I see these are a front ported design and I can only have my speakers out a maximum of 12-18 inches from the wall. Will the Lore's still sound acceptable in this position? My current speakers are Vandersteen 1C's.
My tube amp passes through hum on the Vandy's...90db efficient...that is readily discernible without the volume turned up. Will the 98 db efficient Lore's just magnify this artifact to distracting levels? |
I'm pretty sure the hum will show up at 8 db louder.
If the hum got quieter as you turned the volume down I would say there would be no issue. But if it's there with the volume turned down, that's will be an issue. |
I agree with Zman... the Lores, like any efficient design, will reveal flaws upstream. On the other hand, it will reward you with postive changes. I would strongly suggest an upgrade(or fix) on the amp when finances permit.
But in regard to the back wall, that shouldn't be an issue really since these are front ported. There is another guy I know that is doing that and I have tried it. Overall, the presentation is basically the same, however, the soundstage is a little more horizontal opposed to realizing the depth capabilities that this speaker can attain. But I suppose that would be true with just about any speaker that is parked up against the back wall. |
Gooddomino I have the same issue with my Almarro a205a mkII and Zu Omens. WIth the volume all the way down there is what seems like RF noise (sometimes I can hear faint music through the snow), but as soon as I turn it up at all, the noise attenuates to basically an inaudible level. I'd sure like to get rid of it all the same.
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Incidentally, the Omens are now listed at $1875 on the Zu site and $1499 on musicdirect.com
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Has anybody had luck with Tekton discussions via email ?
I ask this as I started an email asking for a model recommendation and some tech. questions .
I received an answer asking me what model I owned !?
When I replied that I didn't own any yet , all email stopped !
Does he prefer to discuss via telephone only ?
Thank you |
Thanks guys for the helpful info on the Lore's.I will likely order very soon!
Saki -I've emailed Eric a lot and always get a response in 24-48 hours and usually sooner. |
I've owned past Zu model. After reading these responses I'm now looking forward to ordering Lore instead of Omen. I just hope I come up with the dough before an increase in $850 price of admission. |
Sukihock.
Give Eric a call and lock in a price. Then buy them when you get the cash.
He's a real nice person and I'm sure he'll lock the price in for you. |
Sukihock, Eric does prefer to do business over the phone. He's a busy guy and doesn't have a chance to sit in front of the computer often. I have a pair of the OB4.5s. Zman and gpowered, if you thought imaging was scary on the Lores/Katz...you ain't seen (heard) nothin'! What the little OB4.5s lack in bass, they more than make up for in soundstaging, imaging, and that eerie realism. The click of a saxophone's valves and the parting of Jane Monheit's lips before her first note are not uncommon. I honestly don't miss the dynamics of floorstanding speakers at this point. The intimacy of the music is almost addictive. Eric truly is a nice guy, and I believe him to be an honest man in terms of recommendations and salesmanship. We have talked a few times since my purchase about amp upgrades, etc.
I will second, er, third the build quality comments. Eric is truly a professional when it comes to speaker building.
Evan |
I am around 80-90 hours now, and I am now running my Lores with Quicksilver Mini Mites. The Decware SE84c was also a great combo but the Quicksilvers suit me better for the music I listen to and the size of the room. What a heavenly combination this is, guys! Wow! A deeeeeeeeep, holographic soundstage and amazing musicality and dynamics. Tone is thick, tight, and musical. This is the perfect match. I am also running a Cary CDP-1 cdp with a Dcca powercord. Cables are all Q-cable pure copper type 2 litz.
I could not imagine someone opting to spend more $. This is best system I've owned, better than $12K + systems I've owned. I honestly do not detect any weaknesses with this setup. It is that good! I have been kicking this hobby around since '99 and it has never been so enjoyable. The Lores get better and better... in every positive change I have made on my front end, the Lores have responded with better clarity, extension, realism, dynamics, you name it!
