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.
@Runnin since you insulted me again I’ll need to rebuke.
Small minded? When it comes to audio, no. My comment that Rainmakers suck compared to Double Impacts was not made out of anger, it comes from experience and ownership of both products. I can probably setup a demo in your area to compare them so you can hear for yourself. I know a guy in Surrey that just got DI’s. On the other side of the coin if someone has a $1200 budget for a little bookshelf speaker Rainmakers are one of my first recommendations along with Focal Aria and Revel Concerta 2. My seconday speakers right now are ELAC UF5 Uni-Fi’s so no snobbery here. They certainly suck compared to DI’s and Enzo XL’s. Being open minded means speaking negatively of things you may like, or love to effectively share information with people that have different views. It’s just an opinion, try and take it with a grain of salt.
It would also be nice to have an actual debate instead of reading your endless childish pokes and knee-jerk reactions after your comments get shut down by other members. Try sticking to facts and following through.
Speaking of getting shut down...It seems like every one of your posts contains something wrong. MDF is used in many pricey speaker designs. For example the Focal Gamma Structure utilized in Sopra and Utopia models uses MDF. Please see the quote from Focal below.
"At Focal, we use MDF (medium-density fibreboard) to achieve this. It may seem a "low-tech" solution compared to some cabinet materials employed today but MDF has inherent advantages that we believe make it the optimum material from which to construct a loudspeaker.
First, it is dense enough and stiff enough – when used in a thick, heavy front baffle – to resist the magnet reaction force from the drive units. As the driver diaphragm is forced forwards by the voice coil, an equal force acts in the opposite direction on the drive unit chassis. This is one of the major inputs of vibrational energy to the cabinet and it must be resisted. This requires not just a thick baffle but also meticulously placed internal bracing. Too stiff a cabinet, though, can be as bad as one which is not stiff enough because it pushes structural resonances up in frequency to a part of the spectrum where the ear is more sensitive.
Second, MDF has something resembling a sandwich structure, in which the faces on each side of the board are denser than its core. As well as contributing to stiffness, this endows MDF with good internal damping to help suppress vibrations when they occur."
I can provide other manufacturers if you need more validation but quoting one of the best speaker makers should get the point across.
When reading Grannyrings previous posts it becomes obvious to me that he knows more than I do about speaker internals. His actions inspired me to try upgrading an already great sounding speaker which resulted in the best product I’ve owned at half the cost of my last speakers (Martin Logan ESL 15A.) I too have opened up expensive speakers just to find cheap parts inside. I hate to state the obvious but only statement level products are built with cost-no-object budgets.
Going over Hfaddicts other posts shows me he is a respectful and open minded guy that genuinely appreciates the exchange of ideas. The only negative post I could find is pointed at you in a respectful manner, so he must be the problem right?
You start a thread on canuckaudiomart about Tekton, and in short order start praising the Double Impacts, which you freely admit cost you $4900 Canadian dollars. You say:
They are an absolute steal for what I paid.
and
They continue to be one of the best things I have heard in 20+ years of the hobby.
You also casually mention that you’ve owned more $5000+ speakers than you care to mention, which is an interesting boast. Anyway, in that thread others start buying Tektons and some having horrible customer service and experiences. Meanwhile, you do your usual thing and grow tired of the Tektons and start praising Tyler Acoustics which you buy, no doubt spending over $5000 again.
So you lead many people to buy Tektons at your recommendation and then sell them and move on to something else. How many times have you done this, James? What kind of person continually moves from $5000 speaker to speaker, sucking in others to buy as well, and some reporting awful experiences BTW.
Perusing your posts, I notice you posted in the "Best pair of speakers you’ve owned" thread in Canuckaudiomart. You didn’t mention the Tekton DI, James, which you misled several people to buy, why is that? Instead you mention Marten Miles 5. Hopefully the people you sucked into buying Tektons aren’t reading your posts to see how you flit from speaker to speaker, and realize you’re like a used car salesman.
Which is why I suggest you need to get a life. And, no thanks, I don’t need to spend time with you comparing speakers there up in Vernon BC. I’ve no interest in taking advice from someone whose advice changes from month to month.
Or thinks it’s in good taste to post a picture of an Afro American man tapping his head, with the caption, " Can’t snort coke through a rolled up bit coin!" That’s racist and disgusting, James.(I’d copy and post it here so others can see the real you, but I’m sure the racist tone would be against the rules) I can’t believe you posted that, but it’s a perfect illustration of your strange behaviour. Posing as a high minded audiophile "rebuking" me on one hand, and then posting some bigoted picture in canuckaudiomart.
