The general sound thus remains of the lively energetic sort. It's deliberately spiked to promote excitement while very high intelligibility contributes to a sense of great visibility. It's well known how image specificity relies on treble cues and rhythmic timing on percussive articulation particularly in the micro domain. Like a race horse, the Cello is bred for those qualities and like thoroughbreds, its temperament is innately fussier and more diva-esque than a beer-wagon Hanoverian. But then the French are Champagne rather than beer people so perhaps it figures.


Soundstage lovers into high sorting and exactitude will appreciate the Cello's mastery of that domain and Naimies who cue up a Jazz or Swing record to tap the heel and bop the head should too. Vandersteeners meanwhile will want for a bit of general meatiness and more raw oomph around 40Hz in particular while Sonus Faberians will call the sound too sprightly and jumpy.

Triangle's latest-gen horn-loaded tweeter—similar to the flagship's but the Grand Concert's horn is machined rather than injection-molded and has since trickled down into the Quatuor SE version—is the real piece de resistance. It transcends the coarser earlier incarnations and goes for greater refinement. Cymbals and triangles gain in subjective decay lengths, harmonic sprays in general are full of fizz like fine bubbly. Just as the latter is to be consumed in moderation, the trick to know the Cello well -- know here in the Old Testament's carnal sense whose patriarchs simply hopped in the sack whenever they were said to have known specific females ("and Abraham knew Lea" et al) -- the trick with the Cello is to moderate its frequency contour with setup and ancillaries.

That's why ballsy valve amps of Octave caliber seem tailor-made. (In that context it's no surprise that Munich 2008 used exactly that combination. It would have again this year had head octavian Andreas Hoffman not signed Dynaudio as his new US importer. This involved a last-minute strategic switch to the Dynaudio Sapphire speakers in the Octave exhibit.) A cooler class AB amp like April Music's new 150wpc Stello Ai500 integrated emphasizes speed, transient tickle and treble tintinnabulum. Folks with diminished HF hearing will pronounce it a miracle. The effect is that of a built-in treble tone control. Bat-eared youngsters could insist on toning it down. It's all about energy transmission, airiness, lightness—both as the opposite of darkness and fleetness of foot—and in direct opposition to a meaty comfort sound such as you'd get from the first three Vandersteen models, most Sonus Fabers or the Zu/WLM aesthetic.

The success or failure of such a voicing is directly proportionate to its linearity. The desired contour should be simply tilted but within that rise, a flat non-bumpy ascent. Otherwise the ear locks onto hot notes and depending on exactly where those occur and how routinely they're apt to be triggered, the effect could be Lowtherish in spiciness and ultimately, unpleasant and tiresome or simply limiting in what type of music sounds good. Triangle's design team which I'm told includes a number of fresh young ears is to be congratulated for having whittled away at this recipe such that it translates as gossamer finesse and buoyant esprit rather than something superficially glossy like a thin veneer that soon betrays what's underneath.

Compared to Burmester's AMTs as repeatedly heard during trade shows for example, Triangle's treble quality is far more silky. It only begins veering into minor steeliness at high levels and straight ahead positioning with no toe-in at all mostly compensates.


That House Sound: For a speaker company to thrive, it's vital to have a strong corporate identity and consistency. If you want a Triangle, you should get a Triangle, not a B&W. There should be a clear house sound from model to model, with increasing refinement, bandwidth and SPL potential as one climbs the ladder. I was more than pleasantly surprised to now have witnessed just how far along the path of evolutionary refinement the team under Decelle's new ownership has pushed Renaud de Vergnette's original vision.

As a member of the top Magellan range benefiting from the company's best driver technology, the Cello is sonically sophisticated, more Gallic of charm than the quintessentially American bass buster and in terms of build quality and appearance, a totally different proposition to what I owned four years ago. If the Magellan Project's expanded brief was to take Triangle upmarket in perception and then distribution, my sampling of the Cello suggests mission accomplished. This is a very dialed and refined speaker from appearance to performance which makes a particularly fine match with powerful 100-watt valve amplifiers endowed with linearity and drive. It benefits from great attention to setup particularly with regards to toe-in and those planning on many a high SPL session must ascertain that the electronics provide a counterpoint of fleshiness to the speaker's innate speed and illumination.

If you've always admired the Triangle sound, it's now gotten more sophisticated and has been wrapped in far snazzier threads. If you've never cottoned to it before and always found it too lit up and not bottom-heavy enough, you likely still won't. That's exactly as it should be. It simply shows that the designers stayed true to their course. They didn't change colors just to please everyone. Perhaps that's quintessentially French. It's certainly perfectly appropriate. Founder Renaud de Vergnette should be happy. So should current owner Olivier Decelle. Amongst speakers, his Portuguese-inspired, French-grown Cello is a dry champagne of fine pedigree and particularly the optional piano-gloss white is très elegante. My wife called it the best-looking speaker I've had through our various homes yet in 7 years. Tadah!

With particularly esoteric audiophiles, it's become all the rage to denounce corporate culture in favor of dealing with the far smaller firms - as though big companies were bad guys by definition. But in speaker land, what's really more esoteric - to obtain purpose-designed drive units as part of an in-house collaborative team of technicians, designers and engineers who were brooding over the same project in intra-disciplinary fashion while pooling resources; or end up with the same old standard drivers once again cobbled together by ear? If complete high-end respect has eluded Triangle in the past for reasons unknown, then the Magellan Cello Sw2 suggests that in 2009, such an attitude needs adjusting. Where's Frank Zappa and his sharp-toothed yellow shark when you need him? Over and out.