Triangle Capella 2

Just a couple of years after it launched its ‘Capella’ active wireless standmounting stereo speaker system, French audio savant Triangle is back with a second version. There have been some connectivity upgrades, some new finishes have been introduced, and even the remote control handset has been improved. The price, though, has come down just a little. This kind of behaviour is contrary to the expectations those of us with long experience of the audio industry tend to have…  

Some things about the Capella, though, remain entirely fit for purpose and so have been carried over for Capella 2. The driver array, for example, is unchanged - a 25mm horn-loaded magnesium/aluminium alloy dome, featuring an optimised phasing piece at the horn outlet in an effort to provide better off-axis performance, is positioned above a 165mm mid/bass driver made from untreated, 100 percent natural cellulose pulp. This larger driver has a vented aluminium chassis and a half-roll suspension of rubber and foam. Triangle is claiming a frequency response of 42Hz - 22kHz - this is assisted by the down-firing bass reflex port. Given the speakers stand on little anodised aluminium rails, it’s probably best to consider the company’s S05 stands (onto which the speaker clip, and that provide the perfect fixed boundary for that downward-facing port) a compulsory purchase at £279 per pair.

Power, too, is unchanged at a more-than-adequate 100 watts of Class D shove per speaker. And there’s nothing wrong with the WiSA technology that streams to the speakers at high resolution (24bit/192kHz) and low latency (<2.6m/s), so that has been left well enough alone too.

Like the original Capella system, all wireless and physical connectivity is taken away from the speakers and handled by the Stereo Hub - or, in the case of Capella 2, by the Stereo Hub 2. It features dual-band wi-fi, naturally enough, and now features support for Spotify Lossless, for Qobuz Connect, for TIDAL Connect and for UPnP, and is Roon Ready too - all this is thanks to its upgraded Cortex A53 processor and is in addition to AirPlay and Chromecast. Bluetooth 5.2 is on board, and there’s codec support up to aptX HD. There’s now an Ethernet port and a pre-out for a subwoofer - both welcome additions to the original Stereo Hub’s line-up. The Hub 2 also has a line-level input on stereo RCAs, three digital optical inputs, a digital coaxial socket, USBs of type A and type B variety, and an HDMI eARC connection.  

sound quality

It’s fair to say the Triangle Capella 2 has no strong preferences. You can stream hi-res FLAC files from TIDAL, spin some vinyl via a pre-amplified record player, listen to CDs or divert the sound from your TV’s audio system, and the set-up’s attitude and fundamental character never wavers. The Capella 2 is a consistent listen across any and all of its inputs.

Which means that no matter where you’re sourcing your music from, it’s given back to you in a direct, well-organised manner and positioned on a soundstage that is explicit in its layout. The Triangle may not have the out-and-out scale of some alternative designs on its side, but its ability to lay out and describe a stage is as good as anything else around at this sort of money - and besides, it sounds bigger than the cabinets from which it’s coming. Every participant in a recording is secure in their area of the stage, and the spaces between them are described fully - but at the same time, the Capella 2 presents music as a singular and unified whole, with no sensation of remoteness or dislocation.

It’s nice and clean where tonality is concerned, too, and seems perfectly willing to get out of the way of a tune and allow it to express the heat and colour (or lack thereof) that exists in the original recording. The top of the frequency range balances brightness against substance well, and there’s a lovely open quality to the midrange that gives voices of every kind full, articulate expression. A little hint of graininess in the centre of the midrange actually works in favour of some vocalists, but those few voices with the purity of tone of, say, Ella Fitzgerald (of which there are very few, let’s be fair) can sound just slightly corrupted. Just slightly, mind.

Detail levels are high at every turn, both where the broad strokes and the minutiae are concerned. The bottom of the frequency range, which can sound just a little undernourished compared to everything that’s going on above it (that subwoofer pre-out could  come in handy for those listeners who don't feel like they've spent enough money already), has information regarding texture and timbre to spare - and the control of the attack of bass sounds is such that rhythms are expressed with real confidence. 

