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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
teajay OP
1,691 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.  :)
teajay OP
1,691 posts
 
I will not bad rap the electronics that were used in the room at Axpona were the Double Impact monitors were, but they were far from reference level, indeed.  Also, were the speakers were placed in the room lead, along with the upstream gear, to them sounding dreadful.  When I had them in-house for review they sounded  at least  at the same level as the excellent Ryan Audio monitors if not better for less then half the price of the Ryan Audio speakers.

You don't live to far away, you are welcome over to hear the Ulf or Moab speakers setup for optimum performance.  
douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 
teajay, that is very cordial of you, and I think a winning way to approach it. I recall a few instances where I had a difference of opinion and said to someone, "Come on over and hear for yourself." There certainly is no replacing the experience to discuss a product! 

I'll send you a message.  :)

lwin's avatar
lwin
570 posts
 
@smodtactical I have been a Martin Logan owner for years. I love the sound of electrostatic speakers as I feel they capture more of that “live sound”. I did try a pair of PSB Imagine T 3 speakers before the Ulfberhts : they sounded very nice but my ML Summits were better.
The build quality is good. I did have an issue with one of the speaker binding posts which I was able to overcome. The paint used on my speakers took quite awhile to stop off gassing so if someone has chemical sensitivity in your house it could be an issue.  
There is no getting around the fact that these speakers are very large. It is like having Darth Varner and his twin in the room with you.
In hindsight I should have paid for a custom color & I didn’t have the option to add a few beryllium tweeters. It was either all or nothing. These speakers are very revealing and will tell you immediately if changes made upstream are a plus or minus. 
I am delighted with these speakers and would not hesitate to purchase them again with the changes previously noted.

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