Tekton versus Klipsch

I own Tekton DIs and have been happy with them, had them for about 3-4 years. I haven't experienced a lot of speakers but have owned Alon IIs, Divas, Maggie 3.6 (I think) and some bookshelf SVSs. This is totally subjective of course but the Tektons are my 2nd favorite speaker I've owned and they are my current speakers.

I think they do a lot of things well--probably the thing I like the most about them is they fill the room with sound--I feel immersed in it which none of the other speakers quite did. But interestingly enough I find myself looking to buy some new speakers, try to step up and have been thinking about Klipsch Heresy speakers, but it's just a thought at this point, haven't heard any but am going to see what I can find this weekend.

BTW, I like the look of the DIs, but I've always been a little warped.

My Klipsch Heresy IIIs are amazing...makes me wonder if they imbued the "Capitol Records 75th Anniversary" version with some extra mojo (doubtful), but I tried the Heresy IVs well into break-in and they had upper mid frequency anomalies that irked me (you don't wanna be irked by specific upper mid piano roar) and I sold them along. The IIIs have a far more complex titanium diaphragm loaded mid horn (the IVs just stick the polyamide driver right on the mid horn opening with a small cloth cover, the IIIs have a much more convoluted horn loading...and I like it...) that could be the key benefit here, and having recently added a Pass XA25 to the system, well, it's friggin' mind blowingly good. 2 REL subs are already there, but the Schiit Freya/XA25 combo seems unbeatable with the Heresy IIIs for my tastes resulting in a vacation for my trusty SEP tube Dennis Had Firebottle...note also how innocuous the Heresy speakers size is relative to the coherent and gigantic sound they put out. 

@philbarone

Sounds like you have impedance mismatch with primaluna evo 300 and DI, the Eve 300 has 16 Ohm taps, they are probably not wired optimal for DI’s 2~4 Ohm load.

I tested the Klipsch Heresy IV at a Seattle dealer, they were driven by Jadis Orchestra Black EL34, it was not my cup of tea, the Heresy was too exciting sounding, they made my head hurt after awhile.

I am thinking to get a pair of Tekton the perfect set 15, just to test it myself, I know there are a lots of Tekton haters here at the gon but hey, people have the right to be different. My current speakers are Tannoy Turnberry and Zu Druid MK5.

I can only speak from experience which is limited since I’ve only had four pairs of audiophile grade speakers and my first pair were the Double Impacts with a PrimaLuna EVO 300 and 400. However, I am a professional musician and a respected instrument maker (PhilBarone.com) so I guess my ears are pretty good.

The DI’s with two PrimaLunas did nothing for me and every time I put them on I turned to my wife and said “I hate these”. I moved them around fifty ways to Sunday and did every possible thing t make them work.

I finally dumped them and bought a pair of Klipsch Forte Fours which were a huge improvement but were more money and great for most jazz and blues but not for classical music although the best recording I’ve heard with all my various combinations was with Glenn Gould playing “the Art of Fugue” which is an organ piece.

I got rid of those since about half of my listening is classical and a friend of mine found a rebuilt pair of Proac Response Threes which are simply amazing with my Conrad Johnson mono blocks. They are simply mind, freakin’, BLOWING.

During my three year search, I was in close contact with a great employee over at Pass Labs by the name of Kent English who told me that the Tektons would be best with one of their amps which are solid state so I bought one of their x350.8 models which was sometimes amazing but after listening to it for a few months I found that it had a house sound so I sold that and ended up with my Conrad Johnson’s. But I want to be clear, Kent was very honest and extremely well-versed in audio and he was very nice and gave freely of his time so maybe that’s someone to consider talking to. He won’t BS you or try to sell you.

After quite a lot of research I’ve come to a few conclusions. A) Don’t buy anything based on reviews because many, although not all of the people writing reviews have incentives to write positive reviews and in order for you to get the same results, the rest of your gear has to be the same as whoever is writing the review and they may not like what you like.  I have a friend who wrote for four audio magazines who said that reviews were pure BS since the manufacturers pay for advertising space. He got a few very nice rigs for free for writing positive reviews. B) Always buy your gear used as long as it’s in good condition and this is especially true of the Tektons since there’s so many of them on the used market and you can probably get a pair for much less than new. You might also want to consider why there’s so many used ones on the market. You can also buy a new pair on here from Tekton for less than their website price if you insist on going that route. C) In all likelihood, don’t buy anything based on what people on forums say because they can be inexperienced or have poor ears. I’ve worked for many professional musicians who gigged regularly but had terrible taste which is why so many products that are crap pervade our markets.

If you do decide to buy Tektons new, take into consideration how much they cost to ship back to Tekton should you decide that you don’t like them. In my case it was $760.00 for both and I can assure you that they count on people not sending them back for that very reason.

I should mention also that the customer service over at Tekton was nonexistent and the women over there didn’t have a clue of what she was talking about although she was very nice. However, the owner over there was outright rude and condescending and was of no help whatsoever. I tried very hard to like them. It also took me almost four months to receive them.

In the end I was very fortunate to have met someone on here by the name of a Steve Jones who managed a high-end audio store and who felt sorry for me when he heard I bought the Tektons. Steve steered me in all the right directions and located several unbelievable pieces for me including my Proac speakers and my amps and preamp. Steve has been an amazing help and has more knowledge than anyone I’ve encountered and probably saved me at least fifty thousand dollars as I fell down the audio rabbit hole and he’s never asked me for a thing since he honestly enjoys helping people out. Steve is the founder of the audio forum on Facebook and I’m sure he’d be happy to help you out and for what it’s worth, Steve doesn’t have anything nice to say about Tektons.

You didn’t mention what your musical preferences are or the size of your room which would be helpful.

Best of luck to you and if I can be of any further help don’t hesitate to contact me at the phone number or email on my site.

Phil Barone

Just one more thing to think about no matter which ones your buy/try. 

The bigger and heavier they are, the more they will cost you to send back (and shipping is very expensive right now) if you don't love them.    AND if at some point you decide to resell, the buyer will want that high shipping cost deducted from your selling price...sure, you can say "buyer to pay shipping" but look how often the big Tektons and other speakers take to resell.