Tekton Double Impacts

Congrats mofojo. I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised at just how good they sound. You're getting them next week? Not too long ago there was a 6-8 week wait.....but maybe that was just for the custom paint. 

Lowrider, I never understood why Eric has some of his speakers sensitivity rated at 2.83 volts @ 1 meter and others 1 watt @ 1 meter. I don't think the speakers are quite as efficient as their specs but like you pointed out they're probably still in the 92-95 db range. I believe Stereophile tested the Enzo XL at about 92 db and the specs list them at 96.5 db. Which ever number is correct matters not to me as they sound great no matter what the actual number is. 

I will say the DI's seem to respond well to giving them room away from walls, but that's probably the same for all speakers. I moved mine 6' from the back wall....actually it's more like 13' since there's a 6' opening between the speakers into a small room that I house the components.....and 4' from the side walls and they've opened up more than I though possible. The soundstage is deeper and wider and the speakers completely disappear. All I need now is an amp with more oomph. The 24 watt Decware tube amp sounds great but strains too much if I want higher volume levels. The amp was plenty for the Enzo's but the DI's must be harder to drive. 

Yeah I was surprised at the quick delivery. I could have got them by this Friday but I am going out of town on business on Wednesday and won't be back till Tuesday. I am hoping they are sitting on the front porch when I get home. I did ask about the custom paint and it was 4-6 weeks. I have a buddy that paints cars for a living and at some point may have him give them a nice Ford Electric Blue paint job.
I will be pushing them with an Odyssey Stratos Extreme so I should be pushing 360wpc into 4 ohms if I remember correctly. Should be plenty. My Jolida Fusion Pre is having a static issue so looks like I'll be using my old Denon 5803 as a preamp till I send that in to get fixed. Actually sounds pretty descent in Pure Direct mode and using Amarra for any eq adjustments needed.

Good to hear they are shipping right away. I believe you'll have to sign for the delivery....maybe not.

The Odyssey will be sweet with the DI's. Before going to tubes I had the Kismet Monoblocks with a Candela and the dynamics and sound levels I could achieve were insane. You will have a lot of fun with the Odyssey/DI combo. I want to do a second system like yours....Stratos with DI's. Warning......make sure the volume is turned very low when first hooking things up! I never went past 10 o'clock on the Candela dial. You may want to strap down any small kids or pets standing in front of the DI's if you crank up the sound :) Beware that any noise issues you have in your system will become more evident with these efficient speakers. 

A future automotive paint job later sounds like the way to go. Ford Electric Blue sounds sweet. I want to go with BMW Phoenix Green they only use on the M3 on my next set. 

Specifying speaker sensitivity based on 2.83 volts rather than 1 watt seems to be pretty much the norm these days, among manufacturers and also among reviewers who provide measurements (e.g., John Atkinson in Stereophile, and measurements performed by the National Research Council of Canada that I’ve seen published in conjunction with reviews at SoundStage.com).

I wouldn’t consider that to be deceptive, it’s just something to be aware of, especially if tube amps are to be used. Per my earlier comment, basing the spec on 2.83 volts vs. 1 watt makes no difference in the case of an 8 ohm speaker, assuming the 8 ohm spec is realistic, while resulting in a 3 db difference for a 4 ohm speaker. Part of the rationale for using 2.83 volts is presumably the fact that many high quality solid state amps can supply twice as much power into 4 ohms as into 8 ohms, which would compensate for that 3 db.

A separate issue, of course, is the accuracy of any such specs. Regarding the Enzo XL, its spec per the website is 96.5 db/1 watt/1 meter, while Stereophile measured 90.6db/2.83 volts/1 meter, with the speaker being accurately rated at 8 ohms. I’ve seen such disparities for quite a few speakers in the past, typically in the area of 2 to 6 db. In some cases the disparity is perhaps accounted for or contributed to by an unstated assumption on the part of the manufacturer of some amount of "room gain." In some cases another contributing factor may be that the manufacturer bases the spec on the speaker’s sensitivity at a specific frequency, which may be somewhat greater than its sensitivity as averaged over a broad range of frequencies (which is what JA and the NRC do). That kind of "specmanship" I **would** consider to be a bit deceptive, in contrast to the 2.83 volt/1 watt issue.

Regards,
-- Al

@mac, I wanted to note this inconsistency in how Eric specs his speakers since it has been commented on in other forums. It looks like the majority of the speaker line is 8 ohms nominal, but a few models are 4 to 6 ohms and are measured using 2.83 volts @ 1 meter and rather than 1 watt @ 1 meter/8 ohms. An important spec when choosing a tube amp.

Interesting points that Al has raised on how specs can be manipulated, (not saying that there’s any cheating going on). Regarding Stereophile’s findings with the Enzo XL, the Tekton’s seem to have resonant cabinets, even measurable on the impedance/phase curve, although these resonances should not affect performance.
I found several high-level resonant modes on all cabinet surfaces, with one at 301Hz the strongest on the sidewalls level with the bottommost tweeter and on the rear panel. Another mode, at 262Hz, was strongest on the top panel, while a mode at 414Hz dominated on the bottom half of the side panels.
All of these modes are of high Quality Factor (Q), so may measure worse than they sound. Also, the Enzo’s high sensitivity will work against these resonances being as fully excited as they are in my measurements.

Also an easy speaker to drive. That’s good news, as I am becoming more interested in trying out one of these speakers.