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Stereophile review of the $30,000 tekton speakers

We have had many discussions/arguments over tekton speakers in the past, mainly involving a couple posters who thought their $4000 tektons sounded better than the highest price Wilson’s and other high budget speakers.

In the latest Stereophile magazine, they did a review of the $30,000 tekton’s. In this Steteophile issue, they rate these $30,000 tekton’s as class B. When you look at the other speakers that are in the class B section, you will notice most of these speakers range in price from $5000-$8000. So it looks like you have to spend $30,000 on a pair of tekton’s to equal a pair of $5000 Klipsch Forte IV’s sound quality. 
If I compare these $30,000 class B tekton’s, to some of the class A speakers, there are some class A speakers for 1/2 the price (Dutch & Dutch 8C, Goldenear triton reference), or other class A speakers that are cheaper (Magico A5, Kef blade 2).

 

 

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Showing 1 response by yakbob

yakbob
450 posts
 

The video of the Pendragon's is from a very reputable reviewer.  I don't doubt that the Pendragon's sound is very good and are really inexpensive.  However, the caveat is that despite a benign impedance curve, they require a very stable and high quality amplifier to drive them.  For comparison, my Legacy Signature IIIs have a lowest impedance of 3.2 ohms, nominal 4 ohms, 94.6 db efficiency (tested) and can be powered by a Sherwood 7100 receiver of 17 solid state watts to sound quite impressive (how I bought them).  While I am using a 35 watt Dynaco ST 70 extreme modified (voltage regulated/not ultralinear) with tremendous bass with these speakers which reach down to 16 Hz with 3-10" woofers and a rear firing tweeter, I have also used them with EAR 890 and my 125 watt tube monoblocks.   All of these amps are significantly less expensive than the Luxman.  If I owned the Pendragon, I would buy a stable, quality used amp.  Otherwise, this is Tekton's meat and potatoes, quality speakers at low prices, without the aesthetics of most other brand dynamic speakers sans grills.  Notice the reviewer also indicated that these large speakers sound best in large rooms

For what it’s worth to anyone who made it this far into this winding thread, I own a pair of the 7 tweeter Pendragons. They’re in my second, home office system and powered with a Bob Latino (Tubes4hifi) ST-70 clone. They sound fantastic and offer all the performance I could want out of that system.

I don’t understand why most every Tekton thread goes sideways but suspect most of the animosity is the result of a certain, now banned user of this site. Call it a marketing misstep, or just the wrong tool for the job. Emphasis on tool.

I don’t know many US based speaker manufacturers where I can talk to the owner of the company, get advice on which full-range (20hz-20khz) offering in their lineup suits my needs, select from a nearly infinite color palette, and have them shipped to my door half way across the country for less than $3k. Oh, and they sound great with my measly 35 watt tube amp. Certainly a lot to hate here.

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