Tekton Double Impacts

@charles1dad When you're right, your right. 

@csmgolf  If you want to hear the speakers simply buy them and audition them. Hell, I'll pay the return shipping costs myself if you don't keep them.

@csmgolf 10/4 on the Zu. Not sure what sells them. Hard to find a speaker that measures worse than it sounds and still finds a market. 

@csmgolf I'm sorry if I implied anything untowards to you. You're apt assessment of the Zu speakers as well as @charles1dad delicious reiteration simply means that you are definitely  family and one of us. I stand by my offer.  I'll gladly pay your return shipping bill if you don't keep the Tekton.  I'm that confident. 

LOL 😂 

@csmgolf If the SEs were available when I pulled the trigger I would have gone that route as well. At this point I don’t have any regrets because I’ve never heard the SEs and hope to keep it that way to preserve my bank account. I keep holding out for the elusive mini-ulfberhts, but they haven’t materialized yet and neither has the money I would require to afford them. I spent so much money on my set tube amplifier and upgrading my digital front end that I hemorrhaged enough money for this crazy hobby for a lifetime. The audio bug 🐛 will invariably force my hand, it’s only a matter of time. I hope you do get the SEs, you simply can’t go wrong with them. I apologize for misjudging you initially, I actually thought you were trolling us initially, now I realize you’re just inquisitive, like most of us here.

Finally getting around to upgrading from the DIs to the ulfberhts.  Just waiting on a call back from Eric when he has some free time to get the ball rolling.  One thing that I'm hoping, that this will possibly be the very last speaker upgrade for me in my lifetime.  Excited. 

I'm impatiently waiting for new speakers to be made.  I have 6 weeks of this anxiety to contend with.  I have a NAD M22 rev2 to try out coming tomorrow, but I will likely not keep it because I'm pretty sure the NORD OneUp SE Monoblocks will slay the NAD and I ordered them yesterday  I have 2 months to audition the NAD.  Being a die hard SET guy I'm actually surprised I'm considering a CLASS D amp just for some variety in my system.  I am very curious about the TDAI 2170 myself.  I will try to find a used one at some point after my bank account recovers from all this hemorrhaging.  I've heard lots of good things about it, but the price for the one I wanted is $2k more than I wanted to spend.

@klh007 Thanks for the info, I didn't know a new model was released,  I'll look into this.

@klh007 I went ahead and ordered a Lyngdorf TDAI 3400 today from Hifi-Heaven!  They are going to have it drop-shipped to my house since there aren't any available here stateside, but he does have them on order. 

I am very glad to have seen your post! I will be returning the NAD Reference 22 Rev2 to Crutchfield and the new Benchmark DAC3 HGC back to Benchmark.  I'm ecstatic they added the Network streamer support to this unit.  I can use it as a ROON READY device and stream my library directly to it over ethernet instead of tethering it to my passively cooled fanless pc computer via USB.  This product really is a remarkable bargain for 400w into 4ohm with the DAC/PREAMP/NETWORK STREAMER/ROOM CORRECTION device all-in-one!

I'm pretty excited!  

Found out on FB that my Ulfberhts are getting primed today.  Getting close. Hoping the new Lyngdorf 3400 ships from Denmark soon.  When I hear of extended wait times and I notice even established companies like Lyngdorf get back ordered too I learn to be patient, because I'm not a patient person at all.  At this point Eric is ahead of schedule.  I was originally told 6 weeks, but it's only been 3 and they will probably ship in a week. Very excited. 

@corelli I’m confused wouldn’t you just go digital out of the CD player into the Lyngdorf? I have redundant blade servers that store my music in lossless flac, so I’m not interested in a transport or CD player, for my front end and I’ll be streaming music over the ROON RAAT protocol over the network where it will be converted to analog from pwm directly in the amp.

CD players? They still make them? 😂 Last time I checked they all have sp/diff and toslink or aes/ebu digital output to feed the Lyngdorf. You're correct that theirs not a conventional DAC in the Lyngdorf because pwm is converted to analog sound directly, bypassing an entire stage in the D to A conversion. 

@corelli They want to sell CD players to people who don't own their other products. Perhaps it was no real extra effort or they didn't go to great cost or length to fully implement their DAC with an analog output.  I do agree though they probably should sell a dedicated stripped down transport for purest using their dac/amp.

