Tekton Double Impacts

I've had the Double Impacts for several months now, and can verify what's already been said about them. Excellent speakers at this price-point, with superb bass control and detail, stunning almost eerie midrange. Live recordings and vocals particularly come alive on them. With a decent amp and excellent source--like an Yggdrasil dac--they will play pretty much anything well. Piano enthusiasts should take note of these speakers as they sound phenomenal with classical piano recordings. Burn-in period on my speakers was about 30 hours, after that they opened-up very nicely. Best bang-for-the-buck in audio that I have come across.

The only negative thing I can say about Tekton is that they were slow to ship the grills I ordered for my speakers. My conversations with Eric Alexander over the past few months have been quite informative, with very little BS. I ended up getting some of his Enzo 2.7's for my home theater setup. Quite good speakers for the money, though the Double Impacts best them.

I have the Enzo 2.7's in my home theater setup. They are good for that role, but lack the bass of the Double Impacts. Not as detailed as the DI's, either.

I finally got my Transmitter amps hooked up to the DI's, and the sound is glorious. Rich and full bodied is how I would describe the sound compared to the solid-state amp I was using before. I can crank them up without the sound becoming harsh. No straining whatsoever. Had to replace my preamp as the DI's revealed it's short-comings. Vocals and live recordings sound especially sweet now.

David, do you prefer the Comet to the Yggdrasil? I have the Yggy myself and am curious about other dac's.

Tekton has some used speakers for sale on it's Specials page, including the prototype Electrons. Might be worth checking out.


And for folks that like the 6SN7 type tubes, the Melz "hole plates" are superb sounding tubes.

From what Eric told me, the Ulfberhts are HUGE. Over 70 inches tall, 16 inches wide. Scanspeak drivers, upgraded internals, too. Placing my order soon!

I've been running my Double Impacts with Carver Crimson 350's for a few days now, as my Nat amps are in the shop to replace some caps and resistors. The DI's really like these big tube amps, bass is glorious on them.

Yep, they are 12 inch woofers.

I believe that the sensitivity of the Ulfbehrt's is 100dB, but that may well change...

Mofojo, the Yggy has a better sound than the Gungnir. I compared the two of them side by side in my system, and the Yggy was clearer and more natural sounding. If you leave the Yggy on all the time, which is recommended by Schiit, it sounds truly awesome. It does not have a remote though, so you need to run it through a preamp.

Craigl59, the best dac's I've come across are the Schiit Yggdrasil and Gungnir multibit. They sound superb through the Double Impacts.
And, in a few weeks, through the Ulfberhts....

Charles, as much as I liked the NAT amps and their crystal clarity of sound, the Carver 350's are a lot easier to live with. The Carvers run cool, are very quiet, super easy on the tubes, and give me 99% of the great sound of the NAT's. Plus, they have superior bass over the NAT's.

The speaker cables I use on all my setups are from an Ebay seller named Amplifier Surgery. They are 8-gauge silver plated copper with Deltron plugs. Nice sound and very economical. My interconnects are from Marc Tunis, he does good work.

I upgraded my preamp a few days ago to a BHK Signature. It's the best sounding preamp I've come across, far better than the Simaudio P5 I was using. Through the Double Impacts it has an almost magical ability to make even modest recordings sound excellent. It's a real detail monster, revealing every little nuance in a recording. Surprised that more folks aren't talking about it. Vocals on it have such texture!
Also found out that my Ulfberhts are shipping soon. Moving them will require lots of strong backs.

David, the BHK preamp provides a level of detail that I have not been able to achieve with any other preamp that I have tried. It's sound is crystal clear, yet very rich and textured. Bass is just right, while the treble extends all the way to the highest frequencies without sounding harsh or etched. Plus, it has that "holographic" quality that folks are always raving about. Combined with the DI's excellent midrange abilities, it produces a magical listening experience. I was listening to the recent remix of Songs from the Wood and Ian Anderson's voice was full of detail that I had never noticed before. Other recordings that I tried on it did not have the thin/hollow sound that they had on the other preamps I have owned. This one component made as much difference in my system as when I upgraded my dac to the Yggdrasil a few years back. Maybe even a bit more!

