Did you intend this to be as bad as it sounds?
I felt like I was listening to a PA system in a concert hall.
I did the right thing after all.
I had a post a few months ago where the title was "What did I do?" something like that.
I explained that I just sold Wilson Sophia II speakers and ordered a set of Tekton Moab to replace them.
I got the usual comment that I work for Tekton, I am stupid, I needed the money, don't know what I am doing, I will have to wait 12 weeks min to get the speakers, the speakers will be damaged when they arrive if ever.
I took all that with a grain of salt. Some asked if I could share my results once I received the Moab. They wanted my opinion. I am not a technical writer or a reviewer. I am just a guy that has been buying and listening to HIFI since 1973.
My first good system in 1974 was the JBL 100 Century, SAE power amp, Crown preamp, Thorens table with a Shure V15 type III cart. That system would really sing.
OK, today I have a much better system:
Audio Research Ref 75 amp, Audio Research Ref 3 Pre, Wyred4Sound 10th Ann DAC, VIP Classic 1 table, Mac Mini Steaming Qobuz and Audiovarna. CD transport playing through the W4S DAC. High end cables throughout plus a PS Audio AC filter machine.
I figured it to be in the $50K range of replacement costs with new stuff. The room is large with vaulted ceilings. Some treatments in the room.
So the Tekton speakers were delivered within a week due to a person that ordered them then cancelled. These were complete and sitting in the warehouse for 3 days when I called and ordered them. I just got lucky.
I have been running them for about 1 month and I bet I have maybe 75 to 100 hours on them. I am using Straight Wire Cadenza cables. You know why they call them straight wire? Because they are so thick, you cannot bend them.
Anyway I was keep the speakers in the same position as the Wilson's. Not bad, sound is larger for sure.
Last week I moved away from my 9 feet listening position to about 15 feet from the speakers and about 7 feet from the back wall. The speakers needed to be spread out a little more. The sound stage totally open up more, bass deeper and more of it. Everything is really good now.
I streamed a few good recordings of Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters. Ronnie's Telecaster is in the room. I have never experienced anything like that before. Live recordings sound like I am in the hall.
Your experiences will vary but I am in a perfect position right now. The only thing I have left to do is install my new phono pre-amp that is being delivered tomorrow, a Modwright 9.0X that I purchased from the Music Room. It is new not used.
I am so glad I sold those Wilson and made some money on the deal while I was at it. It allowed me to buy used Speaker cables that are up to the task with these Tekton's.
I explained that I just sold Wilson Sophia II speakers and ordered a set of Tekton Moab to replace them.
I got the usual comment that I work for Tekton, I am stupid, I needed the money, don't know what I am doing, I will have to wait 12 weeks min to get the speakers, the speakers will be damaged when they arrive if ever.
I took all that with a grain of salt. Some asked if I could share my results once I received the Moab. They wanted my opinion. I am not a technical writer or a reviewer. I am just a guy that has been buying and listening to HIFI since 1973.
My first good system in 1974 was the JBL 100 Century, SAE power amp, Crown preamp, Thorens table with a Shure V15 type III cart. That system would really sing.
OK, today I have a much better system:
Audio Research Ref 75 amp, Audio Research Ref 3 Pre, Wyred4Sound 10th Ann DAC, VIP Classic 1 table, Mac Mini Steaming Qobuz and Audiovarna. CD transport playing through the W4S DAC. High end cables throughout plus a PS Audio AC filter machine.
I figured it to be in the $50K range of replacement costs with new stuff. The room is large with vaulted ceilings. Some treatments in the room.
So the Tekton speakers were delivered within a week due to a person that ordered them then cancelled. These were complete and sitting in the warehouse for 3 days when I called and ordered them. I just got lucky.
I have been running them for about 1 month and I bet I have maybe 75 to 100 hours on them. I am using Straight Wire Cadenza cables. You know why they call them straight wire? Because they are so thick, you cannot bend them.
Anyway I was keep the speakers in the same position as the Wilson's. Not bad, sound is larger for sure.
Last week I moved away from my 9 feet listening position to about 15 feet from the speakers and about 7 feet from the back wall. The speakers needed to be spread out a little more. The sound stage totally open up more, bass deeper and more of it. Everything is really good now.
I streamed a few good recordings of Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters. Ronnie's Telecaster is in the room. I have never experienced anything like that before. Live recordings sound like I am in the hall.
Your experiences will vary but I am in a perfect position right now. The only thing I have left to do is install my new phono pre-amp that is being delivered tomorrow, a Modwright 9.0X that I purchased from the Music Room. It is new not used.
I am so glad I sold those Wilson and made some money on the deal while I was at it. It allowed me to buy used Speaker cables that are up to the task with these Tekton's.
