I have dedicated audio room 14.5x20.5x9 ft. Currently have Marantz Reference CD/Intergrated paired to Magnepan 1.7's with REL T-7 subs. For the vast majority of music I love this system. The only nit pick is that it is lacking/limited in covering say below 35 hz or so. For the first time actually buzzed the panel with an organ sacd. Bummer. Thought of upgrading subs to rythmicks but then I will need to high pass the 1.7's. Really don't want to deal with that approach.
Enter the Double Impacts. Many interesting things here. Would certainly have a different set of strengths here. Dynamics, claimed bottom octave coverage in one package, suspect a good match to current electronics.
I've read all the threads here so we do not need to rehash that. Just wondering if others out there have FIRST HAND experience with these or other Tekton speakers
Triumphtt02, Congratulations on acquiring the Double Impacts and it's good to read that you're so happy with them. I believe that you'll enjoy an increase in sound quality using the 8 watt Nelson Pass class A amplifier. Yes, fewer watts than your current amplifier but IMO increased watt quality. Charles
I picked up the new Micro ZOTL Preamp today. I am running it with the LTA UltraLinear 20watt amp, with a Modwright Oppo 205 and of course my Tekton DI SE. I was running the UL direct from source without a pre for many months now, but now even after only an hour of play time I can say this is the best I’ve ever heard this system sound. I’m just sitting here in awe of this sound. Every sweet aspect of the UL has increased such as sound stage, clarity, space between notes, even the bass has more impact. Just wow.
I thought I would get a few hours on the new preamp before chiming in but this is just too good. If anyone is thinking about purchasing a UL, you must consider this preamp. They are a match made in heaven.
I had a chance to visit a local Audiophile with an Uber $$ system recently. I salivated over his David Berning 75K mono blocks and he had Magico speakers with an incredible dedicated listening room. I think my DI SE and LTA amps can compete now. Just sayin.
@triumphtt02 Glad this all worked out so well for you. Your experience parallels many of ours where we did our research and then took that leap of faith and were rewarded for doing so. This underscores the issue brought up just recently on the previous page. The feedback and reviews on these speakers has been so consistent that it is, IMO, easy to just order up and let the fun begin. Some, I know, really feel the need to audition first. But if that is not possible, the bigger risk is in missing out on a great speaker, not returning them!
This just further proves what @shadorne and I said about the design all along.
"The tweeter array becomes gradually more directional as the frequency increases [above 'the cursor position at 3.8kHz.']"
"In the vertical plane (fig.5), the use of two woofers spaced relatively far apart leads to major cancellations in the midrange above and below the response on the central tweeter axis, which again appears as a straight line. The Impact Monitor's vertical radiation pattern suggests that the speaker needs to be listened to within a narrow window centered on the central tweeter axis if the midrange balance is not to sound colored."
Lancelock, I am excited by the early feedback on the new MZ Preamp. Did you get the True Balanced Input option or are you using it single ended? Are you connected with a CT Matrix PC? Is it resting on the shelf of your rack or placed on points? Nothing is more exhilarating than experiencing a new listening apex which seemed previously unattainable! Savor the fullness of the moment. Please keep us posted as you fulfill all of the options during future use.
@silverrocket Congratulations on getting your system setup and ’loving it.’ Happy for you and your wife and daughter. Great to hear when family members also enjoy our passion and are moved by it.
The feedback and reviews on these speakers has been so consistent that it is, IMO, easy to just order up and let the fun begin. Some, I know, really feel the need to audition first. But if that is not possible, the bigger risk is in missing out on a great speaker, not returning them!
Marty,Go ahead and get a bit excited. The adrenaline rush will come in handy when you have to lift these big boys!They will sound good out of the box and will only become more liquid and effortless as they break in. Keep us posted on your experience.
iIm using the pre with single ended Cerious Matrix cables. The pre does have a set of balanced inputs but I didn’t think it was true balanced but what do I know im just getting familiar with her. The pre is resting on a Maple shelf with Mapleshade pointy brass feet.
Rather narrow dispersion in the top octave will give it a horn like character. The vertical response is rather uneven in the mid range which is a little more concerning. Overly Bass heavy but so are more than 70% of current day speakers.
Overall not bad at all. Not quite a reference quality speaker but great performance for the price! Nothing overly concerning at all and an excellent waterfall plot (good quality drivers). No wonder they are so popular. I am impressed!
I've been reading a lot of the posts here and while I'm satisfied with my current (sort of vintage) KEF R107s, the enthusiasm from DI owners has me considering a pair for demo. My question is: With the rear ports, how close to the back wall could one realistically run this speaker? I'd have to install along the rear wall and would only allow for 6" most of the time. I could pull them further out for critical listening which would put them about 9' from my listening position.
