Anyone compared GoldenEar Triton 7 with Triton Reference?

Not a side by side comparison, but I owned a set of Triton 7s for 3 years (which I recently replaced with a set of Ohm 1000s) and have also heard the T-Refs at the local dealers in a living room enviornment, using my music.

Golden Ear does have an excellent, and very consistent "house sound" that is reflected in all of their speakers from the Aons on up the line. (I also still have a set of Aon 2s in an office.) The T-Refs certainly have better bass and, properly powered, have a greater sense of ease due to their dynamic range. However, they are simply too big for my listening room.

I was very pleased with the natural and accurate sound of the T-7s and consider them an excellent buy. If you have the necessary room and your listening habits need the extra oomph provided by the T-Refs, I would also consider them a good deal.  The only drawback of all the GE speakers is a narrow sweet spot. That is the primary reason I now have a set of Ohms.

I get your point regarding the size of the sweet spot, but that in and of itself is unnatural. That's not how one hears things when one is at a live acoustic event when one moves around. The Ohms are much closer to the live experience with this one aspect.

Of course, like all things audio, different people prefer different things. Not a big deal to buy what you like versus buying what someone else prefers.

I still think the GEs are an excellent choice if one wants a speaker with a conventional radiation pattern.

I'd agree that all hi-fi fails to some degree to capture live acoustic performances. But, a couple of comments. First, the current Ohms are not full omnis. They have a controlled dispersion pattern. Second, instruments vary in their sound projection. A cymbal is fully omni while a trumpet has a very tight focus. Others are in between. Conventional speakers only have one radiation pattern that gets used for everything it plays, so they are just as much a compromise in this regard as Ohms, Quads or any other radiation pattern.

As for the T-Refs, they were physically too large for my room, which serves many purposes.

As for not moving around during a concert, that's true, but I also don't always get the same seat. I like the Ohms from the standpoint that I don't need to be in only one spot to get good sound -- that's especially nice if there is a group of people in the room listening.

Like everything audio, it comes down to individual taste. I really enjoyed my Triton 7s for the 3 years I owned them. They are a great buy. RIght now, I happen to like my Ohms better. YMMV.