39 responses Add your response
I have a local dealer that had the persona 7f in his main listening room for 2 years and every time I stopped in the components were different and so was the speakers presentation. Having never heard Tekton or Canton I can't offer any advice, that said, The better a speaker's made the higher the ceiling, duh. Many brands match speaker pairs to .5 db of each other also using matching layers of veneer. Speaker manufacturers that reach that level of competence that can afford to invest in equipment to insure product consistency like Canton, Dynaudio, Revel, Kef, B&W, etc often have a very high ceiling being limited by the components and our own ignorance matching speakers to rooms and placement. I've bought and sold many highly regarded speakers (2nd hand) dissatisfied that in hindsight I can concede my components were likely the cause because 'budget components and TOTL speakers are a crapshoot. I seriously doubt Tekton has as high a ceiling as Canton or other Major players, but for plug and play systems I expect Tekton is the easiest to get good sound from because they're amplifier friendly and play with plenty of dynamics while our big brand speakers suck our Anthem/hegel/parasound amps (speaking for myself) dry. |
What are your tastes in music? Do you have an eclectic taste in music? If that is true, you may be the type of guy who needs more than one pair of speakers, different types of designs and brands that sound different. Enjoy different sounding things for what they are.This 1 in - 1 out strategy tends to fail and you will be chasing your tail forever, unless you only listen to 10 recordings from 1 genre on repeat. Some dealer/sales guy for a brand he carries will claim that 1 great pair of speakers ( whatever he carries, trying to sell you) should sound great for anything and everything. Such is never the case. 1 great pair of speakers are never all that F-ing great. |
OP, thanks for following up. It’s posts like these I find most useful - giving something a couple years then letting people know your thoughts. Those Cantons are big, impressive speakers, and seem to be a pretty good value. I heard them at a show a few years back with all Esoteric equipment. Let us know how it turns out. |
Well, you have to please you. I don’t care what anybody else thinks of my gear, it works for me (and sounds great). I also owned (and still do) a pair of Tektons. Also like you, I sort of "outgrew them" (I have a pair of Enzo XLs with Be tweeters sitting in storage. Definitely not in the MOAB class, but they worked as advertised and served their purpose...). I had much the same experience you did, and ended up replacing them with a pair of OB speakers. Not sure I could ever go back to a box speaker, to be honest.... It’s a constant journey, isn’t it? As long as you're happy, I'd say you did the right thing. Not many people I know make money in this hobby. It's to be expected to lose $$$ along the way. Enjoy! JM2CW.
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After owning the Moab’s for a few years. I traded them to The Music Room towards a set of Canton Ref 3K speakers. I lost more than 1/2 the money I spent on the Moabs. I also included the Townsend Stands. My opinion of the Moabs after living with them all this time. They are Big, Black and dominated the room. OK, now that is out of the way. The sound was good, midrange is very good like Eric says. Tweeters did not sparkle, Bass needed some help. I added a REL Classic 98 that gave me the real bass I was missing. In all honesty, I felt like I was listening to a PA system in a concert hall. I think that is why Live recordings did sound best. So, now I have the Canton Speakers set up, I will wait to see if I wasted money yet again on speakers. I had to give TMR $5400 plus my Moabs to get them. I need time to make that decision. What does the mighty internet think? |
Also here. I sold a pair of Dynaudio Contour 60's and replaced them with the Moab BE's. I couldn't be happier. Life is back in the music. The C60s are a music freezer, they kill even Thelonius. The Moabs are open, dynamic, absolutely non-boomy, in the jazz concerts of life you can hear the audience boozing and chatting, the timbre is still not as nailed down as with my previously owned Contour 3.3's but very natural. The piano sounds wonderful and bold, the soundstage is very good (not as precise as with the Contour 3.3 I owned). The Moabs are a 100% upgrade over the Dynaudio contour 60's, that's for sure, no regrets whatsoever. The Moabs are also fantastic to listen to at low volume. But the Moabs don't have the absolutely natural timbre and soundstage of the contour 3.3 of 20 years ago. How is this possible? How much do I have to spend to get something better than the contour 3.3? Shouldn't the technology be advanced? Why does everyone talk about subjectivity? In the field of music this does not happen.... everyone agrees that a Sellmer sounds like it should, the Steinway sounds like it should. Imagine buying a Steinway, you take it home and it sounds bad, you go back to the store and they tell you it's subjective...hahahah! Hifi people must be very special. No... the fact is that musical instruments are aimed at the public, while hifi gear is mainly for lonely people who easily conform to a distorted reality. Anyway, the Moabs are very good, no comparison to the 10K Contour 60. |
...sometimes a salt lick may 'fill the bill', but that's taking yogiboy to extremes. ;) There's already enough about, waking through nod-off....'extremes', that is. Simple civility over anothers' taste and/or situation makes AG a better space to inhabit. And it's great that's the predominate local attitude. Enjoy the Tektons. *S* |
Pay no mind to all the killjoys on this site. If you notice most of them never post their systems because they most likely are still using that old YORX all in one that was given to them at their high school graduation gift from ma and pa. You should enjoy your new speakers and take the naysayers with a large grain of salt! |
