Sebrof. Thanks for your reply to my question. I am
Driving my Lores with a primaluna tube amp for a year now and they
Sound great. I will stick with this combo
For a while. |
Well I had 1.6s years ago, same room but completely different gear. For me it was the fact that in my small room 12' x 13' x 9' the Lores are a better fit. And I did the whole flea power amp thing, once I did that there was no going back...for now anyway.
I don't really remember the Maggies that well, but I did have a sub with them, and I don't need a sub at all with the Lores, no way no how.
If I had 1.6s now I would consider the Lores a sideways move maybe, certainly not a downgrade. |
Anyone compared the lore to a magnepan 1.7 or 1.6? I know we are talking of 2 different types of speakers here but i was just curious.
Happy listening Dan |
Has anyone tried any Red Wine Audio with their Lores or siblings? With Vinnie's new 15 watter coming out, I'm anxious to try his newer stuff. I had a 30.2 integrated that I sold a couple years ago to go cheaper and still nice with the Miniwatt, then with the Ampino. But I haven't heard his stuff with the new battery technology nor with the tube buffer, and I'm getting curious as to how they'd work with the Lores. Thoughts? |
Lolol I'm actually gonna purchase them from a friend that's selling them on audiogon ..... Lol like I said hearing is the real test.... If I don't like them I will sell them but I'm taking into consideration the oppurtunity to capitalize on a pair of these ..... How much did the amp run you..... As like I said b4 I would need a crah course in tube amp.... I can't imagine the same names that applies for ss amps applies for tubes some of these vendors Are like a beta map to me .......... I'm gonna audition 2-3 pairs and sell the ones I don't like but the first one I'm gonna pick up is the pendragons ...... Can you say road trip ....:-))))) |
Capellaudio - re: "How does the pendagons compare to the big boys b&w ,Martin logan,kef,Polk"..
There is not enough room here to answer your question, so we would have to take it off line. Feel free to email to discuss. But I will just repeat what I just recently told a friend... and that is, I would go as far to say that if driven by good electronics, the Pendragon could run with much more expensive speakers. They make these $9K Graybeards I had with all classic series Scan-Speak drivers sound like a toy. The Pendragon is closest I have ever been to live music
The fact is, there is a huge dichotomy in high end audio that believes that big expensive conventional speakers are it for high end, but this technology surpasses conventional logic IMO and from what I am hearing. The sound is extremely open and effortless, reminiscent of a planar or electrostatic, yet has all the benefits of a moving coil/dynamic loudspeaker in the sense that it plays full range with no compression. As long as you have the room and can place the speakers at least 8ft a part, this system is something special... which is why I went back to them ... representing the first time I have done that.
I am breaking mine in now with my 200w Marsh A400S amp... and to my surprise, the sound is AWESOME!!! I tried an Adcom with my last pair and did not like it, but this combo is a beautiful match. After a while I put my 12w Xindak class A tube amp in and see what that does. |
My Pendragons arrived today in a beautiful automotive gloss white finish. They look spectacular! Let me know if you want to see a picture. |
Yeah I read a big review on there and watched alot of footage via YouTube (next best thing ) gotta keep up with the times !! But cedia was pretty good they had all the new eye candy lexicon carry bryston all new processors and amplifier for some but them golden ear boys was getting one hell of a audience along with plenty of reviews from sandy ..... Gpower I think I might go pendragons someone is selling a pair I will give it a shot if I don't like I wont keep they will go fast anyhow ..... How does the pendagons compare to the big boys b&w ,Martin logan,kef,Polk ..... Ect. .... Would like to see some numbers on the speakers but listening is the best way .... All hands down ..... |
anyone here make to the audiofest 2011. saw they had the new def mk iv. not sure i could ever justify the price but wondered how it sounded. |
I ended up comparing the small speakers to the very large speaker as I have not heard a large floorstander in that price range that was nearly as good. For example, I listened to both the Polk Audio LSI15 and LSI25, and they seemed ... well, the best way I can describe it is "sloppy" by comparison to the monitors. Both the Polk LSI9 and Amphion Argon 2's have been very well-received as peaks of their respective lines in the past.
The main point being I had been convinced that floorstanders that didn't cost a mint would never be adequate for me in the ways I liked the monitors.
The Tekton Pendragons frankly took me by surprise. |
I read your personal review Eboleyn. I thought comparing some small speakers to very large speaker seemed a little interesting. Imaging for small to large speakers can be different simply because of the mass compared to the room size. It's kind of like comparing a motorcycle to a ferrai. Both can do the job they are meant to do, but obviously they are very different.
Nice job though. Glad to hear you are enjoying them. Keep up the reviews.
P.S. Pictures seem to be fixed on the mini lore review. |
Great to hear this! It also coud have been a little bit of break in that was needed. It took my first pair 6-8 weeks to fully break in.
