@jayctoy - Thanks. Based on my experience, they will continue to improve. The 100 -150 hour point is when they seemed to settle-in.
Tekton Impact Monitors
Hi All,
I'm relatively new to Audiogon but have trolled the discussions for a few months. I have been listening to Spendor LS3/5As driven by a Quad 34/306 combination since the late 1980's and decided that it was finally time to upgrade my speakers. I love the Spendors but they are very limited in dynamics and scale. I auditioned the SVS Ultra Bookshelf speakers and while they brought some additional scale they simply didn't have the sweet midrange that I can't live without. I listened to some open baffle speakers (Emerald Physics) and loved them, but their size and need for space worried me, and I found them less satisfying at moderate and low volumes, where I do a fair bit of listening. I was fascinated by all the discussion regarding Tekton speakers and was considering getting a pair of Enzo 2.7s, but after a short discussion with Eric I followed his recommendation of the Impact Monitor with upgrade. They have the 7 tweeter array and a pair of 6.5" woofers and are rear-ported. I use a pair of SVS subs (the sealed variety). The Impact Monitors are simply amazing. The midrange is oh-so-sweet (very similar to my Spendors, but with more air) and the detail, even at low and moderate listening levels, is superb. The imaging is even better than my Spendors managed and the scale is huge and is much more music-appropriate. My system is really quite modest but now when I walk into my listening room (doubles as our living room - thankfully my wife appreciates Hi-Fi) I get the audio-show feeling of "being there". I have a Denon DP59L turntable with a DL110 HO moving coil cartridge running through an Emotiva XPS-1 phono preamp and the Tektons are absolutely incredible with classic rock on vinyl. I'm not sure how Eric managed it, but these speakers are superb, even with my 30 year old Quad electronics. I believe they are basically the top 24" of the Double Impacts, but are rear-ported rather than front ported. I can heartily recommend them and Eric and his team are great to work with. I'm not sure how many other Impact Monitors are out there since the pair I have are S/N 0005 and 0006!
I'm relatively new to Audiogon but have trolled the discussions for a few months. I have been listening to Spendor LS3/5As driven by a Quad 34/306 combination since the late 1980's and decided that it was finally time to upgrade my speakers. I love the Spendors but they are very limited in dynamics and scale. I auditioned the SVS Ultra Bookshelf speakers and while they brought some additional scale they simply didn't have the sweet midrange that I can't live without. I listened to some open baffle speakers (Emerald Physics) and loved them, but their size and need for space worried me, and I found them less satisfying at moderate and low volumes, where I do a fair bit of listening. I was fascinated by all the discussion regarding Tekton speakers and was considering getting a pair of Enzo 2.7s, but after a short discussion with Eric I followed his recommendation of the Impact Monitor with upgrade. They have the 7 tweeter array and a pair of 6.5" woofers and are rear-ported. I use a pair of SVS subs (the sealed variety). The Impact Monitors are simply amazing. The midrange is oh-so-sweet (very similar to my Spendors, but with more air) and the detail, even at low and moderate listening levels, is superb. The imaging is even better than my Spendors managed and the scale is huge and is much more music-appropriate. My system is really quite modest but now when I walk into my listening room (doubles as our living room - thankfully my wife appreciates Hi-Fi) I get the audio-show feeling of "being there". I have a Denon DP59L turntable with a DL110 HO moving coil cartridge running through an Emotiva XPS-1 phono preamp and the Tektons are absolutely incredible with classic rock on vinyl. I'm not sure how Eric managed it, but these speakers are superb, even with my 30 year old Quad electronics. I believe they are basically the top 24" of the Double Impacts, but are rear-ported rather than front ported. I can heartily recommend them and Eric and his team are great to work with. I'm not sure how many other Impact Monitors are out there since the pair I have are S/N 0005 and 0006!
