Speaking of Speakers!
I have been quietly reading these Tekton speaker threads. I have had a few experiences that shed light on the differences that people hear. One such encounter was when a maggie guy came over to my house with his point to point wired low wattage (7?) amps. We were at it for hours listening and comparing. Great times actually. My system was all BAT. VKD5SE tube out put CD player (no longer functional) VK51SE tube pre-amp and VK55SE tube amp. Zu Mother power chords plugged directly into isolated circuit in wall. Cerious Graphene speaker cable and ICs. Early model Tekton DI. Mr. Maggie thought they were pretty damn good sounding. I have never heard Maggies so I had no reference. We would switch out amps and listen. There was a huge difference between a 7wpc point to point tube amp and a 55wpc auto biasing Viktor amp. The PtP amps were soft and tubey. Detailed but they could drive the effecient DIs. The BAT gear would do the same with gusto and power. The detail was there but the overall power to drive the speakers created larger soundstage, solid bass, and mids were very present. I was choosing the CDs that had the best sounding recordings for the comparisons. One of the cds had a goat in the background that was just scary because it was unexpectedly life like. This demonstration was done a few years ago and since then the VKD5SE failed so I purchased a Marantz Ruby. I like the Ruby quite a lot. One thing i have found about the DI's is the bass is phenomenal. It isn't quite perfect but it is very very good. Lot's of air movement, speed and clarity. Bass slam comes to mind. If I want to I can turn it up and feel it. I never understand when someone says that the DI's lack bass. I have cloth stuffed in the ports to tone the bass a bit. Every recording is different and the DIs are like studio monitors in that way. They reveal every detail in every way. Melody Gardot is stunning on this system. Her recordings have so much detail that one sits awestruck at the sound. The Ruby is an SACD player. I purchased a few SACDs to see what the difference might be and of course it totally depends on the recordings. With some there was not a lot of difference and others there was a huge difference. I have redbook cds that sound like SACDs in quality. Stanley Clark live at the Greek is one of those CDs. I also stream Qobuz and the Ruby has it's own DAC. What I found is it is always in the recording whether it is SACD, redbook, or DAC, or stream. With this system I can easily and immediately hear all differences in recordings. All cabling and components have sounds. There are some things the DI's aren't as good at such as soundstage from different places in the room or the listening position. However what they CAN do is pretty impressive. I really enjoy the ability to hook up anyone's component to my system and valuate it. I think that is pretty high level. I had the opportunity to listen to the Magico's $200,000 speakers on their million dollar set up. Quite impressive to hear but also ear ringing after 30 minutes. I'm lucky to have afforded the used equipment that I have. I find the detail to be sublime and the bass to be thrilling. The music is very engaging at every level. The better the recording the more engaging. It's really too bad that there weren't better recording studios out there producing the kind of music we COULD have, but then again, not everyone has a system that is this revealing. When I pop in that Stanley Clark CD, or David Crosby's SACD, 'If I Could Only Remember My Name' that is when I realize what this is all about! The width and depth of the soundstage, the imaging of the instruments and vocals just kicks it out of the park every time. The vocal range is nothing short of spectacular. Anyone can kick sand in my face about my cheap system but after listening for years I thin this will be about the best I'm going to get. I have a friend who just purchased a pair of Moab type speakers from Tekton. I am anxious to hear how they sound. I do know that the ONLY way to compare anything is put it in my room and listen with all of the same parameters. Otherwise it is apples and oranges every time.