Eric said on FB that the mini Ulfberhts were coming very soon.  I can't wait to see them. ;-) 

Eric informed me via fb that my mini-ulfberhts were nearing completion. So I'm guessing I'm allowed to mention it here now.  They just need a polished finish and final assembly and I'll be enjoying them very soon.  I'm excited to hear them and can't wait to see how they turned out in Spanish Tile color with a high gloss finish. 

@charles1dad I will be driving them with the Diavolo or a pair of Nord ncore monoblocks. Unfortunately, the Lyngdorf was supposedly stolen by a substitute UPS driver and I’ve been supposedly* refunded for the transaction due to this mishap as the police supposedly have the lyngdorf as evidence. This person has lied so much to me that I’m not sure what to believe, but I say "supposedly" thrice because honestly I don’t if they are full of caca. They’ve managed to delay me a month on 2 power conditioners I ordered, and this lyngdorf purchase. If you do business with core power technology, God help you is all I can say. Edit: *Supposedly because the refund is delay from PayPal due to lack of funds from the merchant. 

@charles1dad Oh, the Nords are on the same page as the Diavolo.  They are more alike than different.  I was happy with both equally. I might say the Diavolo was a smidge smoother, but the Nords are very adept at dynamics and graceful while doing it. They are nearly the perfect embodiment of both solidstate and tubes. Their custom buffer stage is something else. 

@treebeard1 You are probably the reason my speakers are Spanish Tile! Did you post pics of your di’s on FB and I asked you what color they were ans you told me they were Spanish Tile?Then thank you very much sir!

@charles1dad I’m totally covered. I was hoping to utilize the lyngdorf as a 2nd zone listening room source/dac/amp, but its fine, I’ll be okay 👌despite having dealt with two separate entities that jerked me around trying to acquire one.

@mac48025 - Thanks for the information. I'm glad you told me.  I will know by Monday if the refund was applied via PayPal after they retry his bank account. If that doesn't go through I will seek a claim directly through PayPal. My case is iron clad since he did initiate the refund at least despite it bouncing his checking account once already.   I'm really excited about the mini Ulfberhts. I can't wait to hear them.  I hope they are able to be driven by my set amp. The efficiency is a bit lower; around 95db, but hopefully my emission labs 300b xls can still drive them at 13wpc, but if not the Nord monoblocks are 400wpc into 4ohms and they already sound great on my di's.  They really are very good class d amps.  My friend borrowed them and put them up against class a pass labs monoblocks and they fared quite favorably.  

@aniwolfe Thanks, I'm excited to receive them and hear them for the first time. 

I'll probably get them after I return from my trip from CA, end of June. 

@charles1dad I'm glad you're uninterested in my initial listenings impression thanks for sharing. 😂 

Reposting the Mini Ulfberhts picture link, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v71b_HmForVCHzG1Rs0y7mIAzjHJTLkt/view?usp=drivesdk

The other link wasn't working correctly for some reason. 

@stelo I just got the first pair of Encores yesterday afternoon. They required no break-in to sound glorious right of the box which I found odd at first, but I wasn't complaining either. They came perfectly packaged and in pristine condition. The spanish tile polished finish was flawless and came out gorgeous. My initial listening impressions are that it’s more coherant and natural sounding than the DIs in the midrange and with much better bass articulation and weight. The midrange array really shines here guys. Voices and instruments are flat out better, more detailed, effortless, and more palpable with a remarkable liquidity. There’s no sense of congestion and a very noticeable effortlessness to the array that is absolutley non-fatiguing even after going on 10 hours of nonstop listening. This tweeter array goes down to 300hz, a full octave lower. I can’t stress how much I love the natural and effortless presentation of the array. The new 11.1" bass drivers are very detailed and handled koto drums with more slam, definition and detail than the DIs could muster. The image height and width are better than the DIs and the speakers dissapeared without any lengthy attention to placement. They are a lot of speaker, but diminutive enough to work in my modest room size 16’x14.5’x9’. I have zero regrets about this upgrade and I’m glad I didn’t go with the Ulfberhts because they would have been too much for my room size-wise. I’m driving them with 5-6 wpc using my Art Audio Diavolo SET Tube amplifier to very loud and satisfying levels despite they lacking a couple of db efficiency compared to my DIs. There’s something very special about this speaker. Rarely am I so enthralled that I listen to 3am and counting. These speakers are next level for sure and combine really outstanding drivers and crossover parts quality with a price I could live with that made me feel I was getting the improved sound quality to justify their $8500 price tag. I think Eric will sell more of these than the Ulfberhts at their more reasonable price point and their ability to work with a wider range of room sizes. My only gripe, they weigh 175lbs each! I had 4 friends over and they were absolutley blown away by the sound of these speakers. If you get a pair, you will not regret your decision.

