Triangle Borea BR04 review

When did the world of budget-to-mid-range standmount speakers get so competitive? There have always been plenty of sharks swimming in these waters, yet it’s been a while since we have had so many super-talented contenders competing within the same area of this particular market.

From the Bowers & Wilkins 607 S3 (now £449 / $900 / AU$1149) to the KEF Q3 Meta (£649 / $900 / AU$1300) and the Monitor Audio Bronze 50 7G (£500 / $849 / AU$1099), we’re in danger of getting to a situation where there are more sharks than there is water to sustain them.

Into these choppy seas dive the Triangle Borea BR04, and while it may sound as though they have the odds stacked heavily against them, Triangle’s well-regarded Borea line has thrown up some impressive candidates of its own over the last few years. The smaller, cheaper Borea BR03 are five-star candidates in their own right, while the BR08 floorstanders are former What Hi-Fi? Award-winners thanks to their dynamic, punchy delivery.

Sharks rarely rest – they can’t afford to when competing with such talented rivals – so are the Borea BR04 the fiercest predator around, or will they find that there are just too many fish in this particular sea?

Build & design

The Triangle BR04 are generally typical of the wider Borea speaker range, opting for a smart, clean aesthetic wherein (unless you opt for the all-black or all-white options) a coloured front fascia contrasts nicely with the rest of the wooden speaker cabinet.

Standards of build quality are solid throughout. You’ll detect very few rough edges or coarse surfaces as you run your hand along each cabinet’s exterior, while the speakers’ detachable magnetic grilles feel similarly well made as we detach and reattach them with a satisfying snap.

Do note that these are not the smallest boxes you’ll find at this mid-price range, with the speakers’ 42.5 x 22 x 31.4cm dimensions (hwd) making the rival Bowers & Wilkins 607 S3 look titchy by comparison. As we’ll soon see, that means you get more lower-end muscle than most rivals can muster.

The Triangle speakers feature double binding posts, allowing for bi-wiring and bi-amplification depending on your needs. Triangle envisions the BR04 as being ideal for home cinema use alongside integration within traditional hi-fi stereo set-ups.

Triangle also includes eight adhesive rubber pads designed to be fitted to the bottom of each speaker to more effectively dampen vibrations from the cabinet and keep your BR04s held more firmly onto their speaker stands.

The two-way Borea BR04 feature a 25mm silk-dome tweeter working alongside a 16cm cellulose pulp mid/bass driver in a bid to deliver "clear vocals and natural warmth". That mid/bass driver enjoys the benefits of a redesigned cone, something Triangle pledges reduces distortion at higher frequencies and louder volumes.

Further, the Borea BR04 also have a redesigned front bass reflex port and an upgraded crossover. The speaker cabinets have been expanded and reworked from those found in the BR03, seeking greater airflow optimisation in a bid to achieve a "deeper, more controlled" bass signature.

Compatibility

These are standmounts which require a little patience and understanding if they’re to showcase their talents to the fullest degree. We start our testing using the price-compatible Arcam A5+ amplifier (£749 / $1200 / AU$1595) – a current What Hi-Fi? Award winner, no less – but we suspect that this even-handed stereo amplifier isn’t quite getting the best out of our test pair.

To see if the speakers have sufficient stretch to accommodate a more premium partner, we recruit the services of the excellent Naim Nait XS 3 (£2499 / $2999), and soon discover that the BR04 are more than capable of making the leap to more high-end fare.

They sound more detailed and cohesive when partnered with the Nait XS 3, and while the switch doesn’t hide their deficiencies or overall character, it’s more effective at shining a light on the BR04s’ strengths. If you’ve got a more premium amp, then, the BR04 will happily play ball.

Still, the Nait XS 3 is more costly than the sort of amplifier we’d imagine the Triangles being paired with, so we also experiment with partnering it with the Rega Brio Mk7 (£799 / $1095 / AU$1699). This feels like a more natural fit than the Arcam A5+, with the Brio’s insightful, dynamically engaging presentation making for a more rewarding experience.

