Stereophile review of the $30,000 tekton speakers

I've only ever heard these in a showroom.  They were fine, but I don't have any particular strong emotion.

Plus, I have B&W800D3s, so I'm not one to pick on the looks of speakers.  I know a lot of people hate their look.  And they do look suspiciously like a pair of Daleks from Dr. Who.  But I like the sound.

That said, I am an engineer by training, if no longer advocation, and am deeply skeptical when people overcomplicate designs.  Reminds me of a Jaguar engine from the 1970s.  It was like they never got rid of a part when they went on to a new design.  Tells me they don't really know how to overcome whatever problem with which they are dealing.

That's my impression with these speakers.  They may be fantastic, but there are easier and cheaper ways to get to the same place.

@passthedutchie 

The audio store near Preston Drive in Dallas, TX.

I’ve got the card somewhere.

Has anyone parsed the Stereophile review of the Tekton Be Moabs?

It's interestingly hard to find on the Stereophile website.  If you search for it, the review doesn't come up.  If you look on the "B" listing of equipment -- aside from noticing that they are the $30K outlier among speakers generally costing 10% or so of the Moabs, there is no summary of the review.

Anyway, because of this thread, I finally found in on page 12 and read it critically:

1.  It starts with the odd phrase " VERY BAD WOULD NOT RECOMMEND" that the author said in the comments had nothing to do with the speakers.  I take him at his word, especially since he is a fan of the original Moabs.

2.  The first observation of the speakers was that it smelled so bad he had to put it in a closet with an air purifier.  This resolved after a couple of weeks.  

3.  He didn't care for the Cardas binding posts because they were hard to read.

4.  He sometimes plugged the ports with a pool noodle because the speakers were boomy.  Tekton seemed to be offended by this and said the two Stereophile guys are unique in their complaints.   (But see measurements below.)

5.  They are really good at certain percussion notes (e.g., snares and bells).

6.  "Whether the Moabs' bass performance is as authoritative and ultimately satisfying as those far more expensive speakers is debatable."

7.  He ends with "The Moab OGs [the old model, not under review] were and remain one of high-end audio's superior value propositions. Their beryllium-studded counterparts [the model being reviewed] can't lay the same claim [but they are the best Tekton has to offer and great for people who like Tektons].  Whatever that means.

When you get to the testing:

8.  "The Moab has one of the most demanding impedances I have encountered, though this will be somewhat ameliorated by the high voltage sensitivity."

9.  "The Moab Be's enclosure seemed lively when I rapped it with my knuckles." And goes on to discuss various modes, which may or may not matter. 

10.  There is woofer interference, but it's probably OK since the ports fire away from the listener.

11.  "Moab Be's low-frequency alignment does appear somewhat under-damped. The peak in the ports' output at 248Hz results in a small discontinuity at the same frequency in the woofers' response."

12.  "he Moab Be's measured performance suggests that with care in setup it will offer a neutral sonic balance"

In short, it's not a great review.  Now whether the reviewer and tester know their stuff, I have no idea.  I don't know either and am no expert in a position to critique their work.

But it's super interesting that when you search "Tekton Moab" in the search bar of Stereophile, the review doesn't come up.

@passthedutchie 

A defective search is unlikely, as it is simply a widget of Google search you put into the website.  It can happen, though.  So you could be correct.

What is more common is someone tells the webmaster to have the search to disregard certain search results for whatever reason.  Amazon does this all the time with products or (more often) books it doesn’t want to promote or desires you to  go to a preferred product).

As someone who runs a company with a legal department, I don’t see a conspiracy.  I see a legal department or manager saying “this is trouble we don’t need and telling the webmaster to suppress the search results.

@passthedutchie 

No, I can’t say I’ve had that experience on the website before and use it extensively.  Nor would that be consistent with how the typical software works.  It’s possible, if the website is set up such that text is intentionally not searchable by the crawlers for the search engines, but as far as I can tell it does not have that issue.

you have made an assertion that the stereophile website has a defective search engine.  That is possible, but the only evidence is your assertion.