Tekton Double Impacts

Just wanted to share,

Since I had the great luck to become a professional reviewer about five years ago, one of the most rewarding/pleasurable aspects of this work has been seeking out boutique companies that cannot offered advertising or the "payola" needed to get their gear reviewed.  I only took this reviewing job when I was assured of two things: 1) I had the freedom to approach any company I was interested in.  2) My reviews would never be censored because of other manufacturer's advertisements on the website.

Virtually all these boutique companies are owned by very creative artesian's who hand build beautiful gear with quality parts.  My experience, with a very few exceptions, is that they are very good people who care about making the best equipment they can and having very satisfied customers.  They tend not to be great "business people" because they do this work because of their love for music and the gear they create to produce it.  Another aspect of these boutique saloon's are that they charge extremely reasonable prices for gear that out performs significantly much more expensive advertised equipment. (Think DI's at 3K)

I wrote some of the first reviews on the following companies gear that fit into this niche: Raven Audio, Backert Labs, Tekton Design, Linear Tube Audio, MG Cables, Role Audio, Krono Design, Triode Lab, AricAudio.

Because of the work of these gentleman the music lover can really put together a reference level system for the price of some power cords on the market today!

Just think, right now I'm driving the Ulf's that are superlative with the Micro-ZOTL/ AricAudio SET KT-88 amp to a level of performance that's just beautiful-yet the combo only costs $3,600.00.

 



 

actually, your critique of granny’s review was slightly over the top. I know granny has no skin in the game and I have read many of his delightful and always polite posts. And he said the speakers were great, just not his cup of tea. The idea that a speaker with a number of tweeter sized drivers used for the midrange might have a "slight" forward tilt does not seem out of the range of possibility.

Terry

I agree -- I think I would really enjoy that aspect of the job too. Now I just need to find your counterpart for HT.

Problem is that I don'\t even know if "boutique" players exist for processors because of the complexity, various licensing for different multi-channel playback, etc. There may be some for multi channel amps but the processors are (IMO) a tough product for a one person setup to do the R&D on and stay current.

Oh come on now, nothing teajay stated was an affront to grannyring; and I consider grannyring a magnificent knowledgeable poster, among the absolute best on Audiogon. Plus, I have purchased several of grannyring's superb power cable builds. I also think that between grannyring, teajay, charles1dad, and dare I say myself, the way we hear and what we like in recorded music is closely aligned. The nitpicks that differentiate us is interesting and worthy of discussion. I personally applaud the gentlemanly banter and appreciate the knowledge gained from it. The conversation has been respectful beneficial to all reading this excellent thread. Best, mikirob

Hey jetter,

I'm always very mindful on my posts to be very respectful towards other GON members and never put things on a personal level.  I'm blunt and clearly give my opinion and at times disagree with some one's viewpoint, but do not attack the person.  So, were does your hyper-sensitivity  come from stating my response to granny's take on the DI's was, "slightly over the top"? What do you base this on?

Of course the bottom line is that everything in audio is based on personal taste to begin with, than you try to add on objectivity based on experience and comparing different gear to each other.  Here's a question for you?  Have you heard with your own ears both the DI's and the AZ speakers in order to make sense of what grannyring and I slightly disagree on? If so, please share what your take is on this matter.  I still think he's confusing utter transparency with a forward sound compared with his AZ's slightly warm/full presentation.