Tekton Double Impacts

@snopro   Thank you so much for your honest feedback on the MZ2S' performance for you. It's very helpful and I for one am glad you posted in the face of very strong support for this preamp in this thread. 

Thanks everyone for your kind words and being civil about different opinions!
Charles, you are to kind and seem like a true gentleman. Your insights are highly regarded on this forum, my friend.

Here's my take between the amps, IMS.

The Franks are all about tone, texture, and timbre. They are wonderfully open and very natural sounding (organic) with nice extension and dynamics. No soft, syrupy, highly colored sound here. Very powerful sounding for only 8 watts. Excellent with Jazz, (about 80% of my listening) vocals, and acoustic music. Very good with just about everything else. They are wonderful amps especially with good 300b tubes. My favorite are Takatsuki TA-300b's very refined and well balanced. Just a wonderful amp!

The Pass XA-30.8 is a brute in silk gloves. They are 30 watts of pure class A, but really are rated very conservatively. It weights about 85lbs.
The Pass goes lower and is more dynamic. The soundstage actually is a little bigger with very nice layering and separation. Its not as open and emotionally engaging as the Franks, but comes pretty close. That is high praise for it being a SS amp. Highly recommended for anyone who doesn't want the hassle with tubes. My speakers have 16 woofers altogether and the Pass really take control of those woofers, which the Frank's can't quite do. They are very smooth and grainless. If you enjoy rock, pop, and amplified music they do that very well. it also sounds wonderful with Jazz, vocals, and acoustic music just not as good the Franks.

It's nice to be able to enjoy both and I very much do, my 2 cents.

Joe   

David,
I described both the Line Magnetic and the Pass Labs as being regarded as excellent amplifiers. Some speakers by design are meant to be used with amplifiers with low output impedance and consequently higher damping factor for sufficient woofer control. This scenario would favor the Pass Labs transistors.

The admirable beauty of the Double Impacts is a variety of different àmplifier types can be used with success. I’d expect the Pass Labs to excel in the region of "tighter" bass control as this is a strength of good solid state amplifiers. I’d expect the Line Magnetic SET to have a edge in tone, timbre and 3 dimensional presentation.

As Snopro pointed out in his 2 amplifier comparison (SET versus solid state) there is overlapping sonic qualities between the two as well as inevitable distinct advantages or strengths of each individually. I can understand why Snopro has kept both superb amplifiers. It gets tricky if you can only have one, then personal taste rules the day.
Charles

Long thread, let me see if I have this all strait.
1. Tekton - Double Impact $3000
2. Tekton - Double Impact + upgrade package $3300
3. Tekton - Double Impact SE $6000 not yet available
Please correct list if not accurate.
Any idea of SE release date?
Thanks

Snopro, I was wondering if you rolled tubes in the MZ2s? Using vintage NOS tubes make a huge difference in this piece. A number of us are using the Tungsol black glass round plates and Teajay and me are using Brimar 6060's which are just gorgeous in the midrange. I had a Supratek Chenin a number of years ago and enjoyed it for a few years. In my rig at the time it had great tone but I found the imaging a bit lacking. I was tempted to try Mick's more expensive offerings but never did. I agree with the rest of the group that there are no wrong answers in what sounds best to your ears. As an aside, I heard the Horning speakers at High Water Sound's room at Axpona 2 years ago and they were lovely.  It was one of the few rooms at the show that actually did music instead of hi-fi.  I am quite sure that they must be amazing in your system. Happy Labor Day to everyone.