Considering the New Tekton Design Encores? AND Owners Group - Experiences/Questions
I am the very happy owner of the first pair of New Tekton Design Encores and I thought I would create this thread to answer any questions anyone might have regarding the Encore speakers, room considerations, and associated equipment. If you’ve order your pair already, please chime in. I really want to hear what other people’s experience are with these unbelievable speakers.
I drive my Encores with both an Art Audio Diavolo SET 300b Tube Amplifier with 8wpc and I switch in my 700w Nord One-Up SE Monoblocks for non-critical listening and some big pieces of music that benefit from the extra power.
Made under U.S. Patent 9247339 with multiple new patents pending
Proprietary loudspeaker design
Ultra-linear frequency response with ±.5dB deviation from 70Hz-20kHz
One single crossover element placed within the tweeter path
A case in point, I decided to spend the day seeing if I could match the 2005 Pass labs Single Ended Transistor sound with that of the 1995 recapped Threshols T-400. On the surface, they have a rather different sound, with the T-400 seeming dryer and less bouncy in this room. Jcarcopo once called that amp's bass "relentless". Looking over my room correction curves, listening, and applying very tiny amounts of dsp (adjustments in the 1/100th of a db at a time) I discovered that the "dryness" was that the IGBT of the T-400 has quite a bit lower impedance at 20hz than the Pass's mosfets (relative to the rest of the spectrum) , so has a bit too much 20-40hz relative to the Pass. Thus filter errors on the room eq showed up MUCH more clearly (by ear) than on the Pass. And, yes, I got all but the difference in in presentation of dynamics between single ended and PP amps. Fun work.
Fetguy, I don’t believe that the two approaches or mindsets are mutually exclusive by any means. We are discussing electronic devices so it’s undeniable that scientific and engineering principles are utilized and applied. I don’t disregard the necessity and importance of measurements and specifications.
My only "big picture" point is when all is said and done you simply must listen and assess your reaction to what you hear. It’s indisputable that audio equipment measurements are important, but they don’t replace (or eliminate the need) the act of actual listening experiences. You wrote "It has to be an emotional event or why bother?" Amen. Charles
@fetguy Sir, never change, without detectives like you helping people like me, people like me wouldn’t realize the level of satisfaction that I’ve reached using juducious dsp/eq to correct for anomalies between my speakers and the room they happen to be occupying. If it wasn’t for you I would have ended up a complete placebophile. Instead I am a fairly balanced and split between being both analytical and also holistic regarding sound quality and how to alter it to suit my ears.
Myself, I am both, when the engineering hat is on I want to know what creates what sound, how to find the problem, what to do about it, and so on. Can very delicate DSP fix the problem? Is there noise being injected somewhere? Is the postion wrong? Is the amp picking up vibrations and thus having problems (if the amp is solid stated and doing that, and its not on a paint shaker, replace it). Is the phono stage doing its job...so on and so on. Measurement helps to track all this down, and to make a clear path. It is not the final arbiter though. It just lets you know what is changing as you make your mods.
Spin the hat around when the work is done and ,like jcarcopo, it has to be an emotional event, or why bother? That's the final test. Though I do have to admit I have to wait an hour or two between mental states, before just listening for pleasure.
Hi Roxy54, Having read many of your Audiogon posts over the years I'd conclude that you are cut froth same cloth as jcarcopo and I. You relish the beauty of music and view it as a gift to mankind. What a "strange" coincidence that we all happen to own and enjoy 8 watt 300b SET amplifiers 😀😀. Charles
@charles1dad I couldn’t agree more buddy! I think some people chase hyper-detail or exaggerated resolution, and they try too hard and ultimately fail to recreate the original recorded event in their listening space. I’d rather experience an emotional event in my listening room that although may not be as detailed or perfectly accurate, but nonetheless is emotionally satisfying; an event that makes me forget I’m listening to a recording. I don’t want a merely close reproduction, I want to close my eyes and be there in the moment deceived into thinking there is no equipment or speakers. I don’t go for a perfect reproduction, it’s still a reproduction and you’ll be chasing that dragon forever. I try to create an organically real and palpable event in my listening space. Having said all that, damn if the arrays on the Encores aren’t able to do amazing detail retrieval and in such an effortless way as to appear completely natural and audibly satisfying with no fatigue. It’s just so perfectly done.
