I agree with you 100%. I feel he is shilling for Tekton. I tried a pair of their Pendragons 2 years ago at my home was very unimpressed. I kept asking where is the bass?
I think you and I are 5-6 weeks away to our GE References. I was told they will be arriving to the US warehouse by July 10th, then off to the various dealers. I've been waiting since February 15th and am getting very antsy. I hope they are as easy to dial in as the Triton 1 were.
With a user name of "tekton", only 5 posts to your credit, and given that you are unable to even understand the correct name of "Triton" and not "Titan", no doubt you would recommend Tekton.
Here is what one dealer I know had to say about the Tekton Double Impacts.
"This Tekton designer is stating obvious facts that are known by all loudspeaker designers, that is why multi way speakers are around. The smaller midranges and tweeters are lower in mass and handle the upper harmonics of instruments. His stating that a guitar producing a 41hz note is only being reproduced by a subwoofer with a 200-300 gram cone is totally false, the upper harmonics of that guitar note are being reproduced by the midrange and tweeter which are much lower in mass and able to reproduce the harmonics. He also doesn’t state what his speaker does that is different to try and diminish the mass of the drivers, they look pretty typical to me. I think this is pretty much snake oil."
Great that you auditioned and are now "taking a chance". Best of luck.
I have auditioned the Titan 1s at length and then decided to take a chance on the Tekton Double Impacts. The Titans sounded very nice but the DIs are in a different league. I have not heard the Reference GEs but I can't imagine them sounding better than the DIs. They are also much more expensive. I have owned several high end speakers from the likes of Dunluvy and Avantgarde....they do not compare to the DIs. I STRONGLY recommend you call Eric at Tekton and try the DIs for 30 days...you will NOT return them. Cheers
I don't know which amp. It was a big one with meters, something from their recent lineup as he only began carrying the brand about a year ago. I didn't take notice of the exact model because I couldn't stand the system for more than a couple minutes. The room/setup looked professional and well done, so I'm not sure how much that contributed to the poor sound. I've only heard GE speakers at this retailer, the Triton Ones and the Triton Fives, neither sounded good to my ears. The Ones were running off the McIntosh amp and the Fives were running off an Onkyo Integra AVR. Both setups sounded shrill and bright with weak bass. The Monitor Audio and Revel speakers he also sells were far more tolerable in the treble region.
Honestly, I can't imagine how anyone could like the GE speakers if they typically sound like the ones I heard. I haven't heard any Tektons, but after my experience with GE, I'd risk ordering the DI's if I had to choose between these two options. Have you looked into Salk Sound? I almost took a gamble on their Song 3 towers.
I heard them a couple times , sounded OK to me but nothing special. Of course, casual listening in a dealers room is not conclusive but I've been doing it for 50 years so I usually get pretty close . Did not listen my best because I would never buy any speaker with built-in amp .
One of my local dealers has some Triton 1s hooked up to some high-dollar McIntosh amp. It is one of the absolute worst systems I've heard. They are ear piercing bright in his setup. I've heard $500 systems that sound far better.
I recently bought a pair of Sonist Recital 3s as I was looking for more efficient speakers to allow a single ended lower power scheme (scheme…yeah man). They're fabulous sounding and built to a very high standard with solid poplar cabs, fancy wire, ribbon tweeters made from actual ribbon (recycled from birthday and holiday gift wrapping), and general grooviness. One should look for grooviness in speakers.
The Triton Ones were a strong contender, among speaker choices for me. The Reference was announced about a week after my first lengthy audition of the Ones. The dealer stepped up and offered me an excellent trade-up offer if I started with the Ones, given the potentially long release time for the Refs (at that time).
So the question for me was whether I would wait for the Ref; or go with the Ones and then decide to upgrade; or go with another speaker choice. I chose to take a risk with the Double Impacts, primarily on Terry London’s just posted (at that time) review.
There isn’t a ’wrong’ choice here; rather, both are excellent choices. I personally don’t get into the ’what’s better than something else’ discussions since there are so many variables involved with our choices.
