Tekton Double Impact & Comb Filtering


Like many of you, I have been pondering purchasing these speakers but am very curious about the unusual tweeter array. I asked the smartest speaker person that I know (he is a student of Sean Olive) about the design and below is what he had to say.   

"In theory it could work, but the driver spacing means that the crossover point would need to be very low.
He is using the SB acoustics tweeter which is 72mm in diameter, center to center on the outside opposing drivers is around 5.7 inches, which is about 2400Hz. This means that combing would stop between 1/4 to 1/2 of the wavelength (between 1200-600Hz) is where the outside tweeters should start playing nice with each other.
Since he is not using low enough crossover points he has created a comb filtering monster. Now while it's not the great point source that was promised, it's no worse than most line arrays and the combing will average itself out given enough listening distance.

The MTM spacing on the other hand is ridiculous. Hopefully he is cutting the top end off on one of those midrange drivers to avoid combing."

seanheis1
@seanheis1

I’m in complete agreement on the fact that "no speaker can meet everyone’s tastes." In fact, I’d say that if true, that would be a travesty in my opinion. I am personally happy that there is not one but there are many! If there are those that believe there is One Speaker to Rule Them All....more power to them. I’m cool with that, too. Just don’t lose the ring. :)

What I don’t understand is how you can say " The DI might not be ideal for those midrange junkies that like a laid back sound (harbeth ls3/5a) but might be perfect for home theater and music that has slam."

Have you done extensive listening of the DIs yourself? And by extensive, I mean extensive. This is the very area, among others that the DIs absolutely shine. Your statement is confounding to me, as it probably is to many who own the Double Impacts and have gotten to know them over time.

The DIs are laid back if one is feeding them laid back music. They rock if they are being fed Rock. They dance if being fed EDM. They boogie and bop if being fed Jazz. They ooze soul when playing SOUL. And they get downright blue when belting out the Blues. These are one of the most open to what’s ahead of them speakers I’ve had the pleasure of listening to.

Yesterday morning I was up early (and thankfully before everyone else in the household) so I was able to spend an hour and a half uninterrupted and without any of the excessive ambient noise so prevalent once the troops are on the move. I listened to Steve Coleman’s "Invisible Paths: First Scattering" album. It was his first solo album and is 1 hour and 12 minutes of pure unadulterated solo sax. There isn’t anywhere for a system to hide with such a solo instrument performance. My system, with the DIs at the end of it performed astonishingly and amazingly well.
@seanheis1 you mention the DI’s might not be ideal for midrange junkies and that they are for movies and music with slam.
I suggest that you read again what I said. It was a Harbeth owner who found them too forward for his taste and had a challenge with the center image in his specific room. I hear the same thing a lot with the KEF LS50. Folks loving them at first and then eventually tiring over the forward image. We all have different tastes, rooms, and gear so I expect folks' mileage to vary and I like to hear folk's experiences, good or bad so thanks for sharing yours.    
I believe that if there is a return situation, Tekton eats the send shipping cost since it was "free."
All the more reason why buyer should pay return shipping costs,  Sheesh; do people want the guy to pay YOU for the privilege of auditioning his speakers???

I agree with the common sense approach of Swampwalker and Sebrof in regard to buyer paying for the return shipping cost of products auditioned in one’s home. I do believe that this would have the benefit of narrowing the field to those seriously considering purchase vs those who just want to hear them with no intention of buying. As was written earlier by bullitt5094 , the buyer should have some "skin in the game".
Charles
Without getting into the original arguments about comb filtering, this measurement of the Enzo XL from Stereophile implies Tekton is not above optimistically rating the sensitivity.

JA measured 90 dB vs. specified 96.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/tekton-design-enzo-xl-loudspeaker-measurements