My Experience With Tekton


I know this is a polarizing discussion point and was thus hesitant to share unless I could keep it objective, helpful, and concise

I have no intention to be inflammatory, sway anyone’s current opinion or beliefs

I merely want to share information in two specific areas, my results of product performance and my experience with the manufacturer

 

Background and reference point

I replaced a pair of Revel F36. The F36 is the upper end of Revel’s lowest tier floorstanding speakers and retails for $2,000 MSRP per pair

Took approx. 45 mins to unbox, level and connect

Like for like drop-in replacement, same location on the floor as the F36s, the listening position did not change, identical electronics and cables

We’ve all got our preferences, biases, different levels of experience, etc; but share the common limitation that we just don’t know what we don’t know

I’ve not heard a pair of 30K speakers but expect to someday and envy those that own them

In my VERY limited understanding, it’s near impossible to pinpoint how any specific system change will behave and perform across the board, contingent on the variances in electronics, set up and room. These three items alone (electronics, setup and room) make me think that while similar in nature, but at a critical listening level, each combination is unique and a different snowflake or fingerprint

 

Listening results

Product delivers as advertised

Meets or exceeds every performance expectation I had hoped for

After approx. 5 hours of listening over 3 days I tried to characterize the sound. The first thought was neutral, but that was understating what I was hearing. I eventually landed on natural or real. The voices and the instruments sound VERY real to me. This is as close as I have come with my electronics, setup and room to sensing that someone is singing to me or that someone or an entire band is playing for me

To date, each song that I’ve played, is the best version of that song that I have heard in a playback, and I’ve listened to all of them 100s and 100s of times

Some of the improvement was by a small margin, but most songs, 65% conservatively speaking, by a vast margin – night and day, game changing stuff

Chet Baker didn’t sound like a presentation from 1958, it sounded as fresh and real as a new recording with the benefits of 60 years of technology advancements. Exile on Main Street didn’t sound like a home recording from 1972 it sounded like 2022 with many layers of percussion, keyboards, horns and background vocals

Is the sound of this $5,000 pair of speakers comparable to the sound of a $30,000 pair of speakers? I don’t know, as mentioned I’ve not heard a pair of $30,000 speakers.

What I do know is the $5,000 pair of speakers, simply put is the best my system has sounded by a wide margin

Again in summary, it sounds real, like someone is singing to me

 

Experience with the manufacturer

I had hemmed and hawed for 2 or 3 months before placing my order. One day the website mentioned a future price increase but until mmdd you could still order at the current price

I called and spoke with Tammy and told her I wanted to lock in on the current price point but wasn’t sure what product or configuration I wanted

She built an open-ended order with current pricing and told me to contact her when I knew what I wanted

With work travel and other commitments it took me 4 months to finalize which speaker, Moab, which upgrades, beryllium tweeters and Cardas connectors, and what color, white

I was never pressured to make up my mind or that my window for the lower costs was going to expire

Since I was the one dragging my feet, I offered multiple times to pay for the product

Not once did they hint or take me up on my offer to pay in advance

They did not bill me until the product shipped

Once I had made all the config decisions, the build and delivery were again, as advertised

Tammy mentioned a 4–6-week supply chain delay with beryllium, that arrived within her estimated timeframe

Once the beryllium arrived, she said she was waiting on cabinets, eta 5-7 days, followed by build and paint, and shipping approx. 10 days after she received the cabinets

Within 2 weeks Tammy emailed my owner’s manual, unpacking instructions and told me to expect a call from the freight company within the next week

Freight company contacted me on that Fri and scheduled delivery for the very next Mon, Aug 30

The boxes arrived scuffed and with multiple impact points that dented the packing material

There are no blemishes or damage to either speaker cabinet, the packing and packaging worked as designed

Upon unpacking, I didn’t experience a heavy smell of paint or wood, if I put my nose to the cabinet, I could smell fresh paint

The cabinet finish or construction does not appear inferior to anything else in my inventory, KEF, Revel, Klipsch, Paradigm, Polk, and Elac – permission in advance to laugh

Enjoy the journey and happy listening

Respectfully


stevewharton

Showing 24 responses by millercarbon

What do you mean, lately? It has been this way since like forever. Heck I have been saying it for going on a year now.

The vast majority of readers come to read and learn. They never or hardly ever post. This I know for a fact because people I never heard of before PM thanking me for what they learned, whatever idea I gave them. A lot of times they even say hey I never post but I read and thanks.

Then there are the ones that PM thanking me just for sticking around and speaking up even in the face of all the nonstop bullying and BS. Don’t take my word for it either. There was a whole entire discussion devoted to the subject "Sorry Millercarbon!" where people thanked me and apologized for taking me the wrong way.

Then there are my own repeated attempts to get the bullies to knock it off. Technically no not even asking them to knock it off. Just asking to take their blather to their own threads. At least stop mucking everyone else up.

