The Triangle 40th Anniv. Comete EZ Speaker

One of the best parts of my job is I get to play around with all the technology that comes through our door! So when I had the opportunity to bring home a set of the 40th Anniversary Comete EZ Speakers, I didn’t hesitate to jump on it!

Welcome back to Sound Approach, where we discuss all things audio! I am Trevor Williams and today, I’ll be exploring the Triangle brand 40th Anniversary Comete EZ Bookshelf Speakers and giving you my thoughts on this amazing and beautiful piece of technology.

The 40th Anniversary Comete Speakers are a sleek design upgrade from their standard Comete EZ counterpart. Triangle has also introduced a new finish in the Golden Oak, as you can see in this video, and has added some special touches to the design and aesthetics with the rose gold highlights on the spikes, woofer, tweeter, and backplate. Additionally, the materials and technology with the exception of the crossover network have been upgraded from the standard Comete EZ and are more in line with the Signature and Magellan series. This includes the cabinetry and internal design as well as the upgrades to the tweeter and mid-bass driver.

The 40th Comete also features an exclusive real wood finish, including the Golden Oak on top of the details that are highlighted and pop from the rose gold anodized aluminum pieces. As with all the Triangle speakers, it was designed and assembled in France and shows an extreme attention to detail that may be lacking on other speakers at a similar price point. Given the design and electronic improvements over the standard Comete, the 40th Anniversary edition has a more refined and open sound with faster, and more transparent bass. This was definitely noticeable when I listened to these speakers

The matching 40th Anniversary S04 speaker stands are also an upgrade on the standard S04 stands. With incredible design and beautiful aesthetics, these stands pair perfectly with speakers which are mounted on the dampening spikes that can be adapted to suit each listeners needs and preferences to eliminate vibration and provide improved sound clarity. Each pair of 40th Anniversary Comete Speakers comes with two sets of dampening spikes, rubber for use on sensitive tops like wood, and also anodized aluminum rose gold-colored spikes and spike shoes for use on carpet or the speaker stands. Although, if you’re careful, you can set the spikes on the shoes with a little bit of manipulation on a wood, glass, or metal top as well. Just be careful because the spikes are sharp.

Below is a run-down of the features and some specifications on this speaker:

FEATURES: 

Designed and manufactured in France
Solid aluminum baffle
anti-vibration dampening spikes
8.8kg (approximately 19.5lbs) per speaker
28” high speaker stands
High Density MDF Cabinetry (20-23mm thick)

Specifications

25mm (0.98") rose gold anodized magnesium dome tweeter 
165mm (6.5") natural cellulose paper cone mid-woofer 
90dB of output
Power Handling of 90W
8ohms Impedance (compatible with numerous amplifiers)
4.2ohms minimum impedance 

By including some of the design theories of the Signature and Magellan series, Triangle has created a high end, high-fidelity system at a more affordable price! They use a very high density MDF in its cabinetry in search of neutrality and to minimize box noise. The material is the same used in the more expensive Signature and Magellan series. The cabinets also have numerous internal reinforcements and a Driver Vibration Absorption System, used only on the limited-edition models. I can attest to the lack of vibration in the speakers, and I didn’t hear any noise caused by vibration. 

However, when I originally put together the speaker stands, I noticed that one of the top plates did not sit solidly and had a bit of movement, which would have introduced noise if left that way given the speaker stands are made of metal. However, by tightening the screws in place without the top plate first, to ensure they were screwing in as far as they could go, I was able to get the top plate secured and without any movement or vibration from the speaker. 

The limited series has included a wonderful touch, which I really appreciate, with the Rose Gold anodized aluminum highlights on the speakers and stands, which offers a classy and refined finished product. While at the end of the day sound is what’s important, I tend to feel for myself that aesthetics is equally important. If I have a great pair of speakers, I want to show them off. And I can assure you that people will be impressed when looking at these. When I first saw the Golden Oak finish and rose gold inlays and highlights, I was blown away by how they looked! 

