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Tekton DI Monitors

Finally got to see the measurements for the Double Impact monitors. I’m a little disappointed.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/tekton-design-impact-monitor-loudspeaker-measurements

This woofer - tweeter - woofer configuration is similar to the style named after the esteemed Joseph D’Appolito. Done well this configuration functions like a single large woofer in terms of dispersion. Less floor and ceiling bounce yield better detail at the listening position. 

Interestingly, the Audiogon craze of criticizing the tweeter array for possible comb filtering is not what I’m sad about. In fact the array appears to be the least of the issues. Look at figure 4. The horizontal plots are superbly clean. Any comb filtering from the tweeter array would be displayed here, and it’s not. Those critics going nuts about the array’s poor performance can apologize for their uninformed criticism right now.

The problem is really the vertical response. It is terrible. Here we do have evidence of comb filtering! See the plot closest to the viewer in figure 5? See the regularly occurring hills and valleys completely absent from figure 4? That my friends is comb filtering. However it’s not coming from the tweeter array, but from the two widely placed woofers. There’s also a great deal of hash above 5kHz on this same plot. This makes me so very very sad.

Part of this is fixable. As Dr. D’Appolito discovered, the designer should have used a higher order crossover slope, which would have taken care of the hash above 5 kHz. However the comb filtering below this is not easily remedied. The issue has to do with how far away the two woofers are from each other. They are so far, and cut in so high that they can’t help but interfere with each other and this woofer to woofer distance is ultimately controlled by the size of the tweeter array.

Should you buy this speaker? I think you should listen to it. See how it sounds to you as you move around your listening space. If you find yourself enamored of the mid-treble resolution and detail, I would encourage you to listen to other Tekton designs that don’t attempt a D’Appolito design, because I'm afraid that the main benefit of this type of design, narrow mid-woofer dispersion, is lost.  A simpler 2-way would avoid these issues and be as good at detail and resolution 
erik_squires
erik_squires OP
16,756 posts
 
Hey @teajay 

Read my comments, from the very first posting until now. When have I assessed the sound quality of these speakers? In fact, I make it clear you should listen to them, and many replied that they only care in the sweet spot. At most, I recommend where listeners should pay particular attention. So I don't know what part of your body you type out of, but I hope it connects to the part of you that thinks a little more soon. 

Kristofa - 

I'm not sure it is even a problem, since most listeners are reporting that they listen only in the sweet spot. If your question is: Would this kind of comb filtering be in other models? Then the answer is:

Depends on the crossover slopes, high pass point, and space between the woofers. 

Best,

Erik
jay23
210 posts
 
@erik_squires 
A couple of weeks ago, comb filtering was all the rage on Audiogon. It seems that the DI monitors have plenty of comb filtering and no one cares. Curious!

Truth! In that previous deleted thread, the uninformed Tekton fanboys disagreed with my statement that there is no way the Tekton designs could have ZERO comb filtering and/or lobing.

This is the second measurement of a Tekton speaker, and the second to back my claim. The fanboys say to sit in the sweet spot, but there is no warning of this on the Tekton site. No one else has warned how the Tekton speakers may be a poor choice for home theater buyers.

The Tekton site only talks about how Eric has "designed over 60 commercially available speaker models to-date, many for other well-known companies." He still has yet to account for these "well known companies." An average internet direct company (I'm not talking about Tekton) is nothing to brag about.
erik_squires OP
16,756 posts
 
To be clear:

The tweeter array has no apparent comb filtering as a result of the array itself. All those armchair designers and array detractors were W R O N G. 

OTOH, the array to woofer matching shows plenty of comb filtering, none of which the A'gon pundits warned about!   So I'm doubly amused. 

This is the sad part, and also sad because the same designer's own Enzo is relatively free of these effects. It is the insistence on a W-(array)-W arrangement that causes this. 


Best,

Erik 
twoch
429 posts
 
Measurements??  Damn
 If that speakers has 10 tweeters per side.    I would worry about blowing one up.    The proper  way is change out all the tweeters.    That's why I don't go there.
  Let's get that right 
aniwolfe
763 posts
 
@twoch 
So what your saying is you would never buy a speaker, like Pipedreams or McIntosh...just to name a few that use multiple tweeters?
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