TRIANGLE BOREA BR02 CONNECT LOUDSPEAKERS REVIEW

Powered speakers offer many advantages over conventional passive speakers when space is at a premium, and the Borea BR02 Connect from Triangle offers a relatively affordable option. Oscar Stewart tries these £549 powered loudspeaker for size.

The Borea BR02 Connect are a powered speaker from the renowned speaker brand Triangle, these are designed to be plug and play with essentially any device you have and come in at only £549.00. You can place them on a bookshelf or dedicated speaker stands and with a 5” mid-bass driver they are perfect for smaller living spaces or even in a home office setup. 

This is very much entry-level HiFi and suited for those who want something easy to setup and use with the same great sound that you get from a dedicated stereo setup.

BUILD QUALITY AND FEATURES OF TRIANGLE BOREA BR02 CONNECT

The Borea BR02 come well packaged and are easy to get out and setup, the cabinets are MDF covered in wood-like vinyl wrap with a smooth front baffle. They feel well made and quite sturdy for their price. The right speaker houses the amplifier and has all the inputs/output on the rear of it, the left speaker is passive with binding posts on it. There is a small bass port on the back of the speakers, this means you will be able to slightly tune the bass response by how close to a rear wall they are. The drivers themselves look great, the white mid-bass cone stands out nicely and the soft dome tweeter has a waveguide to aid in dispersion. You do get a pair of grilles with them if you want a slightly more discreet looking speaker, they come in a range of finishes too. 

Feature-wise they are a powered speaker with the right one housing the class-D amplifier board and DAC section too (which uses a very good ESS 9018K2M chip). The internal amplifier delivers 50w per channel, they use standard binding posts to deliver power from the right speaker to the left. On the back panel you have the standard IEC power cable input along with 3.5mm aux input, RCA line input, RCA phono input (yes, these have a built-in phono stage), HDMI (ARC) input, Optical input, Coaxial input, USB input and a single RCA sub-out along with a volume knob/source selector. They have Bluetooth built in too which supports aptX HD playback for high quality Bluetooth sound. These have pretty much every conceivable input you could need, allowing them to integrate into a home environment with ease and they provide much better audio quality than a TV’s internal speakers could ever dream of. The included remote use RF technology which gives better range and IR or Bluetooth, you can control the volume, skip tracks, play/pause, inputs, power, dimmer (turns of the LED when not changing any settings), treble and bass adjustment (2dB steps on each) along with boost on/off (this provides a big bass boost). The remote is excellent and provides all the functions you could want from the comfort of your sofa.

The speakers will automatically go into standby mode after 15 minutes of inactivity (no signal) which is good for energy saving and, being class-D, the amp module doesn’t require any warm up to sound its best. The BR02 is the smaller model in the range with a 5” mid-bass designed for smaller rooms, there is also the BR03 which has a 6” mid-bass and is more suited for larger rooms. The BR02 Connect have a quoted frequency response of 56Hz – 22KHz (+/- 3dB) which is very impressive for their size. 

I really do like the design and features of the Borea BR02 Connect, they are a brilliant way into HiFi with their modern looks and versatility they are really easy to just setup and start enjoying the music. The EQ will help get the sound you want in your room too, like any stereo setup, though, taking a bit of time to place them well will give you better sound than just simply putting them on a cabinet and hoping for the best. 

SOUND QUALITY

I have been using the Borea BR02 Connect on a pair of SolidSteel SS6 stands (on loan from Mian distribution), the speakers are around 1.8m apart and slightly angled towards my listening position. They are around 40cm from the rear wall, I have been using them with the iFi NEO Stream running into the NEO iDSD 2 > RCA input on the BR02 Connect, TV > HDMI > BR02 Connect, JBL Spinner BT > Bluetooth > BR02 Connect – I also had them hooked up to a very budget Wharfedale SW150 sub to make use of the sub-out. 

These little speakers do a fantastic job filling smaller rooms and are a great fit in my space, in which I have a habit of using speakers that are too big for the room at times. The Borea BR02 Connect look great and the sound they output makes you double check their price point. Logically, the size does make them a little limited in the bass extension area, however, they manage to sound quite big on their own when not being fed overly bass oriented music. The ability to easily plug them into a sub also means integrating one is easy and this will help with any lack of overall extension (sub 50Hz range).

So, out of the box, how do they sound? Well, Bring Me The Horizon – The Sadness Never Ends happened to come on, demonstrating that the bass has good impact and great speed and articulation – if ever so slightly lacking in outright oomph. The speed and resolution are commendable and this allows the midrange to cut through with authority and bite. The guitars riffs really draw you in, whilst Oli’s screamed vocals are easily picked apart. The treble is well defined, crisp and extended, but I do feel the tuning with the EQ flat may be a tiny bit hot on some tracks however turning it down a notch can take the edge off. These are remarkably well-balanced right off the bat, and that is what I personally appreciate about this setup. 

