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Former Tekton owners: What have you moved on to?

I owned the Tekton Lore Reference for about a year and a half and they were great for the price. I ran them with a 50w tube integrated and it was a nice combo. For $750 I had no complaints except perhaps that the paint was cracking on one of the rounded corners. I ended up buying a pair of Gallo CL-2 for an office system on closeout direct from Gallo for $390/pair. After they were broken in I found myself listening to them more than the Tektons after awhile. I was getting addicted to the CDT tweeter.

Based on that experience I ordered the CL-3 refurbished for $650/pair shipped (crazy steal) and they were on a different level than both of the above. Sonically, one defining moment for me was listening to Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now. (I think the Track was You’re My Thrill. )
During the intro there is a brief flute soli. With the Tektons it sounded like a really nice flute section that was very homogenous sounding and blended. With the Gallos I could hear each individual flute player and their unique tones and vibrato. The bass was also deeper and tighter on the gallos and the imaging was just amazingly holographic and wide and deep.

I know the timing of this is interesting as the Tekton hype train seems to be at full tilt right now with some of his higher models and I am curious to hear them. The 2 things that would give me serious pause and keep me from moving up the Tekton line are 1) the size and aesthetics 2) The very much "in your face" house sound that can get tiring to me.  Just wondering what others have moved on to from Tekton and what they heard that moved them in that direction.
128x128clarinetmonster2
jayctoy's avatar
jayctoy
4,165 posts
 
Aniwolfe it’s clear, Maltuse saw them in the picture, So He knows how they look, It’s sad to waste shipping money to return them IF Indeed Bought the monitors, looking at his previous post .He understood that 24 hrs will not do it.I agree He miss the opportunity to have one of the best speakers for 2k maybe more.,
jayctoy's avatar
jayctoy
4,165 posts
 
Tom I still believe He did not returned a thing.He did not bought a Tekton period.The way I read his post, it tells me He did not. More of a troll..,
malthuse
18 posts
 
You’re right, I did waste huge money on shipping.  Don’t get me wrong they had some positive qualities but the hype is just that, hype.  I know a good speaker when I hear one and that was not it.  They are unspeakably ugly as well.  This becomes quite evident in real life much more so than you can tell from the website.  The 24 hours was because I knew they wouldn’t work right away, no need for break in.  Some really aggressive and arrogant responses to people’s opinions on this forum.
genjamon
96 posts
 
I’ve had a Lore since early 2011 - was my main speaker for about 4 years. After 2.5 years, I fully rebuilt the crossovers and internal wiring with boutique caps and silver/teflon wire - bypassing the binding posts too. This took the sound quality up quite a bit in refinement.

In early 2015 I went with Spatial M1 Turbo, which was a substantial step up IMO - exposed the Tekton sound to be a bit on the thin side, and much better soundstage.

Later in 2015 I got a deal on some Daedalus DA-RMa V2 large monitor speakers. These were in turn another step up from the Spatial, with warm, natural, detailed, refined sound in spades. I’ve had the Daedalus for the past two years and haven’t found their limits yet - with many electronics upgrades yielding substantial performance increases over time.

That said, I know Tekton presents quite a lot of value for money, and am really curious about the Deep Impacts - especially the upgraded versions. My current space is honestly on the large side for those Daedalus monitors. I could really use the Ulysses in my current space. So, I may have to give the DI SE a try at some point.

Still have the Lores - they're great in the TV room, driven by a 2.5 watt Miniwatt S1 amp - great pairing that provides some valuable warmth and smooths out the hash from cheapo source electronics nicely.  
malthuse
18 posts
 
Oh and I would add that break in may be a real enough thing but it doesn’t change the sound that much, if a speaker is radically changing due to break in then there’s a problem.  The only caveat with that are the magnepans which really do need serious break in.  I know various “audiophiles” will disagree, but that’s my experience.
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