Dynamic headroom is considerable when a recording lurches into the most intense, most attacking section. And that impressive detail retrieval extends as far as the dynamic variations apparent in a solo instrument or an unaccompanied voice - the Capella 2 pays careful attention  to harmonic changes and under- or overtones.   

living with

You’ve now a much wider choice of finishes than was ever available with the original Capella system - that product's options of ‘Space’ white or ‘Astral’ blue are now joined by ‘Space’ black, ‘English’ green and oak alternatives. The S05 speaker stands can be colour-coordinated to match, and there’s a sixth option of finish for the stands too - the racily named ‘wood’. And the Stereo Hub 2 now matches the finish of the speakers you’ve selected.

Setting up and using the Triangle system is pretty straightforward. The new and improved remote control handset is made primarily from aluminium, and rather than IR it uses RF and is rechargeable via USB-C. It’s got some lighting and is pretty legible by prevailing standards.

There’s greater access to the system’s performance via the Capella control app that’s free for iOS and Android, though. It’s short of playback control, true - but it offers a whole lot of fine-tuning when it comes to speaker placement and frequency response. The ability to run an automatic room calibration routine using just an iOS device à la Sonos (with Android compatibility apparently not far away) is not to be sniffed at, especially not when it’s as rapid and effective as it is here. There’s still the (cost) option of a dedicated ‘Zen’ mic but in all honesty I’m not sure how you’d justify the outlay.

The standard of build and finish is well up to what the asking price demands, too. The ‘English’ green finish of my review sample is flawlessly applied, and the rounded cabinet edges add just a touch of visual pizzazz as well as doing solid acoustic work when it comes to soundwave dispersion. The textured rubber surrounds for the drivers have an effect, too, and they’re echoed in the finish of the Stereo Hub 2 (although it should be noted this material does make the box a bit of a swine to keep dust-free). 

conclusion

There’s a whole lot to like about this Triangle system, from the way it looks and the way it’s specified to the confident, unified nature of its presentation. Problems, such as they are, come only partially from Triangle itself - that fleeting hint of midrange grittiness and the slight low-frequency reticence are hardly fatal in and of themselves. No, the biggest issue is the fact that so many brands are contesting this market and charging this sort of money for alternatives - and some of them, it has to be said, are even more capable than the Capella 2.

listening notes

Floating Points / San Francisco Ballet Orchestra Falling to Earth
13-odd minutes of the combination of drive and attack, elegance and subtlety, corrosive tonality and implacable low-frequency presence that Floating Points routinely brings to bear. And with the arguable exception of the required low-end wallop, the Triangle system laps it up. 

Instant Funk I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl)
What the Capella 2 lacks in outright bass muscle it makes up for with its ability to express a rhythm with absolute positivity. This is never more apparent than when given the impeccable disco stylings of I Got My Mind Made Up to deal with - heard this way you’ll never question the band’s decision to call itself ‘Instant Funk’. 

‍The Mothers of Invention Hungry Freaks, Daddy
A smart-arse from the get-go, Frank Zappa was nevertheless on the side of the angels (even if he hated to admit it) - and this first cut from his band’s first album is a hectic confection of stick-it-to-the-man mid-60s analogue instrumentation, close harmonies and, at moments, kazoos. The Triangle has the power of organisation to make sense of it all.

You buy the Triangle Capella 2 because you get on with the sound it makes, you like the idea of a separate hub for connectivity rather than trailing cables to one of the speakers in your ‘wireless’ system, and because one of its five very fetching finishes is exactly what you’re looking for.

A Qobuz or a TIDAL subscription is never a bad idea - and the ‘Connect’ interface will come in very handy when it comes to streaming music too. The preamplified Goldring GR3 turntable will fit nicely into the analogue RCA inputs on the Stereo Hub 2, and you could do a lot worse than attach an Arcam Radia CD5 to one of those digital inputs too.