I have to admit, with respect, thank the good Lord I stayed this course and did not order the competition. The Lores are fantastic!! I will report back when everything is broken in. The Mini Mites only have 25 hours on them so this is system is not even at its potential. |
Sukihock - wise choice, I admit I have not heard the latter, but I know a couple experienced (note: experienced; not home theater dorm kids) audiophiles who have and one of them didn't care much for it, while the other liked it but not enough to keep him from upgrading to the SuperFly. For those that know me, I go through speakers like hot cakes. I've owned over 15 speakers in the past 3 years. Just ask my wife... I have driven her nuts, lol. Guess what, the Lores are a KEEPER!! Get some good tubes for the front end and get ready for a treat! |
Thanks to all who have increased my confidence in throwing my next hard earned dollars Eric's way. Yeah I spoke to him recently about the Model 81en with the Fostex FE206en driver. I just sold my Sierra-1 here and I was looking to replace with another monitor. Just sick of the crossover designs and that's what lead me to Eric. I agree though he seems like a good guy and it's frankly refreshing to know that so many of you are getting a realistic performance return for your dollar. I'll just have to decide whether to go with the 81en ($475) or Lore ($850). My room is about 12x15x8. The Sierra's were plenty for a room this size but the Lore's are quite tempting. |
Gpowered - since you've owned so many speakers I'll ask you. Do the Lore's super-tweeter call attention to itself? How would you characterize the overall temperature of the speakers's overall tone? I really wanted a pure full range speaker. I'm assuming there's no x-over on the 10" and just some sort of filter on the super-tweeter? How well do the two elements complement each other? BTW, to all concerned about lack of professional reviews, I too prefer this type of real consumer feedback to make my purchasing decisions. Glad I found this post on the Lore!! |
Everything you guys (Zman, Gpowered) are saying about the Lore I am saying about the Omen. I'm driving them with a DIY 2A3 SE amp and they are absolutely fantastic. It took me a while to get them set up properly, specifically playing with speaker to floor gap since they are bottom porting. But once I found the sweet spot I've been very happy. It was much harder to get my Omens sounding good than my Tektons (not Lore)
At $850 for the Lore and $1,000 for the Omen I'd say it's a toss up - Save $150 with the Lore or get a better looking product with the Omen. But now that Zu has raised to $1,500 I'd say that most would get better value from the Lore. As a Tekton owner (Katz) I can vouch for Eric's craftsmanship and great sound, he knows what he's doing. Same with Zu.
It's good to see the passion from 2 small shops, hand building their stuff and delivering such value. Very nice. |
Hi Sukihocck - a major advantage of the Lore is its ability to run full range from the Eminence driver. The tweeter never calls attention to itself. I cannot distinquish the mids from the treble like most conventional speakers - it is truly seamless in that regard. Yes, the Audax tweeter only handles 3Khz and up so this is basically a x-overless design.
As far as the temperature/tone... that will depend entirely on your front end. The Lore is extremely transparent. But I am surely tube biased. You can read my previous comments to have an idea of what it sounds like with single ended and Quicksilver amps. Driven with a good front end and source, there are really no flaws to mention. The Quicksilver combination is perfec IMO. |
Sebrof - good to hear you are happy with the Omens. I have heard mixed comments about them. I can understand you going that route since you own a pair of Tektons already. But as far as looks, I disagree on that! The Lore is a much better looking speaker IMO and easier to set up with port in the front. The Omens would surely have to be lifted. Eric is also more flexible in terms of customizing the product. He is all about voice of the customer. I handpicked and sourced my internal wiring. For another buyer, he is designing one with rear ports.