@bill_peloquin i echo the comments from @ozzy62 your contribution has been valuable, and like all other internet forums, there is a small # of people who will snipe, troll and hate, it is part of the terrain of these faceless meeting places this is a good forum, many well meaning and very knowledgeable and helpful folks here who share the passion for great music and reproduction thereof i hope you will stick around, continue to contribute |
@bill_peloquin It’s a shame you feel that way. You received far more positive comments than negative. If you spend any time at all on Internet forums you know all of them have jackasses. It’s unavoidable. If this runs you off, you indeed have thin skin. Don’t let a few ruin the total experience of this site, there are some good members here. Oz |
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At RMAF 2019 I was really looking forward to visiting the Wilson room. Well I'm not sure who set up the room but it was terrible and to make it even more amazing Daryl Wilson was there along with Mrs. Wilson (his mom) in an adjoining room with the new "Chrono". The Chrono was not hooked up and they only had one! I spoke with both of them briefly and found them to very pleasant and gracious. There were several other Wilson "big shots" in the room who were not very pleasant at all. A few Wilson catalogs were on a side table, so I picked one up to take a look and was sternly told to "put that down". It was a ridiculous experience and I'm giving them every benefit of the doubt. The room simply did not serve the company nor the speakers well. Just to stay on topic, I visited the Tekton room and it was equally as poor. Only stayed for a minute or two. Again the room served those speakers very poorly. Regards, barts |
Well, now I have to say something. I have had 3 pairs of Wilson speakers over the years and they have been fabulous loud speakers! I currently enjoy Wilson Sasha DAWs with ARC and Luxman. For years I raced Porsches in "driver's ed" and "club racing." Like Porsche 911s, although they may be a bit overpriced, there is nothing like Wilson speakers in my limited experience. |
The Wilson speakers I’ve heard were ok. Nothing special and especially nothing to warrant the hilarious prices they ask for them. The guy who runs Tekton seems like a jackass but I’ve yet to hear a speaker they make that didnt at least raise an eyebrow. I’dlm thrilled with my current speakers but Tekton makes A couple models I’d really like to hear. Disregard the swingers and fan boyz. Research what florets your boat and do it. |
op glad you found a speaker that you like, and as an added bonus, being able to pull some $ out of the gear in the process there is always great joy in finding something that costs less and yet brings more enjoyment many many speakers out there to choose from, and so much information, good and bad, about them... it is always nice to hear of audio enthusiasts navigating the terrain to locate what pleases them |
Noromance-you can say that, but you can also say they don’t sell that many. IMO, The problem with MC is his overhype of everything Tekton, with or without ever hearing the speaker. I have never ever seen anybody that owns Wilson, Totem, GoldenEar, Revel, Raidho, Usher, or any other top brand speaker (imo) overhype their speakers even when they think they are the best. The last time I remember a product that got overhyped by a few posters was the DK integrated amp 15 years ago and there were many posts from users claiming posters doing the same thing that MC does and I don’t think it ended well for the amp (IMO) https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/dk-design-review/post?highlight=Dk%2Bintegrated&postid=73... |
A matter of mere moments on Google brings one to this second hand website with links to other sources https://www.hifishark.com/search?q=tekton 2 Pairs of Tekton Moabs for sale , 5 Pairs of Double Impact and several other assorted Tekton *speakers* From the list that didn’t sell https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649769799-tekton-moab-with-upgrade-package-in-high-gloss-grigio-... Recently sold for a HUGE loss https://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/649756493-bnib-tekton-moabs-white-with-upgrade-package/ More … https://www.hifizero.com/index.php?q=tekton https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649746639-tekton-moab/ https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649723752-tekton-moabs/ And before the Pavlovian defence mechanism posts kick off … I am pleased for the OP and that he reports that he made the right choice ‘For him’ Where I take issue is the incessant and inaccurate misinformation regarding this Brand, blatantly peddled out by @millercarbon for reasons open to interpretation of the enquiring mind . @millercarbon “You got lucky, they do not turn up often! Just looking at serial numbers it appears he has made something like 1200, or around 50 pairs per month. Huge numbers, and yet hardly any ever come up for sale. Translates to 99+% happy owners ” |
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Never heard 'em. Couldn't judge. But your experience on placement in a different position than the Wilsons is to be expected; in fact, I'd be surprised if you didn't have to position them in the room differently. People who move speakers around regularly often use a light tape or other marks to show certain positions. And positioning is only part of the process of tuning a system to work in a given room. That's all I got. Bill |
Glad you are enjoying your system again. Sometimes products are expensive because they are worth it, sometimes they are expensive because they can be. Either way the price has to be accepted by the customer. I've heard a lot of speakers and the advancement in technology in speakers is absolutely amazing. |
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Good for you. Moab are some really fine speakers. A local guy here who has heard mine a couple times now is looking for a pair. You got lucky, they do not turn up often! Just looking at serial numbers it appears he has made something like 1200, or around 50 pairs per month. Huge numbers, and yet hardly any ever come up for sale. Translates to 99+% happy owners just like you and me. Still, nice to hear. Thanks for the update. |