Now we have 2 testimonials of one of the best speakers out there! |
Since this seems to be the forum where people are mentioning their impressions of Tekton Design speakrs, I thought I'd chime in now that I'm 2 months into ownership of my Pendragons.
I'm loving them more than ever!
FWIW in case people are curious, the First Watt F5 clone amp I was using for the review had yet another calibration problem which is now fixed, so the slight imaging issue I mentioned in my review appears to be gone.
They are now by far the best speakers I've ever heard!
I'm even building a set of custom high-power First Watt F5 Monoblocs to use with the Pendragons. This time I'm going to calibrate them using an objective measurement system like a digital scope, sheesh! |
Hi there Capellaudio. The speakers you mentioned are all good (though I haven't heard the Golden Ear speakers). But they seem to get rave reviews. The issue is they are vastly different than the Tektons. It depends on what you want. First off, the Bryston and the other ss amps you mentioned are not the "ideal" mate for the tektons. You just don't need to pay for all of that power - you can get control over the woofers with much less! You would be better off with tubes or lower power amps (class D or just low powered class A maybe). The Tekton sound is effortless and very "live" sounding, and will easily handle any type of music. The other speakers mentioned are of the conventional variety... not a bad thing, but more of the opportunity to spend $ on power.
Allot of this depends on the size of your room. Do you have room for the Pendragons? If it is going to mainly be a video/entertainment and some music system, then I would go with all M-LORE speakers and run a sub with it. From what Eric is telling me, the M-lore is the real sleeper in the lineup, and from the recent review, it seems like it is!
Eric can also build a sub and a center channel (he is working on a sub now I believe). Get a nice Primaluna or Quicksilver 25+ watt amp for stereo, and use a decent home theater receiver for the entertainment stuff, and you are done. No reason in my mind to spend big $ on home theater processors, etc... unless of course you are completely into that. But in my experience, higher end gear is only necessary for music critical listening... that's just my opinion.
The other speakers mentioned... good but I prefer the Tektons. They can do allot more with allot less power... and they get me closer to the real live thing in comparison to conventional.. again that's just my preference. |
Also what do u guys think about a bryston 9b sst (not squared) for 2600.00
Or would the 7b sst pro mono block be a better purchase at 1750.00
Figured these are one of the best and 20 years can't go wrong .... Or just save for the squared version of bryston.....Go hard or go home right!!!!! Gpowered let me know about those speakers I mention as I know u are self sufficient audio store lolol |
thanks guys thats alot of feedback .....i love old music......but iam still young in shell so i do listen to alot of current billboard music ..........it seems like iam trying to form a entertainment system / stereo ( is that even possible ?) It may just be cheaper doing two individual system maybe (input ???) I am not limited to purchase so i remain to keep a open mind <<<< runners up infinity , golden ear tower , def tech .and tekton lastly i would like to here the review on the pedragon is it silly to try to put the best of both worlds into one system..... not really a tube roller but do remember how music sounded through them.... more lively except for the popping and air like sound .....don,t know much about them but i can see they respond well to the tekton but i guess the question is i need a all around speaker into new music but love oldies honest opinions??????????????/?
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Yes, I noticed the pictures. I am going to email Eric and ask him about that... but from the looks of it he is using stock pictures anyway. |
I asked Eric. The the review is for the m-lore. But you are right the first pictures shows the m-lore, and the other 2 are are the lore. I wonder if the reviewer was just showing the different products. |
It's nice to see full-range speakers getting more press. He writes about the $649 M-Lore, but all the pictures are of the $999 Model Lore. Hmm. |
Wow, so I am not crezy after all LOL... |
Here you go y'all
http://hometheaterreview.com/tekton-design-m-lore-loudspeaker-reviewed/ |
Home theater review just put an m-lore review up. It's a good read. |
I ran my Omen Defs with a Pass XA 30.5 and it was amazing. I have had Emotiva though and I do not think the Emotiva will bring out the best in the Lores. I would recommend a Class A, warm amplifier. A DIY first Watt F3 for example would be a much better option than the Emotiva for around $500. |
Go with primaluna 1, 2 or even with the 7. They really make the lore shine
Happy listening. Dan |
Capellaudio - looking closer at your post, it sounds like you are big into home theater. In this case the Emotiva amp may be ok. I have not owned Emotiva (with the exception of a VERY brief stint with the pre-amp), but from what I have heard at 2 Axpona shows, it is great for home theater... but I was not that impressed for music even with their own speakers. After listening to high quality for years, it just sounded less refined and natural to me and at times sibilant. This year's Emotiva set up was better, but not enough to make me walk out the room saying "I have to have that."