Tell you what, brother, I'm done with you. I wish this forum had the ignore function, but I expect I can do alright ignoring you without it.
Again with the nonsensical and personal attacks. You literally have nothing and can’t stick to facts. It’s pretty obvious here who "needs to get a life". More childish knee-jerk reactions on your part.
DI’s still continue to be one of the best things I’ve heard and an absolute steal for the price. Nothing has changed there nor have I said anything to contradict my statements. Only your twisted realty makes it anything different.
No one is being "sucked in" and every hobbyist I know has a mind of their own. I’ve been buying and evaluating gear for more years than I can recall so playing it off as a negative doesn’t work with me. This experience has been invaluable working in the industry. My current speakers are the best I’ve heard in room and Marten Miles 5 are the best I’ve had for the size so of course I’ll share that info on a thread. I also think DI’s are the best for the price but why echo what I already said in the Tekton thread. Speaking negatively about products I like is a really great used car salesman pitch, nice logic.
If posting a meme of Kayode Ewumi as his MC Roll Safe character comes off as racist and bigoted you are really out of touch. If you just see that as an African American (he is Anglo-Nigerian BTW) and not a popular comedy character known for ridiculous comments that is very concerning, colour has nothing to do with it. You might as well start getting upset at Micheal Scott memes, maybe he is a white supremacist? Yet another facepalm moment. Hopefully you really are done with me. It would be nice to have troll free discussions.
As for Zu Audio & Tekton etc and hype over the du jour latest and greatest “reinvention of the loudspeaker”. Today’s hype is quickly forgotten and becomes yesterdays fad. Only a few speakers become multi-decade classics and the rest in as little as 10 years will become long forgotten curiosities...
Hahaha. 213. If anyone needs to get a life it’s you. Been trolling every Tekton forum you can for months and months. You seem to care an awful lot about them for some weird reason. Yes, most speakers are made with mdf cabinets, and yes you continually bash a product you have never heard. You keep talking about cheap drivers and measurements. The tweeters in the Rainmakers cost all of $40 each and there are 1 in each speaker. The mid woofer is another $50 driver. Guess what there are around 14-1,500 in drivers in the DIs. By those, make a cabinet, crossover, shipping, pay taxes and see how much profit is left at $3k. Back to the Rainmakers. I hate pickin on them but they are caught in the crossfire. They measure way worse than the average Speaker. Way worse in fact than the Enzo Speaker you keep confusing with the DIs. Not saying they don’t sound ok just that it’s a fact they measure poorly. You can kind of see the irony right? Nah probably not. I also really want to hear about your vast experience with modifying and “tinkering” with 20k speakers. Blow our minds with your wisdom dude! When people post back at your ridiculous comments you complain to the moderator and have them removed. I know you do and many of mine have been taken down. Some were pretty damn funny too!
@stfoth For me the best part of the DI's is the speedy cohesiveness of the 10" woofers and the 6" mid-bass. I've never heard Impact Monitors but my concern is that they might be missing the core dynamic properties that make the DI good.
Speaking of speedy, how do the Omegas compare with the Monitor?
@jond@grannyringThat's a great idea. I will most likely snap some pics and make a thread around the build. There are very few threads or info on the kit speakers. I'm glad you are enjoying the AN's! I'm excited to get them in place with some hours on them.
Mofojo, I don't see the point of you repeating all of your old argument points yet again, and expecting a response from me. Just go back and reread my previous responses in whichever old Tekton thread you made these points in.
Stfoth I do both have the Rs8 Omegas supercone and the super 3i monitor, And iam very very familiar with HO Alnico, this 3 Speakers are very very good speakers, Iam very proud of owning omegas, but in a heartbeat I do prefer my Tekton impact monitors , because the tektons let me feel and hear the music, they are easy to listen, I can easily tell the instrument position. The omegas like I said they are excellent, but they can’t do what the array design does.Loius and Erik are both excellent speakers designer...
213, Really, nothing to say huh? I was stating factual points and asking actual questions that if you weren’t full of it you would be happy to answer. When someone brings up logical arguments to you, you completely shut down. What’s up with that 213?
Omegas cabinets are well made, very musical if you can match them right tube amps....a friend of mine who own the Alnico HO recognize that one driver can only do so much, compare to array design, this omegas When I first heard them , I was amaze how good they are...
James both impact monitor and my rs8 supercone are superfast , the rs8 are dynamic speakers but Tekton monitors are way better in terms of dynamics....both articulate and cohesive....either one you can’t go wrong....
