Tekton Double Impact & Comb Filtering

mr_m -- The problem with taking one report, and extrapolating it into an overall performance evaluation of a product - is that setup for speakers is important.  At times, it can require the entire room to be rearranged or treated acoustically as can be attested to by countless people who have had to put baffles, sonic treatment, etc. into a listening room for specific speaker / room interactions.

I had the experience of listening to Watt Puppy model 7's in a less than optimal setting.  If you sat in a single chair located at a specific point between the speakers the effect was three dimensional.  If you moved less than two-inches in any direction the sound went flat.  Should I extrapolate that to mean that the Watt Puppy speaker is no good and I should be wary of every buying a Wilson speaker?

Or, more rationally, should I acknowledge that the room and speaker placement were simply not optimally setup for Watt Puppy?

I think a more logical assumption about the Tekton speakers in ONE ROOM at a show is that the speaker placement in the room and room itself may be affecting the speaker's performance.

Well, well, well. It looks like comb filtering might not be a problem...it may just be the secret sauce!!!

If you are familiar with panels then you will know the sound of comb filtering. If you use a flanger or reverb on a guitar you will be familiar with the effect too.

It is hard to describe but comb filtering makes the sound seem to come from a wall of sound rather than a defined point and of course this would only happen in the upper treble with the Teckton DI design. It gives a bigger Soundstage. Large ribbons do this too.

Here is a demo - notice how the sound shrinks as comb filtering is removed (microphones close) and how it feels expansive (microphones apart). These effects are on recordings already but a speaker that naturally does this will add a bit of this characteristic to all music played through them.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6JK721OpLko

It is hard to judge but the distance of about 9 inches separation on the video is the sort of enhancement you might expect with the DI. It is a very pleasant enhancement and no surprises it is used a lot in music production!

Here is another example of how comb filtering effects drum sounds (in this case the sound is bouncing off the ceiling and combining with the direct sound to produce a comb filter) In fact any two devices recording the same sound or producing the same sound will produce these effects if they are physically separated a greater distance than the audio wavelengths concerned)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4qgmY8jIGi0


 Report thisshadorne5,855 posts08-27-2017 6:42pmMore examples of comb filtering - hopefully you now know what to listen for - it is certainly not always a bad sound - quite often it is desirable in pop/rock and electronic music. The faux stereo effect is perhaps the most impressive demo on the link below

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zic2eNbxNmY

And when you buy your own pair you can tell us all about it.

Kenny.

You know... I really wished you all could grasp what I'm doing here. The clairvoyance going on here is crazy. Respectfully, comb-filtering was an element I carefully accounted for to avoid at all cost.

The "secret sauce" is the patent. That's it! Nothing else. Mitigate the moving mass and align things properly and the results speak for themselves. People are discerning the proper balance of harmonic content compered to the fundamental tones in their music.

Question: do you want to hear all of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club or just most of it?! If you want to hear it all were the only ones that can do it and we have the patent that proves it. I find it fascinating that audiophiles will spend over $10K for a DAC that is precise and accurate and they pipe it through loudspeakers that literally dumb it back down.

Let me reiterate... no loudspeaker in the history of audio has been designed like this and it doesn't take cluster of tweeters to accomplish it - stay tuned for more.

I was so excited about the design that I reached out to John Atkinson at Stereophile as soon as I was confident we had an amazing loudspeaker created. Sadly, I haven't received a reply from John to date.   

Eric Alexander - audio designer 

@seanheis1

Secret Sauce LOL

Nothing new about anything I mentioned - all this has been understood for 50 years and more. Most conventional loudspeaker designers go a long way to avoid comb filtering - careful driver placement and steep crossovers as well as time alignment of drivers - this is in pursuit of the most accurate portrayal of the source sound. However, companies like Zu and Tekton are defying convention and making designs that offer advantages for those who like a certain style of presentation. The same can be said for tube coloration - much of this coloration is already on the recordings but if you like more of it then get a tube amp and drive it a little into distortion and you get nice harmonics. If you really like the sound of phasing and flanging then a design that adds a little comb filtering will enhance your enjoyment of everything.

As a trick - if you have conventional speakers but suspect you like comb filtering then you can try placing the speakers right up against the side walls so the tweeter is within 3 to 9 inches of the wall.

I would expect the comb filtering on the Tekton DI to be quite subtle and modest - remember that this mostly effects the reflected sound (25 to 40% of the audible sound) as the drivers are all aligned when you listen from directly in front.