TRIANGLE SIGNATURE DELTA

I consider loudspeakers to be among the most difficult of hi–fi components to create. Not only is a speaker electromechanical, some can also be thought of as a piece of furniture, an object that sits on the floor and dares you to ignore it. Such is the TRIANGLE Signature Delta, a medium sized floor–standing tower that’s designed and built in France. The electromechanical aspect entails all those annoying reactive electrical elements; resistors; capacitors and inductors. They are referred to as “reactive” since they behave differently to differing signals. Not only that, in the case of speakers, the inductors and/or capacitors actually move in response to an input! For the designer, you also have to contend with interactions with several unknown elements; the room; relative listening position; plus drive electronics and cabling. There are even more aspects that need to be taken into account during the design phase, but you get the idea…a real pain in the tuchus.

From the middle of the Signature family, the $9k TRIANGLE Delta loudspeaker is a relatively large, brawny, and slightly retro floorstander. It certainly cannot be ignored in situ. Yet, it’s smaller than the five driver Alpha and much larger than the two–way, $4.8k Theta stand mounter and Gamma MTM center channel that complete the family. Above the Signature range is the mighty yet reasonably priced $16,250 Magellan Cello and $22k Quatuor 40th Anniversary models. Built and assembled in TRIANGLE’s workshop located in Soissons, France, the Deltas carry a 2–year warranty.

Although it was many years ago I reviewed TRIANGLE’s Trio Genèse†, a two–way stand mounter no longer in production. The aforementioned Signature Theta would be the closest current offering. I found the Genèse Trio offered “…a no–hype mid and treble response,” with “…more of a direct connection to my bootie making me want to shake it.” I found the Trios afforded more simple listening enjoyment than the similarly sized and priced KEF LS50 Metas, “…which hew closer to a studio monitor attitude.”

With some help from my engineering buddy Dan Deurloo, thank you Dan, we wrestled the two TRIANGLE cartons off a pallet and into the living room. Rough placement came next, with almost no break–in as my review pair had supposedly seen prior service elsewhere. Once I moved my little MB2.5 towers out of the way and dialed in the Delta’s position, it was no surprise that, upon digging in to listen, I was very pleased to hear that subjectively, these were the big sister to those Trio Genèse of yore.

Some speakers are aggressive, some are demure while others are Goldilocks–centrist. They don’t bludgeon with bass, or lash you with razor sharp treble. They just make…music! I’ll tell you a secret…I have expectation bias when it comes to speakers. The larger the speaker, the less likely I expect to like them. I come to this from years of exposure to not only sound reinforcement boxes the size of a small car but trophy home speakers from Wilson, Magico, and even manufactures for whom I have an affection. Sorry, but XL speakers too often sound like they belong in a public address system rather than a living room. As you may have guessed, the Deltas defied me to like anything about them. Yet, I found them to be the epitome of balance, with hefty, on–point lows, an easy going midrange, and a high end that informs yet doesn’t call attention to itself.

Reminiscent of B&W’s early implementation of a separate tapered enclosure, the Delta’s “pod-mounted,” horn–loaded, metal–encased tweeter complements a 6.5” (16cm) “…paper midrange for natural reproduction of vocals.” The 25mm dome tweeter’s horn is made from injection–molded aluminum alloy that was originally developed for their top of the line. As with my earlier TRIANGLE review, US Sales Manager Frank Gazzo was my connection to the manufacturer. He informed me, via e–mail, that the first version of the tweeter was titanium. Then, “…we replaced it five years ago with magnesium and aluminum material. We use the same dome as the Magellan 40TH (Édition Anniversaire), but with natural color without anodizing.” Unlike B&W, the tweeter housing blends cleanly into the top of the cabinet.

Handling the bottom, dual 6.5” woofers have double ferrite (!) magnets, and a double–layer voice coil. The LF drivers have a unusual look, with an inverted half-roll rubber surround, and a glass fiber cone supported by a second paper membrane. A large paper dust cap completes the picture. All Signatures are ported designs, and the Delta is no exception. The two woofer enclosures exit from the front in a unique, large bore “Twin Vent” design, with a more than passing resemblance to the front end of a ’58 Dual–Ghia. That distinctive separator combines both ports into a dimpled exit mouth via an interior baffle. Crossover occurs at 280 and 2750 Hertz.

All transducers have their own enclosure, including the identical twin woofers. This reduces intermodulation distortion, where the motion of one drive causes another to inadvertently move. Overall, I heard very low overall distortion which, thought I, was one major aspect of their smooth and appropriately resolving voice. The two woofers are not “shaded,” they are fed identically and in parallel. One technical detail I found interesting, one that I think contributes to the speaker’s sense of seamless unity, is the crossovers. All are gentle 2nd order with the exception of a 4th order feeding the tweeter. This results in a very different character than a speaker that relies on all high order filters, Dr. Roland Gauder’s designs being an example: well–measuring but fettered versus unconfined.

Some specs for the tweakophiles in the audience:

• Sensitivity : 92dB/W/m

• Bandwidth: 35Hz-22kHz ±3dB

• Nominal impedance : 8Ω @ 1kHz

• Minimum impedance : 3.3Ω

• 13.4" wide by 48.4" tall and 14.65"deep

All Signature cabinets are fabricated from multi–layer HDF for a base thickness of 0.83" or 21mm. Seven layers of 3 mil HDF are glued and formed under pressure to obtain the curve on the sides. This heavy, high density cabinet “…helps to considerably reduce the speaker’s vibratory behavior,” according to the manufacturer. The model is available in mirror black or white, plus mahogany or “golden oak,” a dark, figured cherry–hued finish. Each speaker weighs in at a beefy 73 pounds, but was relatively easy to maneuver into place on my living room carpet. By the way, TRIANGLE’s distributor Antal Audio also represents Electrocompaniet electronics and SOULINES turntables.

