Stereophile review of the $30,000 tekton speakers


We have had many discussions/arguments over tekton speakers in the past, mainly involving a couple posters who thought their $4000 tektons sounded better than the highest price Wilson’s and other high budget speakers.

In the latest Stereophile magazine, they did a review of the $30,000 tekton’s. In this Steteophile issue, they rate these $30,000 tekton’s as class B. When you look at the other speakers that are in the class B section, you will notice most of these speakers range in price from $5000-$8000. So it looks like you have to spend $30,000 on a pair of tekton’s to equal a pair of $5000 Klipsch Forte IV’s sound quality. 
If I compare these $30,000 class B tekton’s, to some of the class A speakers, there are some class A speakers for 1/2 the price (Dutch & Dutch 8C, Goldenear triton reference), or other class A speakers that are cheaper (Magico A5, Kef blade 2).

 

 

p05129
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You go out of the country for a while without internet and people ask where is the OP.

What else is there to say? You have a magazine that would probably still give the Bose 901’s an A rating because they never say anything negative about a component. I only use the trade magazines to see what’s new. 

I’ve been attending audio shows for over 25 years (CES/THE SHOW, RMAF, Tampa Expo, and others. I heard the tekton speakers at rmaf before covid hit. It happened to be in a room where we left after a couple minutes because we didn’t like the sound. I can’t remember what source equipment was used but the speakers had a dozen tweeters and a couple of woofers.
Then later on, you had a guy on agon claiming that any tekton speaker would fit in perfectly into anybody’s audio setup, recommending tekton without even hearing them 1st.  This same person was claiming that his cheaper tekton speakers were better than the $1M Wilson’s which he never heard. So when I read the review of the $30k tekton’s and saw the rating group the magazine put it in, not only did the $30k tekton speakers fall short at competing against some of the best speakers made, it has a lot of competition from speakers costing 1/4 their price.

Even without hearing these $30k speakers, I would disagree that they sound exceptionally good for the price, and the magazine rating confirms this too. That was the saying for most tekton speakers, tekton sounded good for their price. I have listed in the past many speakers I thought sounded better than the tekton’s I heard at rmaf, and most of the speakers I like better are cheaper.

As for using beryllium, that’s not new technology. Ushers had beryllium tweeters over 15 years ago and I didn’t buy them back then because of the tweeter. As soon as usher started using the DMD diamond tweeter, I bought a couple pairs. Usher now uses a diamond midrange which is a game changer in their newer models. 

I don’t agree with the poster that states audiophiles buy expensive speakers mainly for their looks. I would disagree for a number of reasons:

1) if you can afford a pair of $30k speakers, you probably have a dedicated audio room. I buy audio components for their sound quality 1st, looks come in around 4th or 5th reason. You have system synergy, speaker to amp compatibility, speaker to room size, etc.. before looks comes into the picture

2) most of my listening is done in the dark. 
3) there are some speaker designs that would never get spousal approval and they are some of the best sounding speakers in the world, for example the top tier Wilson’s, Magico, and others.

On the other hand, there are speakers that are very very good sonically and gorgeous to look at: Usher speakers for example. 

As for using beryllium, that’s not new technology. Ushers had beryllium tweeters over 15 years ago and I didn’t buy them back then because of the tweeter

There’s just way too much hype continual hype around beryllium tweeters. It’s fairly easy to give yourself a headache listening to it, when implemented by many manufacturers.

Yamaha (the grandfather of it all..) wrote the book on beryllium tooling/fab/process dev back in the early 70s. They themselves have moved on from it and use Xylon these days (NS5000 family).

I wonder how much longer all the clingers will cling on to the rinse/repeat/rehash beryllium, as if it were the greatest thing since sliced bread...😒

Zylon is the new material that Yamaha uses, and it sounds incredible. Same physical characteristics as Be but I think not poisonous like Be. The 12-inch woofer on the NS5000 is made of Zylon as is the tweeter and the midrange. Yes, I have this speaker.

As the previous poster mentioned, it was Yamaha that first used Be in drivers for the NS 1000 in the 1970s. That was for the tweeter and midrange. Paradigm Persona duplicated the Be tweeter and midrange about 8 years ago.

 

@p05129  My neighbor purchased his YG Sonja 3s and I purchased a Von Schweikert VR9 SE MK2 98% for their sonic properties and 2% because they looked appropriate (great finishes, black-we like that, in our dedicated listening rooms and for the living room, NOT black, wood or white only). The big Tekton’s are okay but with a really plain appearance with a grill but yuk without them but that’s only my wife and my opinion. Lastly, I often listen in the dark, especially early evening to relax. With a system which maintains relative dynamics and all the color and dispersion at normal listening levels, it’s a pleasure to listen more quietly in the dark. 1. 2. & 3. okay!