Tekton Double Impact & Comb Filtering

" the Double impact fell on its face at the LA show according to most"

I’d like to address this since it has been brought up twice, in this thread.

1. This was not a manufacturer room, and in this case, NOT a Tekton Design room.

2. This was NOT a dealer room highlighting Tekton Design

3. This was NOT a room set up solely to display and highlight the Double Impacts.


THIS WAS a Positive Feedback room set up to showcase and educate show attendees on lower cost systems.

I’ve copied the post from @slefty1 from 7:27 6/10/2017 from the "Tekton room at the Los Angeles Audio Show." thread.

@slefty1 is: Steve Lefkowicz, Senior Associate Editor, Positive Feedback

Readers can make up their own minds as to the validity of how the Tektons did and whether this room warrants the necessary weight to make a decision to disregard a speaker.

Here is the copied post:

slefty1 posts06-10-2017 7:27pm

Thanks to everyone who attended the show and visited the Positive Feedback - Getting Started room (Suite 533). Glad most of you enjoyed your time there. As someone already mentioned, our choice of equipment to setup and music to play was almost 100% by request. We swapped speakers over 30 times per day, and electronics almost as often.

We tried to be as clear as possible that we were not representing any of the manufacturers. Our display was more of an educational room, or at least an opportunity to experience lower cost systems in a show environment. We had nine sets of speakers, five integrated amps, one preamp/power amp combination. four turntables, two music servers (PC based) three record washers, and a bunch of DACs and accessories.

One person commented on the center seat second row sounding better, and that was the seat we positioned everything and tuned the speaker positioning for. The Double Impacts were a difficult fit in that room, and we positioned them for the best compromise between overall tonality, bass response and imaging. We played a Flaming Lips LP during setup, and the bass resonated with the furniture on the opposite wall so badly that some things shook off onto the floor. If you looked, you would have seen several bed pillows jammed between the dresser and the wall to damp that out.

Maybe some people were too shy to ask, but we tried to make it clear we would swap gear out as requested, and even set appointment times to have certain combination ready when people returned.

Someone also mentioned they were told the speakers weren’t broken in. Not sure who said that. I did virtually all the demos all three days, and except for mentioning once that an amplifier had been turned off and needed a few minutes to warm up, never mentioned break-in or warm-up about any piece in the room.

I have those Double Impacts at home now, and will be reviewing them for Positive Feedback down the road a little.

The Schiit Freya / Vidar combo may be low priced, but we also used them with the Maggie .7 speakers, and the folks from Magnepan checked our setup out and felt we had superb sound with their speakers and the Schiit electronics.

We had a blast the whole show. We were standing room only the entire time. I really enjoyed not having a set playlist, instead playing music from Tidal HiFi or my Server based on whatever people wanted to hear. Probably the only room at the show that played Diana Krall, Black Sabbath, Sublime and Enya on the same day!

I appreciate the comments from everyone. We’ll do this again, though a little differently, next year.

Steve Lefkowicz
Senior Associate Editor
Positive Feedback

I’m sorry, M :) but the post wasn’t directed at you....

.....it was for future readers.

The performance of the DIs was mentioned twice with respect to the LA show. The post from the people whose room it actually was and who felt strongly enough to post on Audiogon, allows future readers to have context, when reading this thread.

I believe the post from Positive Feedback stands up to it’s own merits. Readers can decide for themselves, just as it appears you have.

M, That's the only way to do it. Find out for yourself.

I brought the DIs in for HT duty. I was going 2ch with something along the lines of the Devore O/96s or Harbeth 40.2s and was waiting for our new home renovation to move along so we could decide on which room would end up being suited for 2ch/HT. Both rooms are very different.

When I first heard the Double Impacts, they stopped me in my tracks. It was obvious to my ears that these were and are remarkable speakers. My depleted bank account is testament to how good these speakers are. I've completely ignored the HT side and have been rebuilding my 2Ch system at a very rapid speed. The upside has been the savings over my other speaker choices which has covered some of my component and system expenses.

