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New Tekton Pendragons On The Way

I am quite thrilled and also quite nervous in having ordered a pair of the Pendragon speakers this afternoon. I am doing this mostly on the reviews and also after receiving communication from Eric Alexander, owner of Tekton Designs.

Let me go back a little. I recently changed the tubes in my Rogue Cronus Magnum integrated from the KT120 to EL34 tubes. I have fallen in love with the EL34 sound and now my present speakers sound thin unless really cranked. I attribute that to it's 89db sensitivity whereas the Pendragons have a 95 db sensitivity. This should give me a much fuller sound at lower volume levels.

This is my secondary system in my home office and I play it 8 hours a day so it gets much more use than my reference system downstairs in our living room. Many of the reviews both pro and consumer say it's the speaker for someone who loves music. So now the wait begins to receive them. Supposedly they keep this in stock now in the basic black finish which is what I got. I would be thrilled if I got them by the end of this week but that is pretty unrealistic I guess.

If anyone has experience with these speakers, I would especially like to hear. If anyone reading this has any thoughts, kindly post them.
128x128stereo5
johnnyb53
3,490 posts
 
Any chance they're out of phase? Maybe the terminals on one speaker were wired backwards. Compared to the hassle of sending them back, it's worth reversing pos/neg on one speaker to see if the bass shows up.

Of course you may already have done that.

Since those woofers are commercial-grade units with pleated surrounds, I wonder if they demand a longer and vigorous break-in. Those should have bass out the wazoo. But "should" and "is" are two different things.
stereo5's avatar
stereo5 OP
2,766 posts
 
Already thought about the phasing and tried reversing the leads on one speaker. Really no difference in sound. No amount of break in would magically give me bass where there was none.
shakeydeal
979 posts
 
Very surprising. In my 15 x 26 ft room the bass was fine. Not overblown, but there when it was supposed to be.

Could the xovers have been damaged in shipping? Something sounds amiss.

Shakey
almarg's avatar
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almarg
8,673 posts
 
10-06-15: Stereo5
Already thought about the phasing and tried reversing the leads on one speaker. Really no difference in sound.
Are you sure about that? If the two speakers are not connected with the same polarity there should be a reduction in bass, as well as vague and diffuse imaging, and probably also a midrange that sounds strange. If there was truly no difference when the connections to one speaker (not both) were reversed, I'd have to think that something else is wrong.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al
stereo5's avatar
stereo5 OP
2,766 posts
 
Almarg,

When I say no difference, yes the sound was diffused and vague, but since the bass was weak, the difference if any was slight. I brought the speakers downstairs and inserted them into my main system. The room is 16 by 18. The bass was excellent in that room with a solid state amp and all tube preamp. The physical size of the speakers made it impractical for the room which means TV has to go as well as one of the chairs. Not doable, and as good as the Pendragons were in the main system, they still weren't close to my Golden Ear Triton Ones that is in my main system.

The Pendragons were bought only for my secondary system and just didn't work with the room. There is nothing wrong with them as they sounded like night and day in my main system. I put my Odyssey Kismet Reference floorstanding speakers back into the secondary system minus the granite plinths they were on previously and they sound much better. I had the speakers on sharp cones sitting in a holder on top of the granite plinth. Now, coupled directly to the floor with the sharp cones had solidified the bass on the Kismets. I will keep what I already have.
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