Zu Omen or Tekton Lore

Individual taste and expectations have a lot to do with perception. I love the Lore, but I also respect others opinions on them also.
If I had bought the Omen instead of the Lore, Chances are I'd be writing great things about Zu.
The fact that we can have such great speakers at prices that almost anyone can afford is thrilling to me.
Have fun in the hobby.
John

Hey Sebrof,

I started with the Omen, then got a pair of Omen Defs, and it was "WOW". The Omens on steroids without sacrificing
anything. Just more of everything. Then traded them with
about 300 hours for a pair in Ghost black, and now have about
80 hours or so, and they are coming around just like the first pair! I love speakers, and kind of hate the idea of not playing with any more, but these are so amazing I don't want any other speakers. I will only move up the Zu line if my ship ever comes in.

OK Gpowered I guees I should have added a :) after my attempt at a joke . Let me state now THAT GPOWERED AND ERIC ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON . My apologies to Eric if I caused any harm to his reputation.
Getting back to Gpowered . I post on here to get info , not to be lectured at. I am sorry if I did not drink the same koolaid as you , I just find , the LORES a bit brighter then I thought they be . Not that they are not a good speaker , they are , just , like any other speaker ,,, not perfect .The brightnes may well be my electronics , but how can you state that , when by your own admission you are not familiar with my amps/preamps???So spare me the the lack of experince comment . I did talk to Eric before I bought the speakers , told him what I have and he said they would be no problem.I am not griping about the speakers , as you have commented. Just stating MY opinion ,as you have stated yours. I will say this for the last time , so Gpowered listen,,, I like the LORES , like there finish , are they perfect ,,no but NO speaker is . I listen to the speaker ,, not to there finish Gpowered so that does not affect my expectations of the speaker, as you have previously noted.
OK so with this post , it will be my last on this subject ,,thanks, its been great.

Interesting enough, gpowered having Kirksaeters. I use the 220s (92db) with my little Sophia Electric Baby (10 watts) in a 35 x 17 room to loud conversation levels. Yesterday, I took my amp to a dealer friend to listen to Zu Omens and Cain Abbeys. I really liked the Abbeys, although bass shy. The Omens were just far too congested sounding. I'll stick with my Kirks. I got mine as demos for about $1000.00. I play vinyl 75 percent of he time, tuner 20 percent and cd 5 percent approximately.

Omens congested suggest they were probably not set up right.
The only time I had them sounding congested was when there were no spikes under them, and when they were on spikes but set to low. They are bottom ported and very sensitive to
floor distance. When right, they are very electrostatic like
and not boxy or congested sounding at all. Just saying! :o)

Could be a setup issue. I found them I bit bright too.

MT,

Sounds like it as mine are on the warmer side of
neutral to neutral. Toe in/out changes that dramatically.
And/or electronics.

Yeah, my standard Omens are not perfect, but almost the opposite of bright.

Hi. I need your help kind of. I can't seem to get onto tektondesign.com my internet service provider says they can't either. Also it does not seem to work on my phone.

At my work I can see the site just fine. I called tekton and they seem to be able to see it also. So I was just wondering if anyone else had had any issues! It could be my isp is goofing up.

Also if you can get onto the site I went down and shot some extra video at tekton and made a new intro video.

I am not having any trouble accessing the new Tekton website. Man those Katz 3's look nice!! A true 94db speaker that is supposed to compete with some of the more expensive offerings at B&W. Interesting...

I noticed that I can't enter the website either. It says the DNS is not responding.

I got on early this morning and noticed the new layout. Nice.
Also noticed the new price of the Lore.
I just got on with my phone no problem

No problem here either. Too bad about the price going back to $1000. I called Eric not too long ago to see how long the $850 price would be happening and he told me it would be at that price for a good bit longer. Looks like he changed his mind on that. Too bad I didn't pull the trigger then. Was waiting to see more pics of the veneer options...

Does anyone have any pictures of the satin options? I really wish he had more pictures of the lores in the different color options.

Lots of pics of the black around.
Someone posted pics of the white satin on audiocircle dot com
There was a bunch of pics on the Tekton site until yesterday when they changed the website

You can get the black, red, white and blue in satin as a standard no charge option. Same paint as in the gloss finish pictures but without the gloss coating. You can also pick any color you want and just send Eric the color palette, and he can mix it. I believe he charges and extra $50 to mix though. Not that bad.

