Tekton Double Impacts

Hi bullitt5094,

I believe that anywhere from 5 to 10 watts driving the DI's would be fine in a HT LR Mains setup.  My room has 30 foot ceilings, is 28 feet wide, and 40 feet in depth and I have no problem with volume levels or dynamics on all types of music with 5 watts. I have always used a pair of sub-woofers in my room crossed over at 30 at very low volume levels not for bass extension or reinforcement, but for ambient cues that fill out the depth/width of the sound-stage created in my room.  Since I drive this pair directly from the Micro-ZOTL I'll often shut off the amp to show what the subs are really adding to my listeners and they often laugh at how little they really are adding, yet if I turn them off the sound-stage flattens out and loses its 3D perspective.  This also means that the DI's being driven with 5 watts is producing the low end grunt on its own when the music contains this type of bass frequencies.  

Bullitt,

Now I truly understand the passion for set tube amps that Teajay and others have,I've owned several good ones over the yrs.I only have one now but I'm presently more focused with various SS amps driven by the LTA MZ2s preamp.

If I recall you have a fairly large room and you occasionally listen loud approaching 110db levels.My room is 20x25x9 with a open kitchen on one end and I don't need the 40 watts of the amp that I'm using to reach those kind of sound levels.I sometimes listen to full orchestra very loudly and have all the pwr I need without subs.Since getting the DI's my subs haven't even been turned on for music.

One option for you is maybe look at a push pull El-34 tube amp,might split the difference for your needs.That would give you 35 to 40 watts,and a good one will give you a high percentage of the Set sound signature that you may like.If you don't mind a slightly used one you could probably find a good one for about 2k maybe less.

Best of luck to you,

Kenny.

Thanks Kenny. What I have on order already is a tube pre-amp and what I believe is an exceptional SS amp from Odyssey. Terry gives me the impression he believes anyone who listens to an SET amp will never consider a SS again. And I am willing to test that theory if I can find something I can afford that will actually fill my personal requirements of system dynamics. I don't think a 10 watt SET will get there. And when you start looking at any high quality tube design up in the 50 watt range, it gets stupidly expensive very quickly. But, I bought Tekton not expecting them to replace my B&Ws and they did. Nobody can accuse me of not being open minded.
But I've pulled enough away from the main point of this thread. I'll wait for the Odyssey to arrive. If I love it, end of story. And I'm relatively sure I will.

bullitt,
Klaus probably already mentioned it to you but be prepared for a rollercoaster ride for a couple weeks with the Odyssey amp. They have a notoriously long break in time which I can attest to. Should sound pretty good after that and will continue to improve for months.  

Hi bullitt5094,

This is my final attempt to try to explain to you why you owe to your self to at least hear a SET amp on the DI's.

Klaus' amps are quite good, and great bargains for the money, however they do not compete sonicly, in my opinion, with the latest generation Pass Labs XA.8 series, Perla Audio, and even with many of the First Watt amplifiers.  I have owned all of these great amps, yet they still can't do certain things like a SET amplifier.

No SS amplifier presents the music like a SET amplifier.  I could get into the liquidity, color ,tonality, flow of the music that is quite magical with these simple circuit designs, but you really have to hear it for yourself, no words can replace actual experience.  Your DI's give you the opportunity to try one out, if its not your cup of sonic tea, so be it.  Historically, I loved the sound of SET's, but hated almost all the speakers that you had to use with them ( Horns and single driver designs) that had flaws and shortcomings for my taste.  

Now, with the DI's which are reference level transducers with virtually no flaws you can use SET amplifiers with a full range highly dynamic box enclosure speaker which did not exist at this level in the past.  I'm sure there is a way, hell you can borrow my Cyber-30, so at least you would really know how different the experience is between SS amps and SET amps.