Considering the New Tekton Design Encores? AND Owners Group - Experiences/Questions


I am the very happy owner of the first pair of New Tekton Design Encores and I thought I would create this thread to answer any questions anyone might have regarding the Encore speakers, room considerations, and associated equipment. If you’ve order your pair already, please chime in. I really want to hear what other people’s experience are with these unbelievable speakers.

I drive my Encores with both an Art Audio Diavolo SET 300b Tube Amplifier with 8wpc and I switch in my 700w Nord One-Up SE Monoblocks for non-critical listening and some big pieces of music that benefit from the extra power.



  • Made under U.S. Patent 9247339 with multiple new patents pending
  • Proprietary loudspeaker design
  • Ultra-linear frequency response with ±.5dB deviation from 70Hz-20kHz
  • One single crossover element placed within the tweeter path
  • Ultra-linear, entirely time-invariant minimum-phase mid-range section
  • Proprietary patent pending 15 dome radiating hybrid MTM high frequency array
  • Two 6.5" mid-bass patented ’overtone & harmonic’ transducers
  • Dual 11" low-frequency transducers
  • ​96dB 2.83V@1m sensitivity
  • 4 Ohm design for optimum performance
  • 20Hz-30kHz frequency response​
  • Dimensions Width 13.25" x Depth 15.25" x Height 62"
  • 800 Watt power handling
  • Weight 175 lbs​
128x128jcarcopo

sid-holt-Frenchman,

I'm quite  interested to read your listening impressions of the Don Sachs components compared to your familiar Schiit components. I suspect the sonic presentations are distinctly  different.

Charles

@smodtactical I've been using SET tube amplifiers for 20 years and this is the first solid-state amp to have a beautiful enough midrange to sway me away from tubes while the added weight and heft in the bass region from the XA25's high damping factor provides a solid foundation to any music.  It's an excellent combo and I highly recommend it. Vocals are velvety smooth, string, and wind instruments sound amazingly dynamic, natural, and very real. I highly recommend this particular model over other XA amps in the line up for its unique minimalist use of 4 high output transistors per side, exceptional specifications when compared to all the other XA series, and its specific distortion makeup which, to my ears, comes closest to a SET tube amplifier. 
@charles1dad I will certainly post my impressions and comparisons. The Don Sachs preamp will be arriving far before the amp (still in the queue, no ship date yet), so I will have time for it to settle before adding his KT-88 amp to the mix. Honestly at this point I can't even give a definitive review of the Aegirs with the Encores, or the Encores themselves really, because the Encores are still going through the break-in process. Their sound has continued to change over the last 9 days - for the better I will add. The sound has filled out, especially as the woofers and mid-bass drivers loosen. I assume those require longer breaking in time than the tweeters. Perhaps break-in also influences the overall cohesiveness. At the very least I can say that the Encores don't overload the monoblock Aegirs, unless you are blasting Taiko drum music. And they sound really good.

Once the Sachs preamp ships I will switch to a single Aegir, as his preamp doesn't have balanced XLR outs. I will then eventually compare Sachs/Aegir to Freya+/Aegir and Freya+/Aegirs.
sid-hoff-frenchman,
You have some fun (As well as insightful) times ahead of you given the numerous component matching/switching comparisons available to you. I believe that each separate combo is going to sound good yet notably different.

Good thing is that you really enjoy what you currently have in your system. Very curious to see what degree of change you’ll hear between the Freya and Don Sachs preamplifier when swapped. No doubt that the KT 88 amplifier when inserted is going to make its presence felt.

The Encores IMO are capable of easily revealing any differences amongst all of the component swapping that lies ahead. I think this will prove to be an exciting and fruitful endeavor for you.
Charles