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

@jsoku I will certainly post about how the Aegirs work with the Encores. I ordered about two weeks after you, but as you say the timing could go any number of ways. I'm curious how you decided to go with Encores. You mention you have previously had other Tekton speakers.

In my case I have DIs and have been saving up to climb the Tekton ladder to one of their flagships. Ulfberhts just won't fit in my house. Moabs are pushing it size-wise. Encores I can do. Plus the descriptions I've seen about the sound profile of the Encores sounds closer to what I want than the Moabs. Anyway, I would be interested in how you arrived at Encores. With the popularity of the Moabs, Encores don't seem to get much attention lately. 

@jcarcopo If my Aegirs don't end up working with the Encores I'm trying to develop a working list of other amps to consider. I have heard many good things about the XA25. I know the Tektons can be driven without much power, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the whole MORE POWER IS BETTER philosophy. Again and again people say things like "you can never have too much headroom," etc.

The XA25 sounding great with the Encores seems to run counter to that idea, especially as it only provides 50W at 4 ohms on a speaker that can handle 800W. For instance many people seem to love the Parasound A21+. It's nearly $2k cheaper than the XA25, but provides much more wattage. Have you tried using more powerful amps as well for comparison? Interested in your thoughts on this.

@SEDOND- the speakers are 4ohm.right..so if they drop to 2 ohm? that is 4 watts that is how they get 96 Db @ 2.83 volts sensitivity @ 1meter.that is ,why i said 3/4 watts.so this means the sensitivity is*less* right not *more*.and your right. when you said my speaker would be 98Db sensitivity. but they are not .they are 96 Db sensitivity @ 1watt @ 1meter .they are 8 ohms. they do not drop *below* 6 ohms true 8 ohms. the -op- speakers are a true 4 ohms. they do not drop below 2 ohms? that is why i said 90Db.not 93 Db i said my speakers are 3% efficiency they are.so the -op- speakers are about .5% efficiency? that is why i said miss leading.all so they do not tell you what frequency they sweep for sensitivity.-500Hz or 1000Hz or 2000Hz? jbl sweeps 100Hz to 500Hz sensitivity # is lower but efficiency is higher. the -op- said he call schiit audio.ask about the aegir amp. they told him.it don’t like 2ohm loads. i bought the same amp. they said what speakers do you have i said jbl 4435 monitor. they said your fine.that is what i mean by sensitivity is not efficiency.i am not saying to buy 4435. when you look at the 4435 manual they do not miss lead. i do not what to hijack the -op- i wish the best.the -op-has a great 8-watt amp it needs high efficiency speakers jbl is the only speaker company i know. that gives efficiency rating on there monitor.if the-op- asked tekton the efficiency on the encores thats the? i do not know all.i hope sum facts are corrected.

@sid-hoff-frenchman My previous Tektons were the SEAS Pendragons.  Back in 2013, I called Eric to inquire about trying out his Pendragon speakers which were getting a fair amount of rave press at the time for their "live" sound.  I explained to Eric that I wasn't really an audiophile and I have some mild high frequency hearing loss, and I wanted to try out his Pendragon speakers thinking that the "live" dynamic sound signature might appeal to me and my hearing problems.  Eric suggested I try out the SEAS Pendragons instead which was very new at the time, explaining that he thought its more linear sound signature might be better than the Pendragons for my hearing issues.  I took his suggestion and I've enjoyed the SEAS Pendragons since then, but every year thereafter have been watching with dismay and envy as Tekton launched a bewildering array of critically acclaimed speaker designs, so I decided to make an upgrade purchase this year.
I settled on the Encores for much the same reason as you.  I wanted to get one of the Tekton flagships but the Ulfs are simply too big for my listening room which is about 12X20 with low ceilings.  Moabs I could barely fit, but they would be really be pushing it too.  I didn't want to get any of the others for fear that I'd be itching to upgrade again in a few years.  I called Eric and asked him what he thought for me between the Encores and Moabs.  Eric said that if I liked the SEAS Pendragons, the Encores might be a better fit for me than the MOABs.  He described the Encores having a fuller more refined sound like the SEAS Pendragons' sound signature type, whereas the MOABs emphasized the "live" sound signature type that Tekton is known for.  
Eric is also building me a SEAS Pendragon center channel so I can move my SEAS Pendragons out to my home theater to replace some Monitor Audio fronts and center which have decent high frequency sound but the midrange is not as good as the SEAS Pendragons so moving them in there is an upgrade to the home theater as well.

@ditusa I drove my Encores to 94db peaks and 90db continuous spl from 10ft away with only 13 pc not 8wpc when using my Art Audio Diavolo.  Tom Willis installed the larger power transformer modification to support a 300bxls tube. Rather than argue with you, I will only say I did it and it sounded fine, even the bass.  I now own Allnic A6000 Quad Parallel SET Monoblocks which I run with only one 300bxls at 15wpc currently in the summer months and with up to 4 300bxls to produce 60wpc in the winter months.  The thing I notice is that at my normal listening level of 85db I don't need more than 15wpc anyway. I only moved up to Allnics because I had upgraditus and always wanted to own a more powerful pair of SET monoblocks and I love the EML 300BXLS tube.

@sid-hoff-frenchman I did own a pair of Nord 700wpc/4ohm One Up SE Ncore Class D Monoblocks ($4k) for awhile. They sounded alright, but absolutely nothing sounds like a good tube SET amp to me (I'm very biased about this so take that into consideration), except maybe the XA25 coming in as a close 2nd.  I thought having the Nords would be good for when I watch TV/MOVIE or just to save my tubes from wear when I am not critical listening.

I use a Luxman AS-55 Amp/Speaker Switcher to switch between tube and solid-state amps in my system.  Now, did having all that overhead make a difference?  Yeah you can blow your eardrums out, but most realistic listening levels are achieved at much more pedestrian wattage levels. The XA25 produces 50 watts into 4ohm at .01% distortion in pure class A and has reserves to go much further.  Most amplifiers are at 1% distortion at their rated power.

It's a 10 to 1 ratio with wattage anyway.  It takes 1000w to effectively double the output of 100w amplifier in spl.  So even with 50w you need 500w just to double the perceived spl.  At least that's how it's been explained to me. Please correct me if I am wrong.  All that being said, the Parasound pairs nicely with Tekton.  Eric loves pairing them together at shows and events.  You really can't go wrong with them.