Facten, I'm using some vintage Siemens "silver plate"  12au7 tubes, though I've found that Telefunken tubes sound about as good.

Vitop, I ordered the Ulfberhts about 2 weeks ago, and they are shipping in the next day or so. Usually takes a week to get here. The hard part will be uncrating and moving them.

The Ulfberhts are in. Huge beasts that took a good hand truck and several strong backs to move. They are burning in for now, but I did manage a listen. Most interesting thing I noticed was how natural the instruments sound, very rich and textured. No harsh edges, but extremely clear. I will give them time to burn in and open up.

I must note that the packaging on these things was impressive. No worries about shipping damage.

I would say that my DI's get about 80% of the way to the Ulfberhts' sound, but the Ulfs are still burning in. Only 10 hours on them so far.  However, the Ulfs are unique in the way they present instruments. Totally natural sound, nothing added, no coloration. Piano recordings sound like an honest-to-goodness piano right in my listening room. Vocals are particularly nice, luscious even.
For fun, I played Art Blakey's version of A Night in Tunisia, and nearly jumped out of my seat when the drums kicked in. Never experienced that before. Percussion is quite a treat on these speakers.

The Ulf's have no problem with clarity. Going through some of my favorite recordings on them, I have been able to pick out details that were not clear on the DI's. My dad came over and tried some of his classical piano cd's on them. We were able to identify the makes of the pianos being used just by their tone on the Ulf's. In fact, the differences between the various pianos was made very obvious by the Ulf's. I had never noticed this before.

Craig, the soundstage of the Ulf's is quite different from the DI's. It's very forward, almost "in your face" on some recordings. Also, the Ulf's do not need to be placed far from the rear walls to sound good. Just a few inches is enough for the Ulf's, while the DI's need a fair amount of clearance to open up. However, listening height is critical with the Ulf's. Your ears must be centered with the arrays for maximum effect.

To speed up the burn in process, I have been playing pipe organ music through the Ulf's for several hours now. It's quite a treat as they are easily able to create concert hall levels of volume. The bass from the organs is scary good on the Ulf's.

Mac, I don't know what caps are used in the Ulf's, only that they are an upgrade from the stock ones used on other Tekton speakers. Something to keep in mind: I am using some powerful amps in my setup, greater than 300 watts/channel. So, I have no idea what the Ulf's would sound like with a low power amp. That might be an important bit of info for folks running the LTA amps and considering the Ulfberhts.

David, I picked the BHK's over the Carvers for now, but I will swap the Carvers back in after a while just to compare a pure-tube amp over the solid-states. The BHK's offer lots of dynamics and speed, which suits the Ulf's just fine. Both are fine amps, and I could be happy with either one.

Craig my listening room is fairly large, with 10 foot ceilings. It works okay for me, but in a smaller room the Ulf's huge size could easily overwhelm you. My listening chair is 10 feet from the speakers, and some recordings sound like they are right on top of me. I don't mind this, but in a smaller space it would be too much. If Eric comes out with the mini version of the Ulf's, that would be a better bet for most folks.

Thanks David, I appreciate that. I grew up listening to my dad playing the piano. Every morning as I would get ready for school, I could hear my dad banging away at the keys, usually something by Grieg or Czerny. While I am more of a rock and jazz fan myself, I can appreciate his passion for classical music. His trained ears helped pick out the very first audio equipment that I ever bought.

As for upgrading, I think most folks here would be quite content with the Double Impacts. The Ulfberhts are reference-grade speakers designed to wring every last bit of musical information from a recording. You do not really need that level of performance to enjoy your music.  All that said, I wouldn't give'em up!

Teajay, what preamp did you use with the Carvers and BHK's? In my system, neither amp really came alive until I paired it with an excellent preamp. They hardly sound sterile in my setup.

Milpai, if you are a pianist, you definitely can tell a piano's make by it's tone. A Steinway does not sound like a Bosendorfer, for example. It takes a really good speaker to reveal this, though, which the Ulf's did.

