An Objective Review of the Tekton Double Impact Speakers

Phil,

Any early impressions of the Fortes? You like Em so far? 

For perspective I used to have a high end audio store back in the 90’s and carried speakers ranging from $5k to $30k in 1990’s dollars.

I’m pretty good at setting up a room and tweaking speaker placement.  I downsized my system about a year ago when I got tired of pushing around 180-pound amps, etc.

 I bought the Tekton 2-10 Perfect SET because that was the heaviest speaker I could get upstairs.

it took a while to get them in the right place in an irregular room.

IMO they are fabulous, and compare well with some of the best speakers I’ve ever heard.

A snare drum sounds like a snare drum, a Steinway like a Steinway and Rickie Lee Jones and Jim Morrison both sound like themselves.  Dynamics are wonderful.

 I can only guess the OP hasn’t got them placed correctly or he has serious flaws in his front end setup.

" MC...Please ,your shilling of Tekton is as obvious as your lack of knowledge of true quality audio speakers..Tekton is junk!No idea why this site allows you and the rest of the clown posse to post such bs."

You could be right but I think I might have a good handle on sound being a musician and an respected instrument maker.  But I'll give you that I lack knowledge of audio gear.  However, THE WAY I JUST SETUP my new Klipsch, it beats them fairly easily by my ear and a few other professional musicians I've had listen to them.  Now, it could have been a setup issue so I'm going to give them another try.  

But as for you, dude, name-calling? If you ask me people that do that should be suspended for a bit and give you a little time out.  We're here to help each other.  

Thank you Doug, I'm beginning to think it was a setup thing too.  Do they need to be far from the back wall?  Maybe you'd like to earn a few bucks and help me set them up via FaceTime or Zoom.  Shoot me a PM if you're so inclined.  

What kind of bikes are you into?  I've had many motorcycles and bicycles.  Phil

For perspective I used to have a high end audio store back in the 90’s and carried speakers ranging from $5k to $30k in 1990’s dollars.

I’m pretty good at setting up a room and tweaking speaker placement.  I downsized my system about a year ago when I got tired of pushing around 180-pound amps, etc.

 I bought the Tekton 2-10 Perfect SET because that was the heaviest speaker I could get upstairs.

it took a while to get them in the right place in an irregular room.

IMO they are fabulous, and compare well with some of the best speakers I’ve ever heard.

A snare drum sounds like a snare drum, a Steinway like a Steinway and Rickie Lee Jones and Jim Morrison both sound like themselves.  Dynamics are wonderful.

 I can only guess the OP hasn’t got them placed correctly or he has serious flaws in his front end setup.

"Phil,

Any early impressions of the Fortes? You like Em so far?"

So far the Klipsch has them beat substantially but given that a really great musician/audiophile told me a couple of days ago that he loves his DI's I'm going to try to futz about with placement again of the DI in a couple of weeks but the Klipsch don't knock me out.  Considering I'm inexperienced at this and how much money I've spent, I feel let down but the problem could be positioning or that I expect too much from recorded music.  I mean, I've always listened to music for the content. not the quality and I listen to some old music where the recordings are kinda sucky.  

Hope everybody has a good memorial day weekend.  Phil

Best of luck getting them both set up. I think you should become an audio reviewer in your retirement. You have a refreshing no holds barred style that’s different from all the usual *ss kissing paycheck chasers. The only problem is I don’t think anyone would ever lend you a product in a million years. You might have to go incognito for a while. Enjoy! 

"Best of luck getting them both set up. I think you should become an audio reviewer in your retirement. You have a refreshing no holds barred style that’s different from all the usual *ss kissing paycheck chasers. The only problem is I don’t think anyone would ever lend you a product in a million years. You might have to go incognito for a while. Enjoy!"

I'm considering reviewing lots of different products, not just audio and it will always be a no holds barred approach. After all, I am from NYC.  In fact, if more audiophiles reviewed their stuff, it would be a heck of a lot better for all of us instead of us watching a bunch of clowns who never say anything negative about anything and act like their sipping cognac on their high horses with no background in having actually studied music.  And people listen to them! I listened to them!  Exactly what qualifies a person to review gear if they're not a musician, because they've listened to a lot of gear? When was the last time you ever heard any of the professional reviewers who get perks say anything negative? And if you read a review in a magazine, if the person writing it and the manufacturer advertises in their magazine, it's corrupted right on it's face. The whole system is corrupt if you ask me.  

