which Tannoy?
Former Tekton owners: What have you moved on to?
I owned the Tekton Lore Reference for about a year and a half and they were great for the price. I ran them with a 50w tube integrated and it was a nice combo. For $750 I had no complaints except perhaps that the paint was cracking on one of the rounded corners. I ended up buying a pair of Gallo CL-2 for an office system on closeout direct from Gallo for $390/pair. After they were broken in I found myself listening to them more than the Tektons after awhile. I was getting addicted to the CDT tweeter.
Based on that experience I ordered the CL-3 refurbished for $650/pair shipped (crazy steal) and they were on a different level than both of the above. Sonically, one defining moment for me was listening to Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now. (I think the Track was You’re My Thrill. )
During the intro there is a brief flute soli. With the Tektons it sounded like a really nice flute section that was very homogenous sounding and blended. With the Gallos I could hear each individual flute player and their unique tones and vibrato. The bass was also deeper and tighter on the gallos and the imaging was just amazingly holographic and wide and deep.
I know the timing of this is interesting as the Tekton hype train seems to be at full tilt right now with some of his higher models and I am curious to hear them. The 2 things that would give me serious pause and keep me from moving up the Tekton line are 1) the size and aesthetics 2) The very much "in your face" house sound that can get tiring to me. Just wondering what others have moved on to from Tekton and what they heard that moved them in that direction.
Based on that experience I ordered the CL-3 refurbished for $650/pair shipped (crazy steal) and they were on a different level than both of the above. Sonically, one defining moment for me was listening to Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now. (I think the Track was You’re My Thrill. )
During the intro there is a brief flute soli. With the Tektons it sounded like a really nice flute section that was very homogenous sounding and blended. With the Gallos I could hear each individual flute player and their unique tones and vibrato. The bass was also deeper and tighter on the gallos and the imaging was just amazingly holographic and wide and deep.
I know the timing of this is interesting as the Tekton hype train seems to be at full tilt right now with some of his higher models and I am curious to hear them. The 2 things that would give me serious pause and keep me from moving up the Tekton line are 1) the size and aesthetics 2) The very much "in your face" house sound that can get tiring to me. Just wondering what others have moved on to from Tekton and what they heard that moved them in that direction.
Showing 34 responses by clarinetmonster2
They are ridiculous performers for the price. Srajan's 6Moons review from a few years back gives a good idea of what they can do. http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/gallo11/1.html |
lowrider57 Are you running the Cl-3’s reverse polarity? Makes an enormous difference for the better in terms of smoothing out the freq response. Actually everything is better across the board. Anthony Gallo recommends trying it that way. IMO he should have made that mandatory. Run like this, the CDT tweeter is more revealing and smoother at the same time than the one in the Lore Refs. I found the highs in the Tektons to be pretty unrefined. Not sure which tweeter he uses in the Enzo. |
By starting this thread, I was hoping to find people that liked Tektons and lived with them for awhile, but then found something they liked better. Since Tektons have very specific strengths and a unique sound signature, it's always interesting to hear what people bought after them. It’s also interesting to hear about the modded/upgraded Tektons. I certainly wasn't trying to start conflict. Thanks for the responses so far. |
stereo5 Nice choice! I am a fan of the Goldenear line for sure and have thought about purchasing a pair at some point. In general I have found that I am a fan of good ribbons, amt and of course CDT tweeters. The best domes I have heard are in Magicos and now that the A3 is coming out and is under $10k, I will seriously consider a used pair in the next couple years as well. |
I’m going to put this in here since it’s been a pretty popular thread: I have started the process of shopping for a speaker upgrade to my Gallo CL3’s which I really like, but as you all know there’s that itch...so my budget is max 5k but would really like to keep it to 3500 new or used. I just weaned off of tubes and sold my dac by going to the amazing Job INTegrated amp with built in dac. With a nice power cord on it, this thing is scary good for the price and I don’t miss tubes in the least, and I love minimalism. System: Gallo CL3 Job INTegrated sotm sms200 streamer (also have a TT and CDP that I barely use) Speakers I have been thinking about: Goldenear Triton 2+ and 1 Ryan 620 or 630 Used Vandersteen Treo CT Aurum Cantus V7F ANy input on this list? Any additions? My room is about 11X20 but I have to sit about 7-8ft from the speakers because of the config. I even thought about going back to Tekton and trying DI’s for a minute - then I showed my wife a pic of them. LOL I don’t think that’s going to happen, but just in case - do they work as a midfield speaker? There is so much surface area with so much going on it seems like the coherence might not be ideal at 7ft away? |
