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Stereophile review of the $30,000 tekton speakers

We have had many discussions/arguments over tekton speakers in the past, mainly involving a couple posters who thought their $4000 tektons sounded better than the highest price Wilson’s and other high budget speakers.

In the latest Stereophile magazine, they did a review of the $30,000 tekton’s. In this Steteophile issue, they rate these $30,000 tekton’s as class B. When you look at the other speakers that are in the class B section, you will notice most of these speakers range in price from $5000-$8000. So it looks like you have to spend $30,000 on a pair of tekton’s to equal a pair of $5000 Klipsch Forte IV’s sound quality. 
If I compare these $30,000 class B tekton’s, to some of the class A speakers, there are some class A speakers for 1/2 the price (Dutch & Dutch 8C, Goldenear triton reference), or other class A speakers that are cheaper (Magico A5, Kef blade 2).

 

 

p05129

Showing 3 responses by fsonicsmith

fsonicsmith's avatar
fsonicsmith
934 posts
 

But hey, the shipping is free!

fsonicsmith's avatar
fsonicsmith
934 posts
 

In my view Tekton selling a $16,000 Moab with BE drivers and a $30,000 PA system is similar to when Morrow was featuring $12,000 interconnects prominently on the front page of the A-gon market page-an absurd desire to build prestige based upon an absurdly priced strawman-flagship product. 

Anyone remember when VW came out with the VW Phaeton? Oh wait, that is a terrible analogy. The Phaeton was actually the reverse-a great vehicle with the wrong badge. 

As PT Barnum said....

fsonicsmith's avatar
fsonicsmith
934 posts
 

@dayglow

Speakers are the most flawed of all components. When building a system the electronics will mostly determine the potential of the speaker. An example is a Polk L600 at $3k with Burmester electronics will likely out perform a Magico A3 $15k with a budget integrated amp. My point is to many Audiophiles spend to much on speakers and skimp on electronics.

If the loudspeakers have no serious flaws and are optimally set up in the room I not only agree with this but have been saying this for years on this Board. Why can a Voxativ speaker design with a 5" driver like the AF-1n (granted each driver costs $2,500 and they go up to $70,000 per driver for the field coil 7.5" driver) move someone to tears with texture, touch, tone, and midrange truthfulness? Because virtually always those who go this route have the knowledge and sophistication to choose top-flight electronics and the design of the speaker makes it easy to place in any given room.
The reason that AN UK time and time again allows show-goers to relax and feel a sense of calm and happiness is that Audio Note loudspeakers are simple, room-friendly, and always supported by top-flight electronics and sources.

Time and time again the majority on this Board espouse devoting the majority of financial resources to the loudspeaker and they are simply wrong. The annoying thing to me is that they conflate the component that has the most effect on the character of the sound with the components that have the most effect on the quality of the sound.

We could make this really simple. Imagine a pair of $6,000 Susvara headphones plugged into a big-box store home theater receiver compared to a humble pair of $200 Massdrop Sennheiser phones plugged into a Manley Neo Classic 300b preamp (it doubles as a headphone amp) with an Aurender W20SE as the source. Which is going to sound better to any critical listener?

What does any of this have to do with $30,000 Tektons? Well, it is relevant as to sticking with what you do best (inexpensive simple designs) and hoping that the consumer then spend the available funds where they are most warranted-on source and electronics. And then there is the tired but utterly true cliche’, garbage in, garbage out.

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