“The in–house designed copper terminals on the speaker’s back are equipped for bi–wiring or bi–amplification, and accommodate spades or bananas. Internal wiring consists of copper conductors with a polyethylene dielectric and PVC jacket. The choice of cable was settled on only after multiple, in–house listening tests.” As for my tests, I stuck with my trusty and transparent Audio Art Cables Statement balanced interconnects and speaker cables. My sources were the revealing Madison LE streamer and Amarra feeding my exaSound e22 Mk. II directly driving Parasound’s low color, high bias JC5 solid state stereo amplifier.

After going through my usual days of listening to become accustomed to the speaker’s gestalt, I busted out my Latin playlist and queued up some Joe Chambers. Specifically, his Sabah el Nur from the 2021 Blue Note release, Samba de Maracatu [48k Qobuz UMG]. The song starts with Steve Haines’ upright bass laying down the tracks for others to follow. The imposing Deltas painted a lovely, convincing soundstage, with Chambers’ likely overdubbed vibraphone sitting stage left, his trap drums spanning center to stage right, and pianist Brad Merritt situated far right. With three percussive instruments going, this could have been a problem, but the black TRIANGLEs sussed it all out, leaving me to bask in the jazzy moment.

Although my eval pair did not come with them, the Delta normally ships with magnetically–attached grills. My guess is that, since they do not cover the tweeter, they would not have appreciably altered the sound. The base is equipped with very low aspect ratio steel cones in back for rugs or carpeted surfaces, and rubber tips for hard floors. The speaker rely on a three–point suspension, with a height–adjustable spike and cup in front. I stayed with the standard hard supports, arranging the speakers in a 75" equilateral triangle angled such that the tweeters converged a bit behind my head.

Sarah McLachlan’s self–titled first track from her latest album, Better Broken [Qobuz 48k Concord Records 2025], is a dense pâté of tasty, beautifully produced sound flavors. The Deltas drew me into that finely crafted swirl, inviting my unfortunately analytical self to disentangle the constituent elements. Another speaker might provide more “detail” at the expense of credibility, more soulless studio monitor vibe, but the Signature Delta gave delicious music! I know that sounds stereotypically woo woo, but I keep coming back to the fact that, for me, they always delivered on the promise of entertainment, never standing up and drawing attention as many oh so high fidelity loudspeakers are wont to do. I could easily pick out the metallic percussive flourishes from the trap drums, appreciate the “treated,” hyper–stereo rhythm elements, and still; all served to serve McLachlan’s assertion that time does heal.

Cécile McLorin Salvant’s Oh Snap [96k Qobuz Nonesuch] has become a top five fave title for 2025. This exceptional performance showcase is like a intellectual tickle. Although an artificial construct, the picture painted by the Deltas was relatively narrow but brought a nice depth. I am a volcano starts out sparse but rapidly builds into a sound collage of synth stabs, vocal triple tracks, plus drums and bass. As the lyrics intone, everything cools off and settles. “It is calm and beautiful. For a while, it's beautiful” Yes. Through the Deltas, its beautiful intricacy was revealed.

While I had the Deltas in da house, as always I was listening to new releases in search of gems. Two albums stood out as examples of the speaker’s capabilities…One was the new Cardi B, AM I THE DRAMA? [44.1 Qobuz Atlantic Records 2025], a tragically bad sounding release that highlights all the thoughtless aspects of modern pop’s process. Earlier I mentioned aggressive sound signatures, and that album has pugnacious written all over it. Massive distortion, biting high end; a veritable cornucopia of crappy sound quality. The Deltas dutifully transmitted the multitracked mess without softening the tasteless production. Two doors over in Qobuz was Young Thug’s UY SCUTI [44.1 Qobuz 300 Entertainment 2025]. You might posit that these two titles would share the same “Who gives a shite?” production but, nay nay I say. Whereas the Cardi B album has an armada of “producers” and beat maker contributors, Young Thug’s latest was helmed by one producer, who apparently cared enough to go for fidelity, crafting balanced mixes that still hew close to the requisite in–your–face style while avoiding Pro Tools grit and crazy EQ. The Signature Delta delivered the appropriate solid low end typical for this genre, surprisingly smooth yet dynamic mids, and a top end that was detailed and well controlled.

Speaking of EQ, I always explore equalization while listening to new speakers. As I would expect, I landed on a light touch with the Deltas. Averaging a little over a decibel here and there using my linear phase thEQorange, the largest amount of correction was 2.3dB at 6.4kHz for some additional snap. Mind you, the equalization was nice to have but was totally optional. Without it, the speakers still spoke with an exceptionally neutral tone.

The Signature Delta is the opposite of analytical, not in a negative, undisciplined manner but in an integrative, inclusive way that wraps all aspects of your music into the artist’s nourishing, cohesive message. The high frequencies do not assault, the midrange does not incite a wince, while the bass remains a tasteful, solid foundation for all. They are a heck of deal, considering their fit, finish and sound qualities. Try ’em, I think you’ll very much like what you hear!

THE COMPANY

Manufacture TRIANGLE
www.trianglehifi.fr
Antal Audio Group — US Distributor
www.antalaudio.com
32 Dix Ave
Glens Falls NY 12801
Signature Delta — $9000 pair

† — <https://www.hifizine.com/2021/07/triangle-genese-trio>

TRIANGLE SIGNATURE DELTA - REVIEW