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
“ 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 “

Weak ... Predictably  weak !

tsushima1
404 posts
10-13-2021 8:30am
“ 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 “

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok ok 
stay on topic. 
Note I do  rant 90% on my project, but always, always come back to the Tektons

We can't  talk about Tek's completely separated from speaker designs in general.
duhh
No speaker stands alone on a  island all by itself exception the big hifi horns which are the Holy Grail.

Measurements?
sens db and db/hz chart, magnet type, weight., cone material. 
these are the only specs I consider.
I now starting to understand the db/hz chart.
Too many peaks and valleys = not good.
Can't say more as i am now censored to stay only on Tekton  as main topic.
But what are Tektons db/hz chart? Sens db level?
magnet structure/cone material
All these things  have to be brought in to the discussion,. But again, specs will not say how a  speaker will actually sound. 
We are talking miniscule sound difs in speaker X and speaker Y. 
But a  nuance is a   nuance and only 1 can win.
How is the Tektons midrange.
This is what we all want to know.
Maybe the OP talks of the Teks mids. 
I don't know
What is your experience with Tekton, other than none at all?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
True
I try to explain above
WE have to look at the Tektons inner structure.
magnet weight/type/cone material.
db/hz chart.
A speaker that has too many peaks and valleys in that chart will have soem fidelity issues.
I finally figured out how to translate this chart as of 1 day ago.
Comparing 2 dif WBers a W3 and a  W4.
The W4 has fidelity  and the chart shows it  is well behaved. The W3  is good but no cigar. And the chart shows it has issues with peaks and valleys. 
So there might be something  to these db/hz charts after all. 
The W4 is $175/pair
The W3 $60 pair.
Get what you pay for. 
Lets take a  look at the db'/hz chart for the Tektons.
OK back in less than 20 seconds
Went to Tekton
WE need Mr Tekton to upgrade his info/spec page to include the above things we’d all like to know more about.
We needa dbhz chart.

Lets have a look.
Its not there, perhaps later today Mr Tekton will provide us with this chart.
Note the opening page to his site
**Its all about the sound**
100% agreement.
But we’d also like to ck a few specs.
Hopefully we will get this chart posted today.
In the meantime all we can do is just shoot the bull about Tektons.

https://tektondesign.com/product/full-range-speakers/flagship/moab/#color
Must say  thats a  LOT of speaker for the low  price  PLUS!! free ship, wow, thats a bargain.
Considering other labs prices. Like Wilson.
tongueincheek