Wow, I was amazed to find that two strong guys, if they knew what they were doing could unbox these 700 lb (each) crates, assemble and move into position these amazing speakers. When you consider that these speakers contain a dedicated 500W Class AB amp (153 lb. each) 2,000W peak power on the rear panel of each cabinet. The two midrange woofers and Mundorf Air Motion Transformer (AMT) ribbon tweeter are 95dB efficient and could easily be driven by as little as a 30W tube amp, makes the $150,000 retail price seem reasonable in high end audio terms. As a point of reference, the cheapest Grphon monoblocks are $78,000 @ pair. So even if you only factor in only $60k for the woofer amps, you have a level of control, unattainable by using large monoblocks. Outboard amps can only drive the woofers, whereas the inboard amps drive the four 8" woofers, with adjustable bass output +/- 12dB, adjustable Q (damping factor) as well as a low pass filter, all controlable from the listening chair via remote control. All adjustments to the bass output are implemented in the analogue domain, so there are no problems with converting the analogue output from a turntable or Reel 2 Reel into digital so that the signal can be converted into digital before it can be processed with DSP.
Needless to mention the sonic performance was exemplary. We did an A/B comparison between the Trident 2 ($150k) and the Pantheon ($52k)
on both Friday & Saturday evenings after the show. In both instances, the superiority of the Trident was immediately apparent. The midrange had vastly more information / resolution, while the bass was tighter and played considerably deeper. The Tridents will soon leave Chicago & arrive in Capistrano, where we can break them in & learn how to set then p properly. Be fun to borrow a pair of the new Berning 845 monoblocks from Rick Brown at HiFi1 and put the speakers through their paces. Will also try driving the Tridents with the Antileon EVO and the Mephisto. Hopefully we can sell our last pair of Vivid G1 Giya series 2 before the Tridents arrive. I am so excited !
Needless to mention the sonic performance was exemplary. We did an A/B comparison between the Trident 2 ($150k) and the Pantheon ($52k)
on both Friday & Saturday evenings after the show. In both instances, the superiority of the Trident was immediately apparent. The midrange had vastly more information / resolution, while the bass was tighter and played considerably deeper. The Tridents will soon leave Chicago & arrive in Capistrano, where we can break them in & learn how to set then p properly. Be fun to borrow a pair of the new Berning 845 monoblocks from Rick Brown at HiFi1 and put the speakers through their paces. Will also try driving the Tridents with the Antileon EVO and the Mephisto. Hopefully we can sell our last pair of Vivid G1 Giya series 2 before the Tridents arrive. I am so excited !