The KEFs being vented at the top and front, allows me this positioning without reinforcement from the back wall. Any thoughts?
Bob, There are a number of folks using the DIs or similar up close to and nearly touching the front wall. Hopefully they will respond and answer your question / concerns directly.
If you do go ahead with ordering a pair, I would get an absorptive panel installed against the wall, immediately behind the ports. I don’t recommend ’plugging’ the ports.
My DI SEs are well out in my room (just so you know) and the ports are free to breathe. I have a home-made absorptive ’solution’ about 2 feet behind each speaker.
@yakbob Back around 50 pages ago, that very question was asked. Several individuals moved their DI's up against the front wall just to see how things would be affected and I was a bit shocked that they felt the music held up pretty well. I think David made a helpful suggestion regarding the ports. In the end, you just have to give it a try.
Decided to tweak out today and apply some minor digital room correction via ROON’s built-in Eq/DSP to alleviate any peaks in the speaker response caused by the room/speaker interaction. A steep Q pull down of about 5db around 42hz and 15k is all that was needed to smooth out the speakers response in my room. The Double Impacts required a lot more corrections to get them to be relatively flat sounding in the same room. Kudos to the Encores then are very flat across the entire spectrum requiring only very minor adjustments to get them to play at their full potential in my room.
Thanks to all for your responses to my question on front wall placement. At 5,000+ posts, its easy to miss some of the earlier discussion. I will keep a close eye on this thread going forward.
@triumphtt02 Love the half grills. I find myself putting the grills on even when I have adults visiting. I just know someone will say, "Oh, look at the these cute button things." And then proceed to push on them.
Just a quick update on my DI’s (with the upgrade). The more hours these speakers are accumulating they continue to amazingly improve. I’m still waiting for the point in time when they stop sounding better! The lows have really fleshed out and upper mids and highs become ethereal with a breathtaking soundstage. I’m using bone standard 12 gage stranded OFC speaker wire. I recently ordered Morrow SP2 speaker wire to try with DI’s. Anyone have any experience with Morrow speaker cable? I ordered the DI’s with full speaker grills to protect the paper drivers from pets, curious grandchildren and vacuuming! Well, I didn’t like the rather veiled sound with the grills on, so I cut them in half to protect the vulnerable lower woofers just off the floor. Yeah, these puppies have presence, in more ways than one...😎
David suggested I remove the link to a Flickr pix. I did, so if you are interested in seeing my very modest system and 1/2 grills o the DI, PM me and I will send you a .jpeg.
Like your half grills and have an extra set so am thinking of giving them a try. Did you maintain the bevel on the upper slat or just cut it off at the half piece slat? Am not sure of the effect this will have on my REW tuned system but can retune the whole after the operation.
Have cavalier spaniels that appreciate nothing more than lifting a leg on a pulsating device and, so, have to have the lower grills in place.
I am glad I saw your grille pic. I like the sound of the woofers with grilles but miss the sparkle of the top half. I want to keep my current grilles and have thought about asking Eric for another half set...but I fear it may be a year until I get them, hehe. Yours look great!
Did you maintain the bevel on the upper slat or just cut it off at the half piece slat?
Yes, I kept the top bevel for a factory look. What I did was remove the uppermost rail (it is very lightly glued and stapled), cut the verticals to about 1” above the middle grill mounting holes. Then sanded the the side verticals to match the top bevel. I used five minute epoxy while holding in place. You could also sparingly use Gorilla glue. Touch up the sanded side bevel profiles with black paint so the the wood color doesn’t show through the black grill cloth. I like the look of mine and can still enjoy the top end sparkle and dispersion and don’t have to worry about my darned dogs marking territory.
Another half grill build Tried out the DIs without grills to make sure they sounded better and tt02, Eric, and others above are right -- they do. So I cut down my grills ala tt02 and VOILA -- there is added presence, lifelike timbres, and a bit more punch. HOWEVER, what I really notice is how much better they look. The boxlike nature of the lower half is complemented by the action look of the top set of speakers and the overall result is tons better than the DIs either with or without grills alone (are you listening, Eric?). My approach differed from tt02s. Simply cut the lower half of the grill off leaving extra speaker cloth. Then, the sides had to be chamfered in 4 places to make room for the larger woofers (Dremel works fine here). Glue the cloth back on, transfer the Tekton icons back over and you’re finished. First one took an hour (because of the chamfers) and the second 15 minutes. My only concern has to do with potential time delay of the woofer with a grill blockage slowing down its response by comparison to the rest of the drivers. Any ideas here?
