Audio 2G
Triangle Capella: wireless active with high-end finishes. Is this the future of hi-fi?
TRIANGLE ‘s story begins in Paris in the early 1980s in the same way as that of many other Hi-Fi companies, namely from the passion for music and its reproduction, in this case of Renaud de Vergnettes, its founder. He was searching in his garage at home for a different sound from what he was listening to, experimenting with prototypes of loudspeakers that came close to his tastes. So he prepared, after resigning from a career as an interior decorator, a loudspeaker with a two-module structure, one for the woofer and the other, decoupled and with a pyramidal cross-section, housing the midrange and treble. He adopted paper diaphragm Audax drivers early on for their natural timbre, personally fine-tuning the crossover to achieve a fast and tonally correct sound. He turned with his prototype to the prestigious Revue du Son, a leading magazine of the time, for advice: journalists and audiophiles alike praised its quality and distinctive personality, which left no one indifferent.
Thus in November 1980 Triangle Acoustic’s first loudspeaker, the 1180, was officially launched. From that moment the brand’s growth began, thanks in part to the fortunate market moment, which also required a change of location, from Renaud’s cottage to boulevard Jules Ferry in Soissons. Many successes were racked up until 2000, with the development of the Magellan range. In the following years TRIANGLE has to come to terms with new sources and listening habits, as everyone does, and so it changes its skin, trying to transmit its passion for beautiful sound to new generations. This change also coincides with the retirement of founder Renaud de Vergnettes and the arrival of a new generation of men and women determined to modernize the company while maintaining the values of creativity, boldness, and passion that distinguished it. Today TRIANGLE focuses on several fronts, that of active loudspeakers, and the Capellas under review are material evidence of this, and traditional and custom loudspeakers, with some electronics, amplifiers and network players on the side.
Triangle Capella: everything different !
Top of the line among “Wireless Speakers” the Capella which are very bold speakers. But let’s go in order. They are joined by some lower cost models between stand and floor, as well as a stand-alone speaker and some electronics. The Wireless catalog is very interesting and granular, as it starts at €399 pair for LN01A, testifying to the fact that TRIANGLE really believes in the “transition” and wants to be at the forefront of manufacturers who from the first hour have dedicated themselves to new technologies with a complete range that does not neglect the first prices. This, of course, without distracting from the usual production, and in fact the “Hight Fidelity” catalog has not undergone any change or contraction, continuing to make the brand’s fans happy.
All wireless models are inspired by speakers and technologies already used in traditional models, our Capellas are derived from the Comet EZ, a two-way with a front bass-reflex and a similar form factor except for the chord vent, in the case of the lower Capellas. And this is the first big differentiation, not only and not so much from the Comets, but especially from all other competitors, which usually arrange the chord in front, sacrificing the diameter of the midwoofer. The biggest limitation of this type of wireless speakers, i.e. bookshelf standing, is in fact the size, they have to be not too big to be placed anywhere perhaps next to the TV, usually having the inputs behind one of the speakers and thus being limited also in chief to the practicality of connections. Capella are larger, and have a base enriched by a colored metal cage spacer (very nice), which places the tuning tube in the center of the stand base, elevated by a handful of centimeters, enough to leave the right “air” to the tuning, and to make sure that the 16 cm woofer (very large compared to the category, remember that JBL, KEF, Technics, just to name the products already passed for the Audio2G editorial staff have diameters between 10cm and 13cm) can express itself in the best way.
And-something ingenious and frighteningly practical-connections are not entrusted to one of the two rear panels, but rather to a hub, small and unobtrusive, that accommodates all connections, HDMI ARC included (but there are also 3 optical, coaxial, analog aux on both RCA and 3.5 minijack, and USB-B). Capella then have NO wires except the one for the power supply (covered in black silk, by the way) and likewise the HUB. Between the latter and the two speakers no connection except that established via radio by the Summit chipset-and thus the WiSA consortium-which we shall see later. This significantly increases convenience, imagine having to pull a cable from one of the speakers, having to move it because the connections are always at the back, perhaps finding it inconvenient because you do not have the sufficient length or superficial support for the new source: in this case the HUB easily provides for any need.
