Focal 1028BE2's or Tekton Moab Towers


Hi - I'm fairly new to the hobby, I've always really enjoyed listening to music but at home was more focused on Home Theater.  Over the last several years I've shifted my focus to 2 channel listening, upgraded my amp, pre and DAC/Streamer. 

Currently I have Focal 1028BE's, a Primaluna Evo 400 integrated amp, REL TI9, Lumin D2 with Sbooster upgrade.  I stream Tidal 99 % of the time and on rare occasion will pop in a CD.  I've also had HAF create some filters in Roon as well.
At times my gear sounds really, really good, other times, specifically with Rock and poor recordings it can be bright, harsh, fatiguing.  Prior to the Primaluna I had a Parasound A21 and P6 combo.  My room is large, man cave, finished basement, open except for the staircase that splits up the room.  It's a shared space, HT, sectional couch, Pool Table, arcade games with an office tucked in the corner.  Acoustic drop ceilings are 8 feet, flooring is vinyl / blank style, area rug in the seating area, leather sectional couch.  I sit around 12 feet from the towers, the sectional splits up the space, there is another 20 feet or so of open space behind the sectional.  I can't really room treat, that's the one spot my very understanding wife won't let me go.

So, I've seen a lot of posts about Tekton and Moab's with commentary that they are less fatiguing, easy to drive speakers that punch far above their weight class, are great with Rock.  Negatives I've read are size, they are huge, fit and finish isn't up to the same standard as other manufacturers.  Some have stated they didn't get a full, robust sound that most describe, saying the speakers are thin, not very cohesive. 

I chose the 1028's because they punched above their weight, with the trickle down effect offering some of the features in the Utopia series along with Focal's reputation for building and designing everything in house.  I got the 1028's last year, several audiophiles said Focal had taken them out of the line up and with them gone the jump to get the BE tweeter and W Cone in the Focal line up was a big one price wise with the 1028 and 1038's being discontinued.  I also read they are one of the largest speaker / driver suppliers to other manufactures.  Common sense would tell me Focal's should be a better speaker.  Reviews I've read rave about Tekton's and specifically seem to reference the Moab's as being the best speaker in returns to diminishing returns in the line.

I'm a novice, just stayed at a Holiday in Express last night, would I be crazy to sell my Focal's and buy the Moab's or would it take my sometimes great sounding set up to a sounds great with everything?
mm1tt77

Showing 4 responses by glupson

cal3713,

speedbump6 accurately described my experience so far. I heard them, was not impressed but noticed others liked them and I think I understand why. No need to go deeper into what I did not like about the sound, it was simply my preference that others may or may not have. Still, I would not recommend anyone buy them without auditioning and seeing them first.

As far as return experience goes, I dislike the idea of not being allowed to leave even fingerprints on something that is not that easy to handle in the first place. I also feel that for a very large "value speaker" costing $4500 paying shipping would be quite expensive. All in all, I feel there are much more convenient ways to purchase a pair of speakers than from Tekton. And that is before having any experience like stereo5 did and before having any comment on workmanship and whatever else people on the Tekton Moab thread mentioned. And then, there was a post by the company owner...
Answering to anyone any time for a cozy long talks usually is at 1-900-XXX-XXXX.
"It took 2 more calls to them before my refund showed up via PayPal."

millercarbon does not seem to have problems reaching Tekton by phone at any time.
Your room may be a bigger problem than your speakers.

As someone mentioned before, Focals are more refined and I am not talking about their looks.

There are many other brands out there, if you have an itch for change, and Tekton may be the most inconvenient one.