I'm not sure you are giving any of these speakers time to break in before you pass judgement.

never say anything negative about anything and act like their (sic) sipping cognac

Stereophile doesn't print any negative reviews because they only print reviews of gear which has passed the internal test for a baseline quality.

I can accept that but if you can show me proof of that I'd retract position and apologize to everyone here for my ignorance.  

Freedom of speech is our most cherished right. Everyone who posts or listens here has the right to disregard or object to anyone else's opinions. 
Yeah, I know my post is a cliche. But considering the times we now live in, I thought it is a worthwhile reminder.

agronatz,
  That is one of the best posts I've seen in quite a while! 

!They keep take down my post. I want this freedom that agronads speak to.

Phil, I've never heard any Tekton speaker or a Klipsch Forte, but both are on my short list for a rec room system for music and movies (2 ch only, not HT).  So this is all interesting.

Now lots of discussion here about placement and room setup.  Did Tekton furnish recommendations when you received them?  If not, have you ask for that?  Similarly did the Fortes come with setup recommendations?  From what little I know about either model I would guess their requirements could be quite different.

After all, setup can vary widely among different models.  Break-in requirements too.

The only right we have is that the government will not limit religion or free speech. Audiogon, like most forums, is owned by a private entity and they can moderate it as they see fit. You or I won’t always agree with their process,  but it’s not up to us. I assure you the moderation here isn’t as heavy handed as some forums. Audio Circle comes to mind.

I think people are too thin skinned and are easily offended. There is nothing a stranger in an internet forum can say to me that will affect my day in the slightest. So people who can’t handle a little back and forth probably shouldn’t internet.

I too hate the cancel culture of the left. But that’s different than what’s going on here. At least that’s my opinion.

Oz

This, “I am a sax player so I know better than the rest what audio gear should sound like” is utter bs.  

I can accept that but if you can show me proof of that I'd retract position and apologize to everyone here for my ignorance.  

Not so much ignorance, more likely it is nothing more than a common lack of logic. And knowledge of the subject.     

You hold yourself up as something special, above corrupt reviewers, above what you call the whole corrupt process of reviewing. For proof you give some examples of reviewers always writing positive reviews. Then for more proof you say look at me, I am happy to trash all kinds of stuff. I'm from NYC!   

What a strained, limited and small view of the world you have. Not to mention, illogical. The fact the vast majority of reviews are positive is not proof of corruption. It could just as well be what noromance said, only the good stuff makes it past the selection process.   

That is certainly true in my case. Why would I want to waste my precious time on anything unless I was already quite certain it will be good? Frankly, the last person I want to read a review from is someone incapable of selecting the very best to review in the first place! If you write a review trashing anything you are trashing your own rep equally as bad.   

But enough of the lack of logic. What about lack of knowledge? You seem to think reviewing comes down to good or bad, yea or nay, cheer or trash. Nothing could be further from the truth.  

If you want to be a good reviewer then you need to know the most valuable asset a reviewer can have is the ability to accurately and thoroughly describe whatever it is. In order to do this credibly it helps to know as much as you can about the review conditions. This includes the reviewers system, but also his experience and background and even frame of mind. We try and glean as much of this as we can from the review.  

Why this matters is if you are writing a review, well then who is it for? You don't know! You can write it for whoever you imagine, but you have no control over who in fact is interested enough to read it. So you need to think about your audience. This can be anyone from neophyte beginner to advanced audiophile. If you like to use phrases like sipping cognac on their high horses maybe you imagine your audience to be vapid cliche lovers. I don't know. But you want to write reviews, you might want to think about that.   

Something to consider in writing reviews, just my point of view doesn't have to be yours, but the whole point of a really good component is to do as little damage as possible to the signal. This means then that the best components do the least damage. Logically then this also means the better the component, the more it lets you hear both the recording as well as all the other components.  

Therefore, logically, maybe what you like about Klipsch is it covers up your other component choice mistakes. Maybe Double Impacts are more truth than you can handle. Not saying that is the case. Just saying a good reviewer would have considered this. 

So anyway, no apologies, no retractions. Introspection, that'll do.

millercarbon9:

Thou thinketh you protesteth too much.  That means that you're insecure about your position. This is my last post on this subject so I'll just ask you some questions, rhetorical questions for you to contemplate.

