Triangle Bookshelf Speaker - Borea BR02 (Walnut)

Product Information

In an ongoing pursuit of excellence, the profile of the cone was also redesigned to improve the rigidity and now provides an extended frequency response. Now some unfortunate news. Speaker manufacturers' recommended amplifier power is one of the most meaningless "specifications", if not the most. There is no standard on how a manufacturer comes up with these numbers (and they don't explain how the numbers are measured or determined), so across different manufacturers, you are definitely not comparing apples to apples. You also have no idea what those numbers really mean. For example, if it is the maximum rated power, does it mean if the power is exceeded, the speakers will be permanently damaged? If it is, what is the duration? 1 microsecond or 1 second or 1 minute or indefinitely (i.e. the speaker can be played at the rated power indefinitely)? And at what frequency or mix of frequencies? We know that the tweeter can handle a lot less power than the woofer, so the power handling capacity of a speaker is frequency dependent. Let me start this section by noting two things that are (I think anyway) relevant to this appraisal. The first is that I have been a big fan of many Triangle speakers over the years. The Titus standmount has been made in several versions in that time and all of them have been a delight. The old Color range was brilliant and the Magellan Concerto is a masterpiece. When I say I think some Triangle speakers are a bit weird, I say that as someone who is a fan of the weirdness. Some speakers can impress at first listen with airiness that might give the impression of detail and space. This is often the result of a too-bright treble balance. Triangle plays a different game here. Detail isn’t forced on the listener. It’s there but the overall balance is one of musical wholeness, as opposed to dissection of music into its component parts.

The designers extensively brace the large cabinets to cut down on distortion caused by internal vibrations. They also use a foam gasket where the 6-inch cellulose bass driver meets the bracing to absorb vibrations coming from the transducer’s movement. Each generation of “traditional” bookshelf speakers has its active and wireless equivalent at Triangle: after the Elara, the Borea is now available as the Borea BR02BT and BR03BT. The first model, which is the subject of this test, is intended to satisfy music lovers wishing to be initiated into the world of the famous “high-fidelity” while taking advantage of the simplicity of configuration and use of an active and wireless system. The goal was to create a speaker that can do everything well, a bit like the Polk Audio ES15 we reviewedlast week. Maybe you want to play a little audio, then flip over and watch a movie. It’s designed as much as a budget audiophile speaker as it is a full-blown home theater system when used with other speakers in the Borea range. Specification As mentioned above Triangle really gained traction with their Magellan speaker line and over time the brand name started to carry a lot of weight in the audiophile community. The flagships are not cheap as is the case with many other speakers they produce so wanting to cater to a wider audience they introduced the Borea line designed to give consumers their first taste of what the company was capable of. The only minor concern in the specs is the minimum impedance dip to 3.6 ohms. Most likely not a problem with a solid-state amp, though a 4-ohm output tap on a tube amp might be beneficial. I’ll report on this later in the listening test.The twin-pronged diffuser appears to be pinching the silk dome, but look a bit closer and it’s just hovering over – it’s there to help reduce the directivity and improve the dispersion of high frequencies. Beneath the mid-bass driver sits a pair of bass reflex ports. Borea BR03 features Binding post type posts and Borea BR02 has a Binding post type posts. None of these speakers feature bi-amping/bi-wiring. Attempted normalisation of values below. Where a min-max range is provided, I got a percentage, ignoring the sometimes RMS and sometimes maximum, because both were rarely provided. Where only an RMS or maximum is provided I took the average of ~25%, (excluding the KEF Q150 as it's range is very wide and so I didn't want to take the chance).

The treble is nice and sweet, very smooth. The mids are also very smooth. Vocals come across clearly with a beautiful live quality.Speaker Cables with Banana Plugs: If you know the lenght of the cable you need, this is the easier option to connect your speakers with your amp. Within this slight forwardness, the tonality of the BR03 is generally very good. Voices and instruments largely sound as they should. I would, on the proviso that it wasn’t here to be compared side by side, give the final nod to the Mission QX-2 for this but this is more a reflection that the QX-2 is sublimely good in this regard. The Triangle is still very capable but there have been moments with strings in particular where the merest hint of an ‘edge’ has made itself felt. The dome is placed inside the partial horn loading, reducing reflections and allowing a clear reproduction of the high frequencies. This transducer is powered by a neodymium motor generating high magnetic power in a compact size. It is coupled to a cooling system, ensuring a better power handling.

While stereo imaging is pretty precise for speakers at this level, it’s not as spacious and layered as some we’ve heard. The Triangles aren’t significantly flawed in this respect, though; they’re simply decent rather than exceptional. The same can be said about the overall tonal balance, which is even enough rather than ruler flat. range is the range of input power in watts RMS that a loudspeaker is designed to handle. While using an amplifier within this range ensures the nominal performance , inputting a power that is higher than the max wattage can result in a damaged speaker. The 16cm midrange driver is taken from the more premium Esprit EZ range and uses Triangle's favoured cellulose paper cone material. The company likes the material's combination of relatively low mass, rigidity and self-damping. We can’t think of a better alternative when it comes to rhythmic drive either. These towers charge at full throttle, communicating the energy and momentum of the music brilliantly. Cobain’s vocals come through with passion fully intact, and there’s no doubting the clarity and insight of the Boreas with music such as this.Considering the above, I'm assuming that the Triangle Borea BR02 can be powered within the range of 20-80 W @ 8 Ohms. The Onkyo A-9110 provides 30 W @ 8 Ohm.

Reference axis for measurements was the center of the tweeter. Grill was not used in either measurements or listening tests. Measurements are compliant with latest speaker research into what can predict the speaker preference and is standardized in CEA/CTA-2034 ANSI specifications. Likewise listening tests are performed per research that shows mono listening is much more revealing of differences between speakers than stereo or multichannel. If you’re looking for a small speaker that punches hard, you need look no further than the Triangle Borea BR02. For the money, they’re savvy musical performers with a great sense of scale and an even greater appetite for presenting music in a transparent and mature manner. But are they speakers capable of worrying the current class-leaders? Most definitely.

There’s not really much to say here other than the Triangle Borea BR02 are a bit boring to look at but very well made.