Why don't you wait a week for me to receive my Pendragons. I have a Marsh A400S (200w solid state) that I am going to break them in with... and I will have a report on how they sound with a powerful ss amp. I also believe the Marsh is a cut above in quality compared to Emotiva and can be had for the same price on the Gon. |
My opinion. I would get the Tekton's because they're tons cheaper and Eric is probably putting out equal quality speakers because he's trying to gain a name for himself. He worked with the Zu guys and being a smaller outfit, can cater to your needs a little better. From what I see on Agon, most people play with flea watt and then leave it soon after. There's no sense in breaking the bank in this economy. |
The only time I heard a SS amp with this type of speaker was when I compared Zu Omens and Tekton Lores at a friend's house. He hooked his Carver amp to the Omens and within a minute we all agreed we needed to hook up the tube amp we had there. The tube amp was much better for the Omens, so I assume the Lores would have sounded bad with the Carver also.
How the Emotiva fits in I do not know. |
Hi. Knowing the Tektons well (I've had 2 pairs and the third on the way) I would go with tubes. Tubes bring out the best of them. No comparison. |
Sounds like you have some extra cash to put into an amp, but if you were cash strapped like I am most of the time. I purchased the parts express dta-100. Mini Tri Amp 100watts. It sounds great and work really well with high sensitivity speakers.
I know you probably want something better, but I thought I would throw it out there. For the price I am impressed. |
hello i have a question about the emotiva amp ....Is it the buy they hype it to be
i have a pioneer vxs32
pioneer kuro elite pro111fd
velodyne 12" eq-max subs
polk c20 center (which i plan o changing in future ) any recommendations ?????
it is a work in progress but i plan on buying this pre amp regular price
and the speakers i,m choosing to pair is the tekton LOre as it seems worth my budget of 1000 hifi speakers
any suggestions ???? do you think they will pair well????? |
Sorry.....still no time between football and a full weekend of activities. I am breaking them in more, and will get back to you guys soon. |
Morganc- any updates now that you've had the Lores breaking in for a while??? |
Rsfphil: I tried both, but found the 4ohm to be a better when asking more from the amp... although the 8ohm sounds just fine if playing at lower to moderate volumes. At normal listening the sound quality between the two seemed almost identical to me. For the amp's sake, the 4ohm tap is the right way to go. That way, it can handle the lower impedance demands... though likely not highly critical because Eric's speakers are designed with a very linear impdedance. |
So I have been breaking the Lores in at low volumes for the last four days straight and now I am sitting down for a nice listen. First off, they have improved dramatically since Friday when they arrived. They are now much more open and dynamic and I am betting that in 100 more hours that they will be even more improved. Secondly, for the price, the Lores are fantastic speakers. I will need to spend a lot more time with them to give a more detailed review, but needless to say they are a no brainer for $1000 for anyone sitting on the fence. They are excellent with vocalists, acoustic, and the bass is not bad on rock and electronica though definitely less than with the Omen Defs.
My initial impressions before I A/B the two speakers is that they share a lot in common. The Omen Defs are a bit more efficient with a larger soundstage and deeper bass......but they both sound great to my ears. |
Gpowered-Did you use the the 4 ohm or 8 ohm tap with the Xindak and the Pendragons? I wasn't aware they were 4 ohm speakers until 3 weeks after I placed the order. TIA. |
Pwrjam No problem stay tuned! I am planning to break them in on my Marsh A400S (200w). It is the best solid state amp I've had thus far (prev. best I owned was between a Naim Nait XS or a Bryston 4BST). A tried an Adcom with my 1st set of pendragons, but I was disappointed with that match. It will be interesting to see what the Marsh does. I also still have my Xindak MT-1 as it has not sold, but if it does sell, I am looking to acquire another tube amp with 40-50 watts... or maybe another set of Quicksilver Mini's. I am open there and the Xindak is fine for the short run.
And also... yes, I will be comparing the Pens to these Greybeards, which by the way, are just really something special as well. I am really enjoying them while waiting for my new Pens to be built. If they sell, they sell... but keeping the them isnt a bad idea either because I will likely never be able to afford a speaker with this level of build quality... it sure makes a difference in their abililiy to disappear and no boxiness at all.
Oh, and btw - per your question a while back, my room is about 18x17 where the speakers are, but in the back of the room the 17ft expands to about 22ft. I can only sit about 6.5ft from the speakers though because I am in a loft and I have a stairway behind me and the back wall behind that. I have plenty of cubic volume overall to work with... so well see what happens. |
As far as placement, no unusual considerations. They set up pretty well in a normal EQ triangle, toed just slightly out from directly at the listener where you can just barely see the inner side of the cabinet. Nothing like Omens where the height is so important, etc. |
Well I just hooked the Lores up and am breaking them in. They definitely need a good break in as they just have around 20 hours........
