There's No Question

I found they like to be closer together than a lot of other speakers. Miss mine. 

Tekton may be the best bang for the buck, by far. Their pricing is very aggressive. Comparable speakers cost at least twice as much. 

The looks are a big issue to put it lightly. I would say: the #1 speakers in a dark room. :)

OP,

Thank you. I have  always wondered about them. The hype was too much and never a downside. Also completely makes sense why MC was such a fan… the ultimate tweekmaster if there ever was one.

So just out of interest… when not properly set up, what do they sound like? 

Very nice post -- interesting to read and to hear about your journey. The theme of this post, as I take it, is: Why we're staying married. It's a love note to a speaker that you could have abandoned, but you're sticking with it. If you do wind up moving on, I'd be interested in hearing about the next chapter of the process. Divorces are alway more interesting than wedding vow renewals.

Tekton uses inexpensive engineered wood and automotive paint to make a case. Eric puts his money into components and creates a very cost effective high quality speaker. He is also a great speaker designer and a workaholic. He is not the best marketer and managed to p*ss off those with more expensive speakers in the way that he drew comparisons. But if you don’t need $10,000 worth of hand rubbed fine hardwood along with your drivers, then Tekton is hard to beat. If you do like beautiful speakers, nobody begrudges that or maybe even a bit of sour grapes from those who can’t swing the beautiful wood.

Step up the line from DI and you see a lot of improvement with more stages (Encore is a 4 stage speaker with an extremely flat response curve) and better quality drivers. The MOABs seem to be a sweet spot in pricing that sound great at about $4k/pr. Many serious owners of MOABs upgrade the crossover components.

Tektons are generally 4ohm nominal but easy to drive and very popular with SETs.

Yes, there was a huge crowd of haters here. Seems to have subsided. May have been somewhat personal toward one member who has since departed.

Both this member and Eric undecimated how easy it is to create animosity with claims that seem too good to be true.

Be humble and be truthful.

Jerry

If I'm getting it right, Tekton uses some cost saving techniques and materials for the cabinets and puts money into the drivers -- is that right? Tekton's drivers are very high quality? Is that their secret (plus design)?

@hilde45 That is what I posted.  It is my opinion.  Obviously I think it is right.  Not sure how many agree with me.  but I know a lot of tekton owners who do. Anyone who wants to post other opinions won't hurt my feelings.   Jerry

@carlsbad2 I just heard some Tektons which were really exciting but a bit powerful. It might have been the room. I'm seeking out high sensitivity speakers to work with my tube amps and these are candidates. I've read various things about the drivers, including your comment, so I'm gathering information. Thank you for relaying what you know -- it's most helpful.

If you needed more bass impact, why did you just not get a sub?  Maggies are really good speakers

@stringreen Maggies are very quick speakers and difficult to match to a sub. The subs I thought might work were pretty expensive.

@hilde45 There's a lot of truth to that. It is a relationship that has taken a lot of work. Ups and downs, but when it's good it's really good.

     Thanks for that. 

The Tektons are entirely room and ear dependent as far how to position them. I have noticed a lot of people like them closer together. I really don't like the way they sound when they are closer, somewhere around 3-4 feet. The soundstage does some weird things. I get a nice clean center image with the speakers much farther apart, but that may not work for everyone. I use a lot of sound diffusers along with some well placed absorption to mitigate the rules I break.

I like further apart and slightly toed in.  Picture has my new stereo stand sitting in front that will push them a bit further apart.  

https://photos.app.goo.gl/kxHkCxPwuEgjbdYf8

For those who are curious, the DIs have zero problem pressurizing a room. They can do bass like no other tower speaker I have heard. Room and source dependent, but they can really slam. I love tubes. I'm running a Manley Chinook through an Ayon Scorpio II, with only about 55 watts per channel and the room will pressurize like an American Airlines jet. If I do end up divorcing these speakers, I can tell you I am definitely addicted to high-efficiency speakers. Maybe Klipsch? Who knows?

I had a pair of Impact Monitors for a couple of years. They were positioned toed in so they crossed about a foot or so in front of the listening position. I have ZU Omen Defs now and I'm not still sure they're positioned correctly.They're very fussy and very heavy:-( One of these days I'll discover their perfect spot.I've become an addict too.

