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Tekton Impact Monitors

Hi All,
I'm relatively new to Audiogon but have trolled the discussions for a few months. I have been listening to Spendor LS3/5As driven by a Quad 34/306 combination since the late 1980's and decided that it was finally time to upgrade my speakers. I love the Spendors but they are very limited in dynamics and scale. I auditioned the SVS Ultra Bookshelf speakers and while they brought some additional scale they simply didn't have the sweet midrange that I can't live without. I listened to some open baffle speakers (Emerald Physics) and loved them, but their size and need for space worried me, and I found them less satisfying at moderate and low volumes, where I do a fair bit of listening. I was fascinated by all the discussion regarding Tekton speakers and was considering getting a pair of Enzo 2.7s, but after a short discussion with Eric I followed his recommendation of the Impact Monitor with upgrade. They have the 7 tweeter array and a pair of 6.5" woofers and are rear-ported. I use a pair of SVS subs (the sealed variety). The Impact Monitors are simply amazing. The midrange is oh-so-sweet (very similar to my Spendors, but with more air) and the detail, even at low and moderate listening levels, is superb. The imaging is even better than my Spendors managed and the scale is huge and is much more music-appropriate. My system is really quite modest but now when I walk into my listening room (doubles as our living room - thankfully my wife appreciates Hi-Fi) I get the audio-show feeling of "being there". I have a Denon DP59L turntable with a DL110 HO moving coil cartridge running through an Emotiva XPS-1 phono preamp and the Tektons are absolutely incredible with classic rock on vinyl. I'm not sure how Eric managed it, but these speakers are superb, even with my 30 year old Quad electronics. I believe they are basically the top 24" of the Double Impacts, but are rear-ported rather than front ported. I can heartily recommend them and Eric and his team are great to work with. I'm not sure how many other Impact Monitors are out there since the pair I have are S/N 0005 and 0006!  
ky1mag
david_ten
5,480 posts
 
Thank you, Scott. Very clear an apt rationale.

My sense was that you were looking for higher levels of performance from the low frequencies and your approach is delivering on that.

It is also strong validation of the beauty and performance of Eric's midrange tweeter array design.

Keep us posted on your isolation efforts. 

One additional question/thought: have you considered a super tweeter?
sbayne's avatar
sbayne
493 posts
 
I haven’t thought about using a super tweeter with the Impact Monitors. I used a Raven R-1 with a pair of Tonian Labs speakers for a while but could never get it to blend right. The crossover probably needed to be redone. What were you thinking regarding using one with the Tektons?
david_ten
5,480 posts
 
It's more out of curiosity. It would be interesting if someone has attempted to do so. Perhaps Eric can comment on this?

Since you have focused on the lower frequencies, I was wondering if you had also given thought to the opposite.

I'm satisfied with the DI's and SE's high frequency performance.

However, I have had speakers in the past, which made me consider toying with the Townshend Audio Supertweeters.
sbayne's avatar
sbayne
493 posts
 
Agreed.  I wouldn’t want to mess with the array but who knows what Eric may come-up with in the future.  
teajay
1,687 posts
 
Hey Guys,

On Friday I received a pair of DI Monitors from Eric for a professional review that will be put up on hometheaterreview.com in the next couple of months.  At this point, after reviewing the DI's, Ulf's, and having extensive experience with the SI's I'm not shocked/surprised from what I'm hearing from these monitors at all.  In my smaller system/acoustic space they are replicating what my Ulf's do in my very large acoustic space.  I'm using a pair of very inexpensive subwoofers that are x-over at 55 and they blend perfectly with Monitors.  Even without them I still get excellent bass extension with accurate tonality.  With the subs I got that last ambient aspect of hall space/imaging if its on the recording.

I have experimented numerous times with super tweeters and have never really got any differences that made a difference to me.  Yes, on Quads or speakers that roll-off much below 20kHz I have heard them make a positive change.  However, other speakers that extend to 30kHz or beyond have had no change for me at all.  So, I don't think you will get much benefit in using this device with the Tekton's because of their already "super tweeter" range. 
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