255 responses Add your response
Sbayne my friend listened to my impact monitor, as good as my other system, He said the Tekton. He feels he listening to live music..on my other system he felt listening to stereo..My hope when I ordered the monitor tekton would at least as good as my other monitor, so I won’t return them.Turn out I like the tekton better.... |
@jayctoy (Turla) - always great to get confirmation from your friends! We had some non-audiophile friends over this past weekend. I ended-up doing some analog v. vinyl comparisons for them. I literally had to pull a couple of people away from the listening seat so others could take a listen. I finally left them in there and went back to the party. ha,ha. |
Sbayne he came 845am he said he will stay 2hours, he left 130pm, we forgot to have lunch, I said sorry, I serve you good music, but I forgot to serve you lunch, he said ok , no worries, He is full of music...I said next time we eat first....He said He like to listen hungry, so he can eat my tekton music😜lol |
Bon - yeah not surprised he liked them. To me, the Impact Monitors (especially at the current sale price) are the way to go in the current Tekton line-up. Right now, Eric’s designs seem to be in a constant state of flux so it’s good to not spend too much until things settle down a little bit. With the Impact Monitors you get the tweeter array and if you add a powered sub you’ve got a truly high-end system. Plus they are easy to ship so if you don’t like them it’s easy to send them back. |
@jayctoy , @sbayne As Bon mentioned, I had the pleasure of spending the evening with him, listening to his new DI monitors. I was very impressed! It's the best sound that I have heard from that room, and I have known Bon for many, many years. I don't have much more to add from what other folks have already mentioned about the the DIs, but I can confirm that they are very fast, very dynamic, but yet natural sounding to my ears, with an awesome holographic soundstage. With all those drivers, the speakers remained very coherent. I love my Omega Super Alnico HO monitors, so it will be an interesting comparison with the DI monitors, in the near future. Bottom line folks, these are worthy of an audition! |
@snapsc - For me, soundstage is one of the most impact parts of stereo playback. If your music sounds like it’s all coming from the same general area then you know it’s not right. If the Impact Monitors are set-up correctly music comes from behind, to the sides, in-between and in-front of them. They basically disappear. You can mess this up by pushing them too close to the front wall, side walls or even too close to each other. I think it’s the unique character of the tweeter array that allows this to happen so well. |
@sbayne - thanks for the comments, I hear you saying that they are capable of throwing a large, 3d image with good placement of instruments and voices within....another question I'd like to ask is how they render the piano. My experience has been that planars and electrostats often make it seem that there is an actual piano in the room. Some conventional speakers come close but usually not quite as convincing. Also, how many hours did it take before they really started to sound good....thanks |
@snapsc - It’s funny you ask that! How the new Diana Krall album was recorded has been driving me crazy! At times, her piano sits in the right channel with the keyboard running front to back. On other cuts it stretches from the right channel all the way to the left channel. On yet another cut it’s front and center and extends back. What is going? I finally realized they are either moving the piano, the mic or both. So I guess that’s your answer. The Impact Monitors always tell me what’s going on. The tone and texture of the piano is spot-on. Years ago I had a pair of Magnepan IIIcs in a much bigger room. The presentation was “bigger” as in sure size but the problem was the lower midrange and bass. I don’t remember from the Maggie’s getting the weight of the piano in the lower registers that I get now. As to break-in, put over a hundred hours on them before making any decisions. But that’s true for any speaker. |
| Post removed |
In hopes of keeping this thread alive I just want everyone to know @grannyring (Bill) upgraded the crossovers in my Impact Monitors for me. I’ve included a picture of a completed crossover in my system photos. He got the Jupiter VT caps to fit inside and they sound glorious! They take this speaker to another level. Just shows how good Eric’s design is and Bill's know-how really are! |
Hi guys. The caps will not fix boomy bass. Boomy bass is caused more by the inductor and lack of proper cabinet damping. I am specifically talking about bass boom/overhang here. I did add a little acoustic damping to Scott’s speakers as damping is very sparse inside these. A tube amp, if being used, will accentuate a bass boom problem if it exsists. Caps can and will impact bass tightness.....not boom/overhang. Need to determine which bass issue you are dealing with. Tightness vs overhang/boom. The monitors are nice indeed. |
I agree,Cheap cabinet construction and engineering or lack of..I heard these monitors a few weeks ago on a trip and wasn't impressed at all,very uncontrolled bass.Several attempts by the owner to tighten things up made no headway.Maybe I was expecting more from all the hoopla Tekton has received on this site ,but it seems yet another flavor of the month .Just my take. |
Actually, I find these speakers to sound great. Really great. I was impressed before the upgrade and more so after. I was actually surprised by the amount of good bass. My comments are general comments about booming and remedies. These monitors paired with with a good sub make for a wonderful system. The mids and highs are very natural and unforced. They do not call attention to themselves like many glitzy high end speakers at first. However, after long term listening one finds the music rather engaging and nice. The stage is deep and they image very well. Most importantly the tone of the speaker is nice. Post upgrade the tone is even more pleasing to me. |
