Tekton Design's new THE PERFECT SET equals "goosebumps time"
Just got in house for review for hometheaterreview.com Tekton Design’s new, The Perfect SET, which is close to 100dB efficient and never dips below 8 ohms, which Eric built to be used with SET "flea watt" amplifiers. It is a front ported design using a 12 inch woofer and his patented array of small transducers that function as a midrange driver with a single tweeter in the middle. I set them up in a system with a great 2A3 SET amplifier and found them so superlative I did not stop listening for over five hours! Taking about "goosebump time" the music was so beautiful that I lost track of time.
These speakers have all the virtues of the other Tekton speakers, speed, utter transparency/micro-details, great soundstaging, and that special "aliveness" that I experience when I listen to my Ulf’s. What really amazed me was what the Perfect SET was delivering on the bottom end frequencies, subterrainian/taut powerful bass, that was shaking the room, all coming from at most 2.5 to 3 watts.
If you love SET amplifiers this speaker is a match made in heaven, and remember this pair just arrived and is not totally burnt in yet.
1) Mike listened both to a SET 2A3 and Threshold S/350e when he heard the Perfect Set speakers. Whats' great about them, along with other sonic virtues, they sound superlative with flea watt amps and monster high power/current amps. I'm driving them right now with a Threshold SA/4e class A two hundred watt/high current over 45 amps and they sound great. If you are going to play power rock at high dB levels you would want more then 2 to 4 total watts. However, you might be shocked how well a 2A3 SET can play this type of music through the Perfect Set.
The front of the speaker to where I sit is six feet. The speakers are four feet off the front wall and at least two feet off the side walls. They are about four and a half feet apart, and there is no back wall behind the sofa. If you look at my bio on Six Moons you can see a picture of this system.
With 16wpc you won't have any problems, on any music, with volume levels or dynamics.
Can only comment on the entry level lores . Im not in the states so studied them and built them . Was able to source the drivers , guessed the crossover knowing the bass driver is not crossed . Drive them with a late 70s luxman 40watt ss . They sound very good , when I say very good they sound as good and better in ways than my AAD 2001 monitors with older Pass power amp and tube front (which is an amazing system in itself.) The concept is using drivers/cabinet design/sizing/porting that delivers live performance sound and my lore copies do that . I can only imagine the sets with the mid/high design.
Well I went ahead and ordered the Perfect SET’s today ( my 4th pair of Tekton speakers). With Eric’s help I decided upon the originals over the 15’s and went with the upgrade package (mil-spec internal wiring, Cardas binding posts and upgrades caps). I don’t expect the Perfect SET’s to replace my SE’s but wouldn’t be totally shocked if they did. Hope to have them in a couple of weeks or so.
@mac480025 You have 4 pairs of Tekton? Why and what 4? I have 4 sets, but from different manufacturers. Today I listened to all 4 and found something I liked in each. I figure 4 Tekton would have very similar sound coming from same designer.
@mac48025 Very much looking forward to your thoughts on this speaker Tom. Suspect it will be a very nice match with your electronics and would not be shocked if it outperformed the SE's in some areas. I like the idea of your tubed gear driving a simpler crossover and a higher impedance. Hope this translates into a slightly more "direct" connection to the music? Will you be using stands?
Thanks to all for the info posted so far. I’m wondering if anyone owns or has heard the PS with a Decware SET. Specifically, the 6wpc SE34I.5 aka The Rachael. I currently have Klipsch Heresy IIIs which sound great but can be harsh and definitely lack the bass I’m looking for. I was aware of these possible issues beforehand but got an amazing deal on them that I couldn’t pass up. Any firsthand comparisons of the Heresys and the PS would also be appreciated.
Edited to add that I did have a pair of the Tekton Lore Reference which I was very pleased with. I regret selling them.
Good thread. Thank you to everyone who took time to contribute. I’m going to build the new Elekit TU-8600S once I receive it this summer and am reading through threads for SET compatible speakers. It seems that people prefer the 12” version to the 15” version for sound clarity but the reverse for efficiency. Please let me know if anyone is running a TU-8600 with these speakers. The other option at the moment is the Klipsch RP-600M per Herb’s recommendation. I have a SVS SB-3000 for the low end if needed. I tend to prefer full range or mostly full range speakers without a sub.
