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
And yet, here is what Jason Bourne Identity posted today in another thread. Hilarious!

jasonbourne521,134 posts10-12-2021 4:36pmThe truth is that most well-designed and well-built preamps will sound darn close! Want to hear a real change? Try a different transducer - phono cartridge or speakers! Most electronics today are already pretty transparent to the source.


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Just hilariously funny.
But actually I have to agree.
AS I've stated numerous times  on this board amp=amp
A tube amp = a  tube amp.
The real game changers is the speaker
Which is why I take  all things speakers dead serious.
My tech geek adores Uesugi which have to admit is really super high tech design. 
But to me a  tube linesage = a  tube linestage.
Yes even his Uesugi.
However I did havea   used older model Prima Luna Prologue for a  few hours before I packed it up and shiped it back to seller.
Not sure what that was all about perhaps I did not give it enough test demo, Not sure. All I can say has 6 12AU7's in slots.
I love AU's. 
But for some reason I think not having some 12AX's in there presents a  sound I did not care for.
Ran that over with my  tech geek he disagrees.
I don;'t know why it did not perform as i hoped.
I'm convinced a  linestage needs some AX's amplification factor involved. 
My Jadis 20+ yr old DPL employs 2 AX's but as per tech suggestion that one slot could go AU if I wanted.
And so I swaped  the AX for a  AU and sure enough made a  nice lil gain.
IMHO a  linestage should have a  balance of AX and AU for best  bang.
Off topic back to
Tekton-ICs
Midwoofer = midrange + woofer = ain't buying.
These things distort over 1800
Tweeter = midrange tweeter.
Again best they go go low is maybe 2k.
So this 1600hz-say 2200 hz sits in limbo, 
Not sure if you are aware this is a super critical hz  band width for all our music. 
Which is why i completely abandoned these midwoofers/midtweeters as main principle singers in my speaker system. 



You guys are very predictable! I knew exactly what you were going to say. Which brings me to my next question I have lined up: no such “measured results” between speakers? I realize you measurement folks don’t care about the sound, but what about “measurements”? Your next reply: if there is any measured difference, it’s small, and beyond auditory level of any human. Why even bother 🤦‍♂️

holmz217 posts10-12-2021 11:33pmYour Fezza example is certainly different than a Pinto though.

The difference between a Skoda, a Pinto and a Ferrari is that we have measured results for acceleration, cornering/skidpad, braking, etc for all those vehicles.

Hi @mozartfan. I think you missed my point. It was hilarious as he posted two different things on speakers in the same day. Above on this thread (speakers are just some boxes with drivers and crossovers) and the one I quoted on another thread 

Just hilariously funny.
But actually I have to agree.

dabel
352 posts
10-12-2021 6:50pm
@mozartfan, only classical?! Okay, I can respect that.

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WEll this term *Classical music** is such a  generalized broad catchall tag which really is  only for convience sake.
Nothing more.
My music starts at Debussy and of course includes Mozart, Wagner, pinch of Vivaldi (Only his minor key concertos, ONLY, so within V's concerto grossos, I skip the major tracks, and  only listen to the minor tracks. 
= 1/2 of  the cd...
Henze, Schnittke, Pettersson, Carter.
Classical composers?
Very unlike say Brahms, Dvorak, Mahler. 
My collection is complete with say 15 composers represented on my shelf, quickly losing interest in Shostakovich and Prokofiev. Time changes us. 
Replaced with Schnittke, Henze , Carter, Pettersson. 
15 composers represented, thats it. 
I love Szymanowski and do not like Chopin.
Thats how my collection goes. I hear superior music in Szymanowski and so *Get* my Chopin in Szy's music. But superior, new style, Chopin I hear as dated material thus a  bit boring.
So classical fan? Not really, 
My new speaker designs have me listening to Diana Krall all the way though to the end of the cd. 
Diana's voice has taken  on  such charm and magic with my added WBer W4 DavidLouis. WOW factor off the charts.
Going for more will add the Tang Band W3 2178 in late Janurary for possible more wow factor.
The Dayton W3 did not work in as i figured it would not.
The TBW32178 absolutely must be not same but superior to DLVX8+DLW4 if its going to work in. And I looked at the specs/db sens hz chart looks just wonderful . hanging very close to 90db and w/o any major dips , peaks , valleys. Its 4x's the price of the other TBW3 but a superior speaker.
This is how i designed my Wide Bander
Trial and error.
Tektons look like they've been working with the same ideas i have = more can be better.

jasonbourne521,137 posts10-12-2021 6:59pmA speaker is just a box with some drivers and a crossover. That manufacturers can make and sell them for the price of a luxury car is ... rather appalling, eh!

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Its long been common knowledge among seasoned audiophiles especially the DIY campers that speakers are grossly overpriced.
No news there.
I just read that  opinion on a  DIY board some weeks ago.
This idea hit home after I made up my speaker system. 
I had no choice.
The Seas Thors upgrades cost me a  bundle and did not transform the speakers into Super-Thors.
Tried to go 3 way with a  Seas high tech DEDICTAED  midrange. Tech said *you gotta be joking*
Thats all he said.
it was at that very moment I dumped xover speakers and put my full 100% attention into these *odd strange unusual* WBers.