James the Alnico HO omega, are more dynamic than my rs8, vocal to die for, Markr has them, He uses coincident Frankenstein mono, and Backert 1.2 preamp.I will bring my monitor impact to Markr house whenever he is available, He like my Tekton when he came to my house to listen....
After my Tekton review a few weeks back over on the main thread, many have asked me to let them know what I moved on to . I finally made my choice. To be honest, Sue made the choice. I just wrote the check .. We decided on a pair of Legacy Focus SE’s. Dark cherry in color. Their about the same size as the DI ’s, but about 70 lbs heavier. They have the ribbon tweeters that I have become very fond of, and the large 12 inch Woofers . They are very airy and have sizzle . The sizzle kind of has some weight to it. I really like them. I better, they cost me as much as a pretty nice car ! LOL .
After sending back the Tektons, we looked at Focal’s ,Golden Ears, Paradigm, and B&W’s. We liked the Legacy’s the best, and the fact that they were made in America sealed the deal. I also had a pretty lengthy e-mail conversation with Jim Salk. What a neat man. He got pretty deep into the theory’s of the 2 different "sides" of speaker design. Cutting edge accuracy, or highly efficient high volume types. He was very interesting and educational. If these Legacy’s had not worked out, I probably would have tried a set of his .. Thanks for all the advice guys . I was actually pointed to the Legacy’s by someone on here..
Hello Nitrobob, we are a Legacy dealer and love the Legacy's. We are contemplating coming on board with Tekton for the DI SE version to give people in the New York area a place to audition them.
I was very impressed by the Tekton's layering in the midrange, bass tightness and overall imaging. The only area where I had an issue with them was the high frequencies didn't sound as airy or clean as what you get with the Legacy's.
Was that an issue you had with them? I do find them a bit on the boxy looking side.
What part of the country are you in?
We routinely compare the Paradigms to the Legacy's the 3F is a great speaker but doesn't have the bigger bass or the sheer image size of the Legacys, but boy are they transparent and holographic.
Congratulations the Focus Se are magnificent speakers that sound better than a lot of the $20k speakers out there.
We bought them off of Morrow Audio in Ky. We live on SE Ohio. Powered by a ATI 6005 Signature Amp ( 450 @4ohm X5) and a Marantz 8801. As soon as the 8805 comes out, my intentions are to modernize. The issue I had with Tekton was clarity in the upper ranges. The only thing that really impressed me was their (Tektons) imaging. We just think a GOOD ribbon tweeter is hard to beat. Utter clarity. I like the airiness.. And the Legacys are not thin in the upper ranges, kind of meaty but light. The thick layering in the middle that you speak of is what I believe we did not like about the Tektons .. Sue said it sounded like a "whole lot of nothing and all cramped up" I guess there was not enough space between the layers for us, so to speak .
@nitrobob Congratulations on finding the speakers that push all the right buttons for you and your wife.
I think it was @mac48025 that loved his Legacy Focus SEs and was the first owner with the Double Impacts and likely the first to compare the two head on. It would be interesting to hear his take on both. It's also interesting that Legacy comes up a lot in comparison to, and in choosing one over the other, by folks.
I'm with you in loving what a ribbon tweeter can do, when well implemented with the other drivers.
One thing I do want to point out, especially for those who haven't owned the Double Impacts is that they are revealing of what's in the chain ahead of them. For me and my system, the layering and separation of the mids is exceptional for a speaker at it's price point and is, in my opinion, one of it's strengths which also happens to punch above it's weight class.
I have the current Lore 2.0 and can second a few comments Ive read here on them with reservations; they do seem to have a slight midrange reticence or drop; the freq response graph for the 2.0 posted on the Tekton Blog looks pretty flat to me, so I'm not sure whats up. Its possible that its due to my Naim gear but again Naim is pretty flat as well. I suspect that flat response is not necessarily desirable, and some tube gear is sold for that reason.
Moved way past the Tekton DI’s that I had for 8 months,now since I’m a diy guy of 40 yrs now,mine were tweaked and upgraded a little.
At the first of the year I brought in the Pure audio project open baffles with the Beyma horn Amt driver,i’ve been wanting to try that tweeter and also a open baffle speaker in my system.I really loved the Beyma but a open baffle speaker isn’t gonna work for me in this room,even with Lyngdorf’s room perfect correction.I knew when I bought them that they would be easy to sale locally and they where,no big deal,other than I will be tweaking them as time allows for the new owner,that was part of the deal.