And for those who think we are all DI all the time, I had to postpone my demo of the GoldenEar Triton Reference speakers this week since my son is ill. It's on for next week. And I'm contemplating an in home demo of Volti Audio Rivals and Pure Audio speakers.

Ask Eric or Karma for current turnaround times.

@kalali :  My turnaround time for the upgraded DIs in standard color was about three weeks from order to doorstep. FedEx was great and they actually wheeled each box in to my audio rooom. I don't think that is standard FedEx practice. :)

@onhwy61 :

The upgrades offered are listed at the tail end of the Specifications Section on the Double Impact page. There is a link at the end of the upgrade descriptor that will take you to this page:

http://www.tektondesign.com/upgrades.html

In short:

• Additional upgrade package: add $300 for Cardas inputs, Mil-Spec internal wiring, ClarityCap or Solen (depending upon real-time availability) within the tweeter section. Includes an oversized Jantzen or Erse Sledgehammer inductor (depending upon real-time availability) within the woofer section. - view here

+1 @soundscience  Thanks for your post and contribution.

Courtesy Dire Straits:

'Money for nothing and chicks for free.'

Yup......

+1 @swampwalker 

@seanheis1

I’m in complete agreement on the fact that "no speaker can meet everyone’s tastes." In fact, I’d say that if true, that would be a travesty in my opinion. I am personally happy that there is not one but there are many! If there are those that believe there is One Speaker to Rule Them All....more power to them. I’m cool with that, too. Just don’t lose the ring. :)

What I don’t understand is how you can say " The DI might not be ideal for those midrange junkies that like a laid back sound (harbeth ls3/5a) but might be perfect for home theater and music that has slam."

Have you done extensive listening of the DIs yourself? And by extensive, I mean extensive. This is the very area, among others that the DIs absolutely shine. Your statement is confounding to me, as it probably is to many who own the Double Impacts and have gotten to know them over time.

The DIs are laid back if one is feeding them laid back music. They rock if they are being fed Rock. They dance if being fed EDM. They boogie and bop if being fed Jazz. They ooze soul when playing SOUL. And they get downright blue when belting out the Blues. These are one of the most open to what’s ahead of them speakers I’ve had the pleasure of listening to.

Yesterday morning I was up early (and thankfully before everyone else in the household) so I was able to spend an hour and a half uninterrupted and without any of the excessive ambient noise so prevalent once the troops are on the move. I listened to Steve Coleman’s "Invisible Paths: First Scattering" album. It was his first solo album and is 1 hour and 12 minutes of pure unadulterated solo sax. There isn’t anywhere for a system to hide with such a solo instrument performance. My system, with the DIs at the end of it performed astonishingly and amazingly well.

@stfoth   I can't see anyone among the current owners who are actively posting 'jumping on you.'  The Impact Monitor thread OP recently returned his. I wished him the best (and so have others)...I hope he finds what works best for him. There is no one speaker for all of us. That's healthy for our hobby.

All the best in figuring out what will work out for you needs. Hope Eric is able to steer you in the right direction and you are happy with whatever choice you make.

Here's a Happiness Vitamin, Audiophile Version:

From Ranker: " Music is often the best way to express happiness or joy over something you can't stop smiling about. Most happy songs have to do with a relationship, but others celebrate the simple happiness of feeling good in day to day life. This is a ranked list of the best songs about happiness, as voted on by music fans like you."

The part about 'celebrating the simple happiness of feeling good in day to day life' resonates.

http://www.ranker.com/list/best-songs-about-happiness/reference?var=9&utm_expid=16418821-321.JB5...

We have much to be grateful for.

@axememan  Who's your guest of honor? : )

@mikirob 306 posts and finally one worth reading, or should we be on stage reciting!!! : )

Thank you! Wonderful stuff.

@mikirob  I'm glad I was able to read it, then. : )

@hifiman5    In addition, as it is with more basic case work, Tekton isn’t blowing costs on cabinets, though one can upgrade at additional cost and build time. Since it is a small operation, overhead is contained.