Lucy Rose – Till the End, has a deep pulsating bass line to it which does not sound like it is coming from this small speaker, the amount of body that comes out of this little speaker is really impressive on pop tracks such as this. Once again, they showcase a sense of balance and ease, never putting a foot wrong, without any hard edges or sharpness to the sound. As I have them toed in slightly, they have a very well-focussed centre image and the responsiveness of the drivers never allows the sound to become congested.

Passenger – Survivors (live from San Francisco) sounds extremely good through the Borea BR02 Connect with a pitch perfect performance and detail aplenty. Live recordings have that raw quality to them that is easily translated through these speakers, stereo imaging is a strong point and the only thing that that might lack a tiny bit of is depth to the stage (width isn’t an issue). The gravely vocals sound hauntingly close and real, every breath he takes transports you to the venue as if you were in the room with the audience. The acoustic guitar is rendered delicately, allowing you to hear every finger pick whilst retaining a full-bodied presentation. 

Lacey Sturm – Run to You. Now, if you have ever heard of her or Flyleaf when she was the frontwoman, you will know her unique and heartfelt vocal style. These speakers put her front and centre with the guitars coming in around her and the drums well layered in the background. The cymbals crash around without sounding bright and everything is once again well placed within the soundstage. The midrange really stands out as being open and expressive on the Borea BR02 Connect, I found myself getting drawn into the lyrics from my favourite artists whilst they provide a well bodied foundation as well as crisp treble presentation. These are quite a complete sounding speaker and I didn’t find myself needing my sub for most music listening, although tastes will vary. 

As an all-in-one package that works straight out of the box these offer up really good sound for the price, I honestly think these set the benchmark at this price point in terms of sheer bang for buck.

As they have also been in use in my TV setup, I will also note that they work brilliantly with movies and TV programmes. For movie use, a sub is going to improve the depth of the sound and these managed to handle quite high volumes without any sign of them struggling, portraying film dynamics with ease.  

QUIBBLES

These have their limitations, however, this is more down to their physical size than anything. The bass is naturally going to struggle below 50Hz, yet play them in a smaller room or pair them with a sub and they sound fantastic.

CONCLUSION

The sheer versatility of the Borea BR02 Connect is impressive for the price without even taking into account the sound quality. They won’t leave the house shaking or blow you away, but being sensible and using them for what they are designed for will give you well-balanced and natural playback of your favourite tracks. The midrange is especially good on these, coming across unforced and tonally correct. The bass is actually very good for the size and they managed to pull off a big sound out of a small box with a crisp yet non fatiguing treble presentation.

I have been thoroughly impressed by the sound quality of this little speaker, they are such a perfect entry into HiFi for the budding enthusiast and they give you a taste of what “real” HiFi can deliver at an accessible price. 

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality And Features:

Great build quality

Tons of features

Sound Quality:

Class-leading at this price point

Deep and wide for the money

Value For Money:

Superb value, a taste of real HiFi at a low price

We Loved:

The ease of use

High quality sound on a budget

Look great

We Didn’t Love So Much:

Bass-boost was on out of the box, this makes them sound muddy

A speaker of this size naturally has limitations

Elevator Pitch Review: The Triangle Borea BR-02 Connect are an excellent speaker for most smaller rooms, they give you a taste of what a real speaker setup can do at a very modest price. Of course, they will have their limitations but, work with them and you get an excellent sounding pair of speakers with built in amplification and DAC for under £600. 

Price: £549

Oscar Stewart

SUPPLIED BY SCV DISTRIBUTION

SUPPLIED SPECIFICATION

Type – Active Speakers – Bass Reflex

Ways – 2

Drivers – 1-inch Soft Dome Tweeter / 5-inch Cellulose Paper Driver

Sensitivity – 89 dB/W/m

Bandwidth (+/- 3dB) – 56 Hz – 22 kHz

Impedance (MIN./MAX.) – (ohms)3.6 ohms / 8ohms

Amplifier Power Output / Class – 2 x 50 W / D

Bluetooth – Bluetooth 5.0 aptX, aptX HD, aptX Low Latency, SBC, AAC audio

Input – AUX mini-jack 3.5m, Optical Toslink, Coaxial, USB-B, TV ARC, CEC, RCA (LINE/PhonoMM)

Output -Subwoofer

Dimension (W x H x D) – 175 x 309 x 274 mm

Weight (NET / GROSS) – 11.1 / 12.60 kg (pair)

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