Zu Omen or Tekton Lore

I have an update on the Omen vs. Lore thing.
If you guys go back over my posts in this thread you’ll read that last year I received a pair of Tekton Katz Meow V1. My first full rangers and I loved them, still do. In December I received a pair of Zu Omens. Love them too. I could easily live with either pair. I received* a pair of Lores about a week ago and after breaking them in I compared them to my Omens.

In my small room (12’ x 13’) with my 2A3 SET, I played a variety of music on both speakers. There was plenty of bass from both (not unusual in my small room), but the bass from the Lores sounded tighter and a little more tuneful. It was easier to follow bass lines in songs, the notes were more distinct. Also on the Omens, at times it seemed as if the bass was wandering into the midrange and interfered with the clarity of vocals in particular. The Omens sounded very full, but not quite as clear as the Lores. When I played complex music loud, the Lores held together and gave a real solid presentation, they were fun to listen to. They seemed to be an easier load for my amp.

Last night I brought the Omens and the Lores to a friend’s house (oh, my back!) that has a bigger room at about 18’ x 14’ or so. We first hooked the Lores up to his tube preamp and Carver amp (400+ watts into 8 ohms or something ridiculous). It was not a good match, so after a couple of songs we decided to swap in a 100 watt EL34 beast. Much much better. We played a bunch of music and took mental notes. We swapped the Omens in and played the same music. A lot of my notes from my small room applied here as well. The difference in bass was more noticeable in the larger room, with the Omens able to fill the space a little better. But as in my room, the bass on the Lores was tighter and also more musical. Also, I suspect because we were playing louder to fill the larger room, the differences in cabinets became more apparent. Vocals on the Omens were not as smooth as the Lores. For example Norah Jones sounded silky smooth on the Lores, but not on the Omens.

All in all I am very impressed with the Lores. I tried to give each speaker a fair shake and put them in different systems, rooms, and playing different music. Myself and my 2 audio friends all had pretty much the same impressions. We all liked both speakers but there were a few things the Lores did that we liked a little better.

*In the interest of full disclosure - Eric heard that I had Katz and Omens and that I liked them both, and asked me if he could send me a pair of Lores because he was curious to get my impressions of both speakers. He said that after I broke them in and compared, I would send them back or if I wanted I could buy them at market value (this pair is B Stock due to a small blemish on the top of one speaker).

Sebrof: this is excellent! Thank you so much for your time and effort and comparison here. You have put my curiosity to rest now, finally!

Now, from your “to the point” review, it is obvious that the Lore gets the edge, but can you tell me, is the differences you are talking about extremely obvious, or subtle?

Also, interesting there are these differences, since both speakers use the SAME Eminence driver! Zu modifies it by cutting out the whizzer cone and installing its proprietary phase plug. Were you aware of this??? I find it interesting that you said the Omen filled the room a little more, but quality is not on par with the Lore. Sounds to me like Zu made a decision to compromise quality for more SPL. Someone I know that understands this stuff better than I do, warned me that this practice could cause issues elsewhere.

If this is true – and from your review it seems it is – this is some discovery.

Hi everyone, I'm one of Mike's (Sebrof) friends who joined in comparing the Zu Omens and the Tekton Lore speakers last night. I'd like to offer to you my impression of both speakers. I tried to not have any expectation bias affect my judgements, but I must say that I had heard the Omens and Mike's Katz Meow V1 a few weeks ago and I preferred the Katz in Mike's relatively small listening room. I told Mike then, that I thought the Omens were too boxy sounding to me. Regardless, I tried my best to be honest to myself with what I would be listening to last night.
First up were the Lores. I'm not going to comment on how they sounded with the first amp, but I was not impressed. Once we changed amps, the sound improved tremendously. Now, the Lores sounded great! They didn't have the deepest bass, but what bass they had was very musical. The midrange and treble were beautiful and the staging, both width and depth, were very good. I thought drums sounded very authentic and had the correct snap. The vocals were very good, with good air and texture, which gave a believability to the sound. What impressed me most about the speaker was the overall presentation was coherent, that is, one aspect didn't take away from the rest of the sound. I believe the designer made the correct trade off regarding bass extension with musicality for this speaker. In my opinion, this speaker is definitely worth the money asked for it and I believe that one would have to spend one or two multiples of the Lore's asking price to approach its performance.
Next, we listened to the Omens. The first thing I noticed was the the sound came from a darker place, like it was escaping. It didn't seem to be as open and airy as the Lores. But, it still seemed nice, with the first musical selection. As we listened to more and more music, it became apparent to me, that the bass sounded too "one-notey" or "thudy" (how do you like my technical terms?) Though the bass was deeper, it was not as musical as with the Lores. This same type of sound also appeared on a specific drum beat, that became annoying to me. In other words, it detracted from the overall coherency of the sound. To my ears, the designer of this speaker opted for maximum frequency range of the bass and bass wallop, instead of more musical, less deep bass, as in the Lore. I also believe the enclosure needs more stiffening, as it does have a somewhat boxey sound that it never quite escapes. The midrange and treble did not seem quite as revealing as with the Lores, but they were quite good. Imaging seemed good, also.
It may look I am being hyper critical of the Omens, but I'm just trying to be as honest as I can with my personal review of these speakers and to pinpoint the differences that I heard. Also, we set both speakers in the same position and this position may not have been optimal for the Zu. Also, the Zu is a bottom ported speaker and we did not play with the spikes to see what differences we may have heard. It is entirely possible that with much more time for placement and adjustment, the Zus may have sounded better to me.

I might add that if given more time with the Lore, you could have very well tweeked out a better sound from it also.

Hi,

Just want to make one observation regarding the Omens. BTW..thanks for the review on the Lores, they sound like great speakers!

First, when I had the regular Omens ( I now have Omen Defs)
I found that the height of the spikes made a difference in the sound of the speaker (mostly in the bass) in that if to low or to high, it could make the bass less solid, and a
tad ragged sounding, and it could sound a bit congested.
Once I got that right, no problems.

Also, I played with tilt, but also found that they sounded best "level". Not sure why, but
maybe something to do with the finger ports at the bottom
loading the speaker differently from front to back?? Again
not sure why, but that is what I heard. They are not a plop
& play speaker for sure and require a little experimentation
to get just right. I have solid tight & deep bass, but have
heard them "not at their best also".

Anyway, I have never heard the Lores so cannot compare but
may have a buddy who expressed interest in a pair of Lores
and if he gets them, I will check them out.

BTW...It would be nice to see Tekton come out with a version
similiar to the Omen Defs. The change from my reg Omens to the Defs was ....WOW!!!!