Let me explain my game plan here so maybe you can understand what I’m looking for. I will be retiring in the next 8 yrs or less and before I do I want to have 3 sets of nice speakers of different topology’s,basically a reference pair for me to represent different build and sound qualities.
I have a nice pair of Silverline Boleros Supremes that I really like,think Dynaudio with a bass kick,but 8ohm and 92 db.So much easier to drive,and they have minimal crossover’s with only 3 parts.I bought these used from a dealer on Audiogon. The Bolero’s will stay as my reference pair of “Cones and Domes” and will be used in my smaller 2nd system.
So continuing my quest,I got out and about and listened to a few new speakers,and I talked to several of my Audiogon friends that are spread around the country.Then I stumbled upon a couple of reviews on the Lawrence Audio Double Bass speakers and I remembered them when they first came out and how gorgeous they look.The only problem is there’s only about 3 dealers in the USA and they are just not very common. Anyhow I kept that speaker at the top of my list and I found a demo pair from a dealer that I know and trust.Only had them for six days now but I know these are going to be keepers representing a unique marriage of cones,Amt midrange’s,and ribbon tweeters that sound just as good as they look.
Basically these double bass are unique and different and that’s exactly what I was looking for,most of the new speakers on the market are just ok,just not very impressive to me,and they are kinda just cut from the same cookie cutter.Another thing that’s amazing to me,is that most that I’ve seen so far are 4 ohm and their crossover build and implementation leaves a lot to desire,especially considering the price tag on some of these.
So I have in my system 2 very nice sets of speakers that I just love,and going forward I will be searching for the third set and I have some time not to be in any hurry.
I don’t have any regrets at all owning the DI’s at all but anything from Tekton nation isn’t going to work for me at all. Just simply a company that I have no respect for and definitely don’t agree with their business practices and ethics.Lesson Learned.
I don’t really care to write a novel about it,but from all the horror stories from people I know scattered around,basically many cases of not getting what they paid for.
I basically received what I paid for with mine,and I would say they are above average speaker for the money,I have no regrets at all,moved on obviously.
Taking all I know and have learned from others left a very bad taste for me,I simply would never do business with someone like this, They are simply just a slap in the face to respectable manufacturers,Nelson Pass would be a prime example.
When it was time for my DI’s to go,I simply gave them away locally,no way I could ever take any money for them.
If you enjoy your Tekton speakers,that’s great,As you can see,I’ve moved on.I only post here so that folks can see that there’s 2 sides to this story.
Currently my trusty John Hillig Musical designs hybrid...awaiting a PS Audio BHK 250. Hoping to also grab a Lyngdorf 3400 when I fill the audio coffers.
Schw06, If I remember correctly, Your pair of DI’s are one of 3 pairs that folks have bought that included the “Upgraded Crossovers” and the purchased price at the time of sale reflected this. But after receiving the speakers we quickly learned they were built with some of the cheapest parts around,Dayton audio Wow,most certainly not the so called better upgraded parts that were purchased.Totally unfathomable in my book.
Now another very confusing and disappointing aspect of this design is the continue designers tweaking and changing of crossover parts quality,specs,and designing “Band Aid” fixes to address some of the overall shortcomings in sonics that this speaker has.
Most reputable manufacturers that I can think of usually have their designs pretty well squared away before releasing to sale.
The pair I owned would be about 1 yr old now,if I still had them,and over this period of time I learned from several members via pm’s that their crossover Implementations vary in overall parts specs and quality vs the pair I had.
Basically like a continuing “Work In Progress” or WIP speaker at the owners expense,nobody knows exactly what version you may have.
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?
Kenny, Any idea how the smaller stand-mounted, less expensive, but equally gorgeous looking Lawrence Violins would compare with your speakers? The latest Violins have different (better?) tweeters.
Lula, I Can’t offer any real insight on either Lawrence monitors other than what 2 dealers told me.Both,Jay Kaufman of audio revelations and Mike Kay of Audio archon both said the mandolin is a little more sweeter and musical than the violin.
Lawrence never gained much interest in America,they didn’t market their speakers much here and they also experienced a bad deal 5 yrs ago at RMAF unfortunately.There’s only 3 dealers left now and Jay is semi retired and shrinking his business down.
As a tidbit,I’ve been told that there has been only 4 sets of the double bass speakers shipped to America,and Offcourse my pair is one of them.
I recently inquired about their bird series but no one has any real information about them and all I got was priceing info.None of the bird series has ever been sold here.
I’m personally not interested in any monitor speaker,I only want larger floor standers.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
