“Invest” in Tekton?


I’ve been a member of Audiogon for a while but haven’t really had the need to utilize the forums until now... I’ve perused the forums pretty extensively the past couple of days but haven’t really found my specific question.... First some background: I’ve had my current system for quite some time (PSB image: 5t, 9c, 2b, subsonic 6; Denon AVR3311 as preamp; and a NAD T955 amp) and have been pretty happy with it... yes, I tend to hold on to my stuff for a while.... I recently decided to explore the option of upgrading/updating my speakers and was pretty interested in some midlevel stuff (SVS Prime, Emotiva, PSB X2T, Paradigm 8, 9, or 10 something…) but ultimately decided the $2000-$3000 price tag wasn’t worth the investment as they were all roughly in the same league as my PSBs... Somehow, I stumbled upon the review of the Tekton double impacts... don’t even know how I found it but there I was... I kinda chuckled to myself when the reviewer started comparing them to $20,000 speakers and then started calling them better at some things... I was a little pessimistic about the review because in my aforementioned research every speaker was the greatest thing since sliced bread.. (To be honest, in my eyes, the professional reviewers lost some credibility because every speaker was just great, couldn’t find a bad review no matter how hard I tried...) Anyhow, the comparison to speakers 7-10x in price piqued my curiosity so I started snooping around for any Tekton reviews I could find and lo and behold, everyone loves them and the comparisons to speakers multiple times their price were plentiful. Ok, so the Tektons are good and now I’m more interested than I should be…

So here’s the rub… I’ve never even considered spending $5000-$6000 on a speaker system (5.0-5.1). Never in my wildest dreams… I’ve always had a theoretical limit of $3k and never gave anything above that a thought. Along comes Tekton with speakers that are in the 5-6k price range (5.0-5.1) but are being compared to speakers $20,000+ and the fact people are putting them in the same league as speakers in that price range, and saying they are better in some instances, is intriguing…

So here’s where I am asking for some assistance. It seems the Tekton lineup is a unique opportunity to acquire reportedly superior sonic performance with apparently unparalleled value. However, $5-6k is a TON of money in my world.. It won’t break the bank but admittedly, it bends it pretty significantly and spending this kind of money on speakers definitely wasn’t a consideration even a week ago… Personally, I am seeing this as a once in a lifetime purchase (am 43 and would expect these to be the last major speaker purchase of my life) but I do need to justify to my betrothed. My original sales pitch to her included the analogy “it seems they are selling Lamborghinis for the price of a Mustang…” and “I really don’t think there will be another opportunity like this” (when did I start selling timeshares???!!!) There are other barriers with her as well (e.g., “They’re how big?!”) but she does have somewhat of an understanding of how much I like music and stereo stuff.. somewhat…

So my actual questions:

  1. To those that have actually heard the speakers, (transducers?)… do you really feel they are leaps and bounds better than typical speakers in the 3-6k range (generally speaking…)? For comparison, I liked the SVS Ultras but due to price and size (yeah, I know how big the Tektons are..) I put them in the “maybe someday” category. To be clear, I’m not asking is “x better than y?” but rather “Do these $3000 speakers really belong in the same class as $20,000 speakers????

  2. In your humble opinions, is this really a rare/unique opportunity with unparalleled value that is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” or are situations like this (incredible value for the money) more common?

  3. I can’t even claim to have a basic understanding of electronics, I’ve read up on ohms and what not and my eyes glaze over.. I spoke with Eric and he, without hesitation, stated my NAD T955 would be plenty sufficient to run whatever options I went with. Thoughts? I intend on using the NAD until it dies (hopefully no time soon) and will deal with next steps when the time is right…

  4. I am super nervous about ordering something so expensive unheard, If anyone is interested, I would like to have a discussion relating to my type of music and listening environment/levels.. (not including in this post to keep size down..)

  5. Any other relavant information I haven't considered, particularly in the area of justifying a purchase such as this?

There are probably 100 other little tidbits I could include in this but I am trying to be as brief as possible and I still wrote a novel… Anyhow, any productive assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

la10slgr
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I would implore you to factor into your budget some proper acoustic treatment to neutralize the small space before you do anything. Highly recommend GIK panels given their price point and quality. Put bass traps in all four corners and hang some panels from the low ceiling to prevent comb filtering from early reflections. This will help disappear the ceiling. If I were you I would demo the KEF LS50 and call it a day. For that small of a room, this seems like a no brainer. 
@529proaudio: thanks for the tips, im currently reading up on sound isolation and treatment.... as for the kefs, y'all have been persistent enough thst im going to make the rounds and see what i can hear before buying anything.. but it wont be until next weekend...
Rotarius is correct. You do not need large drivers or speakers to get deep bass in a 9x11 room. You keep mentioning that the cost of good monitors and a sub will basically equate to the same cost as some DI's. True, however, you could easily spend a couple hundred $$$ (more if using brand name panels) in room treatments trying to make a large floor stander sound good in a 9x11 room.

3-way and beyond speakers are highly overrated, especially in the typical domestic setting. I've auditioned numerous 3-way speakers under $5k and none of them outperformed my 2-way Spendors in coherency, dynamics, tone, or detail. Some of them had deeper bass due to their size, but were outclassed in every other respect. I have a plenty large enough room (25x15) for floor standers but still prefer stand mounted 2-ways.
 
Here's an almost risk-free proposition: order an integrated amp and some decent size stand mounters from Crutchfield, something along the lines of Monitor Audio Silver 2s or KEF LS50s. They only charge $10 for return shipping of each item. You can place some MDF board on top of cinder blocks for temporary stands. Give the system a try for a couple weeks. Of course, ask the Crutchfield Rep to confirm their return policy first, but total cost for this experiment should be around $35, assuming you'd need to buy the cinder blocks.

This might put to rest your idea of floor stander superiority.