I feel like I also have to admit that these speakers are actually kind of ugly. I did a lot of my growing up in the 80s, and latched onto the big speaker is cool thing early on. So yeah, there's that. I'm not sure you can get a beautiful looking Tekton. They aren't going to occupy my living room, of that I can assure you. That's why I have a dedicated listening room in my basement.

@jtcf I've also been curious about the Zu Audio speakers. I like that company. I think they also care about what they do, and probably do it very well. Good luck in your journey.

I love my DIs. I make no wild claims about them sounding better than $20,000 speakers (for one thing, I’ve never heard $20k speakers), but I do think they sound better than a couple of $5k speakers I’ve auditioned. They’re definitely a good value. They did take some experimentation with placement to dial them in, and room treatment was (of course) helpful. Overall, though, I didn’t experience the same degree of struggle as the OP. I’m guessing a healthy dose of luck was involved. :)

I’ve heard the DI’s and the MOAB at shows and I think they are quite good for their price.  The sound is full, well balanced, smooth and quite dynamic (alive).

The new Source 10 by Mo-Fi is another lively sounding speaker near the price of DI’s.

All of the Zu speakers I’ve heard are extremely dynamic and lively sounding.  But, to my ears, they sound to brittle and harsh—exciting at first, but they become tiring.  I can see how the liveliness can conquer any shortcomings for some people because most modern speakers these days sound dead and unengaging.

@benmeadows If you are going dual purpose, good sound AND fine furniture, then Tekton is not for you.

@carlsbad2 For sure. My philosophy about the hobby has more to do with sound than looks. But I also have to admit that my room, though not large, is based on symmetry of sound, i.e. stereo. I am guilty of wanting my room to be fairly distraction-free because I want to listen critically without distraction. It makes me feel good. There is enough in this world/lifetime to make us not feel so good. For me, a left-biased sound is super distracting and never fails to put me back to work, no matter how transparent, full, or whatever. So there is an asthetic involved. I genuinely do not care if a speaker is sexy. I want the sound to be sexy, but I also don't want my room treatments to be pillows and eggshell foam. So I have to admit I care about looks, and I cannot judge someone else because they like pretty equipment. I also very much enjoy pretty equipment to the extent that it doesn't interfere with the sound.

      For the record, these speakers disappear better than you would expect while listening. But just looking at them such an idea is next to impossible in probably anybody's mind.

I found the DIs rather different than a lot of speakers. The cabinets are crap and at high volumes that empty sound came through. The tweeter mid range array I believe there is something to that. Stringed guitars you could hear every stroke and it was almost physical. Wish I had them to compare with my Focals. Kinda looking for a pair. 

Also intrested in Focals. I have doubts about their capabilities in relation to cost vs. performance comparded to the DI, but I am open to opine. I did take notice of other members' comments as the DI's were "monitors" and I don't disagree. I have first-hand listening experience in a couple of studios with a couple different studio monitors. I can say that the DIs are very much like studio monitors in that they convey any colors injected into the system. I don't have the expertise to lable the DI absolutely neutral, but in my experience with them, they are really pretty neutral. It's the garbage in, garbage out thing you have probably read or heard so many times. When l have them to what I believe to be absolutely right things like Foghat- Fool Fir The City sounds like never before. For example, the bass drum resonance is so strange, like it is also reflecting one of the toms with each stroke. I am also a drummer. Maybe I should have mentioned that, but I didn't think that really was a qualification for what we have been talking about. I am not 100% sure what you mean by "empty sound" but there is a chance I experienced that sound you are describing as "less than interesting."

Foghat- Fool For The City

@benmeadows My pathway to the DI’s was similar to yours. I transitioned from the Magnepan 1.7’s. I enjoyed that speaker very much. A classic. It did many but not all things well.

Unlike you I did not have any issues placing mine. Roughly used the Cardas rule of thirds and then a little fine tuning. I was rewarded with a holographic and precise soundstage. I felt in this regard it was quite superior to the Magnepans.

The DI’s are detailed, very neutral, almost full range (solid down to 30hz) as you have noted. A great value and well rounded speaker. Very revealing of upstream gear. Does many things well.