Another important fact to mention, is one has to remember that Eric is a carpenter, as well as an electronics guy, so he is able to keep is overhead down by doing everything himself. That is a huge advantage to the end user. There is very little non value added activity costs to pass down to the customer. Lastly, he doesn't spend big $ on advertising, so that explains why he is able to address weaknesses in his $850 model Lore. The customer is essentially paying little, if anything for R&D and design teamÂ’s paycheck. This is great news for us! Just think this is important information for some of yo out there that do not take this product seriously because of the lower price tag. This price will surely not last when people start to realize how good it is. |
Gpowered - I couldn't agree more when you mention "some of yo out there that do not take this product seriously because of the lower price tag." When I saw the ad for the Katz Meow I really didn't think there was any way it would compete with the speakers I had at the time (Klipschorns) because of the price and the size. I spoke to Eric and he basically said to give it a try, I might be surprised. My KHorns have been in the TV room connected to the XBox since I got the Katz last year.
The Katz were my first Full Rangers, the Omens my 2nd. There's something to be said for a crossover-less in a well built, well designed cabinet. |
Mark, much respect to you brother. After all, you were the guy that started this thread and got me looking in this direction anyway. Question: a couple months back that wrote that you initially liked the Omens, but there were a few issues to contend with. What were those issues and what did you end up doing? |
I am just going to come out and say it guys! I have crossed the 150 hour mark now. I have listened to my entire CD collection. The honeymoon phase is over. Look folks, it is official. Eric is giving these speakers away! Again, I am just a normal guy - no affiliation with Tekton Design - 3 kids and a limited budget. I have downsized from a $14K rig, to this $5K rig, and have not missed a beat. I will say it again - the Lores are the BEST speakers I have heard in any room I have had. From an overall standpoint, better than any speaker I've owned, and up there with the best. This includes a pair of Dynaudio Confidence C1's ($7,600 w/ stands), PSB Synchrony Ones ($5K), and Quad ESL 989's ($8,500). To see the full list, email me or refer back to an earlier post. Sure, Dynaudio's Esotar 2 tweeter can hardly be touched in terms of detail, and the accuracy and pinpoint focus of a C1 is hard to beat. Likewise, the mid range, tonal quality, musicality, and emotional involvement of the Quads is untouchable, but from a full package standpoint, which to me, includes: full range capability, detail, transparency, balance, phase response, musicality, detail, micro detail, mid range, bass, tone, dynamics, efficiency, and band for buck ... the Lore is the hands down winner!! I see this as the possible future direction in high end audio. Grab yourself 25 high qaulity tube watts, and the Lores will play over 100db, clean!!! No problem.
I am completely amazed by the bass and dynamics of the Lore. But even better it is the real deal - the complete package - a beauitful deep soundstage, breathtaking vocals/midrange, transparency, air and detail, and a tight, thick and rich low end with plenty of extension. Perhaps someone more critical or experienced than I would find a single fault with it. I did with all other speakers I owned; but not with the Lore, not yet anyway. Granted, it is not rational to expect the Lore to play down into the 20's. But on stuff one would it expect it to do, it delivers well beyond expectations. One thing is for sure - the $850 price is not going to be going for long, but even at a grand these are a bargain. |
Gp - That's awesome. You guys with the Lores really seem to like them, and I haven't heard a bad thing about them yet. Enjoy!! |
I agree with sebrof....enjoy guys:). Are any of you with the Lores in the Bay Area. I would love to compare them to my Omen Defs. They sound very similar based on your descriptions. |
If you would have to simplify things, what would be the house sound of the lores and the house sound of the omens 9from people who have heard both). |
I haven't read a post anywhere from anyone who has heard both.
My guess would be that different amps and rooms will influence the sound more than the difference between Omen and Lore just by looking and reading about them. This type of conjecture will likely be the closest you'll get until someone compares both. |
The biggest differance that I've been able to read about is that the Lore has cabinet dampening, 30hz bass responce, Phase control and a tweeter that is second to none.
I don't know if it sound will be better or not. On paper and price, it has an edge. |
>>"The biggest differance that I've been able to read about is that the Lore has cabinet dampening, 30hz bass responce, Phase control and a tweeter that is second to none."<<
The Omen has the ZURG loading, 30hz bass response, and I assume it has phase control (the Maine driver is set out and tweeter is recessed) and I assume a good tweeter also. |
The Omen has 34hz bass responce. I doubt if one could hear the difference.
