“Invest” in Tekton?


I’ve been a member of Audiogon for a while but haven’t really had the need to utilize the forums until now... I’ve perused the forums pretty extensively the past couple of days but haven’t really found my specific question.... First some background: I’ve had my current system for quite some time (PSB image: 5t, 9c, 2b, subsonic 6; Denon AVR3311 as preamp; and a NAD T955 amp) and have been pretty happy with it... yes, I tend to hold on to my stuff for a while.... I recently decided to explore the option of upgrading/updating my speakers and was pretty interested in some midlevel stuff (SVS Prime, Emotiva, PSB X2T, Paradigm 8, 9, or 10 something…) but ultimately decided the $2000-$3000 price tag wasn’t worth the investment as they were all roughly in the same league as my PSBs... Somehow, I stumbled upon the review of the Tekton double impacts... don’t even know how I found it but there I was... I kinda chuckled to myself when the reviewer started comparing them to $20,000 speakers and then started calling them better at some things... I was a little pessimistic about the review because in my aforementioned research every speaker was the greatest thing since sliced bread.. (To be honest, in my eyes, the professional reviewers lost some credibility because every speaker was just great, couldn’t find a bad review no matter how hard I tried...) Anyhow, the comparison to speakers 7-10x in price piqued my curiosity so I started snooping around for any Tekton reviews I could find and lo and behold, everyone loves them and the comparisons to speakers multiple times their price were plentiful. Ok, so the Tektons are good and now I’m more interested than I should be…

So here’s the rub… I’ve never even considered spending $5000-$6000 on a speaker system (5.0-5.1). Never in my wildest dreams… I’ve always had a theoretical limit of $3k and never gave anything above that a thought. Along comes Tekton with speakers that are in the 5-6k price range (5.0-5.1) but are being compared to speakers $20,000+ and the fact people are putting them in the same league as speakers in that price range, and saying they are better in some instances, is intriguing…

So here’s where I am asking for some assistance. It seems the Tekton lineup is a unique opportunity to acquire reportedly superior sonic performance with apparently unparalleled value. However, $5-6k is a TON of money in my world.. It won’t break the bank but admittedly, it bends it pretty significantly and spending this kind of money on speakers definitely wasn’t a consideration even a week ago… Personally, I am seeing this as a once in a lifetime purchase (am 43 and would expect these to be the last major speaker purchase of my life) but I do need to justify to my betrothed. My original sales pitch to her included the analogy “it seems they are selling Lamborghinis for the price of a Mustang…” and “I really don’t think there will be another opportunity like this” (when did I start selling timeshares???!!!) There are other barriers with her as well (e.g., “They’re how big?!”) but she does have somewhat of an understanding of how much I like music and stereo stuff.. somewhat…

So my actual questions:

  1. To those that have actually heard the speakers, (transducers?)… do you really feel they are leaps and bounds better than typical speakers in the 3-6k range (generally speaking…)? For comparison, I liked the SVS Ultras but due to price and size (yeah, I know how big the Tektons are..) I put them in the “maybe someday” category. To be clear, I’m not asking is “x better than y?” but rather “Do these $3000 speakers really belong in the same class as $20,000 speakers????

  2. In your humble opinions, is this really a rare/unique opportunity with unparalleled value that is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” or are situations like this (incredible value for the money) more common?

  3. I can’t even claim to have a basic understanding of electronics, I’ve read up on ohms and what not and my eyes glaze over.. I spoke with Eric and he, without hesitation, stated my NAD T955 would be plenty sufficient to run whatever options I went with. Thoughts? I intend on using the NAD until it dies (hopefully no time soon) and will deal with next steps when the time is right…

  4. I am super nervous about ordering something so expensive unheard, If anyone is interested, I would like to have a discussion relating to my type of music and listening environment/levels.. (not including in this post to keep size down..)

  5. Any other relavant information I haven't considered, particularly in the area of justifying a purchase such as this?

There are probably 100 other little tidbits I could include in this but I am trying to be as brief as possible and I still wrote a novel… Anyhow, any productive assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

la10slgr
My two cents...

You want system balance. Regardless of how good the speakers are, they are only going to sound as good as the rest of your system permits. You might be better off getting  some Tektons a bit lower in the food chain and using the balance of your money upgrading your source or electronics. It's all about the whole system, not any one part of it.


The only way you can figure this out is to listen to them and see if the added expense is worth it to you.  Whatever somebody else thinks is meaningless.  You may not like this answer, but that's what it is.  
I believe Tekton offers a return period, so I suggest to take advantage of it.  Remember, it's not just whether a speaker is "better", it's how the speaker works in your room and with your equipment, not in some perfect theoretical space that doesn't exist.  
Hello All,
Now I completely agree that you always need the best upstream components that fit your budget and system synergy also always comes into play as well.I was looking to upgrade from my Zu Def's and I also had a pair of Janzen hybrid Valentina's that I recently sold.
About a month ago me and my wife took a trip too visit a magico dealer and demoed a pair of the Q5's that were a demo pair but at the top of my budget.After a 1 hr or so listening session my wife asked me what I thought about them and I told her I liked them but I think I will think about it.

Then I started reading all the reviews about the Di's and thought I will buy a pair and see.This is my first day with them and only a few hrs on them.But I can already tell these are keepers and these are the best sounding speakers I have ever owned in my 30 yrs in this hobby.

I will write up a full review in about a week or so on the other thread.
If you have any specific questions about them feel free to ask.

I'm usually not impressed with most gear especially speakers but these Di's are truly special all hype aside.

Kenny.

Hi Walter,

Thanks for chiming in!  I'm an analogy kinda guy so it seems you are saying I am putting some monster truck tires on a regular pickup?  I hear you on that and am totally on board with the concept of system balance.  I was already wondering that myself (which is why I am asking the things I am asking)...  My first clue was seeing everyone's set up and they are all talking about amps I have never heard of and here I come along with my NAD... Not that there's anything inherently wrong with it (I do love it) but yeah, different leagues...  What Tektons were you thinking of?

I have already put together various packages with/without a sub. 
I talked to Eric and he initially recommended the DIs but also recommended the Electron and Enzo 2.7s for my purposes.  However, by the time you put together a 5.0 or 5.1 there is only about a 10% difference between the DI pkg and the Electron pkg. As for the Enzos, it's a little harder to calculate (can't determine if the pkg does/does not include a sub among other variances) but there does seem to be some savings there...

Chayro:  Thanks for the response.  Totally agree hearing them is the best option but short of driving to Orem Utah not much of an option as 15% restocking fee at $5,000 = $750...  Ironically, I saw they (Tekton) will be at a convention in LA in June and I will miss them by 1 day... 

As for sound quality, note I wasn't asking about that as I understand all of the concepts you presented (took great pains when writing the post to avoid doing just that!) just wanted to know if people really felt they were that good.