But no, even this they refuse. Where it goes from normal to truly dark is where we learn I am not the only one they try and hound from what they consider to be "their" site. You know it is bad when people get so obsessed they track down and start harassing you at your home address.

Again, they have done it to others. So it is not just about me. You raise the point, you get to hear it answered. This is about the nasty bad behavior of a number of people.

I don’t know for certain why the OP isn’t posting here. I do know I can read, and it is clear this went Off Topic into the usual tear everyone down blather, just like usual.

Just look at the one above- "Have we established the bona fides of the OP"? Just how low down mean and arrogant do you have to be to come up with that one?

Move along. Please.
holmz- Let’s bring this back to reality a bit…
What is the purpose of all the tweeters/drivers running in unison?
  1. Is it to reduce the excursion as a way to lower non-linear distortion?
  2. Or is it to make the driver appear to be coming from a point further behind the cabinet?
  3. Or is it to make the phased area nature of it reduce floor and ceiling (wall bounces (By make it more directional?
  4. Or something else?

And then how are all these drivers wire to make them appear to be 4 ohm load?
  • Are they in series and then paralleled up?
  • Or resistors in series?
  • Or how?

I did see something that mentioning “time and phase coherent”. Are there usual step function plots floating around somewhere? 

Good questions. I was about to answer when scanning above noticed you do not trust the messenger. So no soup for you. 
Maybe its just me, but I dismiss anyone who doesn't understand there is no such thing as the whole truth. The only one who knows the whole truth is God. But then you attack religion. So illogical too then. Right. Dismissed. Totally.
I haven’t helped I guess because it’s not like complaining about it arguing is going to make a change.

Whoever is running this site seems to actually like it this way. Still, there are tactics and strategies that do work. The ones I can share are 1) Ignore the haters. They post for reaction. Deny them. and 2) Report their posts. Don't have to be abusive or spam, "Other" and off topic will do. Look how many discussions are derailed simply by the same small group changing the topic to whatever they feel like blathering about.   
This week I’ll be posting my thoughts on the DI’s, not sure how that will go, never heard them but I’ll have them Wednesday.

This is the third and best way to make a change. Write up your reviews and listening evaluations. Don't be afraid to say what you hear. My personal preference is to praise to high heaven what I love, and give slight mention if any to what I don't. But do it however you like.    

If more people catch on, great. I've built my system the last 15 years based almost entirely on this kind of thing. Everyone whines about and opines about the so-called professional reviews. Well I start with them but always finish and ultimately go with what I read on sites like this. But I never come and ask what, instead I always search and see who said what. This way I filter past all the blather.    

Ultimately they miss that this is how people use the internet. They think it is a watering hole, one where they pee in the water everyone comes to drink. Write your review, people will find it, people will use it, and so in the long run we all gain. In spite of them.  
The vitriol is entirely from one side. It goes like this: someone says they really like something, and then comes the vitriol. There is no moral equivalence. To say otherwise is deluded.  

That is by the way a factually correct and uncontroversial statement. When the day comes it is vitriol to call a spade a spade, then on that day we are all in a world of hurt. Certain ones of you are working full time getting us there. That you are doing it unwittingly does nothing to change that, not even a little.   

Or in other words: 
man, such nonsense when the topic is tekton... ridiculous... some serious brain damage here

and
Wow it’s weird how much emotion the mention of Tekton stirs.
 and
Yeah, weird that people can bring the whole forum down a level with having to jump in and trash a brand any chance they get

So a lot of the newer members get it. Now if only those of you who have been here messing things up for so long would figure it out. No one cares that you have been here for years. All we care is how you are acting now. And it ain't in our best interest.
You must have missed the post above. 600 pairs sold in the last year.  Try to find them used. And that is just for Moab. Not even their biggest seller. So you do the math on the risk. Unless you are frequently unsatisfied with really, really good stuff at a really, really good price I think your risk is somewhere between zero and none. 

They are selling so many they have been months behind for over a year now. They keep improving current production, and expanding production, and coming out with new models. Reviews and owner comments are off the charts glowing. Very limiting, indeed.

If you are serious about finding some to hear try the Tekton Owner's Group on FB. You can hear them at the factory but might find them closer on FB.
A guy on the Tekton Owner's Group just got his SECOND pair of Moabs today. Custom color. His are S/N 1394. Mine are 194. What that means, in one year, 1,200 Moabs. 600 pair. In one year. How many of those come up for sale used? Not many! Remarkably few given such massive sales. 


Someone throws some nonsense out there, the usual suspects take it as gospel and blow it all out of proportion to the point they have created their own little alternate universe. Like the science-fiction story with another Earth opposite the sun. On other-Earth Raven Blackhawk sub out is fixed and Tekton speakers are low sensitivity.  

Reality check, dopplegangers: the sub out is variable. Always was. Tekton speakers are high sensitivity.  

