my own experience with Tekton Design

I have to admit my first exposure to Eric Alexander did not make for a positive impression. It was a video in which he explained the development of his patented tweeter array. He said he heard a 440Hz note played by a violin, and then measured the weight of the string the note was played on, which was 1/3 gram. He figured if he used a driver (or drivers) whose moving mass was no more than 1/3 gram to reproduce the sound of the violin, the reproduction would ipso facto surpass that possible from a driver(s) whose moving mass outweighed the violin string.

That’s one of the silliest things I’ve ever heard. First of all, if it’s a low mass driver you want, get an electrostatic. Then there is the fact that the weight of a violin string has NOTHING to do with how one goes about reproducing the sound it makes. It’s also inconsistent: Being a drummer himself, Eric surely knows that cymbals weight far more than 1/3 gram, yet produce very high frequency overtones.

Eric then said something which calls into question his technical knowledge: He stated that the first harmonic overtone of a 440Hz note is located at 880Hz, which is of course correct: 440 x 2. But he went on to say that the second harmonic is located at 1760Hz, which is incorrect. The correct number is 1320Hz: 440 x 3. Harmonic overtones are multiples of the fundamental note/frequency. Eric thinks the second harmonic is the first harmonic doubled. It ain’t!

Still, I would very much like to hear the Tekton line of loudspeakers. I’m a dipole planar man, but I’m open-minded.

hilde45........I own the Upgraded Pendragons and they are anything but Bright....They are very Musical and for $2500 ....I love them!

@audioman58 10-4  @jayctoy yup, on Ulfberhts the crossover upgrade "at the factory" is a $2k line item.    

My x-over upgrade costed less since I have fewer drivers in my "half" Ulf's... my low ceiling drove the need for a shorter speaker.

I have the Impact monitors and really enjoyed the concentric mid-tweets around central single tweeter, so a custom order with Eric resulted in exactly what I wanted: 

Best speakers I've ever heard in my home (B&W, A/D/S, Martin Logan, Maggies).  So much non fatiguing resolution behind my Purifi class-D monoblocks, that I'm now doing a 3 way DAC+pre-amp shootout next week (Sim/moon 391, Wandla, T+A dac200) as I can finally hear a difference between my current DAs (Bryston SP from 15+ yrs ago, my Eversolo DMP, and a Gheselli) so I'm interested to see how things will sound with such a DA/pre combo.

I've worked with Eric pre/post impact monitor purchase and also this custom Ulf transaction. He's been solid and helpful.

H4k4Lugi congratulations, those half ulfs looks like you really love them. I heard the whole Ulfs at Teajay house man they are musically powerful.They sound amazing on classical music.

Other than an approximate three week delay in my order delivery, I had a mostly positive experience with the Tekton Lore Reference Bes. I was a little disappointed in the thickness of the packaging cardboard, but luckily they arrived without a scratch.

The speakers did perform better than what can typically be achieved for <$1200, especially in the highs, not surprisingly given the SB Acoustics Beryllium tweeters. My only notable gripe with their sound was audible cabinet resonance. But really, what can one reasonably expect from $1200/pair speakers that include at least $800 worth of raw materials ($600 worth of tweeters, over $100 of Eminence woofers, Clarity caps, Cardas binding posts, MDF, damping, paint and floor spikes)? Truly, I suspect he barely breaks even on that particular model, probably in hopes that customers will eventually upgrade within the brand.

Further, I didn’t have to take as large a hit on their resale price when I moved them on out relative to the loss I took with more popular brands.

However, despite those positives, I would be reluctant to place another order with Tekton given the reputation Erick now has for threatening litigation. I once had to deal with such an issue with another factory direct brand—the owner didn’t want to honor his satisfaction guarantee and began acting like a nightmarish toddler. Eventually it got to a point where the guy had the gall to threaten me with litigation for wanting to return his pathetic product according with his own satisfaction policy. This guy was/is probably less pleasant to deal with than Erick is on his worst of days. Anyhow, these days, if I becomes aware of even a couple anecdotes of a dealer or brand being difficult on a customer, or a reviewer like Erin, that’s enough to deter me. There are too many great alternatives out there to choose from.