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What have other owners of Tekton Design Ulfberht Speakers discovered?

Now that I have lived with the Ulfberht's for close to a year I would like to share some assumptions about them with GON members, and see what conclusions that other Ulfberht's owners have come to based on their listening experiences. 

There is no doubt in my mind that the Ulfberht's are the most lifelike and musical speaker I have ever had in my reference system.  To think that a seven foot 21 driver speaker completely disappears in a totally accurate sound-stage,  (how large or small is based on the recording) like a small two way monitor is still a remarkable feat, indeed.  Many listeners to my home find it hard to believe how cohesive they are top to bottom and speak with "one voice".  Many large speakers can do "big" power music, but sound "big" on all music.  They can also blow out of proportion the size of individual players.  Not the Ulfberht's, they present any music in a natural manner, never exaggerating anything out of proportion.  Other special qualities of this speaker is it's overall "ease/effortlessness" regardless of volume levels, thunderous dynamics, its ability to pressurize the room with deep accurate bass frequencies and a sense of "aliveness" that you find in live music.

Some guidelines to optimism the Ulfberht's performance:

1) Get them at least four feet off the front wall and two/three feet off the side walls. My dear friend Ezra has his pair in a relatively small space, yet they sound beautiful.  Still, his pair is about five feet off the front wall and two feet off the side walls. 

2) I believe in most rooms a very slight toe-in gets you the the best center image, without narrowing the width of the sound-stage at all. The center tweeter should aim just on the outside of your head at your listening position.

3) Just like all Tekton Design speakers the Ulfberht's are a conduit, anything you put into them you will hear it.  Be prepared to use the finest source and amplification to tailor the sound of your system to your personal taste.

4) Even though the Ulfberht's are an easy speaker to drive, they love high current amplifiers to get the best out of them.  Right now, I have in for review a brand new model from Coda Technologies called the Number#8, beautiful looking with blue lighted meters, which has the current capability of 150 Amperes on a peak!  Without a doubt the Coda Number#8 is a superlative amplifier, you will get all the details when I write the review for hometheaterreview.com, and might be the best amplifier that has ever driven my pair of Ulberht's.  I have have tried six highly regarded amplifiers, they are all excellent in their own right and sounded great on the Ulberht's.  However, the synergy with the Ulf's is very special in many ways.   

   
teajay
shimei
2 posts
 
Hello,

New member here. Just want everyone to know how others may use these posts for purchase decisions.

I plan to order the Ulfberhts by the end of this week. Since this will be part of a home theater system I plan to also order the double impact center wide speaker. The reason for upgrading my center is the ohm rating. Currently my Klipsch RC-64ii center channel is 8 ohms. Mind as well go 4 ohms across the entire front sound stage.
The Ulfberhts will be a serious upgrade from Klipsch!
smodtactical
986 posts
 
@lwin  @tomlhuffman great to hear positive feedback on Ulfberht. How do you find the build quality?

Also what other speakers have you  listened to and that you compared to Ulfberht?

I see lots of positive sentiment about these speakers but also some people feeling they are not very good and cheaply made. What do you think ?
douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 
The notion that a large speaker cannot disappear is a misnomer. It is relatively easy for a large speaker to do this, and it does not take special technology, patents, promotion, etc. I did that with the Vapor Audio Joule White, the Kingsound King III, the Legacy Audio Whisper DSW Clarity Edition, etc. (all reviewed). 

In addition, any speaker can show you the changes upstream. This is in no way unique to the Tekton designs. 

Line source and arrays will appeal in some respects, but they have serious drawbacks in some performance parameters. It is best for the prospective customer to understand those trade-offs. 

The dream of SOTA sound on the cheap is alive and well.  :) 


teajay OP
1,721 posts
 
First, to ,douglas_schroeder, my fellow professional reviewer, your statements in your first two paragraphs are very truthful about reference level large speaker designs.

However, if you are implying that Tekton Design Ulf speakers are either a line source or arrays is not valid.  Because of Eric's breakthrough you have none of the sonic shortcomings of either of those designs.

Secondly, smodtactical, the build quality is excellent and I have compared my pair of Ulfs to scores of other speakers and still have not heard one that I would replace the Tekton speakers with solely based on performance.
douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 
teajay, that’s not what I heard when I listened to the Impact monitor at AXPONA last year. I heard the same sort of indistinctness that plagues line source and array designs. I went from that room to the Ryan Audio room where I believe the S610 bookshelf was playing - a "night and day" difference" so to speak. The cleanness and imaging of the Ryan was stupendous in comparison to the Tekton. No, it was not the electronics, but a fundamental difference in the design of the speakers. That was enough to tell me that at least in that iteration (or, precisely, that model) the Tekton design is plagued by many of the same problems as line source and array speaker systems.

Maybe that has been addressed since then. Maybe it is less pronounced with the larger models. I will remember your comments and refrain from an absolute judgement, especially since I have not reviewed them. But, seeing as how the similar methodology is being followed as with the Impact, I’m inclined to sit with my conclusion in regard to the sound until I get another chance to hear a Tekton, perhaps a larger one at a show.

BTW, modifying an array and giving it a different name to distinguish it from an array is not terribly important to me when my ears hear some of the same issues that are generated by arrays. I should also add that I can see why combining a multiplicity of dynamic drivers in such fashion would be appealing; a cross between a panel-like wall of sound and a dynamic speaker's impact. I would think it a valid and powerful design to certain listeners.  :)
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