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Upgrading front 3 speakers to GoldenEar Triton Reference or B&W Nautilus 800?



I am an avid home theater guy and am looking to upgrade from my Triton Ones. Love movies and concert Blu-rays.

I have the XXL center channel and find it to be not as clean as I would like.

I have 2 choices, one to go from the Ones to the Reference

or

found some used B&W so wish to

Upgrade Mains from Golden Ear Triton One to B&W Nautilus 800

Upgrade Centre from Golden Ear Supercenter XXL to B&W HTM1D


The challenge, in my eyes, with the 2nd choice is that I am using the Classé 5300 and would bi-amp my front L & R but only have 1 channel left to bi-amp the centre, so would have to get another 3-channel amp to run my lower part of the centre + my 2 rears, as I did not bi-amp the GE Ones, but feel that I should do for the Reference.


The B&W may be a little large for my room (14.5' x 23'x8') but I will have front speakers that will be much more clean than the Ones that I have now.


Hope to hear from a few GE or B&W fans very soon so I can make a decision


Steve


128x128eternalcamper
Post removed 
soix
2,133 posts
 
You wouldn't need another amp to bi-wire the B&Ws.  Just get internally bi-wired cables that have one connection on the amp side and two on the speaker end, or attach two cables to the same output on the amp if you're running a full shotgun pair. 

And yes, I absolutely do think that highly of B&W center speakers.  I have a feeling it'll sound much better than a ribbon tweeter sandwiched between midrange drivers as with your XXL center. 
eternalcamper's avatar
eternalcamper OP
18 posts
 
Soix

I have never bi-wired before, but  if I do as you suggest, that seems to me that I will be using only 1 channel of the Classé (which is 5 x 300w) and send basically only 300 watts to each speaker, which, from what I have read, may not be enough power for those Natilus 800 speakers. If I actually use 300w for the top and another 300w for the bottom of each speaker, it may give the speaker that little extra to be a little smoother sound.
What are your thoughts on this scenario?

Steve
soix
2,133 posts
 
ONLY 300 Watts???  That's a ton of power that should drive almost any speaker available.  Just as an example, back in 2009 Kal Rubinson ran the 802Ds with the lower powered CA-5200 just fine (https://www.stereophile.com/musicintheround/music_in_the_round_36/index.html), so I'd be shocked if your 5300 didn't have plenty of juice to fully drive 800s without biamping.  The 800s are 90dB efficient but do drop below 4 Ohms through a good part of the midrange, which does make them more difficult to drive.  But here's a quote from the Classe website regarding your amp:

"* Specifications for output into 4 ohms are omitted because the AC Mains/power supply cannot support all channels driven simultaneously at this level, which would require over 5,000W and only occur under a special test condition. The amplifier easily drives lower impedance loads."

Translation -- your house will run out of juice before your amp does.  Suffice it to say I think you're worrying needlessly over the power issue.  You have a beast of an amp. 
gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
Hi Steve. The Triton's cannot and should not be bi-amped.
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