Zu Omen or Tekton Lore


Best floorstanders under $999 for low power SET amp?

Thanks
mstark
I am driving the Lores with a ss 100 watt amp and also tried a 35 watt intergrated tube amp .With both I find them lacking in bass , not saying there is none , just a bit weak . I use them only for music , no ht. They are definitly lacking for a claim of going into the lower 30's .
Cwazz,

What is the damping factor of the amps you used? This can really affect the bass extension. As I mentioned above, I have found that low damping factor amps play very well with full range drivers in ported boxes, as long as they don't lead to the driver becoming underdamped, which would lead to loose and sloppy bass.

It may not be a case of tube vs. solid state, or something that a more powerful amp will fix. I've run my speakers happily with 5W-10W solid state amps (FirstWatt F1 and F2j) with low damping factor with great success. Very satisfying bass. And my Atma-sphere S-30 at 30W also delivers, but I think this again is more due to the low damping factor. Aleph 30, SS design providing 30W by the same designer of the F1 and F2J (Nelson Pass) did not work as well, due largely to the high damping factor which led to my speakers being overdamped. FWIW
I just received shipment of the Lore's last night and was super excited to finally try them out. Eric did a great job of packing them up and sent me easy instructions on how to unpack them correctly.
To avoid a big let-down during my first impression, I talked myself into having low expectations as to how they would sound fresh out of the box (before break-in) but was pleasantly surprised how fantastic they sounded! I started listening to the XX album first and WOW it sounded great. The first thing I noticed was the voice clarity. So smooth and effortless! The next thing that jumped out was the great detail on the highs. The little gold tweeter compliments the driver perfectly. The imaging was also good but I think it will improve a lot more over time. The Lore's easily produce enough bass to rattle the walls but do it without being boomy or overpowering. The only area lacking so far is the mid range, but not by much. I fully expect the mids to fill in as the speakers break in over time.
My initial experience is only based on the first 2-3 hours of runtime on the new Lore's. They have been running ever since so I will have a good 24 hours on them when I get home tonight. I can't wait to see how they progress over time!
Just my $0.02
CWazz: What was the 100 watt SS amp that you were trying to use with the Tekton Lores? I'm just curious becuase I have a re-built Hafler DH-220 that I was thinking of using with Tekton speakers. I tried using the DH-220 with an Audio Nirvana 12" FR but in a JE Labs open baffle set-up. I didn't have bass issues but I had imaging issues. Everything seemed low but I don't know if it was due to my preamp at the time or the nature of the OB set-up.

311mph: Glad to hear you got the Lores. Can't wait for the follow-up review after you break them in. I'm interested in your thoughts as the audio equipment I plan to use with Tekton speakers isn't the most expensive.

Sebrof: From a previous post I saw that 311mph was going to use a Outlaw Audio 1070 receiver to power them at first.