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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
 
@travbrow The most important point is that you are working through various setups/pairings, etc. If you have been running them constantly, you certainly have enough time on them to give you a good feel for what they are about, given your system and room.

Sometimes a speaker doesn’t match our preferences or does not have the kind of synergy one is looking for, given one’s component set ahead of them. Just what it is. And nothing wrong about that.

Keep us posted on how it goes and if you have specific questions, ask away. For example, you mentioned tubes perhaps being a better fit....I had the DIs in an all solid state system and truly enjoyed them as part of that system. What works for you may be quite different.
teajay
1,691 posts
 
Just got through writing the rough draft on this speaker for hometheaterreview.com and will send it to editor in the next couple of days.  For those of you who already own it, congrats it's a mighty fine speaker, indeed. Nothing is perfect, however, if you set it up right and drive with excellent upstream gear I don't know if there is another stand mount monitor, regardless of price, I would want to own.  It just does not sound like a small speaker, but like a floor stander regarding dynamics and overall imaging.  It's a "BABY DI" for smaller acoustic spaces!  One thing I noticed is that it is VERY important to use high quality speaker stands, otherwise you greatly negatively effect the IM performance.  I used Sistrum speaker stands that teamed up great for ultimate performance.  
333jeffery
122 posts
 
I've had the PMD Studio Monitors for a little over a month now, and they are very impressive. They produce a surprising amount of bass for a small speaker. The XA-25 pairs very nicely with them.
travbrow
277 posts
 
I'll update my experience with the Impact Monitors. I'll start off with mentioning other speakers I've owned to give an idea of my experience with different models. 

After mostly budget Speakers like Advent and Bose, I bought NHT 2.9 as my first high quality speaker set. They were good but a little forward. Moved to Odyssey Audio Lorelei, I owned those for at least 8 years. Enjoyed them very much. Owned Vapor Audio Cirrus with the RAAL tweeter for a couple years until I bought the Emerald Physics 4.7 which I still own. Those were very nice also but wanted to try open baffle and compression horn type speakers. Also I built a pair of Epique CBT24k line array which is a kit from Dayton Audio,  I am using those as surrounds, didn't do much listening as mains yet.

 I didn't audition the Tekton Impact monitors for very long mostly because though they are very good, not enough for me to want to retire and try to sell my Emerald Physics. I'm guessing with more time the Tektons would of grown on me more but I think I would of missed that open baffle sound I like.

 I think the Tektons are a very good value and definitely worth an audition, I think they would compete with more expensive offerings. One thing that I found lacking was with some music the bass didn't sound right and wasn't on par with highs/mids which is excellent. Could of been my room or maybe the stands I used. The Tektons offer very good detail, resolution and efficiency. Imaging and soundstage good also. But couldn't compete with my EP 4.7 at higher listening levels as far as realistic dynamics and a smoother presentation.  

I returned the Tektons and received my refund without any problem. Anyway, definitely worth an audition, especially if you are not very satisfied with your current speakers, these could make you very happy. 
aniwolfe
760 posts
 
@travbrow

Thanks for your review. I would hope a $7000 (EP 4.7) speaker with a deeper freq range would beat a $2000 stand mount in dynamics and higher levels.

Curious, how many hours did you have on the IM's?
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