Zu Omen or Tekton Lore


Best floorstanders under $999 for low power SET amp?

Thanks
mstark
Hi Guys.....I spoke with Eric today and yes there is an 8 Ohm Pendragon coming out soon in the next week or so. It obviously makes pairing with a SET amp a little more friendly. I also laid down my cash and will soon have a pair in my living room:).
Analoguefan it sounds great, can you post somethin with some deep bass ? No techno or stuff like that.
just posted 2 videos on YouTube for my modest system built around tekton

Search them on you tube Here are the 2 titles:

Primaluna 2 with tekton lore

Audiophile vinyl,tube and tekton lore
...ideot!

Honestly, this is the funniest post in the whole thread. While I don't know if Zmanastronomy made a typo or if he was having a bit of fun but when I read that, I could hear some Frenchman verbalizing this in accented English.

Audiovile, too bad you didn't get the joke.
Capellaudio -- I just read through this entire thread and I see you got the Pendragons but I wanted you to know that I heard the GoldenEar Tech speakers (Triton IIs) in both HT and 2-channel setups and I thought they were better suited for HT.

In the HT setup, they were driven by an Integra receiver and the room was huge (can't even begin to estimate the volume). In the 2-channel setup, they were in a treated room, maybe 16x12, powered by an all-McIntosh front-end, and I have to say, while the bass was good, the top-end seemed too rolled off for my tastes. Sandy Gross was there at the 2-channel demo and I'd think he'd have had a little bit to say about the set-up and the placement of the speakers, if not the gear used.

I have heard them three times and I don't get all the rave professional reviews they have received. This is my opinion only, or course, so here's hoping you are finding success with the Pendragons.

Cwazz, on the other hand, if you are looking for bass, the Triton IIs might be what you are looking for. While a step-up in price, they deliver very good base at their pricepoint.

After several months of suggestions from other members, it doesn't seem as if you have tried to implement any of their suggestions so maybe changing up speakers is what you need to do. Personally I think your room itself needs to be addressed first, but see if you can at least auditon a pair of Triton IIs.
Morganc - I have the 11 watt class A Xindak MT-01. With good tubes it is a perfect match in my mid-sized room. I also have a 200 watt Marsh A400s - great for rocking out and wanting some incredible dynamics and a powerful low end, but the tube amp is most certainly a better match in terms of tone and musicality... when the pens are set up right (equalateral triangle off the back wall with a nice wide stance), to me they are one of the best sounds I've ever experienced...
Hey guys,
Any Updates out there from Pendragon owners? I auditioned a pair locally last night and really enjoyed them. It is hard to compare them directly to my Omen Defs in a different room with a different set up, but overall they did sound great. Also what kind of amps are you guys running with your Pendragons?
Thanks,
Morgan
Hi all ! Great idea guys as I like to stand sometimes and listen , tilting them a bit might be the ticket . I agree these things just nuts . Everyone that has heard mine just sit there and shake their heads , esp when I tell them they are only getting 4wpc , max .
Sebrof,
My current speakers are the overacheiving Vandersteen 1c's.They use the nut and screw method to provide tilt back....don't know why I didn't think in that direction, glad you did. Thanks Gpowered for the other tilt option.

The Lores seem to change sound character more than the 1c with a change in vertical listening position. Tilt back should help.

As an aside, I really like the sound of these speakers. The midrange is detailed yet non fatigueing. A gem of a speaker and worth the high praise I've seen.
I have a larger spike for Pendragons (they come with taller spikes). Call him and I am sure he'll take care of you.
Gooddomino - I raise the front of the speaker slightly by screwing the front spikes out. I screw a thin nut to the threads all the way, then screw the spike into the speaker (fronts 2 spikes).
I don't listen while standing pretty much ever.
What did you do with any other speaker you've had?
Just hooked up my Lores today. I do notice a change in soundstage when listening while standing and with the top driver at ear level. What are you guys doing to raise this speaker up? I listen alot just standing around. I don't want to put them on a pedestal. Does Eric have a longer spike for the front spike holes?
8ohm Pendragon? Yes.

