Considering the New Tekton Design Encores? AND Owners Group - Experiences/Questions

@grannyring  I've been a SET fanatic for 20+ years,  The flexibility of using the TDAI 3400 as both a DAC, Roon Endpoint, 400w amplifier and preamp to feed my SET amp plus the room correction are the reasons I bought it.  I sometimes just feel like listening to certain music with a set amp and at times I crave the power from solid-state for bigger pieces of music. This solution allows me the best of both worlds using my Luxman AS-55 amp switcher to feed the Encores either tube and solid-state output effortlessly which is my main goal.  I'm all for the idea of TDAI-3400 replacing my SET amp, but I'm not holding my breath because on certain pieces of music the sound my amplifier produces is just glorious in the mid-range and excels on female vocals, jazz, small acoustic pieces.
I'll be very pleasantly surprised if it this piece replaces my tube amplifier.

 

Jcarcopo,
I understand your predicament. I currently have a 300b SET and two tube class A/B push pull amplifiers. For what I listen to 90% of the time (acoustical jazz) the SET exceeds all prior types of amplifiers. It’s simply the most convincing, pure and realistic.

Jcarcopo, it seems based on Lyngdorf owner commentary this one box component could be the ultimate solution.unmatched convenience coupled with superb sound quality. You will soon find out if this applies to your circumstances and desires. Same scenario IMO with regard to waltersalas. I’m very curious to read both of your listening impressions.

If both of you decide to sell your respective SET amplifiers then it would seemingly confirm what current Lyngdorf owners have been enthusiastically posting. You may in fact end up being "pleasantly surprised"  time will tell.
Charles

@charles1dad Thanks Charles, won't be long to find out what's what. I kind of just want to keep the SET regardless because I spent way too much money for it which I'll likley never recoup (to say nothing of my rather large tube collection investment), additionally it's a beautiful piece, and more importantly it sounds phenomenal. 

Agreed @jcarcopo. I wanted the same exact thing being a strong tube guy for decades. I still work on tube amps and love them! Two things just made the combo not work for me.

- something about the analog outs on my 2170 combined with the ICs just in the end sounded... well, less good. I tried with several and felt less connected to the music and performance. These tube amps were great as an FYI. The unit seems built and finessed to play best on its own. Hope you find differently with your 3400. Perhaps since the piece is a powered digital amp meant to keep the signal digital from beginning to end. By end I am just before the internal speaker outputs. With the 2170 some SQ is lost through the analog outs. No doubt about it. Is the 3400 the same? I would think so, but perhaps not. @kdude......Kenny, found this to also be the case when trying various amps with his Lyngdorf.

- The hassle factor is very high to swap amps with the ICs now in play and switching of speaker cables. Also you need to run room Perfect with each set up and save. Cannot use the one unit setting for your other amps as they impart their own sound and impact on the room. Also, the 2170 always stayed on for best sound and I never had to worry about heat or anything with this cool running 25 watt pulling piece.

Anyway, just my experience. I still get tube amps in here to work on and will never stop loving all that is tubes! Not trying to push you to like this or that and really do hope the 3400 is also magic with your tube amp. Nice to change things up....at least theoretically 😄

Hey y'all, what size room are you putting the Encores in?