The speakers connect with an accompanying speaker cable, and can stand on a shelf, on the bookshelf, or on a pair of stands. Everything can be controlled with the provided remote control, which isn’t exactly overflowing with quality, but it works. (Photo: Manufacturer)

As an old-school amp/speaker kind of guy, it took me a while to warm up to active loudspeakers in the hi-fi space. I had doubts about whether they would be effective at reproducing music in a way that would satisfy audiophiles. But advances in technology, primarily with digital amplification, have paved the way for simple all-in-one or just add source audio solutions that actually sound good. The Elara’s are very compact and measure 291mm high, 165mm wide and 291mm deep. The right speaker with the amplifier and electronics weighs 5.05kgs, and the left speaker is 4.5kgs. A quality loudspeaker for just € 390? Lionel Payne, in his first review for Hifi Pig, takes a listen to the Triangle Elara LN01 LoudspeakersNewbies can also link their smartphones to the Elara’s built-in Bluetooth receiver within moments, and allow its codec circuitry to start streaming music from an Android or Apple device. Each rear-ported cabinet measures 11.5”H x 6.5”W x 9.25”D. The two-way LN01A has a 5.1” midrange-woofer with a treated-paper cone, crossed over at 1.8kHz to a 1” silk-dome tweeter. The specified frequency response is 56Hz-22kHz, ±3dB. The speakers are supplied with magnetically attached cloth grilles, at the bottom of each grille a large Triangle logo. Of course, powered speakers such as the Elaras aren’t just for the young. While they’ll work beautifully in a college dorm or a teenager’s bedroom, they’ll serve grown-up music-lovers equally well as a secondary system for a home office or den.

The Titus also delivered more treble detail and dug deeper in the bass. What both Elara and Titus do have in common is an immediacy and ability to time, that’s complimentary to the music played through them. In Gould’s Goldbergs the lower octaves of the piano had better definition through the Totems, a little more clarity in the upper octaves. But in that explosion of joy at the beginning of Variation 1 the piano tone was a bit more clangy. It’s worth noting that this is a very early digital recording made in 1981, and was miked quite closely, with almost no reverb. In reproducing it, the Totems were clearly less forgiving than the Triangles. Operation of the ELARA system is pretty straight forward. As stated before, you just need to plug the power cord into the left speaker, then connect the supplied speaker wire to both speakers and then flip the power switch on the powered speaker. There is an led on the front of the powered speaker that lets you know the speakers are turned on, it lights up blue if you are using Bluetooth and green for any of the other inputs. Speaking of Bluetooth, it’s the 4.0 variety with aptX. The left-channel speaker weighs 10.2 pounds. The only connectors on its rear panel are a pair of binding posts that accept bare wire, banana plugs, or spade lugs -- the left-channel LN01A looks like, and is, a conventional passive two-way minimonitor.The Elara is said to have a power output of 50-watts and a frequency response of 56-20,000 Hz measured at one metre +/-3dB. There is also a sub output which is full range, you’ll have to use the crossover on your sub to blend the output with your speakers. A 60-70 Hz cut off is recommended. There is also a volume knob on the rear of the speaker. When it comes to streaming, the Triangle AIO app for Apple iOS and Google Android is available to play your own content or that offered via services such as Spotify, Deezer, Qobuz and TIDAL. Internet radio and podcasts are also available. Multiroom audio streaming via Linkplay technology A notion put to the test playing the same version of Lou Reed’s Heroin; one streamed, the other pressed on vinyl.

As I said in the introduction, Triangle’s Elara LN01A could serve as a great introduction to the joys of hi-fi -- but this little speaker could also work well as a secondary system in a secondary room. The LN01A can be used to stream music in true stereo from a smart device, but can also serve as the core of a sound system including a turntable, a disc player, a game console, a TV, and other sources. There’s a dedicated 3.5mm line level input along with the optical and digital audio inputs. There’s even an output connection to drive a subwoofer for those wanting more bass.

What To Think About

After imbibing some of nature’s finest herbs, it was always a chore to change LPs when the tonearm reached the end of a side. Triangle AIO TWIN Speakers is the latest system from Triangle Electroacoustique, the French specialist for loudspeaker systems. The fact that this is once again a compact, versatile active loudspeaker system shows that the French are consistently trying to expand their target group.

There is another vital set of inputs. These are for the Triangle turntable. But they can also be switched to a line level input using a slider. Though more solid and energetic than any rival we’ve heard, the Triangles are not quite the finished sonic article. They are outshone by the Audioengine HD6 Wirelesses when it comes to absolute transparency and finesse.And … my old system would be much more expensive if its buying price were translated into today’s money. Which raises the question: what would we have paid to enjoy the convenience of Bluetooth in the 70s? Plenty, allow me to assure you.