Ok, so the Wife Acceptance Factor has driven me to ask the question. I have heard the Focals and have not hear the Pendragons or the Double Impacts which I am also considering.
Although the 1028's are at $5k currently and the TD speakers are substantially less the bride is enamored with the appearance of the Focals. Personally I like the looks of the Tekton's and deep down believe that they have to sound as good as the Focals and hopefully better. Does anyone have experience with both and I understand I will get a bevy of comments on other speakers to consider, but frankly I would like to stay focused on the two speakers here....
My room is small, it is 11x11x9. It was a bedroom but we opened up the wall and made it into an office off of the living room in a medium sized Cape style which is now really becoming a music room. I am driving the speakers with a Primaluna Dialogue Premium and not the HP version the 36 watt version.
Bought Pendragons in October 2015, sent them back 7 days later. Bass was anemic, fit and finish poor and the cheapest and thinnest cardboard shipping containers I ever saw. They also arrived damaged due to the poor shipping containers. Although I am not a Focal fan, I would go with them. The resale value is quite higher. If you do try the Pendragons and then send them back, be prepared to spend at least 295 in return shipping as that isd what it cost me in 2015. It is probably a lot more .
That is the only item(s) that ever arrived damaged in many shipments I have received over the years. There wasn't even a hole in either box, The Styrofoam used for packing was really thin (corner bracing). The cardboard box had very thin cardboard, probably half as thick as a rugged box (think McIntosh). Also didn't care for the unpacking method. cutting the box in half to remove them. (who does this?)
I paid 2500.00 for them brand new but ultimately I didn't like the sound. With 2 10 inch woofers I figured there would be plenty of bass. There wasn't in my room. In all fairness Eric Alexander was nice about the damage and offered to send me another pair and a return of the damaged ones at his expense, or he would discount the ones I had if I kept them.
Had the speakers met up to my expectations, I would have gone for option 2 as these were in my office, not my living room. I tried the speakers with both a Parasound Halo Integrated at 160wpc into 8 ohms and a Rogue Cronus Magnum with KT120 tubes at 100wpc. I didn't care for the sound with either amp. I ended up buying GE Triton 2 speakers and the sound was what I was looking for.
I am not trying to dissuade you from buying them as they may fit your room and work with your equipment. I bought them due to the enthusiastic reviews I read mostly on here so I thought I would be safe. The $295.00 shipping from New England to Utah (or somewhere out there) was a big hit to take considering I didn't like them. That is why I am now very skeptical when I hear about the latest and greatest speaker or anything else audio related. I am kind of surprised your wife is ok with the monster size of the Pendragons. I don't consider the speakers good looking.
The Tektons I saw,examined and heard where exactly were as stereo stated.Poorly,cheap made,horribly looking cabinets with off the shelf drivers..Focal is an actual tried and true speaker manufacture with much much better resale value.A no brainer to me if those are your 2 options.
IMO the Tekton's tend to "shout" whereas the midrange on the Focals is very pleasing to me. But you and I hear differently, so please do yourself a favor and spend some quality time with all the speakers you are considering, to find the one which matches your tastes and hearing the best.
I listened pretty extensively to the 1028be probably about 6 years ago. I thought they were really nice sounding and very good looking speakers. Tekton DIs sound much bigger and more live and will play acoustic, rock and metal like nobodies business. I prefer them to the 1028be. I think they will pair much better with your tube amp as well. I don’t listen to jazz and the female vocal stuff so I wouldn’t know about that. Room may be a little small for either.
I owned the Pendragon's and a few other Tekton over the last few years... most "fun" speaker I have ever owned in 20+ years of this hobby. I have owned maybe 35 different speakers ranging from a few hundred to over $12,000 a pair from Dynaudio, B&W, KEF, Klipsch, Tyler Acoustics, Sonus Faber, NHT, Zu, LINN, etc, etc.
I currently own the Enzo XL and it is AMAZING sound at less than $2,000 a pair. I am sure the Focal are nice, well built speakers, but they will not come even close to any Tekton speaker when you consider the cost and nowhere near the same output vs. wattage. However, the Pendragon or the DI will likely overload that room - it will be difficult to control the bass. I am running a 2-watt SET tube amp with my Tektons and cannot even use all 2 watts. The 36-watt amp you have will give you a TON of output on his speakers. I also have a small 55-watt SS amp that I use when it's time to boogie.
AudioFreak, Thank you, I was pretty much expecting the size of the room to be overwhelmed by the DI's or Pendragons, the Enzo's do not get a lot of press but my guess is there must be some similarities in all Eric's products.
My room is similar in size as yours. Eric recommended three models according to my room, listening preferences, and budget. They were: Lore Reference, Enzo 2.7, and Electron. I’ve been on a hunt for info on the Enzo 2.7s ever since but it’s hard to come across. And the Electrons are just a skinnied down version of the DIs as you probably know.
My dealer, Audio Classics took me to lunch when I bought a used McIntosh Integrated for $3100.00. Since then, I bought 5 more McIntosh pieces of equipment from them mostly because of the friendly atmosphere.
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