For positioning, setting the speakers around 40-50cm away from the back wall prevents the bass reproduction from sounding overly muddy in our 3 x 7 x 4m test room, and we angle the Triangles slightly inwards towards our listening position so that the tweeter axis crosses behind our heads.

Sound

Even before you’ve heard a single note, you can get a fairly decent idea of what these Triangle standmounts are all about simply by looking at them. As befits their large, imposing dimensions, the BR04 produce a sound that’s similarly bold – in fact, it’s as full of beef as a Texan cattle ranch.

That powerful, meaty character is on full display as we pump out Nine Inch Nails’ As Alive As You Need Me To Be, with the substantial standmounts giving the electro-rock workout all the muscle it requires. There’s power across the spectrum, but the Triangles are especially keen to show off their ample bass output which, while impressively weighty, offers greater agility and tautness than the rival Bowers & Wilkins 607 S3.

Power is the name of the game, then, but we’d be doing the Borea BR04 a disservice if we didn’t emphasise that there are ample brains to go with all of that brawn. Specifically, the sizeable standmounts offer sufficient textural insight to prevent things from feeling ill-defined, be it the crisp, delicate playing on Mozart’s Rondo alla Turca or the glassy, ambient sounds scattered across Massive Attack’s Paradise Circus.

We’ll stick with Paradise Circus for a moment, as it’s a tune which highlights more of the Borea BR04s’ strengths. The soundstage produced is spacious and full-bodied, with impressive stereo imaging which places Hope Sandoval’s entrancing vocals firmly in the centre of the composition. Organised, clearly defined and with ample detail to boot, it’s a fine showcase of their talents.

Moving over to Ludwig Göransson’s 12-minute epic Posterity from the Tenet soundtrack, however, reveals the areas in which these punchy performers may harbour some noticeable weak spots.

The first six minutes are essentially a slow-building arrangement of taut, anxiety-ridden synths and strings overlaid by occasional piano interjections, and while the Borea BR04 are able to bring out large scale dynamics with relative conviction, they struggle fully to convey the subtler shifts and nuances as the piece bubbles and simmers to its various climaxes.

If Posterity is a skittering polygraph test in musical form, the BR04 can manage those major spikes of anxiety. Smaller peaks and troughs, however, are lost in favour of broader, less subtle strokes.

Further listening confirms other noticeable niggles. What we discover as we flit from tune to tune is that the Borea BR04 are rather wedded to their particular way of doing things, and though that front-footed presentation might click nicely with certain tracks and genres, we find that these are speakers which would prefer to impose their sonic will on the music rather than adapt to each song being played.

Moving from Posterity to Marion Black’s smooth, soulful Who Knows should be a complete change of pace, yet we get the impression that the Triangles aren’t fully able to shift down gears and give the 1970s track the looser, more relaxed rendition it deserves. The BR04 tend to do everything at a given pace, meaning they’re never quite capable of getting out of the way and letting the music take the spotlight.

Switch to the more expensive Acoustic Energy AE300 Mk2 (£649 / $1099 / AU$1580), and you’ll have a different experience – here’s a pair of standmounts that is capable of going with the flow no matter the genre, teasing out subtler shifts in tone while always allowing the music itself to shine.

Verdict

As competitive as the current market in which they’re aiming to form a reputation is, the Triangle Borea BR04 showcase enough of their own distinct talents to be recommendable. To the right person, of course.

They’re not the most sonically flexible or subtle speakers you’ll find at this level, and you’ll have to do a bit of work in terms of system matching to get them sounding their best. But if punch, authority and power are high on your agenda, these speakers are worthy of an audition.

Review published: 18th December 2025

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 4
• Compatibility 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Bowers & Wilkins 607 S3

Also consider the KEF Q3 Meta

Read our Acoustic Energy AE300 MK2 review

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