Triangle Color 123 review

Triangle's vibrant Color 123 speakers are a truly brilliant desktop package Tested at £600

What Hi-Fi? Verdict

This is a brilliant desktop package – a truly enjoyable way to listen to your music

Pros

  • +

    Great design

  • +

    tight yet energetic sound

  • +

    separate sub gives punch and power

Cons

  • -

    Can’t use your own speaker cable

  • -

    no display

Why you can trust What Hi-Fi? Our expert team reviews products in dedicated test rooms, to help you make the best choice for your budget. Find out more about how we test.

French hi-fi company Triangle is known for its distinctive design, and this desktop package certainly lives up to that reputation.

The two small, neat cube-shaped speakers each house a 25mm titanium tweeter, an 8cm midrange driver and a 10cm passive radiator hidden on the bottom.

The accompanying subwoofer has a 20cm driver and a 20cm passive radiator, and also houses all the electronics – a 100W digital amp for itself, and two 50W digital amps for the satellite speakers.

Triangle Color 123: Flawless finish
Inputs are a 3.5mm socket and stereo RCAs.This Triangle package looks great – the gloss red cabinets are flawless, while all the components are weighty and feel good and solid.

You can’t use your own speaker cable – but that’s not a deal-breaker here.

Using an iPhone 4 through the RCA sockets, and with Flutter by Bonobo playing through it, the immediate impression is one of fun, bounce and sheer entertainment.

Stereo imaging is explicit – clear, wide and easy to place instruments within it, and detail levels are sky-high even in quieter passages of classical music.

Triangle Color 123: Solid sub
Get the sub level dialled in correctly and there’s punch and power on offer, too.

Notes start and stop with speed and control, and the overall sound is musical and energetic.

Gripes? Few and far between: the fast attack could get a little tiring over longer sessions, but this can be moderated with a bit of tone tweakage.

Other than that, a display would be nice (so you can see which level you’ve set the tone to), and we’d like to be able to use our own speaker cable – but that’s really about it.

Verdict
This package is a smashing example of how to do desktop speakers. Sure, it might be pricey, but it’s money well spent.

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What Hi-Fi?

What Hi-Fi?, founded in 1976, is the world's leading independent guide to buying and owning hi-fi and home entertainment products. Our comprehensive tests help you buy the very best for your money, with our advice sections giving you step-by-step information on how to get even more from your music and movies. Everything is tested by our dedicated team of in-house reviewers in our custom-built test rooms in London, Reading and Bath. Our coveted five-star rating and Awards are recognised all over the world as the ultimate seal of approval, so you can buy with absolute confidence.

Read more about how we test