Blah, blah, blah.

Seriously though, some products only sell for retail. I was just probing to see if Triad's ever sold for less. I didn't ask how much less or ask for below retail prices to be posted.

That's funny, I don't think my builder will take monopoly money for my $2M house either. With this type of attitude, I'm sure there are plenty of jobs that never happen...for you!

If you are asking if Triad has a Unilateral Pricing system like Bose, the answer is no.
That said, Triad's dealers usually do not have to offer heavy discounts to move product.

Triads are not sold over the counter very often and they are rarely ever stocked by dealers. In fact they are not even stocked by the factory.
They stock the raw drivers and components and a LOT of MDF and veneers. Becuase they offer the same handful of speakers in several variations, they only make the actual speakers after the order hits the factory.

The "deal" you strike depends on you and your A/V company you choose to hire.

Aren't the Omni rounds OEM'd for Triad by another company? I'm pretty sure that i was told that at the Triad booth in Orlando last year.

All Triads are made with top quality European drivers, mostly from the D-S-T family of brands (Scan-Speak, Peerless, Vifa), although they also use some drivers from Seas.

The 12" and larger subwoofer drivers are from a respected US speaker company who makes a lot of customized drivers for numerous car audio and home theater companies.

Quite a few of the best speakers in the World use the very same drivers that Triad uses.

That would be interesting.

Also, I believe earlier in this thread it was discussed that they use Peerless and Vifa drivers.

Since I'm handy with a table saw, and familiar with high-pass, low-pass, and many other filter designs (including chebychev and butterworth), its tempting to build my own.

It's just a bit risky without a good software program to translate the theil-small parameters into box volume. Plus you only get one shot and you still have to deal with the aesthetic issues of the grill, etc.

Maybe they are worth the money after all.

I have never installed one that didn't impress everyone who heard it.

There are quite a few former speaker builder hobbyists who own Triad, myself included.

They make speakers like I would if I could...
1) All first class drivers from tghe European companies who lead the industry in loudspeaker innovation
2) CNC routed cabinet designs with extensive bracing and extremely tight tolerances
3) no wood screws... all drivers, plate amplifiers, etc. are held in by machine screws and T-nuts.
4) all passive crossovers are made with highest quality components that fit into the price point of the model and feature point-to-point wiring with silver solder.

This could go on all day... they really have some of the best made speakers on the market.
I would say that from a construction standpoint, they are easily right up there with B&W Nautilus, Thiel, Wilson, Avalon, etc.

The selling point for me was in 2000 when they bought an M&K THX approved subwoofer right from a (soon to be former) dealer's inventory that was a very highly regarded sub in that day.

They put it next to the rep sample of the recently re-introduced Silver PowerSub, and took the drivers out to show the cabinet construction and drivers.

The Triad was made with 3/4" to 1-1/2" MDF and had very tight fit and tons of interlocked bracing to every surface.

The M&K was made with 5/8" to 3/4" particleboard and had one brace from one side to the other, and none to the baffle.

Well it's nice to know someone (Triad) values the details. Now I only wish I could hear some!

Alan - didn't realize you were that close. I'll drop an email next time I head up that way. I'm about 10 minutes off of the Hellertown/Bethlehem exit of I78, so about 20 minutes from the PA and NJ border.

Which means if you make an early start ( and when I head to the PA Turnpike or our friends in Coopersberg I usually leave at 5:30-6am) I can make it from LI in 60-90 minutes ( 40-45 minutes across I78, 10 minutes up the NJ Turnpike to I95S, 15 minutes across I95S to Throgsneck Bridge and 15-20 mintes across the Cross Island to the LIE to Exit 37. ) This presupposes an early start or that 90 minute trip can turn into a 4 hour trip once traffic causes all of the above to turn into a parking lot. On one trip I spent the same amount of time going the last 10 miles on the PA Turnpike as I did travelling from LI to the Turnpike due to traffic on the last leg.

Due any day is the new Triad LCR3.

Alan

I did one project in Manhattan for a good client from New Hope, PA. I learned the hard way what it's like to do work in NY. Never again. I'm just glad I never had the truck towed at Christmas time. I had basically zero experience driving in NY traffic before that project. Of course you learn quickly or your dead. It seemed that no matter how early I left I couldn't get through the tunnel in anything under two hours.

I also ended up working out an agreement with the building super to work late so my dirve home would only be two hours instead of four or five. The local boys didn't appreciate that but I could do a lot of my final work with little noise, they couldn't.

All in all I was just glad to get done and out without losing my shirt on the project. I learned to enjoy NY along the way and occasionally go in to see shows at the Iridium, now that I know how to get there. When you live 85 miles from one of the greatest cities in the world you really should take advantage of it once in awhile.

If you are using sealed enclosures, the Theil / Small parameters are not quite as critical. Those parameters are more critical for vented (bass reflex enclosures). Usually, places like Speaker City & Madisound can make accurate suggestions in terms of enclosure and venting details based upon the speaker mfgrs. specs.

A lot of the drivers TRIAD use, are from Vifa, Peerless etc. but a lot of them are not off the shelf... that is, a lot of their drivers, are tweaked or voiced a little differently.

I'm sure you could put something together, with fair to decent results, but then again it depends on what your time is worth... You can purchace in ceiling speaker grilles Rectangular & Round ... I believe the ones I've been buying in the past are made by RBH.

In terms of pricing, Triads are in high demand, built to order, and generally not discounted due to supply and demand. Just a good high-integrity product and company.

If you are looking for "Deals" there are a lot of other speaker companies out there.

I recall an advertising blurb years ago from Klipsch or McIntosh???, ( back in the 70's)..."We, and our loyal supporting deales are entitled to make a reasonable profit on our products, kindly, don't ask your dealer for a discount" --- or something to that effect.

Ever notice the copmpanies that start discounting their stuff soon thereafter, start cutting back on the quality of their stuff, or get bought out by another company?

After hearing about the build quality of the Triads, I have no problem parting with the money for them. This is assuming the Bronze stuff is built the same as the Gold, just with different crossovers and drivers. If the box is the same, I'm good with their pricing. I'm sure there's a dealer somewhere willing to give at least a bit of a discount, but that's simply a matter of shopping around. I'd still like to hear them for myself.

Alan, do you know the MSRP on the LCR3's?

LCR 3.0 has a MSRP of $1250.00 and mine is scheduled to ship 6/2/06. when it get's installed is an other matter and one of the reasons I have not closed up the closet wall--much to my wife's displeasure.