I talked with Eric last week. Looks like enough folks were interested that he's taking a long, serious look at rejiggering the Pendragon to support an 8ohm variant. Will need different drivers, of course, but Eric said he knew where he wanted to go with it. 98db @ 8 ohms minimum. Might be a whole different thing, no?
Rsfphil well u know what they say bigger isn't always better in some cases but in mine Bigger is definently better ..... Those panels on your listening room ruined the experience not to mention the amp thats older then me and Gpowered put together ... Lol .... I mean Scott is legendary but these speakers pack alot more then what your Scott amp can produce.... But that's how it is in the audio world ..... Btw I'm happy you got the Lores back rsfphil enjoy ....
Not sizing the speaker to the room is one of the most common mistakes made in audio.
Good points made above regarding matching speakers to the room. I had an epiphany of sorts last year when I dropped the small Katz Meows in my 12' x 13' room. I had been fighting trying to get good sound in here for several years with Maggie's, Martin Logan's and Klipschorns, all good speakers but never sounded right. The Katz with the 8" main really opened my eyes because as soon as they started to play I realized my main problem was speakers that were too big for the room. I've since had Zu Omens and now Lores and I fight no more.
Hi GPowered,
I think your point is worth emphasizing as most people on these boards simply read good or bad, but one big key is matching speaker with room! The Lores are amazing in a small room at nearfield, but I am sure the Pendragons, which are very similar to my Omen Defs, would be much better suited in a larger room. Not that the Lores are bad in a large room, but just not as large of a soundstage, less dynamics, and less bass than the larger speakers. Maybe one day I will get to compare the Pendragons to the Omen Defs. That would be a better comparison, and my guess is that I would prefer the tweeter in the Pendragons over the OD's.
I am running Pendragons with a 11 watt Xindak amp and it is plenty of power. I am getting powerful, tight bass with beautiful tonality and very articulate upper bass. I wouldn't be inclinded to think a 4ohm load is big deal as long as it is linear. Capellaudio bought those Pens and described his room as being small... I would conclude that would be the issue. The Pendragons need more than just 10x12 or so room to play or they will overwhelm the room. It sounds like they were a bad match with that Scott amp as well... but lets not be quick to such a conclusion that it is a 4ohm problem... because as I said my little chinese amp has no problem whatsoever. Since I replaced the tubes, I am getting crystal clear beautiful sound that transcends the Lore by a fairly wide margin (as it should re the price difference), and with that I am off the upgrade train finally! That is not to say that the Lores don't sound similar.. as they are great and surely do.. but the Pens recreate the live event better as they have a much thicker, and more powerful bottom and play more open due to the design with the triple tweeter array.

This gentleman clearly downgraded because in his room, simply less is more.
Hi all ! Evank... I think the veneer is $250 or $300 upcharge . Rsfphil....That 4 ohm load on the Pendragons is what steered me to the Lores . My small tube amp doesnt like low ohms . These Lores are just fantastic .
I'm glad you're enjoying them. If only I had a bigger room. Oh well. Looks like my loss was your gain. My Lores arrived yesterday and I couldn't be happier. Everything is right again.
Hey friends iv had the Pendragons for a little over 1 month and this is coming from a guy who loves his music .... Truck hold 6 12" inch eve full range speakers with bema speaker in front and back and rear so imagine the sound coming out from a alpha sonic 2000 watt amp with 2 12"inch solobaric...extreme dosnt matter what kind if music you prefer one thing about a good set of speakers is that it will perform no matter weather music home theater .... Mind you I have my pendragons hooked up different then most ... Some would say crazy but remember my truck system and those massive speakers ... Now I have a pioneer sc-57 which has a class D pioneer based of ICE .... Being high effecient this class d not to mention a 192k 32bit Dac it has more then enough power to drive these speakers and I can't go all the way up on the dial this concludes the point im trying to make.... Huge soundstage .... Tight deep base and although ohms are different between car and home stereo I promise you anyone who purchase these speakers will no doubt realize it was the best choice you may have made year to date.... Enjoy
My Lores arrived today. These are my second pair. With 95% of the music I listen to the Lores were fantastic. I got greedy and wanted the extra 5% so I upgraded to the Pendragons. To make a long story short, the Pendragons didn't work out for me. I tried everything I could think of but I just couldn't get them to sound right. They were overpowering the room and the bass was a little muddy. I think some vintage amps prefer an 8 ohm load as opposed to the Pendragons 4 ohm load. I was thinking of trying a more modern tube amp, but I am committed to the Scott and I still had the room to deal with and I didn't want to spend any more money. I sure with a more modern amp and an appropriate size room the Pendragons would sound excellent. I just finished listening to Joni Mitchell's "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter" and it never sounded better. I think the Lores are a perfect match for my room and amp. All is well again. I learned a very expensive lesson. The Lore is one hell of a speaker.
He said it is absolutely "stupid good" for the money, but Lore is still Supreme. However, as a guy that moved from the $1K Lore to $2,500 Pendragon, I would say that these two models are going to be extremely close... based on the fact that atleast in principle, Lore and P'dragon are also similar. The fact is, this guy builds world class stuff for the money, period!