@missioncoonery Congratulations on finally auditioning the product line that you have been criticizing on multiple threads extensively. I have owned the Electrons, and now the D.I.'s and find the product line to be the most responsive to adjustments of any audio product I have ever owned going all the way back to 1968. Therefore, I find it interesting that your audition resulted in "several attempts by the owner to tighten things up made no headway." Was the owner aware of this shortcoming prior to your audition, or did this issue come to light for both of you during your audition? Either way you should be comfortable now in knowing conclusively that Tekton is just not your cup of tea all the way around, and you can now focus on finding the speaker manufacturer that satisfies your needs. LP |
@david_ten - thanks for checking out my system. It’s the place I go to decompress. I went with the Impact Monitors after reading the various threads and reviews on the Double Impacts. There seemed to be universal praise of the tweeter array but some conflicting opinions on the bass. Some people thought it was perfect, others thought it was a little weak, some thought it was almost overwhelming, etc. People were using one watt up to hundreds of watts with the Double Impact so it made sense, to me, there were varying opinions on the bass. My overall conclusion was the tweeter array truly is something special and if I could control the quality and output of the bass I’d be in hog-heaven. I’ve owned Salk/Philharmonic speakers and Jim Salk designed a very, very nice high sensitivity monitor around the Seas Exotica drivers. When he decided to go full range with the Exotica he chose something very close to the Rythmik F8s direct servo subs that I’m using. Here is a link: http://www.salksound.com/model.php?model=Exotica+3 I’ve heard these subs in a number of systems, including open baffle, and have always been impressed. Also, aesthetically, the F8s look very nice with the Impact Monitors. So, that’s why I went with those subs. My only concern with this set-up is vibration control since the monitors are sitting on top of the subs. I’m currently using spiked maple platforms with IsoAcoustic pucks between the sub/platform and sub/monitor. They sound very nice but that may be an area I keep messing with. |
Thank you, Scott. Very clear an apt rationale. My sense was that you were looking for higher levels of performance from the low frequencies and your approach is delivering on that. It is also strong validation of the beauty and performance of Eric's midrange tweeter array design. Keep us posted on your isolation efforts. One additional question/thought: have you considered a super tweeter? |
It's more out of curiosity. It would be interesting if someone has attempted to do so. Perhaps Eric can comment on this? Since you have focused on the lower frequencies, I was wondering if you had also given thought to the opposite. I'm satisfied with the DI's and SE's high frequency performance. However, I have had speakers in the past, which made me consider toying with the Townshend Audio Supertweeters. |
Hey Guys, On Friday I received a pair of DI Monitors from Eric for a professional review that will be put up on hometheaterreview.com in the next couple of months. At this point, after reviewing the DI's, Ulf's, and having extensive experience with the SI's I'm not shocked/surprised from what I'm hearing from these monitors at all. In my smaller system/acoustic space they are replicating what my Ulf's do in my very large acoustic space. I'm using a pair of very inexpensive subwoofers that are x-over at 55 and they blend perfectly with Monitors. Even without them I still get excellent bass extension with accurate tonality. With the subs I got that last ambient aspect of hall space/imaging if its on the recording. I have experimented numerous times with super tweeters and have never really got any differences that made a difference to me. Yes, on Quads or speakers that roll-off much below 20kHz I have heard them make a positive change. However, other speakers that extend to 30kHz or beyond have had no change for me at all. So, I don't think you will get much benefit in using this device with the Tekton's because of their already "super tweeter" range. |
@teajay - I agree the Impact Monitors are very good by themselves. I’m crossing my subs at 50hz which, as you indicate, seems fairly seamless. The subs just add a touch of “foundation” to the sound which you don’t really notice until you take them out of the chain. How do you have the Monitors set-up? You using stands? |
Hey sbayne, I have the monitors placed on a pair of Star Sound Technology reference Sistrum speaker stands. The bottom of the speakers sits on three brass cups that are sitting on three brass spikes. These screw into the pillars that are solid metal which connects to a top metal plate and finally a lower metal plate which the brass spikes screw into that go into the floor. I have never found a better isolation stand then the Sistrum pair, and also use this company's speaker platforms for my reference Ulf's. I have the monitors slightly toed-in, 6 feet off the front wall, 4 feet off the side walls and about six feet apart. |
I've had Impact monitors for a couple weeks now. I think they offer very good clarity, resolution and are very efficient, but comparing to my Emerald Physics EP 4.7 the bass is a little unnatural sounding to me. Also I think the EP 4.7 portray the dynamics of music better and better ability to sound non fatiguing at high volumes. At this stage I prefer the soundstaging and imaging of the EP 4.7 also, I guess the open baffle design works better for me in my room, plus I have the ability to customize the response to the room with the DSP unit, which I did. Anyway, I really like the Tektons but not sure if I will keep them at this stage. |