I have a positive experience with Tekton Designs. A while back, I purchased Right-Left-Center Lore 2.0 speakers for my small TV room setup with a Yamaha Aventage receiver. It sounded really clear and was capable of high volume. They appeared to have a modestly priced Scanspeak horn loaded textile dome tweeter instead of the Audax Gold on the baseline Lore’s. I gave this setup to my father for his home theater because the wife wanted a sound bar an wall mounted TV setup. I was really happy with the sound quality.
I bought the original Lore's about 3 or years ago . I was shocked at what they could do with 17 wpc of triode power . Fast forward to last year ….bought a pair of Enzo 2.7's . They are amazing with the First Watt F6 , Cary SLP-05 and Ayon 2S. I really don't get the Tekton bashing on here , the bashers sound like they got their feelings hurt somehow. I have spoken with Eric 5 or 6 times now and he always is friendly and delivers what he says he will , he even sent me the grilles ( lol ) . I was thinking of trying a pair of the Perfect Set's to pair with my Bottlehead 300b amps , however , I might build their Jager speaker instead . Cheers .
I see this thread is old , but... Can't speak for the experience of doing business with Tekton , but , I did copy/clone a pair of Lores . The drivers aren't what I would call cheap , 105 each woofers , 105 each tweeters. So after purchasing all the materials for these you are over 50% of the cost . Not a high profit piece . They sound fantastic , I drive them with a late 70s Luxman integrated , have driven them with r1040 Luxman and late 80s Pass design with tube front. they sound best with the lower watt Luxmans , actually stunning at times. To compare I have A-B tested them against to a pair of AAD 2001 monitors which are exceptional themselves and to my ear the Lore design betters them.
Just picked up a set of Perfect SETs and I have to agree to all the positive comments here. These really surprised me. Being a huge lover of the Double Impact, this speaker is perfect for smaller spaces. Can't stop listening!
Phew, finally finished reading this thread, it was like a roller coster ride. Eric’s 7-diver array is not something new, and I have seen several similar concepts but do I care? No, I only care about how do they sound, to me, they look alright, they are not going to impress my guests in the house but I would not call them ugly. From what I have read, I feel Eric tries to keep price down and the company is short on staff especially at the CS department. The majority of the company is running by this one-man Army (Eric), LOL. Anyway, I have a pair of Tannoy Turnberry SE and Zu Druid MK5 Rev. A, both driven by 2A3/300B driven 845 mono, the preamp is Dehavilland UV3 with Mundrof SGO caps. Well, I have owned the Turnberry SE since 2013 and finally got tired of their shouting vocal, then I bought the Zu with factory ClarityCap MR and Radian 850. Both Tannoy and Zu are not perfect. Zu is doing well with vocal, both male and female, they have very attractive overtone and paint a larger picture. Tannoy play classical better and their bass is several classes above the Zu in speed, definition, leading edge, and the most importantly "the feel", yes my body, guts, and even face can feel and Tannoy when I listen to big Japanese drum; on the other hand, I can hear the bass from the Zu, don’t get me wrong, they dig deep but no thump...... very disappointed. I tried to adjust the port gaps on the Zu, put them on granite slaps......none of them worked. After reading TeaJay and others’ reviews, I am really curious about the Tekton SET 15, ya all make the SET 15 sound too good to be true but I will keep open minded. I am planing order a pair just to compare them to my Tannoy and Zu, and more likely I will upgrade the crossover myself. BTW, on their $200 upgrade option, what kind of internal wire do Eric use? The website states military specs, I know the military is mainly using two types of wiring, silver plated copper and tin plated copper. Which one is it? Or something I am not aware of????
"The website states military specs, I know the military is mainly using two types of wiring, silver plated copper and tin plated copper. Which one is it? Or something I am not aware of????"
I know this is an ancient post, but "military spec" is cool marketing talk for anyone that has never been in the military. I was for 8 years and 2.5 wars, and can tell you it has a negative connotation to me.
BTW, the reason the military (or at least us electronics countermeasures guys) used silver (generally) tinned wiring was melting point in a fire. It had nothing to do with performance.
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