Capellas do not have a subwoofer output, but it is actually possible to use one within WiSA-compatible devices, which are not many, and often out of budget compared to the total cost of the pair of speakers. An interesting product might be the Lithe Audio WiSA Active subwoofer, which by the way is compact and suitable for installation on the wall or under a TV cabinet and not too expensive. It has to be said, however, and here we come to another act of courage done by Triangle, the not small size of the speakers and the particular configuration allow them some really remarkable bass “forays,” and that in many junctures they do not at all regret the absence of a dedicated apparatus.
Highly polished aesthetics, in keeping with the TRIANGLE tradition
The French manufacturer has never been second to none when it comes to accuracy of construction and care in appearance-let’s not forget that founder Renaud de Vergnettes gave up a promising career in interior decoration, we said it-and this imprint has always been in TRIANGLE’s DNA. Capella have truly high-end “furniture” finishes and first of all a lacquer finish that leaves you stunned. A similar thing we have seen with Yamaha, for example, which uses the same lacquering procedures as musical instruments, many layers (we don’t know how many) of lacquer that don’t allow those of us who make videos to be comfortable with the mirror effect, which is very pronounced in these Capella. The colors and texture are another special feature, white aside, absolutely classic, the other three colors, Black (Black Star), Brown (Nebula Brown) and Blue (Astral Blue) are embellished with a pattern that closely resembles wood grain strongly characterizing the product and making it truly unique in the landscape.
The rounded magnetic grille rests close to the speakers, covering them only partially and revealing much of the cabinet. The speakers and rear panel are embellished with finely crafted soft rubber trim that completely conceals the fixing screws; the woofer alone has an aluminum ring with an aesthetic function of the same color as the spacer placed on the base. Speaking of the rear panel, the equipment is rather meager -we mentioned it- AC input tray, pairing button, status LED and an unlikely stereo Line-in input, there is in fact only one PIN, the other is on the other speaker, so to use it you need a very long cable that manages to connect both speakers, it was something that could have been saved. While, we said it, the speaker can be satisfactorily placed on a shelf, a pair of stands, the S05s, are available as an option, in 5 different colors and able to accommodate Capella’s base, which has dimensions 20X30 and is therefore totally unsuitable for standard stands that have considerably smaller stand bases.
A "real" speaker, in the TRIANGLE tradition
The feeling is that of being in front of a product, beautiful, modern, advanced, but also “classic” in setting. Capella do not seek progress at all costs, they are a pair of traditional speakers somehow lent to new market needs. And this is very appreciable. Rather than venturing out, the French manufacturer wanted to keep its DNA firm and alive. The bass-reflex underneath, first and foremost, so as to try to make the Capellas compatible with any requirement, while at the same time reinforcing the bass range even in difficult conditions (also thanks to the help of the DSP that we will see in a moment), and the use of the “classic” TRIANGLE recipe, slightly horn-loaded tweeter TZ2530MG that produces a homogeneous sound throughout the listening area, equipped with a new 25 mm dome made of magnesium alloy and aluminum
and a 165 mm midwoofer with a proprietary natural cellulose pulp membrane, a trademark since the company’s inception, we said in the opening, and equipped with a ventilated aluminum frame. Inside is a special bracing in TRIANGLE’s proprietary DVAS technology arranged just behind the midwoofer, which allows free passage of air while imparting greater rigidity. Amplification is active, meaning that each speaker has its own power section, as is the case with all speakers of this type and class. This dramatically increases the efficiency of the system, which does not have to deal with a passive crossover, which by its nature dissipates a lot of energy in a nonlinear way, and at the same time allows you to be able to vary the cutoff and slope of the filter at will as needed. In the case of the Capellas the power is 2X50W per speaker, which does not mean having a total power of 100W, but rather 50W all exploited by the speaker, and not discreetly “burned” by the cross-over.
The WiSA consortium and the Capella calibration software.