I would agree with mofojo on the looks. Not everyone's cup o tea. The Goldenears were quite nice as well and they actually had me convinced until I started listening to a couple of my jazz reference recordings. first of all, they image too high at the speakers if that makes sense - take the Joe Lovano nonet recording Streams of Expression for eg - the rhythm section is center stage and the horns are panned accross the right and left channels to varying degrees in front of them. Well, the horns sound like they are sitting down (as they are) with all other good speakers I've listened to including the Paradigms - on the Triton refs they sound like they are not only standing up and bunched way together, but that they are all 6ft5in. On my speakers and on the Personas they sound more spread out, bigger and at a normal height. I noticed a similar effect in a couple other recordings as well. The guy at the store said that was a common finding with them and that even Sandy Gross recommended canting them forward with something under the back of the speaker. hmmm other than those 2 things I really liked them. The Triton 2+ were not in the same league at all of course, but imaged at a more reasonable height. First world problems lol |
Up to 5k new or used. I am a musician so I love realistic sounding voices and instruments but I don’t like rolled off sounding speakers. I tend towards special tweeters most of the time like ribbons, amt’s, beryllium and of course my current Gallo CDT. Not an absolute must, but a very high quality tweeter has been something that has been key for me in realism and staging in general. I would add that it needs to be close to full range also - good response into the mid-30hz region preferred in-room. I would consider the Proac d20r's that pop up time to time but I keep hearing they really prefer tubes? |
Update: The Quad Z3's sound like they are going to be pretty killer and I can't wait to hear them.Word from my reviewer friend who listened to them for me is they don't have the bottom end of the Magico A3 but they are more refined and magical in the mids and top end. Like a great panel speaker with much better bass and more realistically sized images. So they are definitely at the top of the list currently. I am also considering the Salk SongA3 and trying to find an owner near me so that I can hear them. Will be hearing Ryan, PMC, Proac and Wilson Benesch (demo) soon in Atlanta to see if we have any real contenders in that group. I still think about trying at least the Impact Monitors just to see what they are all about but I showed my wife the pic LOL big mistake. Dude makes some ugly ass speakers - luckily they sound good. |
Spoke to Wally at Underwood and he seems as high on the Z3/Z4 as Audio Doctor Dave. Said he would take them over anything else he carries in that price range including the Scansonic and Elac Andante floorstanders. Getting excited about the Z4 but I will give a listen to the Salks etc. as well as I would have to buy the Quads sight unseen. |
Hmm. Also spoke to Wally about the upcoming new LSA lineup. Things are getting interesting now. I found some coverage on them from Part time Audiophile at Axpona that sounds very promising.the larger Floorstanders will have a copper/beryllium tweeter and a new patented woofer. I think the -3db point will be about 24Hz and the intro pricing will put them right in my range. Ah choices. |
Ok, call me crazy but I'm actually considering at least trying the Tekton Impact monitors if my wife will let me. If I really love them I would probably return them and get the DI's I just don't want to start with the DI's just in case I don't fall in love. Shipping would be crazy. I've come to this point because I've auditioned so many speakers in the under 10k category that just have too many compromises as far as I'm concerned and many are grossly overpriced for the performance. |
madhav no, I couldn't find the time to go hear the DI's since the day dedicated to listening to speakers was filled with traveling to 3 stores and hearing about 10 different brands/models. Going a different route on monday - going to hear Harbeth C7es3 and M30.1 with my amp as well as Audio Note with my amp then tubes. |
ok, speaker search = over Today I drove down with my amp and some CD’s to the Harbeth/Audio Note dealer and heard the C7es3, M30.1 and Audio Note AN-E (not sure which level). They all sounded really nice with the Job INtegrated but the real standout for me was the C7es3. Absolutely amazing synergy with the Job. Shocked me really since I had heard them at a store in Chicago with Cary separates driving them and the results were not great. This was like a whole different universe, bass was full but fast and articulate. Tonality of instruments and voices was spot on - never heard such realistic brass section tones from a big band recording. Image depth was amazing as was width. We put the M30.1 in there to compare and they had their own sort of magic, but with my amp the C7 were overall better by a fair margin. They sounded more full range, fuller and more effortless dynamically. Imaging had more depth as well. The AN-E sounded wonderful as well but I only heard them briefly as I found out they were the 2nd from the top level and were crazy expensive when new. The dealer assured me that the $7500 pair sound very similar. He also had a pair of AN-J there that I didn’t hear - I might ask to hear them just to make sure when I go back to pick up the C7es3. EIther way, I’m very excited to bring them home in a couple weeks when the money comes in. I really can’t imagine a much better marriage between amp and speaker to my ears. |