Match Amp w/Tekton Design Lore

Agreed. I'm looking around at amps. I have noticed with the Lores that they seem to enjoy more horse power of UL than Triode although I prefer what I hear with the Triode setting. My fear is buying a so-called "flea amp" and not being able to drive them.

I bought a pair of Tekton Sigma's a couple months ago & am very impressed with them. Been running Valvet single ended SS mono blocks (bricks) with them. They only put out about 10 watts. Tonight I tried a Forte 1a amp. They certainly like the additional power (50 watts all class A) but the jury is still out... I got this amp at a good price & it's a Nelson Pass design, so the quality is there, it's just that the valvets are so seductively smooth where the Forte really opens things up... Point being you may want to try different amps.  

Yes, tweak, tweak, tweak! I've found that I prefer the Lores on the floor, no spikes on a piece of carpet. The furniture in my room is killing me but I have no way around it right now.I also prefer Triode over UL. I too bought the Lores for their abundant efficiency. I am looking at different SET 300B integrates/power amps. Eventually that is how I will go.I did not buy the OPPO 203. My OPPO 95 is probably good enough for now.

Most recently I've been using a Decware Zen flea power amp with all of 2 watts per channel power with my Lores and I am quite pleased. I agree on the break in time; that's very important and I would recommend at least eighty hours. I use a preamp rather than the full integrated feature of the Zen and stream via a Macbook Pro (2009) via optical digital stream and use an off board DAC, a simple NAD 1050. Silver core interconnects throughout.
I chose the Tekton's in part because of their stated higher efficiency design. Now this may be sacrilegious, but due to my listening room acoustics I also choose to use the equalizer feature on the Mac depending on the original source CD, that is, how well it was engineered and mastered. Every CD is different, period. In contrast, I have also used a Mesa Baron with the Tekton's and that was also a great match, ridiculous power to spare. I guess all I can add is tweak, tweak, tweak and try different combinations. Happy listening.

So I ordered a new OPPO UDP-203 on eBay. They are asking over $2k for the 205 & that's a bit rich for me at this point. But I'm wondering now if the UDP-203 audio quality will be as good or better than my current OPPO BDP-95? I'm aware of the short comings of the UDP-203 compared to the UDP-205 least of which, no streaming and the audio enhancements of the 205. If anyone has any input between the UDP-203 & BDP-95 I'd appreciate it.

Thanks snapsc. Yes I know the furniture is killing me insofar as acoustics go. I really don't have much leeway in that regard unfortunately. But the DAC isn't really something I even considered. My BDP-95 is ancient but, as you know, it's built like a tank and over sound quality is quite good. My Marantz DAC is newer but what it produces is not quite as "dynamic" as the OPPO. So an upgrade there is an interesting idea to say the least. Thanks for mentioning it. I will have to do some comparison research between the 203 & 205. I'm not sure I could justify spending twice what I paid for the Tekton speakers on  the 205. Maybe pre-owned here on Audiogon!.

@wcc10
I don't think there is any question that audio is like programming in that GIGO....so, given that... five years ago I was using a 10 year old $500 Sony CD player...I replaced it with a $500 Oppo 103...the differences in almost ever respect were shockingly better.  This year ( 5 years later) I replaced the Oppo 103 with an Oppo 205 expecting a modest improvement....wrong...the improvement was again shockingly better in terms of clarity, detail, space management, 3d sound stage, deep bass....and on and on...so, in addition to moving the speakers and the furniture, you might seriously consider a DAC upgrade...something from Audio Advisors that is returnable if it doesn't do the trick.

One more thing...the room is a key part of the overall sound and every loudspeaker couples with the room differently (hence your bookshelves sound different than the Lores).  Opinions are all over the map but I've always found that a room that is a little more live than dead delivers a sound that is more real than clinical....so, just for fun, you may try moving some of the furniture and doing other things to change the sound characteristics of the room....then at least you will know, even if you can't leave it that way.

I like that post and I can definitely relate to limiting myself to playing mostly music that sounds good on my system. I suppose we all are guilty on some level to be looking for the speaker or system that plays everything really great. I only hope when I find it I will be able to convince the wife that we need it!

