Considering the New Tekton Design Encores? AND Owners Group - Experiences/Questions

@sid-hoff-frenchman My previous Tektons were the SEAS Pendragons.  Back in 2013, I called Eric to inquire about trying out his Pendragon speakers which were getting a fair amount of rave press at the time for their "live" sound.  I explained to Eric that I wasn't really an audiophile and I have some mild high frequency hearing loss, and I wanted to try out his Pendragon speakers thinking that the "live" dynamic sound signature might appeal to me and my hearing problems.  Eric suggested I try out the SEAS Pendragons instead which was very new at the time, explaining that he thought its more linear sound signature might be better than the Pendragons for my hearing issues.  I took his suggestion and I've enjoyed the SEAS Pendragons since then, but every year thereafter have been watching with dismay and envy as Tekton launched a bewildering array of critically acclaimed speaker designs, so I decided to make an upgrade purchase this year.
I settled on the Encores for much the same reason as you.  I wanted to get one of the Tekton flagships but the Ulfs are simply too big for my listening room which is about 12X20 with low ceilings.  Moabs I could barely fit, but they would be really be pushing it too.  I didn't want to get any of the others for fear that I'd be itching to upgrade again in a few years.  I called Eric and asked him what he thought for me between the Encores and Moabs.  Eric said that if I liked the SEAS Pendragons, the Encores might be a better fit for me than the MOABs.  He described the Encores having a fuller more refined sound like the SEAS Pendragons' sound signature type, whereas the MOABs emphasized the "live" sound signature type that Tekton is known for.  
Eric is also building me a SEAS Pendragon center channel so I can move my SEAS Pendragons out to my home theater to replace some Monitor Audio fronts and center which have decent high frequency sound but the midrange is not as good as the SEAS Pendragons so moving them in there is an upgrade to the home theater as well.

@ditusa I drove my Encores to 94db peaks and 90db continuous spl from 10ft away with only 13 pc not 8wpc when using my Art Audio Diavolo.  Tom Willis installed the larger power transformer modification to support a 300bxls tube. Rather than argue with you, I will only say I did it and it sounded fine, even the bass.  I now own Allnic A6000 Quad Parallel SET Monoblocks which I run with only one 300bxls at 15wpc currently in the summer months and with up to 4 300bxls to produce 60wpc in the winter months.  The thing I notice is that at my normal listening level of 85db I don't need more than 15wpc anyway. I only moved up to Allnics because I had upgraditus and always wanted to own a more powerful pair of SET monoblocks and I love the EML 300BXLS tube.

@sid-hoff-frenchman I did own a pair of Nord 700wpc/4ohm One Up SE Ncore Class D Monoblocks ($4k) for awhile. They sounded alright, but absolutely nothing sounds like a good tube SET amp to me (I'm very biased about this so take that into consideration), except maybe the XA25 coming in as a close 2nd.  I thought having the Nords would be good for when I watch TV/MOVIE or just to save my tubes from wear when I am not critical listening.

I use a Luxman AS-55 Amp/Speaker Switcher to switch between tube and solid-state amps in my system.  Now, did having all that overhead make a difference?  Yeah you can blow your eardrums out, but most realistic listening levels are achieved at much more pedestrian wattage levels. The XA25 produces 50 watts into 4ohm at .01% distortion in pure class A and has reserves to go much further.  Most amplifiers are at 1% distortion at their rated power.

It's a 10 to 1 ratio with wattage anyway.  It takes 1000w to effectively double the output of 100w amplifier in spl.  So even with 50w you need 500w just to double the perceived spl.  At least that's how it's been explained to me. Please correct me if I am wrong.  All that being said, the Parasound pairs nicely with Tekton.  Eric loves pairing them together at shows and events.  You really can't go wrong with them.

@charles1dad Charles I feel like a heretic buying the XA25! It’s the first solid-state amp I’ve owned that I actually was intrigued with sonically within a few seconds of hearing the vocals and midrange play even while it was cold right out of the box. The gestalt was very jarring. My preconceived notions of solid-state are forever altered. Pass has devoted so much of his time to his First Watt amps and he sneaks this XA25 amp into his line up, which is nothing like the rest of the XA .8 series which use many transistors and have actually worse specifications. The utter simplicity of the XA25 along with it’s truly single ended circuit seems to be winning me over. I had 2 people suggest it to me whose opinions I value and so I decided to take the plunge and try it just to prove them wrong, but I am very pleased with it. Terry London’s Review mirrors my own sentiments regarding this amp being built entirely around the midrange and that it’s as close to SET like I’ve ever heard.

@ JCARCOPO i am happy that you like the encores as i stated i did not what to hijack the post i do not what to argue.what i was saying is most speaker company are miss leading in there numbers.your right 15watts is all you need.i can’t used more then 5-watts.@my seat 13’ the spl is 106 Db.but @1watt its great.your art audio diavolo SET-300b tube amps are great.that 1-watt in that amp is what i live for in audio.but it is more then just spl? you know that. the jbl i use are two/way.the $2500 i paid for them.i have not found better for what they sound like and cost i found better the jbl everest but at $60,000? if you found audio happiness with *encores*thats the audio (grail).don’t stop until you you drink from the silver cup.why are you reading this? GO listen to the (ENCORES) over and out.