Jcarcopo, Based on the description of you by fetguy you and I are cut from the same cloth. If you aren’t moved by and engaged with the music and there’s little or no emotional connection then the components in use are inadequate. People listen to music for pure enjoyment whatever their taste/ music niche may be. The experience shouldn’t be analogous to a sterile/analytical lab exercise IMO. Charles
Charles 1 dad, I know how jcarcopo hears, he is a gestalt guy, how the over all musical picture is drawn. Not so much about "is there a peak here, or does the image shift .01 degree if I move my head here", but more of a "how is the music I am hearing is affecting me, is it moving me, how is my soul being massaged". So if he says he is being moved by the music, I know the speaker is doing many many things right. I am the "detail" guy, looking for what it is that is taking that emotional response away, or covering it up. I am like a hound dog on that stuff. What with all the barking and stuff....
@charles1dad Thanks for the kind comments. I guess I could have been nicer myself, but I'm not as centered as you always are. I need to work on that. 😂
@fetguy Thanks for the informative and helpful comments my old friend.
Hello fetguy, I appreciate your polite and well reasoned explanation to beme54. With regard to audio it is imperative to view the entire picture rather than focus on a few measurements in isolation. I don’t doubt jcarcopo’s listening impressions or his great success using an 8 watt amplifier.
I haven’t heard the very new (model) Tekton Encores. I have heard the Double Impact (DI) driven beautifully by the Coincident Frankenstein (8 watt SET) and the DI SE version driven beautifully by the Aric Audio 8 watt SET.
Measurements are what they are, however actually listening and directly interacting with an audio product is far more meaningful and definitive. Jcarcopo I celebrate your deep happiness with the Encores.
@beme54. The stereophile review does mention the impedance sweep, but also says that there is no issue with it ,as the actual magnitude is low, and thus the speaker can be driven well by any competent amplifier. IE, no significant current is needed to drive them. They sensitivity, well, that's an issue you have to take up with the designer. Nevertheless, if a guy is driving them with an 8 watt SET and is filling a room on orchestral peaks, the speaker is doing just fine.
@jfd11 - Lol, there's definitely no shortage of designs available on the Tekton Design website and there's another one in the works. I'm sure you will get something reasonable from your Pen Dragons, they are a good speaker from what I've been told.
This is all starting to make me crazy(ER?). When I purchased my Pendragons a couple of years ago I could not believe how good they were. Now Tekton has gone WAY past them in design. Also, when the DI was released it was so close in price to the Pendragons that it blew their value apart on the used market. I would love to sell them but it kills me to think what they would go for. I could buy a pair of DI's and keep the Pendragons as well but I have been married a VERY long time and am still afraid of my wife.
@beme54 I've heard the vast majority of speakers worth hearing and plenty not worth hearing. I compare them very favorably to my experience having been in the industry and having been to the shows and CES. Thanks for coming to my thread and bringing up the only negative thing you could bring up in an otherwise glowing positive review regarding a speaker that has nothing to do with the speaker I'm actually discussing. Please move on.
My impressions are quite simply this. Never in 35 years in this hobby have I averaged 10+ hours of listening to music a day with half of that time spent critically listening to them in the afternoon/evening hours each day. The array is extremely revealing and doesn't hold back at any volume level. Both mircrodynamics and macrodynamics are fully realized with ease. The bass is incredible, very detailed, complex, and very guttural. Setup was very painless and they were not hard to place even in my smaller room. I find what this speaker is capable of in resolution in the most palpable midrange and it's just mind blowing, but never aggressive or fatiguing.
The Encores are a near perfect coherent launchpad and they have the best dynamics of the best horn systems, the delicacy and transparency of the best electrostatic speakers. They just do everything right, I can't not find fault with them in anyway. It's the best 'live sounding event' creating event speaker that I have even owned or heard.
@david_ten I don't know how many have received the Encores per se. I only know that several people have placed orders already for their Encores. With the longer lead times I would say it could be awhile before anyone chimes in with their opinion on the Encores, unless they purchased a version that was already ready to ship, assuming Eric built more than just the one pair for me and had a couple laying around. I know a local audiophile in Raleigh who has heard the Encores in my home is really considering the Encores as a serious upgrade over what he has now.
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