Trident HG3 Monitors - AMAZING!!!!

[crypticglobe]

Ok.... I am really, really impressed. Honestly, I thought when I saw them online... "oh great... another gimmick... a rotating midrange/tweeter box... whoopee". Then someone else told me they heard them and they were great..." sure, sure" I thought.

Then... on the FLOOR at NAMM last weekend... I heard them for myself. I was honestly stunned at how good they were. I would have to hear them side by side... but I think I even liked them better than the Focal SM-11's ($14,000.00 per pair), which had been my favorite monitor of all time up until this point

I mean this is a true monitor, that is fun to listen to! Everything is right where you want it to be! Brilliant design! And what a pleasure to finally meet Harvey face to face.

Anyway.... gotta get me some of these. No hype... these are the real deal... and dang... if they sound THAT amazing on the NAMM floor... I am sure they are beyond jaw dropping in a properly tuned studio!

Congrats Harvey/PMI!! These are a SURE winner!!

[alanhyatt]

Thanks Steve.... By the way, it was good to see you there. Glad you were able to hang around a bit. I loved the photo's of your studio....Very impressive!!

Brett Chassen(Motorhead, Anthrax, Marilyn Manson, Paul Stanley, Lisa Loeb and many others) was also impressed with the speakers. He is currently doing a shoot out at his studio with Focal, Barefoot and ADAM. We have been asked by Brett to be there. All the models we are up against are way more money than us, but it should be fun.

We are having a blast with these monitors. Harvey did a wonderful a job on them and setting everything up for building them in the USA has been challenging, but we are moving all the high end Trident to American manufacturer as soon as we can.

Anyway, I am glad you liked them....

[greatgreatriver]

Any pictures?

[alanhyatt]

Originally Posted by greatgreatriver

Any pictures?

Welcome to Trident Audio Developments

Cosmetics are not final as there are a few changes, but that is the general look....

[Harvey Gerst]

Originally Posted by greatgreatriver

Any pictures?

Pictures and specs are here:

Trident HG3 High Definition Studio Monitors

Steve, it was great meeting you and I really enjoyed demoing the speakers for you. It looks like we can add Brian Tankersley to the list of HG3 "true believers" as well.

The only regret I have is not being able to play the new YELLO "Touch" album on the HG3's. I ordered it from England almost a month before NAMM, but it arrived in Texas while we were at the show. That album has some serious low end in it.

This upcoming shootout sounds interesting and I think the HG3's will do very well - if they at least match all levels at 1 KHz, to keep the playing field level. I know a lot of people thought "gimmick" when they first saw the speakers, but the unusual design was necessary to build a "no compromise" close-field monitor that can almost double as a "mastering speaker".

[Googlyman]

The price will be sick I guess ?

[Harvey Gerst]

Originally Posted by Googlyman

The price will be sick I guess ?

Yeah, probably, but not as sick as some of the monitors they'll be compared to.

[ejsongs]

i am curious about price as well.

wonder how these will stack up against barefoots or 0300's

can't wait to hear and possibly buy....if the price is right

ej

[Harvey Gerst]

Originally Posted by ejsongs

i am curious about price as well.

wonder how these will stack up against barefoots or 0300's

can't wait to hear and possibly buy....if the price is right

ej

The Trident HG3's will probably be a little less expensive than either of those monitors. I really like the K&H O300's, except for the lack of extreme bottom end, and the built-in limiter. The HG3's go lower, and we disabled the limiters in the power amp modules. It's also easier to get incredible imaging with the HG3.

I haven't heard the barefoots enough to form an opinion either way, but the Tridents will certainly be less expensive than the MM27 or the MM35. Thomas Barefoot has put a lot of thought into the design of his speakers and I greatly respect his design decisions (while not always agreeing with all of them).

I'll be really curious to hear the final results of the "shootout" that Alan alluded to. I think we'll beat (or hold our own) against the others in bottom end, overall smoothness, and imaging. However it turns out, I'm honored to have the Trident HG3's considered in a shootout between these other fine speakers.

[alanhyatt]

We are targeting the HG3's just under $5K for the pair. We may offer a less costly finish than the gloss piano black for less, but not sure when that might be.

These are all hand-built in the USA folks... I am sure there will always be those who think we are better than the competition, and those who like the competition better. That is just the way it is.

At the end of the day, Harvey did an amazing job. I can't think of anyone who has said they did not like these. There are many more high profile producers, artists and engineers that we have not mentioned that are all over these monitors.

I am excited to get them to market and let the chips fall where they may. I am confident they should do very well in the marketplace. For me, they are my favorite monitor, but then again I am biased.

[Harvey Gerst]

Wow, I guess the Trident HG3's might really be a big bargain, considering that the K&H O300's are $7,000 a pair, the ADAM SX3-H's are $6,800 pair, the Barefoot MM27's are $9,300 a pair, the Barefoot MM35's are $6,100 a pair, and the Focal SM8 Monitors run almost $7,000 a pair.