I like this post from Steve Guttenberg to describe dynamic. It’s not an exact definition but pretty good. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tWqcu1wR1sw

Perhaps I have a different meaning for "dynamic" sound. For me that has always meant like a 3d sound stage. And this is what I get with the bookshelves. It is easier to place the different instruments in a 3 or 4 piece band dehind the speakers. The Lores produce somewhat of a "deep" soundstage but in comparison they are just "there." Not completely, but to some extent.And snapsc, bass is not an issue even without the sub. I should probably try it for ambience as you said. But to be honest, depending on the track, the Lores can get somewhat "boomy."
But I did discover something that helped a bunch!The MIT speaker cables I'm using have flex pin banana pins but they are somewhat thin. When inserted into the binding posts on the speakers, even when tighten completely down they can still be removed and even turned. To me this is not a good connection! So Instead of inserting the bananas into the posts the conventional way I inserted them into the eyelet on the post and screwed the nut down tight. Good connection and MUCH better sound! I was flabbergasted! It is so significant that I can say with confidence that it is not a figment of my imagination!Long post so time to play around with speaker placement, subwoofer, and eventually possibly amplifiers. I swore I'd never go back to solid state and I still feel that way. Fun hobby!

Gain is another word for volume essentially. And it sounds like gain isn't really the issue I may have slightly misread your initial post.

Dynamic is absolutely a word I would use to describe the Lores.  When you look through many of the threads and comments about high efficiency loudspeakers like the Tektons, Zu, Spatial Audio, etc.....you get a perspective of the different sound/presentation people get with Triodes, non triode tube versions, solid state amps, etc....usually, but not always, lots more "punch" and dynamics with solid state...but a somewhat less holographic sound...which can be partially offset with a tube preamp.

It sounds to me like you are at the point where trying a few different amps would be of value....and I'm pretty sure that being 5' out from the rear wall, you are losing low end....and by not using the sub you are losing some ambiance.

jond, you mention "Gain." Could you please elaborate?

Yes, more info.First, in UL there definitely is more "umph" obviously due to 2x watts.Room is 22x15x8.5 with lots of furniture & a heavy carpet covering most of the wood floor. Doorway at end of room at direction speakers are pointing. They are towed in slightly.
Speakers are about 7.5 feet apart and about 5 feet from rear wall although there are 2 large pieces of furniture behind each, but still 2 feet from furniture.
Source is mostly older Oppo transport/SACD player or Marantz Trasnport. I do have a sub but don't use it.All cables with both Lore & B&W bookshelves are the same.Don't get me wrong they play louder than I'm comfortable with but mostly on UL setting. There is an obvious difference in depth of soundstage between Triode & UL but with Triode I can go to full volume with ease while wanting more. I don't expect the Lores to be as dynamic as the bookshelves but hoped for more.Am I expecting too much?

If you look up the specs on the audax gold tweeter, its rated at 94.5 db at 2.8 volts.  The legend B102 is rated at 92.4 db....so, maybe a single Lore is closer to 94 db than 98db.  Even so, if your look at the Madisound spec sheet, the tweeter tested at about 101db output at 5 volts (2-3 watts?)  So, how loud do you want the Lores to play??

Five years ago, if you look at the forums, people were having tweeter failures when they played the lores very loud, seemingly for home theater using home theater recievers....and then Tekton noted that their warranty did not cover burnt voice coils.

I have them in a 10,000 cubic foot room, and as I said, they sould great at 85db (peaks hitting 90db)...and I can easily turn them up louder to the point of being uncomfortable and unsafe for my hearing.

So, is the spec bogus....assuming one Lore measures 94 db, then two together would be 97db...which is within a measurement tolerance...so my view has been that this is a great sounding loudspeaker, fairly priced, super easy to drive with specs that are pretty close to correct.

"They do drive them but I can turn volume ALL the way up and still could go louder."

I have no personal experience with Lore but given their spec of 98dB/1w/1m @ 8 ohms, you should be able to drive them very loud, e.g.,   98dB, with only a handful of watts in a reasonably sized room/listening distance. And assuming you're using the same source/cable/volume setting, your comparison with the B&W makes it even more intriguing. Something is not adding up, maybe the 98dB spec is bogus.

How about a few more details... what source are you using?  Room size.  Distance apart.  Distance out from walls. 

I have the lores...10’ apart. 30” out from the walls. Driven by an oppo 205 into a belles 22a tube hybrid pre into a halo a23 poweramp with a powersound audio s1500 sub to fill in the bottom.  At 12’ back at the listening position @85 dB the soundstage is massive and deep... and the sound is refined, powerful and musical... and I doubt I’m using more than 3-4 watts of actual amplifier power. 

Since you don't mention it did you try running the amps in UL mode? And if so to what result? I don't really know your amp or the rest of you system it sounds like a gain issue not a wattage issue.

I should add that I was hoping the Lores would be somewhat dynamic, maybe not as much as the bookshelves but even on Triode they don't have much of a sound stage. Maybe I'm expecting too much?