And the price difference is the real edge. |
I'm curious if the ZU's are $500 better sounding (which is personal taste of course) than the Lore's. At $1500, you are getting close to XQ KEF series (I know, a different type of speaker). My thought process works like this, are the omen's $1500 speakers, that were offered for $999 or are they $999 speakers they are able to sell for $1500. It doesn't matter if they sound good to you. But, since I cannot try them both locally (I know both have great return policy), it makes sense to try the Lore's first. I wish more people who have heard both would chime in |
Aberyclark: "I'm curious if the ZU's are $500 better sounding (which is personal taste of course) than the Lore's. "
There are a few additional things to consider:
1. Zu includes free shipping both ways with a 60 day return policy.
2. Resell value.
3. If I were looking at the $1500 price range, I would get a B stock pair of Superfly's (Zu just sold one this week for $1800). The Superfly HO Driver is better, it also comes with Mundorf caps, and has better internal (silver) wire.
On the other hand, I have not heard the Lores, but would love to and I hope to soon. If I were single I would just order a pair but my LR is full! The price to performance of the Lore is very high right now and I bet you would be very happy with either:) |
I agree with Morganc that you'd probably be happy with either.
I have and love my Omens that I bought for $999. If I were looking today I would opt for the Lores but that's just me.
btw I don't believe there is an answer to the "are they $999 speakers selling for $1500 or ate they $1500 speakers that originally sold for $999. |
I have been following this thread and yesterday I ordered a pair of Lore speakers. After Zmanastronomy said they were not a pretty speaker, I decided to spring for the gloss finish, in black. Eric said it will take two weeks for the gloss finish to be ready, and now I am thinking of changing to gloss white since it may go well with my audio room. Have any of you seen the gloss finishes, and what do you think of them. I am a little concerned about resale value, especially for white. Also, I asked Eric about speaker cable and he said get Kimber 4TC. Eric used to work at Kimber. 4TC cost a fraction of my current speaker cable. Thanks for any comments. |
Mlg, I think Gpowered got his in white. He sent me a photo and they look real sweet.
For the price point, I don't think you'll be selling them any time soon after you hear them. They are quite good.
I'll PM you about some cables. Welcome to the Lore club.
Looking forward to your impressions. |
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I'm going to be ordering my Lore's in the next week or two and am wondering what types of amps or integrated amps,tube or SS, are optimal for the Lore. I currently have a Rogue 90 amp and Krell KSA 50S amp. My preamp is an Eastern Electric Minimax and I just bought the Lightspeed attenuator to try.If I have 2K used in my amp/pre setup how would that money be better spent to find an optimum amp/pre for the Lore's? |
Mlg, a full review is in order once you receive them. Also, I would be interested in the sonic difference between the Lore's with your current cables and with the new cables. I think the gloss white will look great. I would not worry about resale value too much. I'm sure if people keep buying the lores up, they may jump a bit in price but, stay well below the Omens. My business got so busy, I had to raise prices to keep up with demand. |
Mlg - I can send some pics of my Lores in Satin white if you want. Email me. Very clean look. As far as internal cable, I went with Van Den Hul C12, 12 awg internal wire, but I am sure 4TC is fine. You may want to stay with what you like to use for sc's, that is if you can stick with something. Most of us jump around.
Just to answer a few posts back: the Lore does not have a "house sound." It sounds exactly like what you feed it with. It's quite amazing in that way. If you get them and they sound warm/bright, it is due to what is upstream.
I recommend tubes all the way with these. I am using Quicksilver Mini Mites - a great match!! |
Thanks for the ideas guys. I will let you know what I think of the Lores. Also, I see that Gpowered is using Quicksilver Mini Mites and Zmanastronomy is using Almarro A318B's. Any idea how the two compare and what types of music each favors? Eric likes EL34 tubes for the Lores. I currently use Manley Retro's with 2 paralell 300B's per channel which may also work well on the Lores. Thanks for any comments. |
The Almarro A318B is a high current SET that produces SET mids with very strong bass. The highs are pristine.