What exactly makes someone like you an expert? What makes anyone an expert on sound if they're not an expert on acoustics or a musician? Ya know, Bill Evans (he was a great pianist), said that he respected an ordinary listeners opinion more than a professional musicians. I'll tell you what makes me an expert, I KNOW WHAT I LIKE.

Have you ever studied music? 

What's your college degree in? I have two in music and have been playing since I was a child and my father could hang with anyone on piano.  

Can you hear some music and write it down or sing it in tune? I can.

Do you know if a note is out of tune? 

Isn't it just possible, just possible that a musician of over fifty years and an established instrument maker like myself has a more discerning ear than you?  

Isn't it possible that someone who's played hundreds of instruments, maybe thousands, and traveled to Europe to pick his out and had it imported from Hamburg knows more than you're giving him credit for?  

If all the gear is scrutinized before being reviewed like you said and it boils down to taste, than what good are reviews? 

I think I've earned a right to my opinion thank you.  

🍿 it like the battles of the Titans. Clubber Lang vs Ricky Balboa. King King vs Godzilla. I prefer that Fargo movie where the man toss the body in the chipper toss those junk box in there and make pellet to heat my toe in winter.

Or the scene in the beginning of "Marathon Man" when an old German guy in a Mercedes and another old Jewish guy in a big Buick are driving down a street in NYC and they start arguing and the Jewish guy starts calling the German guy a Nazi and the German guy starts calling the Jewish guy a K**e and they're yelling at each other out their windows and the both crash into a fuel tanker and explode in a ball of fire. Great movie.

Anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. 

Ricky Balboa???

make pellet to heat my toe in winter???

@philbarone
Here ya go!!
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=marathon+man+car+crash&ao=1&qs=SW&cvid=9a3df29250bc...

Yep, that's me sometimes and on a good day.  Don't we act ridiculous sometimes? Thanks Yogiboy4, you made me laugh!

Looks like you decided to try and sell these after all.  What speakers did you go with instead?

Surprised there aren’t more options on the Forte IV.... I love mine , they need good electronics to get the most of them. Why no love for them?

They're sold and the Klipsch are a big improvement but no great revelation.  I bought a pair of Triacs but haven't hooked them up yet.  I understand that the Tektons are better off with a solid state amp and have been told by someone with much, MUCH more knowledge than me that the Tektons are really a rock/brighter speaker but the Klipsch kills them for that however they do cost more.  BTW, Eric Alexander saw the way i had them setup and approved it but people sent me photos of their DI's setup and they all had them placed far from the back wall which I don't have the space to do.  

If Klipsch beats them, that's all you need to know abut Tekton.

Have you listened to the Forte IV?   Probably not....

Yes, and they're a world better than the Tektons but not great for a lot of classical music.  I bought a pair of Proacs that I'm waiting to try out.  

Sorry Phil that question was for secretguy.....   I doubt he’s heard any of the new Heritage, specifically the Forte IV...

Those Proac couldn’t be more different than the Forte,  look forward to your impressions 

Phil,  Thank you for your review. I read the longer version of your experience over on Audiophilestyle and it was very helpful to me. You have saved me from making a mistake. It is difficult to read through the paid reviews/magazines and get reliable information. Sorry you had such a bad experience but your struggle & honesty has opened my eyes. Cheers.

Audiophile bullet points? What would those be?

product placement

10 bullsheet post about a speaker that was Flav of the month and now who cares from the owner of the company..very sad indeed,maybe try paying for ad space next time ..the moderators should pull your free ad space crap

My friend used to write for an audio magazine,  he got all his gear for free and told me that reviews are BS, based on attracting advertising dollars.  
 

The DI’s might have been okay with a solid state amp and for loud music but absolutely not with my tube amp.  The Klipsch blew them away and my twenty-five year old Proac Response 3’s were substantially better for what I listen to with my amp but hey, there’s plenty of used Double Impacts available on the used market.  

@philbarone My friend used to write for an audio magazine,  he got all his gear for free and told me that reviews are BS, based on attracting advertising dollars.  

Is this fact not universally known?  That word that is used, "review", is so corrupted it is meaningless.  Oh, I'm so tempted to name names, but they are so well known I might get into trouble.  Must bite tongue.