Now, I'm really getting interested in hearing the results of this upcoming shootout. Wish I was there.

[Googlyman]

Next questions:

when available for demo ?
Who the european distributer ?

[tincan]

These look incredible, love the rotating tweet/mid idea! When are these going to be available?

[Phaidon]

Originally Posted by Harvey Gerst

considering that the K&H O300's are $7,000.

Really? where?

A friend of mine paid around $5K for a pair recently...

[Harvey Gerst]

Originally Posted by Phaidon

Really? where?

A friend of mine paid around $5K for a pair recently...

That's not a big surprise; it's called a "street price". The actual MSRP ("Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price") for the K&H O300's is $3,508 each!!

Since Alan was quoting an estimated "MSRP", it's only fair to quote all the other speakers the same way. I'm sure the "street price" of the Tridents will be lower than $5K.

[crypticglobe]

Originally Posted by ejsongs

i am curious about price as well.

wonder how these will stack up against barefoots or 0300's

can't wait to hear and possibly buy....if the price is right

ej

I haven't used 0300's, but I have used barefoots... and to me, these are in a whole other league (better)... and I always liked the barefoots. A great monitor.

To Harvey: I wasn't going to speak for Brian, but yes.... we talked yesterday and he is super impressed too!

[Harvey Gerst]

Originally Posted by crypticglobe

I haven't used 0300's, but I have used barefoots... and to me, these are in a whole other league (better)... and I always liked the barefoots. A great monitor.

To Harvey: I wasn't going to speak for Brian, but yes.... we talked yesterday and he is super impressed too!

It's always great to have people with exceptional ears hear your stuff. This design took two years out of my life, and cost my wife countless hours of lost sleep (from my "brain farts" at 3:00 am). Add to that, endless hours of discussion with my friend Russ Allee on the amplifier and crossover designs, and Brent Casey at PMI for his elegant tube swivel solution (compared to my crude idea). It was actually a team effort.

That we've received accolades from so many of the really great people in the industry (that I've personally admired for years) is high praise indeed.

[Tetness]

Originally Posted by Harvey Gerst

Wow, I guess the Trident HG3's might really be a big bargain, considering that the K&H O300's are $7,000 a pair, the ADAM SX3-H's are $6,800 pair, the Barefoot MM27's are $9,300 a pair, the Barefoot MM35's are $6,100 a pair, and the Focal SM8 Monitors run almost $7,000 a pair.

Now, I'm really getting interested in hearing the results of this upcoming shootout. Wish I was there.

MM27s - 7,500 pair
MM35s - 5,500 pair

[Harvey Gerst]

Originally Posted by Tetness

MM27s - 7,500 pair
MM35s - 5,500 pair

The prices I quoted were Barefoot's "Retail" prices from their dealer's site:

Barefoot Sound | Vintageking.com

Again, like Phaidon, you're quoting vintageking's "street price", not Barefoot's MSRP "Retail Price", which I posted (from that same site).

Alan posted that the Trident HG3's would be priced under $5,000 - and that's MSRP, not the "street price".

Let's not start comparing apples to oranges.
MSRP to MSRP.
MSRP is set by the manufacturer.
ALL the prices I posted are "MSRP".
"Street Price" is determined by dealers.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by crypticglobe

I haven't used 0300's, but I have used barefoots... and to me, these are in a whole other league (better)... and I always liked the barefoots. A great monitor.

I'm glad you enjoyed your experience with these monitors, and I have no doubt that they do sound very accurate for you to take the time to post your thoughts, but it's comments like this that make me wary of any new product - especially one where it was viewed / reviewed for the first time at a product release gig, and not open to the general public. To have been able to come to this conclusion on the floor of a trade show, and not even in a proper studio setting, too!

I don't own MM27's but have been doing some work out of a studio with them and for any monitor to be "in a whole other league" than these incredible speakers really says something for the product [or the op's somewhat enthusiastic first encounter]

Not knocking your response, but I am creating my own perspective from it and hopefully one day I'll get to hear the HG3's for myself.Who knows, maybe I'll agree! But I've found that in most cases where I'm A/B'g any great, highend gear, the degrees of separation are too small to put something in a whole other league than the other. just sayin'

[Harvey Gerst]

Originally Posted by Baz

I'm glad you enjoyed your experience with these monitors, and I have no doubt that they do sound very accurate for you to take the time to post your thoughts, but it's comments like this that make me wary of any new product - especially one where it was viewed / reviewed for the first time at a product release gig, and not open to the general public. To have been able to come to this conclusion on the floor of a trade show, and not even in a proper studio setting, too!