The comparison with the Omen Defs may not be so fair though....as the Defs feature the HO Driver, Mundorf cap upgrades, and upgraded cabling inside........which are all upgrades over the standard Defs.......and therefore retail at about 4x the Lores, but I like what I am hearing so far.....
Are there any special placement considerations? They seem pretty
simple to place...anyone with pointers? |
Going for round two Gpowered?
I'm interested to hear your thoughts again on the new setup. Will you be comparing them to the current set of speakers you have? |
Morgan - figure about 150 hours of playing at moderate to loud levels to reach full potential. You should notice them opening up and smoothing out a bit as the drivers loosen up.
I am hoping to somehow get a Pendragon vs. OmenDef comparison at some point. Just tough not an abundance of Tekton owners here on the West Coast of FL.
Thanks for the amp recommendations!!! I will definitely consider! |
Gpowered,
I have definitely found the Omen Defs to be very very sensitive to placement. And I have tried quite a few amps, and my favorites as far as bang for buck goes is the Melody I2A3, the mini Torii, followed by several others includimg the Art Audio PX-25 (I miss her:)) and the Frankenstein.
The Lores are coming in tomorrow night, and I will need to break them in as I think they only have 20 hours on them. What is the typical Lore break in time?
Good luck on your new pair. I am excited for my first pair to be here soon:)
Cheers,
Morgan |
Morganc - Wow, that is just fantastic! When do you take delivery on the Lores? And your not alone... while I have plenty of "room" to crank, 2 small children at home make it almost non existant, So it's more important to have a speaker that can do it all at lower volumes as well.
Let's stay in touch... I have my 2nd pair of P-dragons on order, but this time I am going to be more strategic about placement and amps/cables selection. I didn't do the best job of that in the first go around. But this has turned out to be a blessing. The first pair I had was front ported, which I figured would work better in a smaller room, but while it resulted in an est. +3db gain on the low end, it also overloaded the room just a tad. We'll see what the rear ports do - Eric recommended the rear ports plus he has inventory already CNC pre cut. I have enough room to get them about 3-4FT from the back wall so that should be a non inssue. |
Yes I have the Omen Defs and I found a local pair of Lores for a good price, so why not compare the two? Currently I am using a Decware mini tori and a Coincident Frankenstein with the Omen Defs. They both are fantastic, though the Frankenstein is the best amp I have owned, as well it should for the $$$:). Now I have taken my system to its peak (and it does sound great, but I am frustrated living in an apartment as I cannot really enjoy the fruits of my labor at the volumes I like). To get here, I spent much more $$$ than I should have spent and I need to downsize so that I can afford a downpayment soon. Then I will have a house, and can build another great system:). So, now my focus is on the best system I can
build for $3000. Wish me luck!
So far I am thinking the Lores, with the mini torii will be great and fit perfectly in my budget along with my Tranquility SE DAC and my Mac Mini.....I'll let you all know how they compare. |
I use a 2A3 SET (DIY), works well. I used it with Omens, and with Lores and Katz Meows.
And yes - Looking forward to hearing your impressions of the Lore Morganc. You have Omen Defs, correct? |
Morganc - since you've heard the Zu offerings, it will be interesting to get your take on the lore! |
Affordable amp that I am going to try. Next time I go see Eric I am going to take my Dayton DTA-100 T-amp. If was $50 as a scratch and dent. What a bargin. Sold out though. I should have bought 2. I also have a the original my sonic impact. The DTA definatley has more oomf!
I am wondering how the pendragons or lores will sound with the cost effective t-amp. I'll post my thoughts once I hear them hooked to the pendragons or lores. |
Morgan.
If you'll do a quik scan through this thread, you'll be able to find several amps that have been shared along this journey. I know, it's a lot of post to look through. Just go to each page and click on the date at the top of that page and do a quik search and that might help in you quest. Just a thought. |
Quicksilver Mini Mites were a perfect match! And Zman used an Almarro A318B with great success |
What amps have you guys who love the Lores found to be your favorite? I have a pair of Lores that I found locally on the way to me in a few days. Would love to hear your thoughts.
Cheers,
Morgan |
Jdoris was just alluding to the fact that I am selling my GB's (just to stir the pot re funny), but as I explained above, moving away from the Tektons made me realize that my tastes are biased toward the Tektons. Because at the end of day, regardless if one design is better or worse than the other, it comes down to personal preference... and what I know now is no speaker I have had (even though many were much more expensive), sound nearly as convincing as the Tektons... and it's a HUGE advantage that the Tektons only need a couple watts.
Learn from me guys
if you like the Tekton Lore / Pdragon sound (I can only speak to the models I have owned), stay with the line!! Even if you go higher end, conventional may not be better
don't get me wrong, it was fun for a little vacation but not its time to return home, lol. |