WiSA is an audio technology for smart devices and home entertainment systems, and it is a consortium, the WiSA Association, that works with a number of consumer electronics companies, technology vendors, retailers, and industry partners to make wireless audio affordable for everyone. Some even big-name manufacturers, such as B&O, Dynaudio, Electrocompaniet, and just to name 3 examples (think NVIDIA is in on it, too), have joined this community, and in their catalog all wireless products are WiSA compatible. The Capellas use this technology, and therefore any WiSA device could theoretically be part of the ecosystem including the speakers.
The consortium develops for all members both the hardware platform, namely the Summit chipset, and basic software that each manufacturer then customizes as it sees fit. This is an extremely intelligent approach from which to start. No use developing, investing large sums on your own, only to find yourself among thousands of bugs and updates, chasing the neurotic reality of the mobile device market. Capella’s management software allows for some customizations, but especially for environmental calibration via the smartphone microphone if in the Apple world or via any USB microphone in the case of Android, although Triangle offers its ZEN Microphone that connects directly to the hub performing the measurement without the need for a tablet or smartphone.
Once you launch the Capella app, and enter the calibration tools, you can make the room measurement. The system makes automatic adjustments between 10Hz and 400Hz by emitting pink noise. After calibration, the measured curve is displayed in red and the resulting curve in yellow resulting from the DSP application, while manual equalization acts at full range and can be used after calibrating.
Google cast, a certain basis
The Capellas are Google cast devices, so you need to use that application to be able to set them up and see them on the network, inserting them together-if you have them-with other devices; that step is necessary to “introduce” the speakers, that is, to let them know the network to which they are to be connected, including the WiFi password, and is therefore prodromal to any other step. Once the connection is made, the speakers are ready to be used, including Roon compatibility, for the latter Capella will be seen in the list of audio devices. On proprietary on-demand music apps, the Triangles will be able to be connected via Google Cast, Airplay or Bluetooth, with a maximum resolution of 96/24. Capella are compatible not only with Qobuz and Tidal, but also with Deezer, YTMusic, Apple music and Spotify, and then DLNA-UPnP (Roon we have already mentioned).
Listening, conclusions
Capella speakers sound like a “real” Hi Fi speaker, and like a TRIANGLE speaker. A distinctive brand, as is the case with many other companies, that distinctive sound that is very pleasing to find even in a generalist-looking product like this. And brave is trying to leave one’s pedigree unchanged, not chasing fashion but rather balancing with one’s DNA. This trait we found in all the wireless speakers we had a chance to try, each according to their own inclinations, though these TRIANGLEs really do nothing to stray from the classic sound and form factor of a traditional speaker. They dare in the finish, with 4 different really beautiful and distinctive colors, but they are then classic two-way bookshelfs, if not for the bass reflex arranged underneath. But we’ve had a chance to say that. The bass is preponderant as soon as they are plugged in and without having done the calibration, which turns out to be necessary and is really part, we believe, of the tuning that the French engineers have done of the bass-reflex arrangement. Once the Capella calibration is done they become very credible, homogeneous, with the classic TRIANGLE setting, advanced and well-focused mid-high with lots of rhythm and homogeneity. No lack of power, the Capella’s will manage to adequately sonorize even medium rooms, without stadium levels, but in a very more than satisfactory way. Recommendable.
- Type: Bass-reflex
- Driver: 2.5cm magnesium tweeter, 16.5cm pulp woofer
- Frequency response: 42Hz-22kHz
- Power: 2X100W, in 2X50W active configuration
- HUB inputs: RCA x1, optical x3, USB-B / Aux jack 3.5 mm, coaxial x1, HDMI (ARC-CEC)
- Streaming: Bluetooth 4.2, Google Cast, Airplay, Spotify connect, Roon ready, DLNA UpNP
- Speaker inputs: RCA
- Audio formats: MP3, WMA, APE, FLAC, WAV, Apple Lossless
- Dimensions: 20X38X32
- Weight: 22 kg
Manufacturer: Triangle Acoustic France
Distributor: Tecnofuturo, Via Rodi 6, 25124 Brescia, tel 0302452475
Price: €2499
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