As for the cabinet, as my grandmother used to say "to each his own." Ironically, as an amateur woodworker, I admire fine cabinetry. But I was never put off by the satin black cabinet that vanishes in my dimly lit dedicated audio room. A fine cabinet would require a final cost twice that of the DI’s. All the money went into the sound, not the looks. The value of this speaker is rather incredible. If you look at the total cost of the drivers to cost of the finished product (shipped!) I know of no other product in the industry that competes in this regard.

@benmeadows I've always been a form-follows-function guy myself.

My Magnaplanars work very nicely with a sealed-box sub, servo controlled for quickness.  They did not work well at all with a passive radiator design. I cringe just thinking of that.

@boxcarman: Do yourself a favour and look into the open baffle/dipole servo-feedback sub offered by Rythmik Audio in collaboration with GR Research. THE sub for dipole planars such as Maggies. Magnepan itself will soon be offering their own dipole (sealed enclosure) sub, for use with their loudspeakers.  

@benmeadows 

If the cabinets aren’t very good I would expect the overall sound quality to suffer as well. I have never heard tektons but would like too. I’m sure they are a good value for what they are

Tekton Design make an array of speakers at different price points. They have a specific design philosophy. They have certain target groups of people. They don’t spend alot on cabinets. These speakers have a tremendous designer and sound great.

Vandersteen make a smaller array of speakers at different price points. They have a specific design philosophy. They have certain target groups of people. They don’t spend alot on cabinets but for higher end speakers (different potential buyer) they offer a much better cabinet than a fabric sock. These speakers have a tremendous designer and they sound great.

Salk Sound make an array of speakers at different price points. They have a specific design philosophy. They have certain target groups of people. They custom make beautiful cabinets. These speakers have a tremendous designer and sound great.

My point is that there is a really good speaker for everyone. You find what you like and it will sound great. If you want a beautiful cabinet, you can have it. If you just want good sound, you can have it. In my universe, I can live with ALL these choices and not be upset. Live and let live.

@ronboco The cabinets are well made and well designed. they aren't beautiful. 

Jerry

Great thread… I started on the Tekton bandwagon with a pair of the Impact Monitors (well, actually had a pair of Lores back in the day, but todays multi-driver arrays are vastly superior, imo). The monitors are tremendous values for sound and imaging they put out. After I had them for quite a while, properly positioned, and singing very nicely (say about 6mos. or more), I went to Axpona. They had the monitors there powered by Parasound gear. Honestly, that room sounded horrible, and if I’did not already have them, I would have crossed them off the list. I now have a pair of Tekton’s Perfect SETs, and will be upgrading to the Moabs shortly. Nothing touches them for the $$ invested, jmho. 
 

As for looks, I like them… to each his own!

I like them, too. There are so many things about this hobby that you must get right, I definitely do not prioritize the beauty contest, although as stated before I prefer the smooth surface audio listening experience with few to no listening distractions. These speakers are easy (and by easy I mean a millimeter of displacement can sent you down an almost unrecoverable rabbit hole tail spin). It also should be noted that if anyone is looking for that silky consistency across the room, they should look elsewhere. These are really good from any seated position, but perfect side to side, not exactly.

I woulda kept the Maggies and added a REL T9x. Or two. No cone speaker can ever do what Maggies do, and I don't know of a faster sub than a T9x. If you know of a faster one, then go with that 

I too went for value over looks, Crites Type B.  They are the size of Cornwalls with better crossovers and cabinests(birch plywood.  They are not braced internally. I have seen finished examples are quite good looking.

I  chose these for efficiency.   This was also a cost savings as i built the system. It took many things to wring out better sound.  

I would do two things.  Buy 2 subs.  They don't have to be big.  Once again, placing them can be difficult.  I got lucky.  This will make your mains sound much better.  Subs should also help stereo imaging. 

Second, I would isolate the speakers.  I used $30 springs.

I would say in all likelihood the change would be very good.

My wife about had a cow when she came home and found the KEF Reference 5’s. I can only imagine her reaction to a set of bright Blue DI’s in the living room!

What's bigger than a cow?

Nothing touches them for the $$ invested,

+1 heard a pair of Tektons at an audio show.  They sounded full, clear, with satisfying reach and definition to the frequency extremes.  Sonics that punch way above their price point.

