“Invest” in Tekton?


I’ve been a member of Audiogon for a while but haven’t really had the need to utilize the forums until now... I’ve perused the forums pretty extensively the past couple of days but haven’t really found my specific question.... First some background: I’ve had my current system for quite some time (PSB image: 5t, 9c, 2b, subsonic 6; Denon AVR3311 as preamp; and a NAD T955 amp) and have been pretty happy with it... yes, I tend to hold on to my stuff for a while.... I recently decided to explore the option of upgrading/updating my speakers and was pretty interested in some midlevel stuff (SVS Prime, Emotiva, PSB X2T, Paradigm 8, 9, or 10 something…) but ultimately decided the $2000-$3000 price tag wasn’t worth the investment as they were all roughly in the same league as my PSBs... Somehow, I stumbled upon the review of the Tekton double impacts... don’t even know how I found it but there I was... I kinda chuckled to myself when the reviewer started comparing them to $20,000 speakers and then started calling them better at some things... I was a little pessimistic about the review because in my aforementioned research every speaker was the greatest thing since sliced bread.. (To be honest, in my eyes, the professional reviewers lost some credibility because every speaker was just great, couldn’t find a bad review no matter how hard I tried...) Anyhow, the comparison to speakers 7-10x in price piqued my curiosity so I started snooping around for any Tekton reviews I could find and lo and behold, everyone loves them and the comparisons to speakers multiple times their price were plentiful. Ok, so the Tektons are good and now I’m more interested than I should be…

So here’s the rub… I’ve never even considered spending $5000-$6000 on a speaker system (5.0-5.1). Never in my wildest dreams… I’ve always had a theoretical limit of $3k and never gave anything above that a thought. Along comes Tekton with speakers that are in the 5-6k price range (5.0-5.1) but are being compared to speakers $20,000+ and the fact people are putting them in the same league as speakers in that price range, and saying they are better in some instances, is intriguing…

So here’s where I am asking for some assistance. It seems the Tekton lineup is a unique opportunity to acquire reportedly superior sonic performance with apparently unparalleled value. However, $5-6k is a TON of money in my world.. It won’t break the bank but admittedly, it bends it pretty significantly and spending this kind of money on speakers definitely wasn’t a consideration even a week ago… Personally, I am seeing this as a once in a lifetime purchase (am 43 and would expect these to be the last major speaker purchase of my life) but I do need to justify to my betrothed. My original sales pitch to her included the analogy “it seems they are selling Lamborghinis for the price of a Mustang…” and “I really don’t think there will be another opportunity like this” (when did I start selling timeshares???!!!) There are other barriers with her as well (e.g., “They’re how big?!”) but she does have somewhat of an understanding of how much I like music and stereo stuff.. somewhat…

So my actual questions:

  1. To those that have actually heard the speakers, (transducers?)… do you really feel they are leaps and bounds better than typical speakers in the 3-6k range (generally speaking…)? For comparison, I liked the SVS Ultras but due to price and size (yeah, I know how big the Tektons are..) I put them in the “maybe someday” category. To be clear, I’m not asking is “x better than y?” but rather “Do these $3000 speakers really belong in the same class as $20,000 speakers????

  2. In your humble opinions, is this really a rare/unique opportunity with unparalleled value that is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” or are situations like this (incredible value for the money) more common?

  3. I can’t even claim to have a basic understanding of electronics, I’ve read up on ohms and what not and my eyes glaze over.. I spoke with Eric and he, without hesitation, stated my NAD T955 would be plenty sufficient to run whatever options I went with. Thoughts? I intend on using the NAD until it dies (hopefully no time soon) and will deal with next steps when the time is right…

  4. I am super nervous about ordering something so expensive unheard, If anyone is interested, I would like to have a discussion relating to my type of music and listening environment/levels.. (not including in this post to keep size down..)

  5. Any other relavant information I haven't considered, particularly in the area of justifying a purchase such as this?

There are probably 100 other little tidbits I could include in this but I am trying to be as brief as possible and I still wrote a novel… Anyhow, any productive assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

la10slgr
Bill,

I wasn't doubting anybody's credibility I have googled around the web and couldn't find any measurements on any of Tekton speakers and I'm just primarily curious which model is being talked about.

As you probably know the DI's is the only Tekton speaker that I have heard and unfortunately there is a lot of hype involved but I can easily look past that.

I really only care about great sound that gets me closer to the music I love and my current setup gives me the best sound I've ever had.😃

Kenny.


Ok I posted a while back before I got the DIs-well I've been listening to them a week- and I've really been listening because my wife is at her parents the whole week. I get to blast it as loud as I want till 4-5 in the morning. Fun fun. Anyway these speakers are that good. I've had the Grand Veenas the last 4 years. Amazing speakers but these are a whole other level. More alive, more micro details, more slam better bass, cleaner highs. Forget what they cost, they are reference level regardless of price. Terry London my friend and the one who wrote the review on these, has heard most speakers out there and thinks these are the best. He's never steered me wrong so I'm sure he's right. One reminder- I am a musician for 37 years, professional for 21 and I play 8-9 instruments. I know what every instrument sounds like in the real world. I'm confident to say I hear better than non musicians because of all my years of training and experience. I play all my instruments at a high level and I've done loads of studio recording. You can trust me you can't go wrong with these speakers. Oh I'm listening to discs I've had for 30 years, albums I've heard a million times and im hearing things I've never heard before.  Amazing.

Oh I oh I almost forgot this- there is one big problem with the these speakers if you are married. Your wife will surely hate them, lord knows mine does. They're quite big. It's worse for me- my wife has a bachelors in interior design. She is freaking out about their size. They're too good to give up so she will have to adjust. I think all audiophiles have to deal with this kind of thing. Wives never get it and don't care.
@sslide   Great to hear you are happy with your Double Impacts. Be sure to post your findings over on the T'ekton Double Impacts' Thread as well.

I'm sure your wife cares about you. And that is all that really matters. :)