My Experience With Tekton


I know this is a polarizing discussion point and was thus hesitant to share unless I could keep it objective, helpful, and concise

I have no intention to be inflammatory, sway anyone’s current opinion or beliefs

I merely want to share information in two specific areas, my results of product performance and my experience with the manufacturer

 

Background and reference point

I replaced a pair of Revel F36. The F36 is the upper end of Revel’s lowest tier floorstanding speakers and retails for $2,000 MSRP per pair

Took approx. 45 mins to unbox, level and connect

Like for like drop-in replacement, same location on the floor as the F36s, the listening position did not change, identical electronics and cables

We’ve all got our preferences, biases, different levels of experience, etc; but share the common limitation that we just don’t know what we don’t know

I’ve not heard a pair of 30K speakers but expect to someday and envy those that own them

In my VERY limited understanding, it’s near impossible to pinpoint how any specific system change will behave and perform across the board, contingent on the variances in electronics, set up and room. These three items alone (electronics, setup and room) make me think that while similar in nature, but at a critical listening level, each combination is unique and a different snowflake or fingerprint

 

Listening results

Product delivers as advertised

Meets or exceeds every performance expectation I had hoped for

After approx. 5 hours of listening over 3 days I tried to characterize the sound. The first thought was neutral, but that was understating what I was hearing. I eventually landed on natural or real. The voices and the instruments sound VERY real to me. This is as close as I have come with my electronics, setup and room to sensing that someone is singing to me or that someone or an entire band is playing for me

To date, each song that I’ve played, is the best version of that song that I have heard in a playback, and I’ve listened to all of them 100s and 100s of times

Some of the improvement was by a small margin, but most songs, 65% conservatively speaking, by a vast margin – night and day, game changing stuff

Chet Baker didn’t sound like a presentation from 1958, it sounded as fresh and real as a new recording with the benefits of 60 years of technology advancements. Exile on Main Street didn’t sound like a home recording from 1972 it sounded like 2022 with many layers of percussion, keyboards, horns and background vocals

Is the sound of this $5,000 pair of speakers comparable to the sound of a $30,000 pair of speakers? I don’t know, as mentioned I’ve not heard a pair of $30,000 speakers.

What I do know is the $5,000 pair of speakers, simply put is the best my system has sounded by a wide margin

Again in summary, it sounds real, like someone is singing to me

 

Experience with the manufacturer

I had hemmed and hawed for 2 or 3 months before placing my order. One day the website mentioned a future price increase but until mmdd you could still order at the current price

I called and spoke with Tammy and told her I wanted to lock in on the current price point but wasn’t sure what product or configuration I wanted

She built an open-ended order with current pricing and told me to contact her when I knew what I wanted

With work travel and other commitments it took me 4 months to finalize which speaker, Moab, which upgrades, beryllium tweeters and Cardas connectors, and what color, white

I was never pressured to make up my mind or that my window for the lower costs was going to expire

Since I was the one dragging my feet, I offered multiple times to pay for the product

Not once did they hint or take me up on my offer to pay in advance

They did not bill me until the product shipped

Once I had made all the config decisions, the build and delivery were again, as advertised

Tammy mentioned a 4–6-week supply chain delay with beryllium, that arrived within her estimated timeframe

Once the beryllium arrived, she said she was waiting on cabinets, eta 5-7 days, followed by build and paint, and shipping approx. 10 days after she received the cabinets

Within 2 weeks Tammy emailed my owner’s manual, unpacking instructions and told me to expect a call from the freight company within the next week

Freight company contacted me on that Fri and scheduled delivery for the very next Mon, Aug 30

The boxes arrived scuffed and with multiple impact points that dented the packing material

There are no blemishes or damage to either speaker cabinet, the packing and packaging worked as designed

Upon unpacking, I didn’t experience a heavy smell of paint or wood, if I put my nose to the cabinet, I could smell fresh paint

The cabinet finish or construction does not appear inferior to anything else in my inventory, KEF, Revel, Klipsch, Paradigm, Polk, and Elac – permission in advance to laugh

Enjoy the journey and happy listening

Respectfully


stevewharton
Post removed 
holmz200 posts10-11-2021 8:00pm
My personal preference is to praise to high heaven what I love, and give slight mention if any to what I don't. But do it however you like.    

Maybe it is just me, but I sort of distrust a reviewer that starts of saying that they intentionally omit ~1/2 of the truth.


The speakers have an almost religious following. It would be nice to peek behind the curtain to see if the specs are etched onto tablets, or just recited as lore.

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hahaha
Great post, 
Just wonderfully and quite hilarious, but honest
I like that.
Well Millercarbon is giving us some ideas to his approach.
He  has a  interesting perspective about this  speaker evaluation/ultimate choices to be made.

Past decade I use to prasie the Seas Thors as the finest speaker,, In some small ways it is. But after I made that shootout wirth a  cheap Diatone wide band,, the Thors now have been reduced to 1/2, as the tweet is gone, midwoofers as assist in my set up.

Every single  Tekton YT vid has    the speakers as some sort of religious Icon, so yeah there is some worshipping at the Tek Altar.
Specs?
I don't trust specs all that much. 
Specs give a  general idea, although Seas in the Crescendo tweeter, has its all wrong. 
I pretty much know how /what to look for in a speaker's specs/construct. 
The only thing  thats most important is how does it actually sound.
Note the OP, no such reference point.
OP rambles on, but gives nothing to  base his opinions.
The only rer point in determing a  speakers performance are hifi horns. 
Teks on one channel hifi horns on the other..
With this test,,  we all might see behind the secret  curtain and witness the snakeoil maker at work.....




Maybe its just me, but I dismiss anyone who doesn't understand there is no such thing as the whole truth.

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Miller, 
as you know I speak in ultimates, sperlatives about my set up. I actually do believe I have the ~~Holy Grail...

I see more blind hatred from people who have never listened to the speakers than religious zeal from the owners...

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Not hate, nor are we blind,,
We can easily see the speakers for ourseves,, Some of us  have been around quite a  few designs,, and just by the looks we get at least an idea of how they might sound.
I hate all tweeters  as for a  W+T ,,2 or 3 way xover design. 
I hate those things when employed ina  position to carry midrange.

I also only like magnesium cone woofers. magnesium/aluminum Seas W26, maybe OK.
The Tek's woofers won;'t work for me,, I don't need to hear them. 
So thats 2 strikes even before i even listened.
The 3rd strike is the price , weight and size.  + sens level might be below my 91db acceptable limit. 
( Caveat>>although my Seas W18;'s are 87, they play a  secondary role, not principle, and about to add a  3rd WBer whith 88db, again, as a  assist mode, not principle) 

Until we get a hifi horn guy to test the Teks against his horns, we are all going on hearsay, 
Sorry Mr Tekton, if some of my comments  might be  derailing your gravy train.