@benmeadows , What you noticed is true with any conventional loudspeaker. They are much more prone to room interaction and placement issues than dipoles like the Magneplanar. Dipoles have limited dispersion. They do not radiate any sound to the sides, up or down. This limits the number and volume of early reflections making placement much less critical.

I would have preferred adding subwoofers and a two way crossover to the Magneplanars than switching to Tektons. Forgetting about how they sound, Tektons are inexpensive loudspeakers made with inexpensive parts and inexpensive construction. 

@mijostyn It may be true about inexpensive parts and cabinatry, but the parts in my Maggies that I gave away were also cheap. What you pointed out was that sound matters. What are we even into this hobby for? Is it furniture? Or is it sound? Better yet, isn't it about music and how that makes you feel? I, for one, listened to FM radio as a young man and wondered why I couldn't always understand the lyrics, but the beats and harmonies moved me. Now I can understand the lyrics, plus I am moved by rhythm and harmony. Is there any crime in paying less for that? The real crime, IMO, is paying stupid money for basically the same thing, if our goal is the same: Listen to amazing music and be moved by it. No, I don't need a box of tissues next to my listening position. But I damn sure enjoy music regardless of how my equipment looks. I am so tired of posers. Glad you guys have super fat pockets. I'm not mad at you for that. But quit dismissing good sound because it doesn't go well with your decor.

@benmeadows , Has absolutely nothing to do with decor. It has to do with cheap parts and construction, not to get better sound to the masses but to make money. I have not even gotten into the silly design philosophy yet, not to mention the terrible sound. Telkton established itself by making cheap garbage. At least their speakers actually work. PS Audio established itself by making garbage that was a hoax. I don't care if they make the best amp in the world. I would never buy it out of principle. The only company I find more disgusting is Synergistic Research.

Now that I got that off my chest....

@mijostyn , I think that you are being a little too kind 😆

@tsushima1 , Please don't get me started:-)

every speaker has to be placed optimally in the room....the room  should be thought of as part of the speaker.

Absolutely true. My father-in-law is all about the math. But the math just doesn't work in every room. I know there are a lot of people who do the Cardas thirds rule and call it a day. But that just doesn't do it for me, unless I am in the mood for super boring. My room is stupid weird at 11 feet, 11 inches wide by probably 40' long. Very challenging to get it right, and it does sound right. But sometimes the mathematically unexplainable realm of the 5th dimension comes into play here. For the record, my father-in-law has a perfectly square listening room, which presents its own challenges. Every room takes work, every speaker takes effort as well. I think if you work at it, you can have an undeniably great sound system regardless of how "cheap" your parts are.

@mijostyn Please, by all means, get started. I've greatly enjoyed the conversation. I've been reading Audiogon for years, read every single review of every piece of equipment whether I could afford it or not. This was my first actual post, and I felt the input was all good enough to make for a good conversation. I don't care if you have an opinion that differs from mine, but I am curious why. What speakers did you invest in? Did you try the Tektons? Or are you dismissing them because the design doesn't make sense and they may or may not use "cheap" parts? Trying to figure out your beef. If you invested in some Legacy speakers, I guess I can understand a little jealousy if you just couldn't make them sound as good, even though they are very pretty and use "expensive" parts. Interested in what you have to say.

@mijostyn The speakers are the "cheapest" thing in my room. My cabling cost at least as much. The room treatments cost as much, and I went the "cheapest" on those. My source components outweigh the cost of the speakers by a long, long, way, including multiple high-end cartridges. I have a stack I call the "boneyard" of high-end amplifiers I don't use because they couldn't accommodate my non-golden-but-ultra-demanding-ears.  Please edify me. I am absolutely interested in the best sound ever.

Just because I have spent over 100k on my persuit of happiness doesn't mean that I hit a home run off the bat.

When I was thinking of getting a pair of these speakers, (I think was called Ulberht $12,000 at the time), the problem’s I had was:

1. They require full payment up front with a promise of perhaps 2+ months for delivery. Non-committal.

2. Very little return communication.

3. Tektron ended up cancelling my order because I guess I was too much trouble. Code word for PITA.

ozzy