Tekton tweeter design


Hi everyone,

I found a cool, fact filled thread with some smart DIY'ers over at the DIYAudio forum about how the Tekton tweeter arrays are wired and how they work.

Kind of interesting in how they were innovative in some ways, and in others did some questionable things. Reminds me of Infinity, who developed crazy crossovers in large part by ear, which we can now really improve upon. Still good sounding, but in hind sight we wonder about them.


https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/336743-help-understanding-tekton-tweeter-array-schematic.h...


Please, keep your flames over here on Audiogon. :)
erik_squires
I noticed “problems” with the vertical dispersion of this tweeter array. The highs seemed to change a lot with small changes in listening position height. No big deal I guess, just something I noticed with the impact monitors I owned.
Hi @travbrow

Part of it is by design. Having a tight beam means less room interference. The speakers will sound more like headphones when you are in the sweet spot.


But part of it was how they tweeters would remain integrated off axis. That part is clearly lacking based on the measurements.

@travbrow.   My point/ question was that this is not an expensive or exotic tweeter.... so how well does it do piano... or trumpet... or cymbals.... or saxophone or other hard to get right tones?  Is the tone/pitch good or is it outstanding?   All of the reviews of the models with this array would seem to point toward outstanding.  What was your observation?


As for using 6 tweeters to act as a midrange because of being lighter weight and hence faster... based on price alone the 6 tweeters would be similar to a good midrange driver... presumably the “sound” must be better or why go this route?


The tekton array has garnered lots of good comments... so understanding “how and why” it works is interesting. 
One thing I know is not happening, is you are not getting better sound from lighter, more drivers. That's a myth that has been debunked numerous times.

In terms of extension, dynamic range and distortion, large drivers with equally large motors rule.
I wanted to say, in case this wasn't clear, that I am neither a fan boy nor a detractor of Tekton.


I think they are ugly, but I think the tweeter array is interesting, and their ability to sell the speakers at the prices they do is amazing.


I've also had issues with the crossover design, but a lot of the conventional wisdom thrown at them about the arrays having comb filtering, etc. has just not borne out to be true in any of the measurements.

My point is just I don't really wish to help or block Tekton sales, but I hope the work by Patrick over at DIY Audio helps those technical geeks here to learn a little more about what goes into evaluating speaker performance and design.