Having said that, I haven’t thought of the Ones, one bit. The Double Impacts just make it happen for me and my needs. And, having said that, I still plan on auditioning the GE Reference once my local dealer has them on their floor.
Hi Cardiffkook- What I understand is DIs performed well when placed away from front/side wall, I was thinking only Bipole speakers (i.e., Def. Tech) performance depends on how far we place them away from front/side walls and Tekton DIs are not bipole in nature. Correct me if i'm wrong!
I own a pair of GE Triton 2s and have heard a pair of Tekton DIs at a local dealer. For me the DI's were significantly better. One reason is that the DI does not require close room boundary reinforcement for the bass. My Triton 2s sound absolutely anemic to me when pulled well out into the room (away from the FW).
Please allow me to clarify that I am an imaging and soundstage lover. I am not satisfied with speakers which do not throw a HUGE 3D soundstage behind the speakers. The DIs play huge with excellent bass and a great soundstage well away from any walls, let alone the FW.
Every time I have heard Triton 1s at shows they are crammed a few feet from the FW, so I am assuming they also require it. If so, they are not the proper speaker for me. But then again, I am a depth and soundstage freak, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
I never heard the triton but I just picked up a set of Tekton double impacts that will replace my Tekton Lore, after all the nearly 100% praise from actual owners on several threads around the web I had to try these, and boy did they put a smile on my face, I can tell you that these are staying with me for a long time, unless I win the lottery, the sound stage is tall, wide, these speakers disappear with little to no room placement tweaks. The sound is detailed, clear and presented with authority. If you can listen to both of course it would be best but, these are worth a listen. I had the Lores, Emotiva stealth 6 and now the DI plus one Xapona show under my belt for reference.
Check out the Double Impact thread. The tweeter array is the key along with low crossover freq. of the drivers. I love my DI's. While I have not heard the GE's I have read several posts comparing the two with the DI's coming out on top. Please do not assume the DI's sound like the Pendragons or other models in the Tekton line. Again the tweeter arrray is what defines this speaker. Good luck in finding your speaker.
I like too go by impressions from owners and not so much from just one or two reviews ,Offcourse always best to actually try something in your own room and gear.
I don’t believe that you can view a speaker and accurately predict its sound quality. Preconceived ideas can be misguided and simply wrong. You have to listen to a product. Word of mouth impressions from actual owners/listeners say that the Double Impacts sound superb. Charles
George, the tweeter array in the Tektons sounds marvelous. Don't write them off just because they're unconventional. I have the Double Impacts and the 7 tweeter array produces a magical sounding midrange. Live recordings and vocals are amazing on them.
I second that and I hear more clarity,weight,as much detail and inner detail along with delicacy when the recording has it and just plainly sounds real and sized correctly than any other speaker that I have owned or heard including panels.
I haven't heard any of the GE speakers and really don't care too they look pretty quirky to me.
Also I do believe that Eric tests and matches the 7 tweeters in the array mine are marked with numbers on the back of them.
George, I have heard some line array speakers in the past that have the problems you mentioned but the DI's simply don't I'm stil amazed everyday with mine.
George, the tweeter array in the Tektons sounds marvelous. Don't write them off just because they're unconventional. I have the Double Impacts and the 7 tweeter array produces a magical sounding midrange. Live recordings and vocals are amazing on them.
I’d go with the Golden Ear Triton 1, even though I haven’t heard them, I have a problem with the thought and the physics of asking that all those tweeters in the Tekton can act in perfect unison without any smearing/time lag problems, painstaking matching of all of them still can’t be exact as one good tweeter working in it’s optimal power and frequency range.
Still waiting for my pair of Reference as well. I am keeping my Triton Ones though and moving them into my secondary system. The Triton Twos in the secondary system will be posted for sale by end of Summer.
I never heard the double impact speakers but I did have a pair of the Pendragons in my system for a period of a week. Personally, I didn't care for them so back they went to the factory.
Having owned the Golden Ear Triton One for 14 months and subsequently selling only because of the forthcoming Triton Reference - which I am patiently waiting another 7 weeks or so for - my recommendation is Golden Ear. Admittedly, I never heard/seen the tekton double impact speakers though.
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