I have about 40 hours on the Ulfberhts, so far. They are really starting to come into their own now. One big difference between them and the DI's that I have noticed is the bass. It's not only more plentiful but also much better quality than on the DI's. Very tight and precise, with nice texture to it.
I played some cd's on the Ulf's that sounded okay on the DI's but were never really satisfying on them. Through the Ulf's they sounded like brand new recordings. Lots of details that I never noticed before. Blind Faith and Robin Trower never sounded this good before.

Vitop, that would be correct. Though the bass is the most noticeable difference, so far. Also, the Ulf's have a very forward presentation to them compared to the DI's. This is settling down somewhat with burn in, but it's still there.

Klh, it's hard to say. I've only played them with large amps, greater than 300 watts/channel. From my experience with them and the DI's, I do not think they will scale as well as the DI's. But we'll just have to wait until someone pairs them with a smaller amp to be sure.

Craig, the Ulf's have superior dynamic headroom compared to the DI's. I tested this by playing pipe organ recordings at near-deafening levels. No stress/breaking-up of the music whatsoever. My dad played his piano recordings at thunderous levels, and the Ulf's maintained proper tone all the way. Keep in mind that this is with big amplifiers, The Ulf's happily consumed all the power I could give them.
Vitop, the Ulf's are more "in your face" than the DI's. This is gradually softening, but I know some folks don't like this characteristic in speakers. Just something to keep in mind. In my listening room, the DI's sounded recessed by comparison.
Mac, my listening room is acoustically dead. Lots of padded furniture and thick carpet that soaks up sound. Still, the Ulf's can fill it with sound at reasonable listening levels.

By forward, I mean that the soundstage is very close to the listener, almost in your face. The Ulf's are not excessively bright.

My audio chain is: Yggdrasil dac to BHK Signature preamp to BHK 300 amps to the speakers. Same setup I used with the Double Impacts.

Jcarcopo, I would rate the Ulf's at a 7 on your scale. I think folks have misinterpreted my comments about how forward these speakers are. The sound quality of the Ulf's is superb, no question about it. It's the soundstage that I am commenting on. By "forward", I mean that the soundstage projects farther into the room than the DI's do. I mentioned this because in a smaller listening room, this may be too much. My listening room is 17 feet by 29 feet, with 10 foot ceilings. There is 11 feet between my speakers, and no toe-in. My listening chair is about 10 feet from the speakers. About 14 feet from the grills to my rear walls. The Ulf's are not overly bright, they don't have a "hot" treble, which is surprising when you see all those tweeters. If you enjoy vocals, the Ulfberhts will please you greatly. I hope this clears up any confusion. I would hate for folks to get the impression that the Ulf's have some sort of flaw, which they do not.

I have to comment again on the bass that the Ulf's produce, it ranges from the merely sublime on some recordings to astounding on others. If you are a fan of the low notes, these speakers will thrill you.

The BHK 300 is a hybrid amplifier made by PS Audio. It uses a tube input stage of two 6922 tubes, and a solid-state output stage. This gives it some "tubey" sound qualities with the power and control of a solid-state amp. You can even roll tubes in it to tune the sound somewhat. I like it very much, but it is a different beast than an SET amp. I have no idea how the Ulf's would sound on a small tube amp, but some of my recordings definitely benefit from the extra power that the BHK's provide.

Longdrive, I have the Enzo 2.7's, the DI's and the Ulf's. The DI's and Ulf's are a large step up from the Enzos--much more "real" sounding and vastly superior bass. Live recordings in particular are a real treat on them.

As for the Mini Ulfberhts, I talked to Eric a week back, and he said it's atleast a month or more before we get any more details on them. I suspect that they would be the sweet spot for a lot of folks here.

The Ulfberhts have over 50 hours on them now, and they have really opened up. As good as they sounded at first, they are truly stunning now. Crystal clarity in the midrange, but no harshness. The bass on these speakers is fantastic. The soundstage has receded somewhat, it's at the point of being just right.

Yep, I got grills with them. I don't think Eric likes to make grills, as they usually take months to show up. I need them to keep my cat's fur off the drivers. Dusting these monsters would be a chore!
As for fireworks, I was playing John Wick through my Enzo's awhile back, and it sounded like I had a running gun-battle going on in my house. Surprised my neighbors didn't call the police.