It has 18 watts per channel.
I bought it after reading a 6Moons review that comapred it to amps costing upward of over $10,000.
I've never regreted my purchase.
It does rock, jazz, solo and everything in between.
I just bought a NAD C-565BEE cd player that has gotten some very inpressive reviews. I'm looking to upgrade from my Emotiva ERC-1. A freind brought over a Sony XA5400 cd player and we hooked it up in my system. It cold smoked the Emotiva, so naturally I had to get a better front end.
A Audiogoner posted in one of the Sony 5400 threads that he liked the NAD just as much as the Sony. And the NAD is much less, so I'm going to audition it this weekend.
The Lore speaker responded very well with the better front end.
So for now, my amp and my lores have a place in my music room for quite a while. |
Thanks zmanastronomy. I may look into the Almarro if my current amp does not work well. Do you know if the Almarro allows for the use of a separate preamp into the Almarro's amplifier section? I like my current pre, a Supratek Syrah with phono. Thanks. |
Your Manley's should be a great amp for the Lore. |
Zman - read the same thread as you and therefore ordered a NAD BEE 565. My BEE is coming tomorrow. Just ordered the Lore's, actually a buddy bought them for me, yeah! It will be interesting to hear from fellow Lore owners as to what hardware and cabling choices make them sing. |
I've emailed the poster of the NAD cd player to ask him to give me a in-depth review of the differances of the Sony and the NAD and he was almost stating the NAD was his favorite.
That's what prompted me to buy the NAD.
Gooddomino, email me and I'll forward you his response.
I'm sure he wont mind. |
Sounds like this thread is really picking a steam!! The Almarro amp sounds awesome! The QS mini mites are working out great too. A beautiful match for the Lores. The mid range is "electrostic-like," but the biggest surprise has been this new IC and speaker cable from Q Audio! It is a twisted Milloit braid with no fillers or plastics, etc. - designed to elliminate skin effect and proximity effect. I am telling you I have never heard highs and instruments like this before! Nothing is rolled off at all. Listening to Allison Kraus & Union Station live tonight about blew me out of my chair! Gorgous sound - haha I can't believe this is an $850 speaker. You guys that have a set on order are in for a treat. Give them 150 hours break in! I am still hearing differences in over 200 hours.
I hear Zman has has a great cable too! |
"Just ordered the Lore's, actually a buddy bought them for me"
If he was a real buddy he would have bought the NAD BEE 565 |
I called Eric and placed my order for the Lore earlier this week and he said they will be ready next week. I can't wait to listen to them.I am currently using meadowlark swift and I am sure the Lore will be a great improvement specially with SET amp..can someone share what speaker cables are good match silver vs Cooper? |
Use a good copper Litz wire. Type 2 copper Litz from Q Audio is the best cable I have heard, and really "woke up" the Lores. Made me realize I was listening "rolled off" prior to using it. I am still in disbelief how "real" everything sounds now. |
Gpowered thank you so much for the recommendation i will look at the Q today.Did anybody try using Paul S. anti cable with the Lore? |
In response to Boniccie:
I don't own Lores, I own Eric's OB 4.5 monitors and I use Paul Speltz Anti Cable speaker cables. I love these cables, but expect a very long burn-in on them. I mean long. I'm at about 300+ hours on my entire system and just recently the cables really opened up.
Hope it helps,
Evan |
I think it may be something else opening up in your system.
The wire Speltz uses has very little dielectric on them and the dielectric is what the burn in is about.
Dielectric is the insulation around the wire and acts like a capacitor. Storing energy and releasing it. The burn in attempts to allow the signal to pass without the effects of the dielectric but never really does.
I know about these things because I also manufacture a cable very similar.
If you have 300 hrs on your entire system, maybe it's something other than the cables opening up. |
I also want to make note that my last statement was in no way shilling. I was just establishing credibility to the comment I made. |