The cost difference is likely the Vifa vs. Audax tweeter. The Audax tweeters are more expensive. But still some may prefer the Vifa tweeter. If you do a search on Eminence, you should be able to basically figure out the driver he's using...

The woofer in the Pendragon looks like an Eminence Legend BP-02, although Eric may be using a different spec driver than what we would buy off the shelf. And with that in mind, the driver in Oriel "looks like" one of the Delta series drivers. The point to remember with these two designs (Lore v Oriel), but NOT speaking for Eric here... is that the Lore driver has a whizzer and therefore it is going to hand off to the tweeter higher up (around 3Khz I believe), where as with the Oriel, I would assume that it is going to hand off to the tweeter quite a bit lower than that. Still, Eric is all about simpliciy so I would assume that in both of the these, execution is well done. Hope this helps...
Gpowered

What else did he say about the new model compared to the Lore , sound wise , drivers, etc...
Socrates7 - I spoke to Eric about this, and it is not a replacement for the Lore. It is simply a new model that is set to bridge the gap between Mini Lore and Lore. He had received many requests about a less expensive, full size Lore model. So I wouldn't expect the Lore to ever sell under a grand again unless it is B stock. Truth be told, all of these are going to be competition killers in at the price.

I am listening to my pendragons now fully broken in and they are simply the best speaker I have ever heard, especially with the live recordings (I know I have said this allot). The upgraditis has completely been squashed, though I owe that more to my walk with the Lord, but still... the Pens are a big time speaker no doubt. Expect great things from Eric the guy was the first in about 15 speakers I had to finally satisfy ... I can now only ask... where am I to go from here ?? Surely spending more wouldn't make any sense at all.

I say buy the one you can afford and don't look back...
Oriel looks more like a replacement for the Lore. $850 "introductory pricing" is reminiscent of the Lore intro pricing. Bits and bobs are all very similar to the Lore (or so it seems). Might be a revision?
I think its just a larger version of the M-Lore . The M Lore got a great review so this might not be too bad after all
I believe it's supposed to fill virtually all of the Lores benefits at a lower price. I don't think the Lore is going to go on sale again. That is what Eric seemed to allude when I spoke to him.

I would be interested if it indeed did have a little lower extension. I have not heard the speaker yet though. I hope to in the next few weeks. Perhaps when I get a day off I'll make the drive.

Eric emailed me a few days ago and knows I like doing videos and stuff as a hobby, and I said sure it would be fun to make one.

Anyways that is all know :)
It is not the Pendragon tweeter. I have the dragon and it has SB Acoustics Ring Radiator tweeters. The tweeter in the Oriel is a high efficiency soft dome Vifa tweeter. Knowing Eric it is likely very detailed and smooth. It looks similar to what is in the mini-Lore but not certain it is.

The Oriel looks to be like a mini-lore on steroids - since it is 98db and be driven with very low watts. I would also wonder if it has a slightly better bottom end then Lore, since the Eminence driver he selected does not have a whizzer and therefore is not going to play as high in frequency... with that trade off it may roll off differently on the low end??

I know the jump from the lore to pendragon in bass is gigantic... and this woofer seems closer to what I have in the Pens. I am betting this Oriel is equal to Lore but with different trade offs.
The Oriel appears to be in the Lore cabinet but with different 10" drivers and different tweeters. Looks like the drivers in the $2500 Pendragon but I don't know for sure.
I own Lores and am tempted just to see how the new ones sound. To be honest it's almost like a sale on Lores
I spoked with Eric the other day. He didn't give me all the details, but he does have something planned for black Friday, or cyber Monday. Not sure. If I find out I'll post back
Get yourself a pair of ESS AMT3's. The Omens will sound like a transistor radio in comparison. Soundstaging/tonal balance and imaging are far superior-and this thing was made in 1974.
I tried a set of Omens-the reminded me of the "Emporer's New Clothes"-i.e 'their ain't nothing there'-pardon my english.
Hi all ! Been running my Lore's and Mini Beast for almost a week now and I am very happy with both . I plan to pull the Mini Beast out and tidy up the wiring a bit . I think I will put the Cary in and see how that does . In triode mode it is 50 wpc. The Mini Beast is only 4 wpc and hasnt clipped yet as far as I can tell . Both the lore and mini beast are most excellent.....crazy good for the money . If it wasnt for you guys I would have ever known about these . BTW ...gpowered we both have a common friend.... good ole stereoal from north tampa , talked to him last night ..... thx again all , brad
I had a friend come over to show off his snazzy new Phonic PAA6 (Professional Audio Analyzer).