You can email me if you want to see pics of the white satin.

I'm pretty sure one of the videos shows him making one of the cabinets with walnut finish...

How much extra is the gloss?

$250 extra for a gloss - he said it adds quite a but of labor. Again, same paint, just adds multiple coats of the gloss.

Anyone else wanna send me some pics of their systems with the lores? :)

More pics will be back on tektons site shortley

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.

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!!!!

05-07-11: Gpowered
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?"

In my small room with 'mellow' music, the differences were what I would call subtle. But even in my room when I started to rock out a bit the differences became more pronounced. In the larger room as we pushed the speakers harder I would call them obvious.

"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???"

You mean the big silver thing hanging off the front? Yeah, I was aware LOL!
The fact that they use the same driver and they sound so different was a surprise to me. What do I know about speaker design? Not much because I didn't realize that the cabinet would make such a total difference.

The other thing I didn't hit on was the highs. One of the guys that was there has a music background (played in numerous bands) and commented on the highs a lot. He said that with the Lores he could tell how close to the bell the drummer was hitting the cymbal or high hat, and that he could hear differences in each strike. He said with the Omens it just sounded like a stick hitting a cymbal.

As I have them back in my room, back in familiar environment, I'm also hearing a lot more imaging. The Katz are probably the best speakers I've had in here for projecting a holographic image, and I'm getting some of that with the Lores. Keep in mind that I've only had the Lores for about a week and I have only started to fine tune positioning so I'm hopeful that that will come. It took me a few weeks to get the Katz dialed in (I got a job and a family you know).

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

05-07-11: Telescope_trade
Hi,

Just want to make one observation regarding the Omens.
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."

Telescope - I agree. I went through great pains to get the spikes to where I thought they were best in my room (about 4 weeks worth). I have the speakers on the carpet spikes tilted up slightly in front. I did mention to the guys that that might be a contributor since we did not re-do that in the new room. And I agree that the Omens are more likely to be problematic with placement, etc.
But - As the Omens were optomized to my room, and I heard the same things from them vs. the Lore in the new room, I believe that tweaking the Omens would probably have brought about only an incremental improvement. I could be wrong. I'd love to keep comparing, but these suckers are heavy and I just want to listen to music.

"Also, interesting there are these differences, since both speakers use the SAME Eminence driver!"

Actually I think we need to be careful here. My understanding is that there are in fact differences between the main driver on the Lore and the main driver on the Omen. What the exact differences are and how significant they are I don't know, but per the Zu website they use a Zu260FRD/G4 on the Omen. When I spoke to Eric he did say that the drivers were not the same. I am looking at them both and there may be other differences besides the color.
I think it's safe to say they are similar but not the same.

Hi to all, I'm the guy with the room and bad sounding amp that Sebrof and Slowgeezr commented on for the Zu Omen vs Tekton Lore shootout! Maybe it's time for a tube amp? ;-)

Not too much to say here since their comments mirror my sentiments, but here's my 2 cents for what its worth.

Lows: The Lores didn't quite capture the lowest lows as did the Omens, but what they did on the bottom end, they did exquisitely. And while the Omens went a bit lower, I believe they sacrificed lower and mid-low end clarity in the process, almost as if the driver was too busy to manage it all. Maybe there is only so much freq range you can cover effectively with a full range driver?

Highs: For the highs, the Omens sounded great, but could not match the little nuances portrayed beautifully via the Lores. For example, with the Lores, I could easily tell where on the ride cymbal the drummer was playing. With the Omens, you just couldn't hear that level of detail - another point for the Lores.

Sounds stage: Wont go into it here, both Sebrof and Slowgeezr covered it perfectly.

Net: Lores win handily - highs, lows and everything in between. It's quite refreshing to see that you can still get fantastic sounding AND very efficient speakers without breaking the bank. Kudos to both companies. Sebrof - Feel free to drop off the either pair, but if I could decide, make it the Lores! :-)

re: "I think it's safe to say they are similar but not the same."

Agreed! They are both Eminence and appear to be very similar but I see now they are a different color and part so I just want to apologize to everyone if that was misleading.

Anyone in Chicago with Lores who wants to compare them to Zu Soul Superflys?

FINALLY, and hopefully, some of you guys won't think I am a nut job anymore for all of my initial rave reviews. I told you guys what I owned before and that the Lores ran right there with all of them for a fraction of the cost!

