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Tekton Impact Monitors

Hi All,
I'm relatively new to Audiogon but have trolled the discussions for a few months. I have been listening to Spendor LS3/5As driven by a Quad 34/306 combination since the late 1980's and decided that it was finally time to upgrade my speakers. I love the Spendors but they are very limited in dynamics and scale. I auditioned the SVS Ultra Bookshelf speakers and while they brought some additional scale they simply didn't have the sweet midrange that I can't live without. I listened to some open baffle speakers (Emerald Physics) and loved them, but their size and need for space worried me, and I found them less satisfying at moderate and low volumes, where I do a fair bit of listening. I was fascinated by all the discussion regarding Tekton speakers and was considering getting a pair of Enzo 2.7s, but after a short discussion with Eric I followed his recommendation of the Impact Monitor with upgrade. They have the 7 tweeter array and a pair of 6.5" woofers and are rear-ported. I use a pair of SVS subs (the sealed variety). The Impact Monitors are simply amazing. The midrange is oh-so-sweet (very similar to my Spendors, but with more air) and the detail, even at low and moderate listening levels, is superb. The imaging is even better than my Spendors managed and the scale is huge and is much more music-appropriate. My system is really quite modest but now when I walk into my listening room (doubles as our living room - thankfully my wife appreciates Hi-Fi) I get the audio-show feeling of "being there". I have a Denon DP59L turntable with a DL110 HO moving coil cartridge running through an Emotiva XPS-1 phono preamp and the Tektons are absolutely incredible with classic rock on vinyl. I'm not sure how Eric managed it, but these speakers are superb, even with my 30 year old Quad electronics. I believe they are basically the top 24" of the Double Impacts, but are rear-ported rather than front ported. I can heartily recommend them and Eric and his team are great to work with. I'm not sure how many other Impact Monitors are out there since the pair I have are S/N 0005 and 0006!  
ky1mag
david_ten
5,480 posts
 
@sbayne 

Terrific review. Well written, easy to follow and understand, and very informative.

It's interesting that your Impacts are similarly positioned as my Double Impacts are, and in similar sized room.

I also agree on the flexibility of amp pairings. It's great that you are using a higher powered amplifier. There has been a lot of discussion vis a vis the DIs, at least, with very low powered amps...good to see a happy pairing and recommendation with higher power output tubes.

Looking forward to hearing more about your journey with your Impact Monitors.
sbayne's avatar
sbayne
493 posts
 

@david_ten - Thanks. I’m in North Carolina and was honkering-down for the tropical storm this weekend so I had some spare-time to work on this review.

As to liking the higher powered amps a little more, I guess that is turning into a personal bias of mine. I have a pair of 100db horns and listen to SET but it just seems that extra power fully fleshs-out the sound on most speakers. That’s obviously a big generalization but that’s where I’m at for now.

I continue to tweek the Impact Monitors and I’m getting better and better sound. But, I go through a lot of equipment so I wouldn’t be surprised if I own a pair of Double Impacts (or higher) at some point. Let’s stay in touch.

stelo
14 posts
 
Anyone has a pair in SoCal? I am intrigued by hearing the Electron or the Impact Monitors.

Thanks, Stefano
soundermn's avatar
soundermn
344 posts
 
What is with the different tweeters?  I've been reading a lot about Tekton, and one thing I keep reading is that he's changing the product "on the fly".  How can you know what you're buying if the product keeps changing?

Also, I know everyone hates his website.  But, I also hate the way he names things.
- the "compact DIs" are called Electrons.
- The Impact Monitor seems like a DI design, and then there is the Impact.
- Impact design is different from the Impact Monitor.  
Logically you'd have DI, Impact and Impact Monitor all with the same design, but different size/scale.  How does he come up with this stuff?

I think his business is that he likes to play with speakers, design whatever his flavor of the day may be.   It seems like everything he sells is just another experiment.  While I understand that he's a brilliant speaker designer, I have this feeling that I won't really know what I'm getting.  It could be different from day to day.

I've gone from being ready to order to walking away, then back to ready to order, then walking away... 
aniwolfe
760 posts
 
Its a very unorthodox way of doing things and hopefully it will work out for him in the end. Marketing wise I would agree the name logic is a bit messy. If I didn’t dig further in his site, I would have never known a mini DI (Electron) existed. I would rename it personally. He desperately needs a good web/graphic designer (me) to get his presence in order.
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