Tekton Double Impact & Comb Filtering


Like many of you, I have been pondering purchasing these speakers but am very curious about the unusual tweeter array. I asked the smartest speaker person that I know (he is a student of Sean Olive) about the design and below is what he had to say.   

"In theory it could work, but the driver spacing means that the crossover point would need to be very low.
He is using the SB acoustics tweeter which is 72mm in diameter, center to center on the outside opposing drivers is around 5.7 inches, which is about 2400Hz. This means that combing would stop between 1/4 to 1/2 of the wavelength (between 1200-600Hz) is where the outside tweeters should start playing nice with each other.
Since he is not using low enough crossover points he has created a comb filtering monster. Now while it's not the great point source that was promised, it's no worse than most line arrays and the combing will average itself out given enough listening distance.

The MTM spacing on the other hand is ridiculous. Hopefully he is cutting the top end off on one of those midrange drivers to avoid combing."

seanheis1

Showing 4 responses by csmgolf

213runnin, don't you own Totem Rainmaker? Check the Stereophile measurements on them. The same 12 db swing in frequency response you are blasting Tekton for (-5/+7 db). Totem's specs state +/- 3 db, which are off by 100 percent. What good are those specs? Lots of really bad cabinet resonances too. I thought that kind of coloration wasn't your cup of tea. I have never heard Rainmaker so I can't comment on how it sounds, but the measurements do not look very good. But I have heard Arro, and liked them well enough for what they do. 
I am not a Tekton fanboy. I don't own any and have only heard the Pendragon when it was being hyped. They did some things I liked, but I would not buy them based on what I heard. Does that rule out the DI or Electron for me? Absolutely not. I would have to hear them first and decide from there. Too many people have said they are really, really good for me to dismiss them out of hand. I would certainly never disregard them based on a single audition of another model of the same brand. In the same vein, I would never dismiss them based on measurements of a different speaker. That would be foolish.
Mofojo has it exactly right. I was just pointing out the irony of your posting. Clearly, that concept is far over your head. I don't know what makes you think that I am defending Tekton, I made that clear in my last post. I also said I would never buy a pair until I got to hear them and that I was not overly impressed with the pair I did get to hear. Not so hard to understand if you can comprehend English.
You can defend the measurements of the Rainmaker, but they are clearly worse than the Enzo. If you check Stereophile measurements often, you will note that most of the bass rise indicated in all of their measurements is caused by the way JA measures the speakers. He states this often in speaker measurement text explanations, even in the text of the Enzo measurements. IOW, most of the 6 db rise in the midbass can be discounted. So that leaves a regrettable, narrow band, notch at 2000 hertz. Other than that notch at 2k, the measured frequency response is not too bad, and JA says so at the end of the review. Take the midbass hump from the Rainmaker and they still measure poorly with a 12 db swing. BTW, the Enzo xl is a $2100 speaker, not $3000. You keep crossing models up. By your logic, no one should be Forest because Rainmaker measures poorly. Hey, I wasn't the one who said I couldn't live with a speaker that has a 12 db swing in frequency response because it was too colored, it was you. And guess what, you own one. Do you get the irony of your complaint yet?
I am not in a lather at all, quite the contrary. I find you pretty humorous. Not in a flattering way to you though. 
He owns the Devore and justified the price to himself based on how they sounded in his room. He does not seem unhappy with the choice. Not sure how that is attacking the speaker. The quote was taken completely out of context with the meaning of his entire post. Are you looking for a reason to be offended?