Mac, I'll have to revise my original estimate of the DI's versus the Ulf's. Broken in, the DI's are only about 70% of the way to the Ulfberhts. Nothing really changed until I got to 30 hours on the speakers, then they gradually opened up. More detail, crystal clarity, no more "in your face" soundstage. Horns sound so smooth now, and drums have a wonderful punch to them that sounds just right. Vocals are a real treat with an almost ethereal quality to them. This caught me off guard with some of my old recordings which had never been very impressive in terms of the vocals. Now I am hearing what these guys could actually do.

Craig, I didn't use any feet/spikes/gliders on the Ulf's or the DI's. Just put them on the bare carpet. Eric did mention building a plinth for the Ulf's, but I have not heard anymore about it. I'm guessing that it's to raise the height of the speaker for correct listening position.

Question for the amp experts: would a Pass Labs 100.8 be sonically superior to the BHK 300's that I am using now? I like the BHK's very much, but am open to other amps. Thanks.

Vitop, the Ulf's are more holographic than the DI's. Some recordings jump out at you from them. One big difference between the two, is the amount of detail that the Ulf's reveal. They are detail monsters and hold nothing back. The Ulf's are still breaking in, but some of the differences are already clear between the two.

Mofojo, I definitely prefer the Ulf's over the DI's. The bass alone is a considerable improvement over the Double Impacts. Not only is there more of it, but it's very refined. The Ulf's also do fine detail and nuance that the DI's can't quite match.
Both are great speakers, but the Ulfberhts are on a whole different level.

Willgolf, I had the DI's before the Ulfberhts, and Legacy Focus before that. The DI's and the Ulf's easily beat the Legacy's. Much more efficient/easier to drive, much more detail, more and better bass. The DI's would serve you well, even in a large room. And, would allow you the funds to upgrade your other components, which the Tekton speakers really do need to strut their stuff. The Ulf's are a unique beast, in a class of their own. It's not really fair to compare them to anything other than "endgame" speakers, and I have not had the chance to try any of those--too rich for my blood. All that said, if folks can afford the price, the Ulf's would not disappoint.

Has anybody here tried a class D amp with their Tekton's? I'm making some changes in my system and would like to try class D amplification, but I'm hesitant to take the plunge.

It will be a few weeks before I make any changes, so no rush. I'm looking at some of Merrill's offerings. They seem to get universal praise.

Evolvist, the Ulfs now have over 100 hours on them, and they are still breaking-in. If I had to call it right now, I would say the DI's get you 75% of the way to the Ulfberhts. But this can change as I put more hours on them. I am using the Yggy dac, and it seems to pair well with the Tektons. One thing I can say for sure about the Ulfs is that they respond very enthusiastically to power, much more so than the DIs. My dad put this to the test by playing some of his classical piano cds through them, and cranking up the volume to thunderous levels. I'm talking heavy metal concert levels!  The Ulfs didn't once strain/distort/compromise the sound quality. The piano sounded amazing, almost like having a concert grand in the room with us.

I have the 2.7's in my HT setup, with a Pendragon center channel speaker. They are great for movies, but you definitely need a subwoofer with them, as the bass is not as good as the DI's.

To my ears, the Enzo's and the DI's sounded quite different. For music, I definitely preferred the Double Impacts.


Next week, I will be trying some nice class D amplification with the Ulfberhts. I have some Wadia a340's on the way.

I have the Ulfs, but no Naim gear. Just BHK monoblocks and BHK preamp with Yggdrasil dac.

Some mysterious stranger has posted a video of their Ulfberhts on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-nG55_gf_U

Now I am sorry that I bothered. Good day, gentlemen....

A new video of the Ulf's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp41geKe4zg

Tull on the Ulfs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0CuDLjxuM4


When I got my Pendragon center channel speaker, the dust caps were fine. But after several weeks of use, both the caps had crumpled up. It doesn't effect the sound at all, just not pretty to look at. I put grills over it.

I'm trying out a new Allnic preamp with the Ulfs:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5V6LDxBkQk

I hope the video comes out okay, as Youtube has been a pain in the butt recently. For piano fans, a Model D makes an appearance in this clip.