We hooked up my Tekton Pendragons and ran a pink noise test (from PAA6 ==> First Watt B1 preamp ==> First Watt F5 amp ==> Tekton Pendragon). Using the microphones on the PAA6, it measured pretty flat across the whole spectrum (a few dips and spikes pretty likely attributable to the room, but not large in any case), all the way down to below 20 Hz. In fact, the scale stopped at 7.6Hz and it was still looking pretty flat.

Nothing to say about that but WOW.
I read an older review on a tekton subwoofer. Like it said. It's older, but it kinda showing a tekton trend. Good prices for amazing sound. Here is the link if you re intrested.

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/1109/tekton_design_s12.htm
Hey Sebrof: There is actually only ONE Pendragon speaker. Before it's offical name, Eric referred to it as "The Lore-based" speaker. I said that also so that the moderator wouldn't deem my post unrelated to this thread.

Truth be told though, it is surely an offspring of the Lore. The sound character is very similar... although the Pendragon has a mucher higher spl capability, a much larger soundstage, and more clarity... but again, all relavent to the room size. Put these in a small room and it could overload the room easily.
11-03-11: Gpowered
"Tekton Pendragon update: this is for the "Lore-based" Pendragon update"

GP - What are the specifics with the Lore Based Pendragon? Does Eric sell 2 types, or is the updated type the new standard now?
Thanks
Jeff, it sound like the Pendragons are a lot of speaker for the money. It speaks volumes about a speaker that you once had, Sold for a much more expensive speaker and then came back to the same one.
I'm glad you're enjoying them. I'll have to come over one day to take a listen.
Tekton Pendragon update: this is for the "Lore-based" Pendragon update... I have about 10 days of almost straight playing time on them now. I have realized quite a difference now that they are spread out a bit... they like at least 7.5ft part and the more the better. With that set up, imaging is spot on and the soundstage wide with great depth. These speakers are just tremendous. They are so much more "convincing" than the $9K Greybeards were. The other day I was listening to a live recorded Hillsong cd track and it pressurized my entire room. Not sure what is more convincing than that. But on another note, they sound great at any volume, and always very full. There is no weakness to this speaker, other than for some it is going to be too big. I won't be getting rid of these unless my room shrinks. Finally there..

I'll be hooking up my 12w Xindak this weekend. I listened to it briefly the other day, and compared to the powerful ss Marsh, the sound is sweeter and with greater depth / holographic effect. It is also a bit more musical and with a nicer "tone" with the tube amp. But it obviously won't play as loud and effortless as it does with the Marsh. It also seems to have extremely powerful lower bass with the Marsh simply because there is just so much power on tap - this is a 4ohm speaker and the Marsh puts out 350w into 4ohms... WHAT an amazing experience on a 98db speaker! Talk about dynamics and a complete lack of compression... WOW!
I am about 1-1.5ft from the left side wall, but then I have quite a bit more distance to the right due to the room layout... and 28.5" off the back wall (from the back of the speaker). I could flip the setup in the room but then it means I have window on the back wall... I'd rather avoid that.
Gpowered thanks for the info. Can you please tell me
How far are the speakers from back wall ans side walls.
I remember someone in this thread mentioning that
His Lores are just 7" from the back wall and the bass
Is great. I am not a bass fanatic at all and my Lores are 31" from back wall and 20" from side walls.
Boniccie - the Maggie sound is extremely detailed and transparent. They are fun to listen to, but vastly different. They are a wall of sound opposed to the 3-dimentional and deep soundstage that the Lore throws with a good tube amp. That combo you have has to be awesome. Hopefully you are able to bring the Lores out into the room a little to get the depth effect. I also think the Lores sound more realistic in terms of a "lively", or effortless presentation.

I have my Pendragons dialed in just right now... I figured out the perfect set up in my room, and I would take these over a pair of Maggie 3.6's any day. There is no compression with the music whatsoever, and now that I have them set right... imaging is spot on. Missing nothing with them... and I am listening with a 200w Marsh A400S right now. never thought solid state would work so well with the Tektons...