After a first successful attempt at breaking into the market of amplified speakers able to connect to different sources with the compact model Elara LN01A, bestowed with a Qobuzism, the French manufacturer Triangle broadens its commercial proposition with this new column type model based on the passive speaker Elara LN05 and an electronic part mostly similar to the one that equips the LN01A but delivering more power, namely 2 x 80 W instead of 2 x 50 W.
This allows for a more posh and smart speaker, belonging to the column type beloved by many music lovers, and requiring only a source (or more if you want to) to be able to broadcast music. These sources can be analog, thanks to the two RCA inputs (among which one can be used to connect a turntable) and the 3.5 mm stereo Jack input, or digital, via the Toslink optical connector for the S/PDIF signals or the Bluetooth connection. We could almost say that with this kind of speaker, we are in the presence of an almost autonomous Hi-Fi system, and this is what we’d like you to discover now thanks to the testing ground of these Triangle Elara LN05A column speakers.
Triangle Elara LN05A Speaker
||About the Triangle Elara LN05A speaker|| |Type:|Compact amplified speaker with analog and digital inputs, as well as an aptX Bluetooth connection| |Speakers :|2 x 13 mm medium boomers with paper cone
28 mm silk dome tweeter| |Amplifier power:|2 x 80 W| |Frequency response:|47 Hz - 22 kHz (±3dB)| |Wireless connections:|Bluetooth aptX| |Analog inputs:|Phono on RCA,
auxiliary on RCA and 3.5 mm Jack| |Digital inputs:|Coaxial and optical S/PDIF| |Other:|Subwoofer Out on RCA| |Dimensions (LxHxP) :|165 x 900 x 263| |Weight:|60.19 lbs (27.3 kg)| |Design/Manufacturing:|France/China| |R.R.P.:|About 1250 euros| |Contact:|Triangle|
Presentation
The Triangle Elara LN05A is a small column speaker with a rather sober but nonetheless pleasing design, with its soft-edged box coated with a black or white piano lacquer.
Owing to its relatively small size and light weight, the bottom side of the LN05A is fitted with inserts where is fixed a larger base, which adds weight to it and improves its stability.
The speakers
The Triangle Elara LN05A uses the same speakers than its little sister LN01A, but owing to its column design offering a much larger volume, it hosts in addition to that two bass-medium speakers. These work simultaneously in the bass, delivering a higher sound volume in this register, but only the boomer located under the tweeter handles the medium register and the frequency dispatch operations are taken care of by the passive filter.
You can see under the boomer located in the lower part of the facade of the speaker—here the model corresponding to the right channel containing all the electronics—two discreet round windows. The right one hides the remote receiver and the left one hosts a multicolor LED which functions as a source indicator.
The box and the speakers
The box of the Elara LN05A speaker is composed of 18 mm thick walls and a 21 mm front panel ensuring a good rigidity to the cabinetry, especially since it’s reinforced by two openwork panels called cross-section reinforcements, of which one, that you can see below, is located next to the back section for the technical plate.
New speakers have been developed by Triangle for its Elara range, in particular the tweeter using a 28mm silk dome, which will provide a rather smooth restitution.
This tweeter is motorized by a compact and powerful neodymium magnet and is equipped with a back fan allowing for heat dissipation, while its facade displays a partial horn loading reducing the edge effects and improving the high frequency dispersion.
The bass-medium speakers are equipped with a 135 mm diameter paper cone membrane without a dust cap for better rigidity. They are equipped with two ferrite magnets, of which one, mounted in pole opposition, allows to focus the magnetic field of the other on the moving coil. The bass speaker tuned port is located in the lower part of the facade.
Connectivity
The LN05A column speaker technical plate is located on the back side of the right speaker, and you’ll find the two poles plus ground mains power input and the power switch, as well as the speaker terminal to connect the left speaker.
Two digital S/PDIF inputs, optical and coaxial, are also present, as well as two analog inputs, one phono on RCA and one auxiliary on 3.5 mm Jack, and you can choose one or the other with a small slide switch. A potentiometer allows you to adjust the sound volume while a subwoofer can be linked on the RCA plug.
The electronics
The electronics is composed of several cards. The power supply, a switching model, is located at the far bottom, isolated from the other cards by an aluminum plate to block radiations inherent to this type of supply.
We weren’t able to access the amplifiers (there’s two of them), but we think these are Texas Instruments TPA3116 operating in class D.
The phono preamplifier uses RIAA filters built around two ON Semiconductor MC33078 low noise operational amplifiers.
At the top of the pile is located the card hosting the inputs, analog and digital, the commutations, the volume, the electronic management, etc. You’ll find on this card the S/PDIF interface, a Cirrus Logic CS8416 circuit compatible up to 24-Bit/192 kHz, the digital-to-analog conversion chip, a Wolfson WM8761, being also compatible up to 24-Bit/192 kHz.
Two Texas Instruments RC4458 dual operational amplifiers are at the heart of the active filters building the subwoofer output. You’ll also find a Princeton Technology Corp. PT2314 chip that commutes the inputs, adjusts the volume, the bass and the treble and also handles the mute function.
Two RC4558 operational amplifiers provide gain to the signals before those arrive to the amplifiers, and you can also see the aptX compatible Bluetooth receiver module, as well as the microcontroller from STC.
Sound
In order to listen to these Triangle Elara LN05A speakers, we have connected a ChromeCast Audio in digital to the optical input of the technical plate and used the Qobuz application compatible with GoogleCast from an iPad. Therefore, it’s the whole conversion-amplification-acoustic equipment that can be evaluated.
These Elara LN05A have provided us with a musical pleasure that was even superior to the LN01A that we had previously tested, especially thanks to their greater bass foundations, to the higher sound volume that they’re able to deliver thanks to their greater power and also to the volume level benefits that were gained from adding a second bass speaker.
This has been confirmed while reproducing the Othello overture from the album Dvořák recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, with a beautiful global density—that is very enjoyable in the bottom of the specter—which stresses the dramatic character of this work, and with bass chords that were perfectly fulfilling their role. The cymbal clangs punctuating here and there this overture were very much present without displaying any harshness, which attest to the softness of the treble.
With Martial Caillebotte’s symphonic poem Une Journée (Hi-Res 24-Bit/44.1 kHz) performed by the Chœur Régional Vittoria D'ile De France and the Orchestre Pasdeloup conducted by Michel Piquemal, the first scene, Le Lever du soleil, is splendidly reproduced in a large sound image, a beautiful color palette and brilliant enough trebles. As for the scene Le poète, it asserts itself majestically from the first notes and slides afterwards towards more gravity underlined by the long and dense cello chords, punctuated with brass chords devoid of any harshness. We’ll also note, while listening to the scene Le régiment qui passe, that the drums are very much present, in particular the timbals that give rhythm to this march.
Last musical testimony to a recently deceased great singer, the title You Want It Darker from Leonard Cohen’s testament album You Want It Darker is restituted by the Elara LN05A with a sturdiness and an almost darkness (which is still kind of the intent of the album) that has forced us to turn the bass volume down with the remote. Well, this was intense, very much so, maybe even a bit too much.
It was a spectacular reproduction, filling the room with ease with a breathtaking presence, of the much famous title The Great Pretender from Queen’s album The Platinum Collection. It swings a lot, the bass hit hard and fast and the Elara LN05A are more than willing to give it their all!
To conclude, the Triangle Elara LN05A column speakers have seduced us with their elegance, the way they can act as a small Hi-Fi system by being able to connect to a certain number of sources, whether analog or digital, as well as the very pleasing sound results they provide. All of this is well worth a Qobuzism!