@charles1dad Thanks, I'll get around to swapping amps soon to see how they fair with the Nords I have on hand, but for a few days I just want to bask in the glory of the sound I'm already getting.

@david_ten Thanks, yeah rarely am I so enjoying my listening session that I'm unable to sleep because I'm enjoying myself to much.

More to come! 

@tektondesign They are very special to me too.  My hat's off to you sir.  The Encores have surpassed my wildest expectations.  Perfectly executed to these ears. 

@invictus005 I read nothing of value to your sweepingly negative and unfounded opinion. Everyone's a patent attorney and a critic these days, it seems. 

@david_ten lol. Well played. 

@devaultcarl1 Yes your fine. I have 400wpc nord monoblocks that the double impacts can handle

I have a pair of Double Impacts in a salmon reddish soft gloss, upgraded, 10/10, for $2500 and they for local pickup in Raleigh NC. I have them listed on fb groups for sale. Check my system for images on Audiogon. 

@david_ten I’ll be writing up a ’journey’ review which will, among other things, shine a spotlight on why I chose solid state and more power for my system. I believe it will address some of the things you have been working on and trying to achieve. It’s been really nice learning more about what each of you has worked through and is trying to accomplish.

That will be very interesting to read buddy!

I've putting my Encores through it's paces with a pair of Nord One SE Hypex NC500 400 wpc NCORE based Class D amplifiers and the results have blown me away.  I've been loving the performance with my Diavolo 300b 6 wpc amplifier, but with 400 wpc at my disposal using the Nords the improved dynamics and tremendous bass slam is incredible.  These amps are on the neutral to slightly warm side because of their amazing input buffer stage.  They sound more like my SET amp than different, but the macrodynamics and the bass is truly incredible without giving up anything in microdynamics.  These are nothing like the Double Impact woofers as they are long-throw and not paper cone and they produce some of the most prodigious, cleanest, tightest, and deepest bass I've heard with a few rare exceptions (JBL). They pretty much slaughter the double impacts in that category hands down, it's no contest.

I would love to here the new Pass Labs on these speakers, but that's a down the road dream at this point.

I'm torn that the slight drop in efficiency on these speakers seems to call for more power to get them to really let loose, but I will try my 300b xls tubes and adjust my tube amplifier to output 13wpc and see if double the wattage will recreate something closer to what I'm getting with the Nords in the bass department.  Don't get me wrong, playing Kodo drums is very satisfying even with 6 watts, but theirs a dynamic slam and chest hit that's absent even if all the bass context and texture is intact.  I'll report back soon.  Again, I can't recommend this speaker more if you are in the market for sub $10K speaker!

@craigl59 I purchased the Nord One SE UP NC500MB Monoblocks for about $2800.00 with both Op-Amps for each monoblock a few months ago from Colin; a very nice chap to do business with. I tried both op-amp input buffer boards and ended up preferring the Sparkos Lab version over Sonic Imagery op-amp board. The Sparkos was more dynamic and less veiled while still retaining a slightly warm sound signature that I prefer whereas the Sonic Imagery felt like the additional added warmth was getting in the way of the music. I sent these amps to my audiophile friend in California to try out as an alternative to him running Threshold CLASS-A monoblocks and he enjoyed them, but ultimately said he felt they were slightly 2 dimensional in comparison to some older Class A Pass Labs monoblocks he had also just recently inherited (What a lucky guy!). The reason for this experiment was to see how they fared against some very formidable Class A amplifier competition. In the end he liked them compared to his Thresholds, but not as much as the newly acquired used pair of single-ended Pass Labs Monoblocks which have a very magical sound quality that is hard for many amplifiers to best and that I witnessed first hand while visiting him a few weeks ago while traveling back to CA to see my friends on the west coast. He was hoping the Nords would be good enough so he wouldn’t have to contend with the heat, hvac, and overall higher electric bill from running the Class A amps round the clock for extended periods to keep them sounding at their best. He’s retired and on a fixed income, in poor health, and electricity costs in California has got to be the biggest ripoff in the nation for electricity rates. I was very adamant that he keep the Pass Labs over his Thresholds and that he not give them back to his friend because he felt they were better than his friend’s Bryston amps (4 pairs of the biggest ones they make). He felt guilty keeping amps that were better sounding to the both of us, but luckily the other mutual friend was adamant that he keep them and that he would buy more new pass lab amps in due time. BUT, I DIGRESS...Terribly sorry for that, but I figured a little back-story might be helpful!

