Triangle Borea BR02 Hi-Fi Bookshelf Speakers

Triangle audio? Cool name right? Is this the illumination of the Hifi world? One that leads us as a single race of audiophiles to a promised certain end goal? Nope, that’s just pure drivel I wrote for an intro to this Triangle Borea BR02 review. Triangle is in fact a french speaker company with some pedigree to their name.

Designing and making speakers to a very high standard for over 40 years they have many models like the Magellan Grand Concert that will blow your mind (and your ears). Today though we aren’t looking at the top of the line, we are looking at the entry-level Borea bookshelf speakers and in this review, I want to also bring up a few alternatives because while the BR02 are very good they might not be for everyone.

The Concept

As mentioned above Triangle really gained traction with their Magellan speaker line and over time the brand name started to carry a lot of weight in the audiophile community. The flagships are not cheap as is the case with many other speakers they produce so wanting to cater to a wider audience they introduced the Borea line designed to give consumers their first taste of what the company was capable of.

The cool thing about the triangles approach was that they didn’t outsource this, from their offices and development facilities in Sossions. France they built the BR02 using a combination of ground-up and trickle-down designs from their more prestigious models. It’s a descendent of the popular EZ Spirit line with inspiration carried over in the cabinets and materials.

The goal was to create a speaker that can do everything well, a bit like the Polk Audio ES15 we reviewed last week. Maybe you want to play a little audio, then flip over and watch a movie. It’s designed as much as a budget audiophile speaker as it is a full-blown home theater system when used with other speakers in the Borea range.

Specification

• Drivers: 2 - 1x25mm Silk Dome Tweet / 1x130mm Paper Cone Transducer

• Sensitivity: 89 dB/W/m

• Frequency range: 51 Hz – 22 KHz

• Power: 80 W

• Impedance :8 Ω

• Dimensions: 6,92 x 12,2 x 10,78 (inches)

• Weight: 5kg lbs

• Finish Colors: White/Light Oak/Black/Walnut

Build + Aesthetic Impressions

There’s not really much to say here other than the Triangle Borea BR02 are a bit boring to look at but very well made.

Of course, anyone producing bookshelf speakers is limited with what they can do. As usual, it’s the old tweeter on the top woofer on the bottom stack in a rectangular-faced cabinet. With the grill on id find myself hard pressed to not fall asleep while looking at them.

Removing the grill provides some relief as there is a little unique touch of flare in the way the mount for the transducer is abruptly cut off and not completing the full circle it makes it almost look like the speaker chosen is too big for its cabinet but it adds a little style at the same time.

Out of the color choices (having seen all 4 in person), the only one I liked was the light oak which had a certain Scandinavian charm to it that I think would look great in any modern home.

The cabinet housing is very well made with no misaligned seams or finishing imperfections on the set I had for review. They by all means feel very well made right down the quality of the plastics on the rear facing bass port and screw mount cable clamps.

Sound

The sound certainly did impress but not in a wow this is something special kind of way. It’s just a competent well-rounded speaker that does a lot right and does very little to offend. The market is hot right now in this price category but also in this sub-category of well-rounded do-anything speakers.

I’m so used to listening to speakers purely for audio that my eyes are shifted. By far the best sounding speakers at this price have to the Emotiva B1s or Elac Debut 2.0 from a purely technical perspective. You also could throw in the QAcoustics 3020i but all of these have one commonality in that they are very neutral and analytical. I know the impulse jump is to buy speakers with lots of detail but that doesn’t work in all situations, especially when you are using poor quality componentry or source material.

The goal of this site is to give my actual honest unbiased opinion and with that, I look at the sound and ask myself is there a reason I would buy them over any other models, and quite honestly no. In that, I’m also not degrading them as a bad speaker in any way. They are what I would call rock solid and dependable but they don’t really excel in any area.

The sound is non-fatiguing, smooth, and relaxed. They don’t force you to listen nor do they really grab your attention. The bass is punchy and relaxed despite the tiny size but it has been tuned with an emphasis on mid-bass to cover the lack of true sub-bass. The treble was bright at times and I put this down to source pairing. With the highs I maybe wanted a little more detail to match their presence but the Emotivas that I was playing with next to them, with their ribbon speaker is just miles ahead.

The strongest showing is from the midrange which sounded delightful with a slightly warm tone and natural clear presentation. They aint detail monsters in this area either but they are thoroughly enjoyable and engaging on acoustic and jazz tracks. In fact, I threw on a little Lo-Fi music one night and just jammed for hours without the usual tinkering I do in listening sessions.

So it is an easy-to-live-with speaker and yeah it actually does well with a home theater system in combo with a separate subwoofer. The other thing I liked was their ability as a near-field speakers. They were never jarring or offensive when used up close with my computer monitor and the size to performance in this area was great.

If I was about to plonk down this amount of cash though, I think for music it would be the KEF 150 or Emortiva B1s, and for a founder the Polk ES15. I like the Triangle but just not enough, they really don’t do anything for me in making me feel like my speakers are blowing me away, either in sound or value terms.

Final Thoughts

Sound is one of the most subjective things on the planet and for me, I felt a little underwhelmed especially having heard the company’s more expensive loudspeakers. There is no magic here just a really well-made competent set of speakers that a fairly versatile. Ultimately I think the market is so competitive right now that it’s very hard to stand out either in terms of design or sound. If you have the BR02 then rest assured you have a great set of speakers, if buying don’t dismiss them on my account but perhaps look at some of the alternatives I listed above before making a purchase.

Official Website Triangle Borea BR02: Triangle Borea BR02