been filled), but what ever was available, came with a finely textured, and punchy quality. Kick drums still has enough kick to still sound convincing. It is only when asked to re-play instruments like the double bass or the piano which made me realised clearly, that this is still a stand mount speaker, which will certainly make a great candidate for sub woofer augmentation.

I like this The Katie Melua Collection CD a lot, she's got a non diva, girl next door kinda voice. She cleverly stays within her vocal range and never push things too much, but her lyrics are at once poetic and honest. Pop sensitivities adorn this otherwise well recorded "Best Of" album. She does a pretty mean John Mayall And The Blues Breakers remake here too, Slow Train Crawling Up A Hill. Get it if you're a sucker female vocals. 


By the benchmark of today's modern speaker designs, this pair of Triangle is fairly transparent and low in noise floor, which I would have expected other wise, due to it's horn loaded tweeter design. Kudos to Triangle for banishing most of the horn's nasty characteristics! This pair of speakers also surprised me with it's sense of scale, which is larger then most stand mounts and even some junior floor standers. Like most stand mounts, this pair of Triangles sonically disappears in to the room, throwing a rather wide and deep sound stage, however I did found some of the layers within the depth somewhat compressed.

If there's an area that leaves this speaker sounding dynamically challenged is when playing hard charging rock/metal music, where playing loudly is essential, for me at least(and it's mighty loud!) to connect with the musical flow of the genre. There's also a take no prisoner approach when it comes to bad or poor recordings, this Gene'se Trio will certainly make one regret feeding it with such. I suspect again, this is the double edge sword arising from the highlighting of the presence range by design.


Very suitable partners, Pass Labs Aleph 0 and Triangle Gene'se Trio.


I would sum up that this pair of speakers is made for people would play mostly acoustic music, like girl/guitar or girl/piano genre. It's right at home playing small ensembles and jazz trio or quartet performances too. It certainly loves audiophile quality recordings and sounds like it too! In other words, look else where if most of your musical diet is centered around pop or rock/metal recordings, especially those from the 70's which most are poorly recorded.

However, should some one ask me again today, that very same question I asked Maxx earlier on in the opening of this article, and if I would still reply with the Audio Physic Tempo 6 without at hint of hesitance? Well....., I am not so sure anymore. Ha! Ha!

Triangle loudspeakers is sold by Maxx Audio, contact Maxx Loh at 017-6778820.

Maxx Audio Shows The Triangle Magellan Cello At KLIAV 2011.

KLIAV 2011 will welcome the Triangle brand back to Malaysian shores. Pictured is the Magellan Cello model, which will be the main demo for Maxx Audio.

Looks like KLIAV 2011 would be a French vintage year, when it comes to loud speaker department. Maxx Audio will take the opportunity to show the full range of Triangle speakers, with emphasis on the flag ship range Magellan Cello model.

Maxx tells me that Exposure amplifiers and CD players will be used as power and source. Cables are supplied by Kimber and XLO. Something tells me that these new guys on the block is out to cause a stir with their demo.

Stick around for more exciting KLIAV 2011 up dates.