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
Hi All. I have been following along with this sometimes colorful discussion. I can say, sedond (Doug) that I did not try toeing in so that the direct path of the tweeters crossed in front of the listening position. With time to think about all this, and taking into account the experiences by other IM owners I think the issue in my case was the listening room with the speakers on the long wall. No sidewalls to provide reflections and thus the treble coming from the tweeter array was too forward for my taste. I've been enjoying my Emerald Physics KC II Pros very much, but even then I use the "tilt" function on my much loved (and much maligned by some) Quad 34 pre-amp to tame the treble especially with some CDs and if I'm listening at relatively high volumes (which is rare for me). I suspect that if I had a differently shaped listening room I would still be a happy owner of Tekton IMs. 
hi ky1mag,

in the overwhelming majority of cases, having no sidewalls is a major advantage, not a disadvantage.  looking at your room dimensions, tho, in your case, you have only 13' to squeeze you and the speakers between the front and back wall.  this is nightmarish, to be honest. you said you're about 8-9' from the speakers, which means barely 2' behind you, and the speakers are barely 2' from the wall behind them.  that's an especially difficult task for your present open-baffle speakers, even more so than the tektons.  while i'm glad you're enjoying them, there's no doubt in my mind that they (or any speaker) would sound better if you re-oriented your room 90 degrees so the speakers fired down the length of the room.  even if your living area is in the middle of the room, and you have +/-10' in front of you and behind you, it will sound so much better.  if you can do it; i know how logistics are, sometimes - ha!

and, even if you're enjoying your present sound (and i certainly hope you are) i still strongly suggest trying to toe in your new speakers as i previously suggested.  it besides the treble issues, it very well may alleviate some of the sound dispersion issues presented by your head being so close to the wall behind you,  if you don't have massive sound absorption panels behind you; or even if you do, for that matter.  and if you don't have absorption panels behind you, you should consider it, if it's logistically possible; it would be a good idea, with your room's set-up.  ;~)

doug s.
From John Atkinson --- "JA’s Saturday at AXPONA" at Stereophile:

"But the surprise for me in the Parasound room was how well the tiny Parasound Zonemaster 250 amplifier (50Wpc into 8 ohms, $475), which uses a ETAL class-D module, drove the Tekton Impact Monitor speakers ($2000/pair). (The Zonemaster 250, with its matching $449 preamp, can be seen sitting on top of one the speakers.) Herb Reichert is working on a review of this intriguing Tekton speaker, with its circular array of seven tweeters, for our August issue."
Should be an interesting read especially with Atkinson's measurements and quick to the point commentary he usually throws in.
Herb "the herb" will be transplanted to the top of a Himalayan mountain listening to the sound of a Tibetan monk chanting.