“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
Oh I oh I almost forgot this- there is one big problem with the these speakers if you are married. Your wife will surely hate them, lord knows mine does. They're quite big. It's worse for me- my wife has a bachelors in interior design. She is freaking out about their size. They're too good to give up so she will have to adjust. I think all audiophiles have to deal with this kind of thing. Wives never get it and don't care.
@sslide   Great to hear you are happy with your Double Impacts. Be sure to post your findings over on the T'ekton Double Impacts' Thread as well.

I'm sure your wife cares about you. And that is all that really matters. :)
la10slgr,
FWIW, I purchased a pair of Tekton DI's after reading reviews here and elsewhere. People were genuinely impressed and surprised by their capability while others were doubtful. I took a chance on these knowing i could send them back and be done with it. I set them up and was very impressed right off. After 30+ hours and a number of different CD's I have found them to be very very good in a number of ways. I also have tinnitus and I do not find these speakers to aggravate that at all. There were certain cd's I have played with my Gallo 3.5 reference speakers that my ears would not tolerate but played with the DI's they are spectacular. They are round tones, warm, natural sound to the ear. The tone and timbre are marvelous. The soundstage and imaging are, to me, impeccable. Very real and life like. The bass is rich and textured even at my lowest listening volume, which is 1!!!. I still can't believe it! I stay up too late now listening, and nobody in my small wooden house can hear it. There is nothing about this speaker I don't like and everything to look forward to. I will change some cabling to tweak the sound a little here and there. My wife, who is not an audiophile, but loves music, was never really engaged with the Gallo speakers. She is thoroughly engaged now with these DI's. Actually, we sit and listen together and we talk about life. We have been affected by the music. What blew her socks off was a James Taylor Live CD. We are literally in the room with all of the people. It is truly astounding and to be honest I didn't expect them to be this good. I feel lucky to have read these threads about the Tekton products and I feel even luckier to own a pair of DI's. I have the upgraded version. I have auditioned other speakers in the past, i have heard some other systems. I still remember the best sound I ever came across on Martin Logans with Mac tube gear. My system sounds as good, if nit better than that. I have a hz meter app on my phone and heard 21.53 hz on a classical piece. Very detailed, clear, balanced. Never is the bass, or any other instrument, out of scale. I am keeping these! It will be this speaker that I build my system around. BAT VK 500 amp, VK 51se pre tube, VK5dse tube cd, speltz silver IC's, speltz reference speaker cable, zu power cords. Zu was better than speltz power cord and it was my wife that could hear the difference when I switched it out. 
There it is!
Greg