The 40th Comete can be easily mounted directly to the speaker stand assembly for more stability or the speakers can sit on dampening spikes to eliminate vibrations from the unit. Additionally, the stands include a hollow main tube to hide the connection cables. The dampening spikes are made of rubber or aluminum depending on the surface they’ll be sitting on. While the rubber spikes aren’t as pretty to look at, they’re what you want on a sensitive surface.

Regarding performance, the tweeter has been designed with a magnesium dome as opposed to titanium, in previous generations of Triangle Speakers, combined with a compression chamber for high efficiency and little distortion. This is evident in the higher pitch sounds of a string instrument or cymbals. The copper wiring is arranged directly on the specially formed dome, eliminating the various centering problems of a conventional assembly and the dispersion is quite consistent throughout the listening area because of the phasing plug included in the design. This is especially true when moving left or right away from the speakers, but also up or down. However, I noticed the very best sound when sitting in line with the tweeter, front on, as would be expected. 

For the woofer, Triangle uses a blended foam and treated rubber for dynamic performance at low intertia. This comes through in the bass and mid-bass levels. The cone is made of a natural cellulose pulp to offer a frequency response more extended than the midrange. This allows for generous bass in a smaller speaker while maintaining dynamic performance. Internally, the electronics have cables with Oxygen Free Copper from the signature range with each insulated independently. The cabling uses two different gauges of OFC stands to obtain a more regular transport of signal according to the frequency. The crossover for the Comete is at 4KHz with the woofer at 2nd order coupled with the 4th order on the tweeter.

The terminal block is also finished in brushed rose gold anodized aluminum. It is equipped with terminals also designed to exact specifications. These terminals allow permanent tightening of the banana plugs when screwing the upper part and ensure ideal signal conduction. Installation was easy and I appreciate the ability to tighten down the banana connectors. I used the Symphonie cables provided by Triangle and these worked perfectly for the setup. Triangle offers the Symphonie cables in 3.0m and 5.0m to work for any setup.

Every set of speakers is packaged in double packaging and EPE foam for safer shipping and to avoid damage during the shipping process. Some companies don’t take this extra step but it can mean the difference between a package arriving safely or a package being damaged in transit. In my line of work, this is something I’ve seen from lower costing speakers or from companies that don’t appreciate the need for a positive experience when first getting an item.

The speakers come with black covers marked with the 40th Anniversary logo as well as accessory boxes and cloths. I appreciated the additional attention to detail that apparently went into the packaging of these speakers. These were packed tightly, safely and with plenty of room to remove them without difficulty once the box was opened. The cloth bags are installed over and tied on the bottom of the speaker but I wouldn’t recommend lifting these speakers out by the bag but instead reaching into the box to get a grip on the bottom of the speaker itself to lift out. The speakers each way about 20lbs, and while a little awkward, it’s not too difficult.

As you can see from this setup in the video below, I’ve powered these speakers with the AVM 30.3 Integrated Amplifier. The setup of the entire system probably took only around 5-10 minutes to get listening, while unpackaging and building the speaker stands took up the most amount of time, at about 20-30 min. 

All in all, I’m very happy with this setup and the performance of the 40th Anniversary Comete speakers. The word that comes to mind most when thinking about the performance is “Clarity”. I heard instruments on songs I hadn’t heard before, flutes, in particular. The bass came through and jumped out at me and I could feel it in my feet. Overall, they made me excited to test the next song and see what new thing I could discover that I had been missing. It’s hard to find a pair of speakers like that, but the 40th Anniversary Comete didn't disappoint!   

Beyond performance, these speakers are just plain beautiful to look at and admire. The design is beyond exceptional for the price point. In addition, you can see the extra care and attention to detail that was put into these speakers. And at this price, I have not seen a better performing or more aesthetically pleasing option currently avaialble on the market.