To your point, when I compare the sound I had from my Art Audio 300b Tube Amplifier to the Nords they sound more close than different and it’s hard to discern a clear deficiency tonally, but they definitely slaughter the tube amp in the dynamics and weight/bass department. There’s a bloom the tube amp has that is missing from the Nords, but I really don’t notice much if any deficiency in tonal weight of instruments and maybe my tube bias for flea powered amplifiers color my assessment to a degree. I do use judicious amounts of EQ to correct for any room anomalies of which there are very few in my very modest sized 16’x14’ room which limits how far I can pull the speakers away from the wall (about 2’) and my listening position which is relatively nearfield and about 2’ from the back wall. I would say in my system with the Encores I’m just enthralled with the sound that I am getting and unless I could spring for a pair of Pass Lab monoblocks, I feel very content with where my system is at sonically which may very well be that the Encores are just so damn good sounding over my double impacts that I’m on a bit of a honeymoon period and am not being critical enough to discern much of an issue with tonal weight presently. I really think I may just be lucky with a room, amp, speaker, DSP, and total system synergy that it is very satisfying to my ears, but maybe I will be more critical of the sound over the next few months and change my opinion at a later date. I’m just having a ball listening to music and enjoying myself immensely at this point. Hope that helps you some. I know it’s not much to go on.  Edit:  I do not know the OEM for the bass drivers, but they are quite impressive sounding.  

PAGE 100! Congrats @prof 

Come on guys lets' get this thread over a hundred 💯 pages with useless comments! 

@Craigl59 I can see how a person who wants accuracy and detail for studio use would definitely have a clearer understanding regarding timbral accuracy and tonal weight and body.  I think I'm more forgiving and more interested in hearing a warmer, smoother, and richer sound that lacks accuracy because it can make enjoying poor recordings easier and long listening sessions more enjoyable.  I like 2nd/3rd order distortion because it rounds things out sonically.  I can't quite grasp how the Nords simulate a tube amplifier, but I assume their input buffer stage is to blame or praise depending on the intent of the user.












@soundsrealaudio I concur and 15 Tweeters is better than 7, LMAO! 











(I'm really just trying to make my post long enough to get this thread to the 100th page!)

@david_ten That deserves a rebuttal!  You're quite welcome kind sir.  Lol

@craigl59 I didn't know we were so close to 5K posts! LOL

@direstraitsfan98 The Double impacts for $3375 upgraded are hard to beat under $5k and that’s being conservative. Or you jump to $6500 for the Double Impacts SE, (unless theirs a break for ordering just plain softgloss black? (Call Tekton)) You could go nuts like I did on the Encores at $8000 in black softgloss finish which are like mini-ulfberhts which cost $12k, there is even a discounted pair in black softgloss discounted vs the high gloss custom color option still available in the original Ulfberhts for $9k, but I know you didn't want to spend that much. 

