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.

teajay

@seamaster300m 

"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.

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????

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!
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Would these work in a large room? Say, 18 x 30, but with the listening area 18-20 feet from front wall.
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. 
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 . 
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.

Billy
Smellman,

i own the exact Decware unit you speak of and it worked well with my Omen Def MK II’s, though it’s currently not in use.

tube rolling greatly affects the sound btw. 
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.

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@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?  
@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.

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. 
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. 
Hey nightfall,

Answers to your questions:

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. 
teajay,

Earlier in this discussion you said:

" When Mike Kay of Audio Archon came over to get his take on the PS speaker he brought that Rush album and played it at high SPL levels, he thought that the system sounded superlative playing this music."

Was he listening to it with the higher powered Threshold amp, or the low powered SET amp? While I listen to a lot of singer/songwriter music, where voice and guitar reproduction is critical, I also want to throw on a recording by The Who, or Rush and listen at high SPL at times. Do the Perfect SETS deliver on that using SET power? 

Also, you mentioned in the excellent 6 Moons article that you put the PS speakers upstairs in your nearfield setting to review them. Can you give me an idea of how far they were from your listening position, how far apart, and how far from the side and front walls? That information would help me a great deal. 
I would be using them in a 13.5x15x8 room with a SET amp of 16wpc. 

Thank you. 
I’ve been interested in hearing tekton for some time and was hoping they would be at axpona this year. I noticed Zu (another direct sales and another I'd love to hear) was listed but the room (at least on the Friday) only had their carts? Hopefully tekton will be present next year.
+1 to the above from @corelli . Even less likely that folks, other than Eric of Tekton Design, have compared the 12 to the 15 directly.
Given these are newer models, suspect few have heard the 15 yet.  I would trust Eric's input on this one
Can anyone compare / contrast the PS to the PS-15?  Ready to order but can't seem to decide which button to click.
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Thought those of you who have/like LTA amps might want to see the faceplate created by Lou Hinckley of Daedalus Audio for the  LTA Ultralinear ZOTL amp. - Beautiful craftsmanship as are Lou's speakers
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=163292.0
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Sorry I don’t want to hijack because my questions are not amp related but can I ask what speakers you had before and what you choose over Tekton?
@sthlm78 You are welcome.

The Ulfberth BEs were in a ’smaller’ room. Their performance in this room surprised me and confirmed that they would work in my room (which is larger) and which measures 19 feet (front wall) X 26 feet X 9 feet.

Both Ulfberth, standard versions, I heard on separate occasions and in different systems were in larger spaces than the room the Ulfberth BEs were in.

I estimate the room the Ulfberth BEs were in to be approximately 16 feet (front wall) X ~ 24 feet (stairway to basement)) X 8 feet high.  Perhaps @audioezra @aolprodj @audioarchon @teajay can confirm (?)
Thanks David!
I am interested in Ulfberht too but not sure if they fit in my room ( 8m x 6m), they are huge !
@sthlm78 I have heard 5 Tekton Design speakers with the ’standard’ tweeter array drivers. Two were / are my own and I've lived with them for over 2 years. I have heard 1 Tekton Design speaker with the BE tweeter array (Ulfberth BE).

My next Tekton Design speaker will be : ) a BE tweeter array.
I am following Tekton speakers for a while and it seems most ppl love them and some totally dislike them.
Has anyone heard the Be versions?  
Thanks - and as well am curious about the Sophia Electric 6SN7s - if you take the leap please do update.  Perhaps I will start a separate thread on this.
Thanks @facten, I was reading about Sophia tubes just the other day!@ dbass I tried the Sylvania bad boys today.Fired up the system and immediately relaxed into the music.Organic and smooth.A little too opaque though,sigh....I missed the detail.The journey continues.I'll PM you with anymore revelations since I am seriously derailing this thread now.
Well said. Hard to ignore the posters you are referring to, but I have finally learned how to do it. I am also rather interested in these speakers.  Great value certainly. 
Unfortunately, I only got to page 2 because of the derailment. I wanted to read a thread about this new line of speakers but it seems I am unable to do that, and it is because of a few people that insist on sharing their dislike for the company...not because they have heard this specific speaker or are even remotely interested in doing so.

I own a pair of DIs and really enjoy them. They make me want to experiment with tube amps and explore new avenues of sound. I looked forward to reading about these started by somebody who has lots of experience with this company’s speakers and others in a community who are interested.

 There is a popular company of cables, and I really can’t stand them. I own a pair of their cables, and they are okay, but I just don’t like the company, their marketing, or really anything about them. Because the cable industry is so huge with so many choices, it allows me to look elsewhere.

i don’t like them, SO I STAY OUT OF THE THREADS THAT FOCUS ON THAT COMPANY’S PRODUCTS. How hard is that for others to do the same with a speaker company they dislike?

I am not a fanboy, one of the sheeple, or whatever else you want to peg me as. I am an A-goner interested in reading about a product by people who care about it. Can you stay out of our way, please?
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@jayctoy  Thanks. Sounds like you are in an exceptionally good place with your system and the Tekton Design PS12s.

On another note, you may want to connect with @corelli who recently posted about attending Axpona on the Double Impact thread.
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Don't have your amp but if you haven't done so you might want to try Sophia Electric 6SN7s , use them in my Modwright LS100 preamp, very nice sounding to my ears
@jayctoy   Do you have further updates on your Tekton Design PS12s? I think you should have over 50 hours on the speakers by now (?). 
@dbass the new 6SN7 are ElectroHarmonix gold pin(new production).I've read that a lot of folks describe them as*sweet and organic* plus they are inexpensive.Unfortunately I'm not hearing it:( I've only got about ten hours on them and they don't sound bad per say,just not what I was expecting.What I hear is clean,clear,detailed,very good high frequencies,very good bass,emphasizing transients and dynamics.Too dry and solid state of a presentation in my system for my taste though.I think they would be perfect in a more laid back system that needed livening up.Tomorrow I will try the Sylvania *bad boys* and see how that goes:)
The Sylvania 12AT7s along with the stock 6SN7 Tung Sols sound pretty darn good but ya know....searching for perfection.Those Telefunkens are sooo expensive and I can't quite talk myself into them yet:)