We now return you to our regularly scheduled sewing circle. 
https://youtu.be/2HQh4YRw9H8?t=161
Definitive Audio here in Seattle and Bellevue has been selling Wilson since like forever. From 1990 on I have heard them, and if ever I hear one sound good will let you know. My dealer friend Stewart, when he moved here one month did something like $1M volume just in people selling all their Wilson Mark Levinson dreck to buy his stuff.   

The kicker for me was the day I first heard a Linn turntable on a wall system at Definitive and then after being impressed with how good that little $30k system sounded the Definitive guy wanted to show off and played me his premier Wilson flagship system. Which within seconds I was like why'd you do that this is $300k worth of crap! 

But a lot of audiophiles are closet masochists. The harder and more painful you make it the more they like it. Why would they want to mess with Tekton? They sound great right out of the box and driven by anything. Where's the pain and suffering? Where's the need to blather about impedance and watts and burn-in? Where's the piano finish? Where's the insufferably elitist sales force?

Face it guys, with Wilson suck is not a bug. It's a feature.
Why is it I find the whole subject of not getting grilles on speakers that never should have them in the first place amusing?
How nice and reassuring to know we have our own little panel qualified to pass judgment on who is and who is not worthy. Where would we be without these golden-eared sages?

Let me be the first to express just how unbelievably relieved I am to know you all are out there watching out for us all, telling us who and what to believe. Where would we be without you?

Seriously. That’s a question. Not being capable of thinking for myself I need your guidance. On everything. Where would we be without you??
Stratosphere only? Dang. Was shooting for ionosphere. Can you at least give me mesosphere?
Imagine the BH. Epic. Epic. Epic.

Got it? It is the BH that is freaking epic. Only thing more freaking epic than the BH is, rent free.

Martin Colloms calls the Eidolon Diamond, "A genuine landmark in speaker system design and my strong recommendation remains in place." 
https://www.hificritic.com/uploads/2/8/8/0/28808909/contributor-colloms-mc2.pdf Not too shabby for a $3k speaker. Oh wait, that's the Double Impact SE. The one that is a lateral move from "a genuine landmark".  

Imagine the BH. Epic. Epic. Epic.

Thanks for the tip. Freaking epic. 
I have also heard Pendragon XL, another good one. On Podiums with Bel Canto SET amp a VPI and they were impressive. Now Brandon has upgraded crossovers similar to mine, and with the other stuff he has planned really looking forward to hearing them again at the upcoming Chuctoberfest. I can only imagine DI with the larger array are somewhere between Pendragon and Moab. Anywhere in that area is a darn good neighborhood to be in.
Good one ursm. Viewing from outside you put your finger right on it. Americans preen and pose about diversity but you will surely notice the ones who do this the most never seem to have quite the same zeal when it comes to diversity of thought. Being Swiss of course the very existence of your country is due in large part to being famously neutral and independent, so it stands to reason I guess.

If you ever do get the chance to hear Tekton I hope it is with good electronics. They are open, dynamic, and remarkably transparent.
buddyboy1, 
I'm new to posting on these Hi Fi threads...it doesn't matter how many threads you have... Some people are not troublemakers and just want to share what their experiences are without being ridiculed...It's sad reading the animosity on these forums.....

Very sad. If you see it that way. Another way, they built a Potemkin village. The same small group blathers pure nonsense all day long. I suggest, see it as entertainment. Like, Seattle has people all over the place having very animated conversations sometimes quite heated and profane but you notice it is all imaginary, no one is listening. If you set aside the issue of a wasted human life it really is quite funny. Like performance art or something. So ignore them, that's what we all do. Learn who to read, who to ignore, you will find there's a lot here after all.
Don't you ever get tired of being insulting?
He lives for it.
people are impulsive, emotional and irrational, insufficiently self-aware, and simply cannot help themselves - commonly called ’already underground, but still digging yourself an ever-deeper hole’
Everything I know about Tekton speakers I've learned on this forum. Unfortunately, that's not saying much.
why on gods green earth should I trust your hearing ability.
I personally do not care for the Tekton's I have heard and their marketing is either insulting or comical
Another bs shill tekton post


You were saying?
With work travel and other commitments it took me 4 months to finalize which speaker, Moab, which upgrades, beryllium tweeters and Cardas connectors, and what color, white

After approx. 5 hours of listening over 3 days I tried to characterize the sound. The first thought was neutral, but that was understating what I was hearing. I eventually landed on natural or real. The voices and the instruments sound VERY real to me. This is as close as I have come with my electronics, setup and room to sensing that someone is singing to me or that someone or an entire band is playing for me

To date, each song that I’ve played, is the best version of that song that I have heard in a playback, and I’ve listened to all of them 100s and 100s of times

Some of the improvement was by a small margin, but most songs, 65% conservatively speaking, by a vast margin – night and day, game changing stuff

For accurately describing the marvelous Moab sound without being tagged a shill or worse I hereby award thee a damn fine cup of coffee.