craigI59 There are likely lots of ways to skin a DI grill. I too, prefer the appearance and sound of the half grill in place in addition to the practical reasons! Time delay, if there is one, would be purely academic at best. Low frequencies travel so much differently anyway and the sound difference of grill cloth and thin frame over and around the woofers would, at best be negligible. How many serious music listeners are using a 2.1 system with a sub without much concern of time delay? I have no doubt Eric voiced the DI’s without grills. If there IS a slight time delay or defraction of some kind, the benefit of the half grill by far outweighs a small deleterious sonic effect. 😎
tt02: Use REW to tune my system and retuned last night after the grill change. The bass required a +2 db increase to match with the treble now that the half grill is in place. Fairly modest adjustment. I use HSU subs in studio and 5.1 settings but do not care for them in stereo ones -- they muddy up the bass soundstage. Your point about subs and time delay is, however, well taken.
It was the poodles. Now there are Cavadoodles running around everywhere. It's a good mix -- the cavalier's love and the poodle's smarts. They're hell in the bathtub, however...
@charles1dad I think I lost that bet with @david_ten
I bought a Luxman AS-55 Japanese switcher to switch between my Diavolo and the Nords and soon a Benchmark AHB2 amplifier that I just ordered to try for 30 days.
I also ordered the New Benchmark HP4 Line Preamplifier to try for 30 days as well. It's one hell of a preamplifier.
I also upgraded my Analysis Plus cables to their Apex Silver interconnects. And picked up 5 of there Power Oval MK II cables.
JCarcopo, when you use the switcher keep in mind that if a tube amp having output transformers is powered up and does not have speakers or equivalent load resistors connected to its outputs damage to the output transformers and/or output tubes can result. Especially if a signal is being provided to its inputs.
Presumably the switcher connects its unselected inputs to nothing.
Jcarcopo, David was right and I was wrong. Given your description of immense joy with the Encores and Diavolo I mistakenly thought you would be content and just enjoy the music. I understand, we all have our unique quests, behavior and personality. I look forward to reading your listening impressions of the new components. I should have listened to fetguy 😊. Charles
almarg/JCarcopo I made up some speaker cable with Resistors soldered across the terminals just in case I forgot to select the the speakers when switching between The SS amp to the Primaluna Tube Amp. I have been know to drink sometimes when I am listening to music and did not want to take a chance on "letting the magic smoke out" of the Primaluna. I found the info online and can not remember which site . The resistors are150 ohms-10 watt or something like that. Good size chunky resistors.
@almarg I only swap amps when both are powered down. It's a ritual I follow before changing from ss to tube or vice versa.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Luxman AS-55 didn't already account for this potential issue and address it in their design. It's an extremely well made and overbuilt switcher made in Japan by a high end company, but I'm not taking any chances either.
@charles1dad lol, well if I dont keep the AHB2 or HPA4 from Benchmark, than I'll still be in contention to winning the bet, buy it's not looking good. I'm hoping I prefer the Nords over the AHB2 because my bank account will thank me.
Jcarcopo, The Benchmark and Art Audio Diavolo are such different amplifiers I'm curious how they compare sonically. Of course its very possible that you could enjoy both amplifiers equally for what may be contrasting presentations.
Now it would be very interesting if they actually sound quite similar despite different power,topology and output devices. Charles
@charles1dad I’ve heard th AHB2 years ago, but only on their own speakers. It was very quiet with a black background, very detailed, smooth sounding but a tad analytical and cool sounding, which I kept wanting to blame on their speakers. Rory at Benchmark said the amps with the preamplifier and their Dac 3 possesses a synergy. If they beat out the Nords great, if not, they’ll be returned. I’m more excited with their new HPA4 Preamp. I've seen SET LOVERS remark that they love them.
Jcarcopo, I’ve only heard the Benchmark DAC once and thought the overall system was a bit dry and 2 dimensional. I wouldn’t know how much to attribute to the DAC. A friend of mine who has more familiarity with the Benchmark products feels they are somewhat sterile and clinical (Yet some listeners find them dead on accurate and neutral). Very little emotion conveyed, again I don’t know from personal encounter/listening.
They could potentially improve with further burn-in but based on your early impressions they’d have to make substantial gains. Who knows? Charles
@aniwolfe Because i gave my money to Mark Shifter of Core Power Technology because he claimed he was good friends with Peter Lyngdorf and he would procure the unit months ago. Any friend of that lying con artist is no friend of mine.
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