We now have more evidence to conclude that the Lore is the real deal for a grand! This guy definitely has the skills and talent to build a great speaker - that's obvious - but personally, I believe it is his integrity and walk with the Lord that keeps him on this road of choosing to give us the best designed speaker for the money, rather than cutting corners to cover other costs (i.e., marketing) and more profit.

This industry needs more of this. A nice departure from the standard chicanery.

I would say the comments from the comparisons these guys made fits with my memory of the Soul Superfly at RMAF compared with what I'm hearing with my Lores. I'm interested if Roscoeiii can find some Lores to compare with his Superfly's, but I would wager the result will not be very different.

I'm also a former drummer, and I can definitely relate to what the guys are saying. The nuance of cymbal strikes is great, but so is the attack and midrange detail of the other drums.

Just to let you guys know, I'm nearing a point where I'll be comfortable swapping my Hornshoppe Horns back in for a comparison. Not quite settled yet, and I have some new interconnects I want fully burned in before the comparison.

Look forward to those comparisons with the Horn Shoppes (my other pair of speakers).

Hey guys love the comparisons!!

With the bass level for the lores how do they sound with heavier music? Did you try anything like heavier rock or even metal? I listen to a lot of different music but do listen to some heavier bands as well. Some of the speakers I have tried it does sound like the speaker gets confused. I do not love huge bass like some people do so I am sure the Lores will work out.

Jacobabacon - When we had the 100 watt tube amp with the Lores we didn't play any heavy metal, but we did play complex music loud. And with my 4-watt SET amp I have as well, for example Dire Straits Sultans of Swing. Good bass, a lot of guitar, a driving beat. In both cases I thought the Lores held together very well. They sounded very solid and clean, no breaking up at all. The sound didn't change a whole lot, it just got louder which I suppose is what you'd want.
What's your amp, room, etc.?

Well, I would say I've listened to some pretty heavy rock on the Lores with quite a bit of pleasure. My first night's listening session was with a live Ween concert at concert levels, and I was FULLY rocking out on it. Some of my heaviest bass music is probably my Soul Coughing albums. They have some really intense synthesized bass going on, and especially on Ruby Vroom, it's really high quality as well (upright bass for that stuff). I would never say the Lores were "confused" on any of this material in the bass region.

Your biggest risk with heavy rock, in my experience, is that it's been recorded/mixed using "modern" techniques that quash all the dynamics. If this is the case, the Lores will sound loud but compressed, as that's exactly what the recording is offering. Sometimes that's listenable, other times not. YMMV I could see strong potential for heavy metal to be unlistenable if it was recorded/mixed badly - think modern Metallica. On the other hand, some more underground heavy metal is actually extremely very technically demanding, and I bet some of those recordings paid attention to quality. Not being a heavy metal buff, I can't suggest a good example there.

Bottom line, the Lores will completely rock if the source material and amplification is up to the challenge.

I recently received my Lore speakers connected to the Triode trv-845se integrated amplifier.

First, the Lore's were very well packed. Detailed set of unpacking instructions from Tekton helped ensure no damage upon opening.

I tend to listen to Jazz, both instrumental and vocals.

Initially I connected a sub-woofer to the speakers to strengthen what I would describe as weak and laid back bass. But after about 10 hours I noticed improvement in bass to the point that I disconnected the sub-woofer.

I've listened to different source material with the Lore's and am very happy with the purchase. The speakers present an airy, detailed presentation with good bass.

My other speakers are Daber Audio Monitor 3, Paradigm Monitor 7 v4 and Energy RC30. All the speakers have their own way of presenting the music. I would put the Lore's at the top of the list with the Daber Audio Monitor 3's (a good match with my Primaluna Dialogue Two integrated amp).

Have you also tried the Lore with your Primaluna amp? I would be curious about the pairing.

Hi Genjamon, in fact I did connect the Lore’s to the Primaluna Dialogue Two after posting my last remarks. I wanted to compare the Tekton Lore with the Daber Audio Monitor 3 speakers using the Primaluna Amp.

Overall the Daber Audio Monitor 3 is a better speaker. It presents clearer detail in mid’s and high’s. And the bass is controlled and balanced. Its presentation is more forward and engaging than the Lore’s. It also plays better at lower volume due to stronger bass.

