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
@clarinetmonster2
Have you heard the Tekton DIs yet? (as you said you would in Atlanta, few weeks ago.) What is your impression?
Also, Any DI owners in sw Ohio? I am dying to give them a listen. :-)
madhav
no, I couldn't find the time to go hear the DI's since the day dedicated to listening to speakers was filled with traveling to 3 stores and hearing about 10 different brands/models. Going a different route on monday - going to hear Harbeth C7es3 and M30.1 with my amp as well as Audio Note with my amp then tubes.
What I keep hearing about the DI's/Impact Monitors is that they can sound very impressive` but refinement is not really in their repertoire. 
ok, speaker search = over

Today I drove down with my amp and some CD’s to the Harbeth/Audio Note dealer and heard the C7es3, M30.1 and Audio Note AN-E (not sure which level).
They all sounded really nice with the Job INtegrated but the real standout for me was the C7es3. Absolutely amazing synergy with the Job. Shocked me really since I had heard them at a store in Chicago with Cary separates driving them and the results were not great. This was like a whole different universe, bass was full but fast and articulate. Tonality of instruments and voices was spot on - never heard such realistic brass section tones from a big band recording. Image depth was amazing as was width.
We put the M30.1 in there to compare and they had their own sort of magic, but with my amp the C7 were overall better by a fair margin. They sounded more full range, fuller and more effortless dynamically. Imaging had more depth as well.
The AN-E sounded wonderful as well but I only heard them briefly as I found out they were the 2nd from the top level and were crazy expensive when new. The dealer assured me that the $7500 pair sound very similar. He also had a pair of AN-J there that I didn’t hear - I might ask to hear them just to make sure when I go back to pick up the C7es3. EIther way, I’m very excited to bring them home in a couple weeks when the money comes in. I really can’t imagine a much better marriage between amp and speaker to my ears.
@clarinetmonster2 Beautiful speakers! Glad you found what you're after. Enjoy.