@charles1dad Well, I may have spoken a tad prematurely. I had a local audiophile over who inquired about my DIs come over to hear the Encores because my DIs are not a compatible color to his room decor. So to punish him for not buying the DIs I forced him to hear only the Encores and not the DIs. I’m sadistic that way. 😂. Just kidding, not kidding. (Also, my back hurt from swapping speakers the day before for another local audiophile who heard both the DIs and the Encores)

The Elrogs at 8 wpc at a much higher volume level than I thought I could get away with before soft clipping, I was able to shrink the differences in the bass region performance. It was very close to the Nords with the exception of the transient attack and that chest hit of a kodo drum. Overall the Diavolo performed much better with the Elrogs, but maybe the best thing for these speakers is the Emission Labs 300b XLS because they are more dynamic and better in the bass region when compared to the Emission Labs 300b meshplates. So rest assured the Diavolo is staying here, but its nice to have the choice to swap amps for a change in pace and presentation. I’ll report back with the xls in and also with them tweaked to the higher 13 wpc output. So far I like both presentations for slightly different reasons. The Nords are good for pyrotechnics and fireworks that impress you, but the Diavolo is still more emotionally involving overall. Maybe my local audiophile visitor will chime in with his feelings of the Encores. He’s on Audiogon, but he said he doesn’t post much. I’ll leave that up to him. He owns the Tekton Lores now and is also a 300b tube guy at heart (Manley parallel SET). He spoke highly of you and your posts Charles.

@charles1dad I've got them in, just waiting for my household to wake up so I can turn it up.  My friends sleep-in on the weekends, waste of a weekend if you ask me.  I'm up at 6am ready to jam out. Listening at very low levels is a waste of Class A amplifier electricity consumption. Don't these fools care about the environment?  😂 I'm so just kidding. 

@charles1dad SO...Yeah the 300b XLS definitely is the right tube for the added dynamics and control.  The bass presentation is nearly as good as solid-state, but a hair more punchier and shocking on kodo drums using the Nords.  I prefer the overall presentation on the tube amplifier as it's just a more emotional experience. Being a no feedback design it will never mirror what the Nords do deep down with regards to the control of the woofers, but I can live with that compromise.  I find the Nords very exciting to listen to, even shocking at times, but there's a realness and organic quality to the tube amplifier that it doesn't convey.  I feel like exciting and shocking wears you down and leads to fatigue after awhile, but it can easily seduce you in the short term.  Life would be so much easier if I could switch back and forth to either presentation based on my mood, but at least swapping the amps in and out is relatively quick for me with how my equipment is oriented and spread out.  I'm listening to Tracie Chapman's Let it Rain Album and her voice is so resolute, palpable, and dynamic that it's haunting to listen to.  This MTM array is very revealing.  I hear things that I never knew existed before on familiar recordings and it's a very odd experience to me because I rarely say that because it sounds so cliche.  Call me cliche then because the low level detail retrieval is revelatory on the Encores.  Delineation between voices and various instruments is on par with best I've heard at shows and when I was involved in high end in the past.  They do the holographic effect very well.  I just wish was my room was deeper so I could get further away to let the soundstage develop more appropriately.  I don't mind the near-field presentation sonically, but I think there's more to gain in image depth and width that a larger room affords you by bringing the speakers further into the room and my seating position further away with more space between the speakers, but I'll get over it.  Moving is not on my to do list having just dealt with heart troubles so I'm taking it easy for now.  If you have questions for me regarding the Encores let me know and I'll do my best to answer them.  I highly recommend them to anyone on the fence considering them.  They are worth many times their price to me just in the short time I've had them.  Happy Listening!

The album, Mr Jelly Lord with Wynton Marsalis is simply amazing on the Encores.  Especially Jungle Blues and New Orleans Stomp.  Some of the best trumpet 🎺 playing I've ever heard.  Available on Tidal:
https://i.imgur.com/LxMfAxl.png

@craigl59 Great marketing pitch! 

@charles1dad It's a heavy burden, but I'll try to get through it.  #1stworldproblems

How come I feel like @david_ten is perched on my left shoulder with a pitchfork 👿 and @charles1dad is perched on right shoulder with a halo 😇!

@fetguy Says the guy with 4 pairs of amps and hand me down Pass Lab monoblocks for free no less, and hand me down $15k JBLs, shall I list more? 😂 I'm too broke to afford another upgrade. I'm done. Finito. 

I side with @charles1dad I tend to find a happy delta which I believe I have attained.  I'm definitely caught up on all my upgrades.

@david_ten You have a very valid point. My Diavolo amplifier is the "Devil" in Italian, and it's always giving me what I want to hear.  So, touche! 

18 more posts to go! 

@david_ten You're on!  I'll send you some pullpork bbq and coleslaw and some hushpuppies. 

@craigl59 nice system!