With the cost of living crisis in full swing and the hi-fi loving public having to consider eating, heating as well as listening to music. Now, there is a difference between want and need and but I do want to listen to music replayed at a certain level of quality.

Rather than sacrifice your hi-fi system for food, fewer frappuccinos and mochas for a month or two will assist in planning for a future purchase, improve your health and reduce your dental bills to boot!

This month I’d like to look at “Grand Systems”, including a turntable, for around a £1000 from well established British company Rega, celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, and the French company Triangle, who in turn, have been around for over 40 years.

The two systems we are going to look at this month approach music playback from a different technological standpoint, offering traditionalists and newcomers alternative routes into music listening, albeit with some crossover in terms of source selection and hi-fi components.

Triangle AIO active wireless speaker system

Triangle aio partnering a rega planar 1 turntable on a quadraspire evo bamboo 4-tier rack

Quality systems under a grand are often more difficult to find than ships in the Bermuda Triangle. As a result, the Triangle AIO active wireless speaker system is a bit of a find, so to speak, and only recently taken on at our Brighton Audio T store. Keen to fill a gap in our speaker range, whilst offering improved flexibility to our customers, the Triangle AIO fits the bill beautifully.

Triangle’s funky colours...

The Triangle AIO is available in a range of fashionable colours, along with the more traditional. Fit and finish are exquisite at the price.

Triumphant Triangle...

When it comes to flexibility, functionality and form, the Triangle AIO’s really have got you covered. Not only do they look great, but they have a real trump card up their sleeve, several trump cards, in fact!

The Triangle AIO are simply a pair of speakers, one acting as the master speaker, providing all of the input choices and powering a connected passive speaker via some speaker cable provided in the box. No separate amplifier is needed, just a mains power outlet near your desired setup position.

One cannot often use the word plethora to describe input options on a unit of this size, but the Triangle AIO really has more options for playback than Pep Guardiola, and this on the back of one master active speaker is really quite remarkable.

As can be seen from the images above, not only can the Triangle AIO cater for multiple inputs, but it’s wired and wireless streaming options are plentiful, with most of the major streaming services available via the free Triangle AIO app, available to download via Apple IOS or Google Play stores. Although not shown on the graphic above, Apple music can be accessed via Airplay or Bluetooth.

The real coup-de-gras is the switchable phono stage for a moving magnet turntable. This will allow the comparison between the Triangle AIO and our Rega system later on in our blog discussion.

Here at the Brighton Audio T store we followed the simple connection instructions supplied in the box and after having downloaded the Triangle AIO app we were quickly up and running. Logging into our Qobuz account we were quickly bestowed with a quality sound.

Alongside the app control, Triangle also supply a simple, but effective, remote control. Personally, I am a fan of remotes because they allow quick muting of sound should the phone ring and in this case, they also have a set of useful treble/bass tone controls to equalise the sound to taste.

Rega Planar 1, Rega IO and Acoustic Energy AE100 Mk2...

rega planar 1 turntable, rega io amplifier and acoustic energy ae100 mk2 speakers

Our second system is a much more conventional affair, comprising: Rega Planar 1 turntable with a pre-fitted Rega Carbon cartridge, a Rega IO amplifier and Acoustic Energy AE100² Bookshelf speakers. Here the units are mounted on a Quadraspire EVO Bamboo 4-tier hi-fi rack and B&W Stav 24 speaker stands.

Analogue all the way...

Very much a traditional analogue hi-fi system, the Rega/Acoustic Energy system is loosely based around the Rega System One, a record players starter system minus the Rega Kyte speakers, to facilitate a more affordable starter system for the discerning vinyl listener, eschewing any digital or streaming options, unless additional components are purchased and added through the Rega IO’s analogue inputs.

The Acoustic Energy AE100² are a fine visual and acoustic match for the Rega Planar 1 and Rega IO. Internet outages will be no problem for this system and the sound it delivers for the money is extremely punchy and musical.

AIO v IO...

These two systems offer completely different use cases. If you’re after a purely vinyl playback option the Rega Planar 1/ Rega IO/Acoustic Energy AE100² system offers a more wholesome and beguiling, analogue sound in the long term when playing records.

However, for most people with access to streaming services, the Triangle AIO speakers offer a far more feature laden option. Music discovery and phone/tablet control are a big selling point and the option to just place the Triangle AIOs on a shelf or desktop makes them very adaptable for most users, whilst still allowing the user access to a phono stage for playing records when they have a desire to do so.

You pays your money and takes your choice, but in both cases you’ll end up with a fine sounding starter system, both systems offering high sound for pound value.

For those who feel a grand is far too much for a music system, I’d ask them to do some maths. Forty records at £25 a pop = £1000 and that would equate to approximately the cost of these systems and would allow the listener potentially far more listening pleasure because of the playback quality possible.

Alternatively, purchase a Crossley type player, buy a few more records and ruin them with a stylus that tracks the grooves like a farmer ploughing the fields.

For those who claim they can’t hear the difference, see you in the Bermuda Triangle!

If you are interested in auditioning any of the products mentioned in this blog or from our extensive range of quality gear, please get in touch.

Thanks for reading.

Ade, John and Paul - Audio T Brighton

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

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