Intro
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Floorstanding speakers come in all shapes and sizes, but they are rarely a combination of active subwoofers, passive radiators, mid-drivers and AMT tweeters in a d’Appolito configuration. Even rarer is it if you want to buy them in a beautiful red finish. Yet todays test object possesses just that cocktail of elements. We are testing the GoldenEar T66.
‘Our’ GoldenEar T66 is equipped with AudioQuest cabling. A nice extra for sure. The special GoldenEar T66 floorstander is the first speaker to roll off the assembly line at the Irvine, California factory since The Quest Group took over in 2020. Let’s take a closer look.
Construction and appearance
Have you ever thought about the manufacturer’s name? We have! Now we don’t pretend to have golden ears but we do have more experience than most listeners and are therefore ideally suited to put this new speaker under the microscope for you. As you will notice, this is quite a complex sound reproducer.
First of all, the GoldenEar T66 is a three-way speaker and quite a slim one at it. With its width of 19 cm!, depth of 37 cm and height of 124 cm, it is an elegant loudspeaker as far as we are concerned. A slender beauty so to speak that you can order in glossy black or in a special Santa Barbara Red (300 euros surcharge). That red version would be our first choice although the black version we got might integrate more easily into a modal living room.Â
The speaker itself stands on a newly cast aluminum base that features rubber studs for wood floors or spikes for carpets. Adjustable feet allow you to set up this speaker in perfect alignment “in no time”.
The total weight comes at a respectable 27.2 kg each. So it’s best to move them with two people, but once in place you can handle them by yourselves. Above this new base are the amplifiers for the subwoofers that give the right amount of power and control to the two large bass drivers. They are off course DSP controlled.Â
Basso Continuo
On the side of the loudspeaker are two passive radiators acoustically coupled to the subs to further support the bass. Above them are two mid-bass drivers in d’Appolito arrangement. The ‘High Velocity Folded Ribbon’ AMT tweeter sits between them. All components are placed in a strategically reinforced cabinet. The front grille is not removable and covers the entire height of the speaker. The fabric cover of previous models is gone, making this speaker look a lot sleeker and an eye-catcher in any room. Especially in red!
At the back we see two pairs of speaker connections. So you can bi-wire or bi-amp. There is a connection for the power cable and a dial to set the desired amount of bass. There is no preamplifier, streamer or dac inside the T66. It is a pure floorstanding speaker but with a built-in amplifier and DSP control for the bass drivers. You can find more about the technology used in the T66 on the manufacturer’s site but what we are most interested in is knowing how this quite complex speaker sounds like.