There are times I want a speaker to be laid back. I believe the Lore’s are very good for this. Its mid’s and high’s are presented somewhat equally with the bass in the background.

When I connected the Lore’s to the Primaluna amp the mid’s and high’s are clear, just not as good as the Daber Audio Monitor 3.

The bass with the Lore’s, although good, sounds a little lean. Bass isn’t strong enough at low volume to my liking or for certain types of music, such as rock. One advantage I have with the Primaluna Amp is I have a Pioneer GR-777 Equalizer connected to it. So I chose “heavy” to boost the bass. This improved the overall sound at low volume. The Lore speakers sounded better. With jazz and vocals stronger bass isn’t always preferred by me, so I can fine-tune the sound of the Equalizer or turn it off completely.

Its obvious to me the Lore’s are perfectly capable of playing decent bass. It all comes down to matching the speakers to your equipment. There is just so much tube swapping you can do to a tube amp to get the “right” sound to your taste or to match equipment. That’s why I bought the Equalizer. I wish tube manufacturers would put more emphasis installing defeat-able tone controls.

A big advantage of the Lore is its 98db efficiency. I do not have any experience with horn speakers. But I believe anybody considering the Lore’s for low powered amps would be very happy with these speakers.

I enjoy reading posts on this forum but have only posted a handful of times. When I saw a steady stream of negative comments about Zu by one poster in particular, I was anxious to get Zu's side of the story. I alerted them to this thread and here is their reply.

Disclaimer: I own Soul Superfly speakers.

There seem to be a few misconceptions revealed in this thread, so here are some facts to stabilize the banter:

1. FOR THE RECORD

If there’s any notable inspiration behind our loudspeakers it’s Henry Olsen whose 1934 design for RCA set the template for full range driver loudspeakers of high efficiency.

2. ABOUT OUR FULL RANGE DRIVER. It’s made by Zu AND Eminence, with a few parts coming from other suppliers. It has many things finished by Eminence: the voice coil, the charging of the magnet, the riveting of the yoke / magnet / frame assembly, lay-up of the primary cone, the former assembly. Zu adds its own features to the platform by using modern materials to gain improvements to bandwidth, power handling, power transfer, etc. A quick check to measure the Thiele/Small electromechanical parameters, or even the weight of the driver will suffice to prove our Zu driver is not an Eminence B-102, which does use the same cone profile, voice coil diameter and frame.

Zu does much of the final assembly in-house; driver frame finish, phase plug assembly lay-up final cone processing and driver lay-up, final QC, batching, matching and burn-in. it’s a hands-on process that includes the hand removal of the center dust cap using an Xacto knife.

4. ABOUT OUR TWEETER. One forum posting quotes an ‘inverted tweeter”! We’re sorry to disappoint but there is nothing inverted here. We use the Eminence APT tweeter driver.

5. INCIDENTAL POINTS

We don’t mind that the Lore weighs more than the Omen.

Phase accuracy in a bass-reflex loudspeaker is phase accurate noise – if that’s important to you, no problem.

Any more info required, just ask us – we enjoy a good chat.

Cheers

Simon Matanle
Sales & Marketing Director
Zu Audio
simon@zuaudio.com

Simon,

One of my clients just forwarded to me your Audiogon post.

I suggest that we arrange a very cordial loudspeaker shootout between the two competing products. I personally agree to let my product be compared and compete with yours on every conceivable area and angle in the realm of acoustical physics - this includes accurate testing and detailed measurements (this further includes your claim of my loudspeaker producing more distortion than your product).

Simon, please provide me with the date and time you would like the event to occur. Please schedule an official unbiased (and well known) industry audio reviewer we can both agree on and I will be there with a set of my loudspeakers.

Sincerely,

Eric Alexander
President
Tekton Design, LLC

Let the games begin.

Woohoo!! Why doesn't this kind of stuff happen more often??? I agree with what Z man said.

1985 Bose vs. polk all over again. Both great for the money but have much to be desired. It's a pleasure to listen but a hobby to pick them apart.

B.J. - Great post. Got anything more to contribute?

Hahahaha.....I agree Devil Boy.....can't wait to hear more:)

Zu will likely not accept this challenge wishful thinking guys...

I'm actually not a fan of the adversarial direction this is going. Not that I'm opposed to comparisons, and I have definitely contributed my own observations. I guess I just don't like the idea of the manufacturers getting into a verbal arms race. Does that kind of controversy help either/any of them?