Tekton Design's new THE PERFECT SET equals "goosebumps time"


Just got in house for review for hometheaterreview.com Tekton Design’s new, The Perfect SET, which is close to 100dB efficient and never dips below 8 ohms, which Eric built to be used with SET "flea watt" amplifiers. It is a front ported design using a 12 inch woofer and his patented array of small transducers that function as a midrange driver with a single tweeter in the middle. I set them up in a system with a great 2A3 SET amplifier and found them so superlative I did not stop listening for over five hours! Taking about "goosebump time" the music was so beautiful that
I lost track of time.

These speakers have all the virtues of the other Tekton speakers, speed, utter transparency/micro-details, great soundstaging, and that special "aliveness" that I experience when I listen to my Ulf’s. What really amazed me was what the Perfect SET was delivering on the bottom end frequencies, subterrainian/taut powerful bass, that was shaking the room, all coming from at most 2.5 to 3 watts.

If you love SET amplifiers this speaker is a match made in heaven, and remember this pair just arrived and is not totally burnt in yet.

teajay
I have historically preferred high end 2 way standmount speakers.  They disappear in the room, throw a big soundstage, and offer high value IMHO. For the type of music I listen to, a lower frequency of 40 Hz is all I require. The Fritz Carrera caught my attention roughly 3-4 months ago based on highly positive reviews by attendees at an audio show ( Capital Audio Fest I believe), and it’s solid base extension to 35-40 Hz. That they are sold direct by the manufacturer with very high quality parts and the offering of a home audition before committal, and learning that they have a smooth/benign impedance curve that allows for lower wattage tube amplification, only heightens my interest.  Yes, with stands they are almost double the cost of new Heresy IIIs, BUT they are less than half the cost of the Joseph Audio Pulsar — a similar highly desirable speaker that also has a SEAS driver, similar frequency response and benign/smooth impedance. 

I had wondered when you might weigh in Wolf haha. As I mentioned above, my critique of the Heresy was premature.  The stock Chinese tubes that came with the Coincident Dynamo 34 SE mk2 are casting a somewhat bright sound with these speakers I think, and that is something I can modify to suit my taste. One of the reasons I wanted to try a tube amp in the first place. My system currently lacks the warm lush saturated midrange that I heard in the late 70s-early 80s at a dedicated audio store in Rapid City that unfortunately ceased to exist many moon ago. There I heard large Klipsch speakers being driven by Mcintosh tube gear playing Sheffield Track records — a very memorable sound.  If I can create that midrange of yore with my current system, I can live with the 58 Hz extension— or buckle and get a small 8” subwoofer.  

By the way, I like the fat/squatty profile of the Heresy — and it was another reason I chose it: I don’t have to worry about my dog or a future grandchild knocking it over. 
Thanks...I feel much better now. I have noted here and there that the lower powered amp binds me to efficient speakers thus ruining any fantasies regarding all the cool small speakers out there, but the Heresy IIIs sound so good I'm OK (although clearly fragile). I also like little stand mounted speakers as sort of replicated by my recently sold Silverline Preludes with 3.75" woofers in a thin tower speaker...like a mini monitor with gusto. I strongly suggest a sub or two with the Heresy IIIs as that raises their game and sweetens the mids (who knew?). I already had a couple of RELs so I was prepared, and man...
@ks2  In response to your comment, I would suggest that you can be very comfortable with the Tekton line.  I suspect the newer Perfect SET is another excellent speaker and a huge value.  The VAST majority of Tekton owners are very very happy owners.  It's just that some have focused on rearticulating a very small number on negative posts over and over and over.  This skews ones perception.  As teajay points out, some very high end brands all have things that go wrong.  It's part of life.

I will say this.  I know of NO speaker line that offers so much for so little.  This is not opinion, it is simple math.  Add up the cost of the drivers alone in the DI's, for example, relative to their price.  It's a crazy low mark up.  Eric has offered the audio community a huge value here.  MORE importantly, he knows how to blend the drivers in a special way.  One uniformed poster suggested a "DIY" effort with Tekton  which is just sheer ignorance.  I've done a few DIY builds with good results--but nothing close to my DI's.  Nor would I ever fool myself into thinking "I could do that."