Tekton Double Impacts

Hey Charles,

Yes, the MZ2 with the NOS TungSols and either Brimars or Mullards sounds absolutely stellar to me......but then I've not heard a SET amp with my system yet so I bet there's still room for improvement. Teajay's suggestions have been spot on and while I'm loving the sound of the MZ2 driving the DI's I need to hear what that extra meat on the bones brings to the table. My system sounds better than ever but I'm still searching for that perfect balance of great bass, dynamics, tone, texture, airy highs and realism. At this point I the MZ2 provides great bass, dynamics, speed, realism and tone. The TungSols increase the size of the soundstage and add to the texture, tone and bass. The Mullards bring even more texture and warmth while the Brimars excell at high end detail and air. Combining the Mullards strong points with the Brimars would be ideal and I'm hoping a SET will bring bring to the table what the Mullards do and I can get it all. I know......I want it all! :) I need to have you over to hear what sound I have now and get your advice as to whether or not I'm going in the right direction. Going from 1 watt per channel to a whopping 3.5 watts is a huge! 

Great write up Bill. Sounds like you have a sweet amp on your hands and it makes me want to add an amp to my system even more now. 

Charles,

When my wife and I Demoed a pair of Q3's earlier this year at a dealer out of state they had them paired with a Devialant 440.

I was greatly impressed with the build quality of the magico's and the fact that they make their own drivers and utilize some of the very best crossover parts and design.

We only listened to analog and the dealer allowed us to bring and play our own lp's.I took 6 of my very best and favorites that I know very well.

I found the pairing to have incredible clarity with pinpoint accuracy within the soundstage that you could reach out and grab.The overall tone,harmonics,and timbre of individual instruments and voices were much inline to my preferences and found the treble to be very pleasing and have all the detail I would ever need.

Now as a demo pair that were at the top of my speaker budget,the shortcomings that I heard ultimately made my decision for me not to buy and wait and listen to something else.About the time that I found this thread and also read some reviews about the DI's,I decided to give Eric a call and ask some questions that he answered quite well even some I didn't think that he would.I decided to give the DI's a shot and you know the rest of the story,very happy owner and not looking back.

The Q3's sounded a little small in size at times and was missing the little resonances and nuances from instruments that make the music much more enjoyable to my ears.I quess the magico cabinets are so well braced and damped and Offcourse made of aluminum and bolted together,they just sound much different than any speaker I have ever heard.Now I think there is a fine line there,I would'nt like a speaker that has a lot of cabinet talk either but I find the DI's just about perfect in that respect.

I found the Q3's a little light in bass and might would have to use subs with them and I don't want to do that.The Di's are just right with goldilocks bass without subs for me.

Ultimatly if I was to spend 24k on Just speakers they had better do everything right.Buying the much cheaper Di's allow my budget to buy other equipment for my 2 systems.

Charles,I would love to read your opinion on both of these very high end products.

Best,
Kenny.

Craig,

Some have reported overly-clinical sound in the past but the new op amp design appears to have addressed this complaint.

And it it does to some degree but at the end of the day I still find class d amplifiers not my cup of tea.

The midrange and the highs aren't quite right to my ears for the overall sonic presentation that I prefer.

I also don't need anywhere near that kind of pwr with my DI's.

The MZ2S can easily drive them to the mid to upper 80's in db levels at my seated location 10 ft away and still have a little headroom.
My room size is 20x25x9 with a open kitchen on one end.

If I listen to some types of classical and classic rock,I do need a little more pwr,but I already own several amps for that and just got today a Zotl 40 that I will be trying out.

I do love the technology of class d and I think in the next 10yrs or so they will elvolve enough and probably be really good.

You might actually like the nords in your system and there is only one way to find out and that is to try one.They are popular enough they would still retain resale value if you didn't like them.


Best,
Kenny.

Thanks, Al and Kenny:
Only one observation to add to your sagaceous advice:

I believe that the excellent sound I am getting from my best lp's is partially due to the high gain of my Sound-Smith Voice cart. At any rate, I'll keep your suggestionson file until my budget permits a substantial upgrade.  Again, thanks again.

BTW, does anyone know what the difference is between the DI's or Brilliance series and the PMD series with the same name?  I'm not doubting Eric's development skills. I just wonder if anyone has any information on the imporvements gained.  I don't wish to bother him if I am unable to jump to that  price level, but I'd dearly like to know what I'm missing .