What have other owners of Tekton Design Ulfberht Speakers discovered?


Now that I have lived with the Ulfberht's for close to a year I would like to share some assumptions about them with GON members, and see what conclusions that other Ulfberht's owners have come to based on their listening experiences. 

There is no doubt in my mind that the Ulfberht's are the most lifelike and musical speaker I have ever had in my reference system.  To think that a seven foot 21 driver speaker completely disappears in a totally accurate sound-stage,  (how large or small is based on the recording) like a small two way monitor is still a remarkable feat, indeed.  Many listeners to my home find it hard to believe how cohesive they are top to bottom and speak with "one voice".  Many large speakers can do "big" power music, but sound "big" on all music.  They can also blow out of proportion the size of individual players.  Not the Ulfberht's, they present any music in a natural manner, never exaggerating anything out of proportion.  Other special qualities of this speaker is it's overall "ease/effortlessness" regardless of volume levels, thunderous dynamics, its ability to pressurize the room with deep accurate bass frequencies and a sense of "aliveness" that you find in live music.

Some guidelines to optimism the Ulfberht's performance:

1) Get them at least four feet off the front wall and two/three feet off the side walls. My dear friend Ezra has his pair in a relatively small space, yet they sound beautiful.  Still, his pair is about five feet off the front wall and two feet off the side walls. 

2) I believe in most rooms a very slight toe-in gets you the the best center image, without narrowing the width of the sound-stage at all. The center tweeter should aim just on the outside of your head at your listening position.

3) Just like all Tekton Design speakers the Ulfberht's are a conduit, anything you put into them you will hear it.  Be prepared to use the finest source and amplification to tailor the sound of your system to your personal taste.

4) Even though the Ulfberht's are an easy speaker to drive, they love high current amplifiers to get the best out of them.  Right now, I have in for review a brand new model from Coda Technologies called the Number#8, beautiful looking with blue lighted meters, which has the current capability of 150 Amperes on a peak!  Without a doubt the Coda Number#8 is a superlative amplifier, you will get all the details when I write the review for hometheaterreview.com, and might be the best amplifier that has ever driven my pair of Ulberht's.  I have have tried six highly regarded amplifiers, they are all excellent in their own right and sounded great on the Ulberht's.  However, the synergy with the Ulf's is very special in many ways.   

   
teajay
@jujubeez  Congratulations, first and foremost. Happy to hear that you are a "Very Happy Listener" now. 

Depends on the isolation solution you are using. I can see doing so with IsoAcoustic GAIAs, Herbie's threaded Giant Gliders, SoundoCity outriggers, Townshend, etc. etc. (as some examples).
How do the Ulfberhts compare to other high end speakers (revel salon 2, Focal sopra 3 etc).

Also I wonder if anyone has heard the new BE version. All those Be drivers look amazing.
Just received mine on Friday, I have about 4 hours playing / listening and they still have a lot of break in to go, but I can tell how great they will be. I currently am driving them with Parasound JC1 monoblocks / JC 2 preamp.  Waiting on a pair of Allnic A6000s which have 300BXLS so they will produce 60wpc of beautiful SET magic.  Also waiting on an Ayon Stealth DAC/Preamp.   I am sitting about 18 feet away, have them approximately 11 feet apart, about 5’ from front wall and 3 1/2 off sides. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.  I love a big soundstage with accurate reproduction.  What is the typical break in time?  Also breaking in a new pair of anti able speaker wire as well.  Thanks, Bob
@rmd1114 Congratulations on getting the Tekton Ulfberths. Your choice of the Allnic and Ayon pairing should sound absolutely wonderful on this speaker. I imagine, as the Ulfs continue to break in, you will be in for quite a show with your Parasound gear. Keep us posted!
Anyone thoughts on how the Ulfberhts compare to other speakers?

I am about to listen to a used model with a central Be tweeter and surrounding fabric tweeters.