I don't own MM27's but have been doing some work out of a studio with them and for any monitor to be "in a whole other league" than these incredible speakers really says something for the product [or the op's somewhat enthusiastic first encounter]

Not knocking your response, but I am creating my own perspective from it and hopefully one day I'll get to hear the HG3's for myself.Who knows, maybe I'll agree! But I've found that in most cases where I'm A/B'g any great, highend gear, the degrees of separation are too small to put something in a whole other league than the other. just sayin'

Actually, Steve's comments ARE pretty typical of everyone who has heard the HG3's. And Ted Perlman did hear them in his own studio. and Ed Cherney heard them in his room at the Village Recorders, as did Al Schmitt and George Augspurger and Jeff Greenburg (the owner of Village Recorders), as did John Alagia.

Chuck Ainlay and Frank Filipetti heard them for an extended period at the NY AES show in October, listening to their tracks over the speakers. For us to have George Augspurger as an endorsee is indeed an honor, and that was only after he listened to them for several hours at the Village (Studio A). Ed Cherney has been using them for well over a month now.

I agree that a trade show is not an ideal place to form final opinions. At the AES show, the Trident HG3 was voted as one of the top 20 "Best Products" by Mix magazine (there were only two other speakers to get that nod), and Scott Dorsey named the Trident HG3's as "Best Sound at AES", as did Mike Rivers.

[alanhyatt]

Originally Posted by Googlyman

Next questions:

when available for demo ?
Who the european distributer ?

We have a facility in the UK and have many distributors all over Europe. So, when we ship...Maybe end of April, they should be readily available. I am sure there will be dealers to get a demo.

[TornadoTed]

I sure I read somewhere that these were going to built in the US and the UK.

Did I imagine that?

[ejsongs]

so how soon would demo units be available in los angeles?

i know you are shipping in april...who out here will carry them?

ej

[alanhyatt]

Originally Posted by TornadoTed

I sure I read somewhere that these were going to built in the US and the UK.

Did I imagine that?

For now, they will be built in the US. We may build them in the UK as well, but it may not be productive to set up two plants.

[crypticglobe]

Originally Posted by Baz

I'm glad you enjoyed your experience with these monitors, and I have no doubt that they do sound very accurate for you to take the time to post your thoughts, but it's comments like this that make me wary of any new product - especially one where it was viewed / reviewed for the first time at a product release gig, and not open to the general public. To have been able to come to this conclusion on the floor of a trade show, and not even in a proper studio setting, too!

I don't own MM27's but have been doing some work out of a studio with them and for any monitor to be "in a whole other league" than these incredible speakers really says something for the product [or the op's somewhat enthusiastic first encounter]

Not knocking your response, but I am creating my own perspective from it and hopefully one day I'll get to hear the HG3's for myself.Who knows, maybe I'll agree! But I've found that in most cases where I'm A/B'g any great, highend gear, the degrees of separation are too small to put something in a whole other league than the other. just sayin'

Well... you are talking to someone who has used high end monitors in a wide variety of circumstances. In the two extremely well tuned rooms in my Nashville studio. In a rigged up "home studio", in a variety of the finest studios in Nashville, and in some of the oddest corners of arenas you can imagine (through my location recording business). I like to think that I have a VERY good sense of what a near-field monitor will sound like in any given environment because of this experience. I mean... the live record I got a grammy for was recorded in one of the smallest, ugliest rooms I have ever been stuck in (for my station anyway... the arena was just fine). Am I good at everything? No. Are there lot's of guys with better ears than me... surely! But... with God's help... I managed to ech out a living in this business and get recognized a time or two...all in a grain of salt... and just one mans opinion. I guess I am trying to say that while I don't rank with some of the other people that have hailed this monitor as amazing... I am not a bum off the street either. That's all.

However.... I still think there is some substance to your wariness. I think EVERYONE should hear a monitor for themselves before they buy it. Or at least be sure they are buying from a dealer that will give them a refund, or trade for a different monitor if it's not what they want. I never just "take someones word" for it. Even if they have some of the best ears in the world. It's different strokes for different folks. But what I will say... is that HG3 is in the same league with what are commonly considered to be the finest near-field monitors in the world. As I said in the original post... the only thing I have heard that I might prefer for myself would be the Focal SM series monitors. I like the Twins with the sub too... but the HG3 really blew me away. Would have to hear em all side by side.

Anyway... when they are available... do yourself a favor and check them out. And just to be clear... I have no affiliation with PMI of any kind.... other than the fact that I bought a Toft ATB-32 through GCPro.

[MikeyMike]

What are the size of the "Subwoofers" on these???

[Harvey Gerst]

Originally Posted by MikeyMike

What are the size of the "Subwoofers" on these???

They're dual voice-coil, 8" subs. I couldn't go larger without increasing the box size substantially, but they do go down pretty low.

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