“Invest” in Tekton?


I’ve been a member of Audiogon for a while but haven’t really had the need to utilize the forums until now... I’ve perused the forums pretty extensively the past couple of days but haven’t really found my specific question.... First some background: I’ve had my current system for quite some time (PSB image: 5t, 9c, 2b, subsonic 6; Denon AVR3311 as preamp; and a NAD T955 amp) and have been pretty happy with it... yes, I tend to hold on to my stuff for a while.... I recently decided to explore the option of upgrading/updating my speakers and was pretty interested in some midlevel stuff (SVS Prime, Emotiva, PSB X2T, Paradigm 8, 9, or 10 something…) but ultimately decided the $2000-$3000 price tag wasn’t worth the investment as they were all roughly in the same league as my PSBs... Somehow, I stumbled upon the review of the Tekton double impacts... don’t even know how I found it but there I was... I kinda chuckled to myself when the reviewer started comparing them to $20,000 speakers and then started calling them better at some things... I was a little pessimistic about the review because in my aforementioned research every speaker was the greatest thing since sliced bread.. (To be honest, in my eyes, the professional reviewers lost some credibility because every speaker was just great, couldn’t find a bad review no matter how hard I tried...) Anyhow, the comparison to speakers 7-10x in price piqued my curiosity so I started snooping around for any Tekton reviews I could find and lo and behold, everyone loves them and the comparisons to speakers multiple times their price were plentiful. Ok, so the Tektons are good and now I’m more interested than I should be…

So here’s the rub… I’ve never even considered spending $5000-$6000 on a speaker system (5.0-5.1). Never in my wildest dreams… I’ve always had a theoretical limit of $3k and never gave anything above that a thought. Along comes Tekton with speakers that are in the 5-6k price range (5.0-5.1) but are being compared to speakers $20,000+ and the fact people are putting them in the same league as speakers in that price range, and saying they are better in some instances, is intriguing…

So here’s where I am asking for some assistance. It seems the Tekton lineup is a unique opportunity to acquire reportedly superior sonic performance with apparently unparalleled value. However, $5-6k is a TON of money in my world.. It won’t break the bank but admittedly, it bends it pretty significantly and spending this kind of money on speakers definitely wasn’t a consideration even a week ago… Personally, I am seeing this as a once in a lifetime purchase (am 43 and would expect these to be the last major speaker purchase of my life) but I do need to justify to my betrothed. My original sales pitch to her included the analogy “it seems they are selling Lamborghinis for the price of a Mustang…” and “I really don’t think there will be another opportunity like this” (when did I start selling timeshares???!!!) There are other barriers with her as well (e.g., “They’re how big?!”) but she does have somewhat of an understanding of how much I like music and stereo stuff.. somewhat…

So my actual questions:

  1. To those that have actually heard the speakers, (transducers?)… do you really feel they are leaps and bounds better than typical speakers in the 3-6k range (generally speaking…)? For comparison, I liked the SVS Ultras but due to price and size (yeah, I know how big the Tektons are..) I put them in the “maybe someday” category. To be clear, I’m not asking is “x better than y?” but rather “Do these $3000 speakers really belong in the same class as $20,000 speakers????

  2. In your humble opinions, is this really a rare/unique opportunity with unparalleled value that is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” or are situations like this (incredible value for the money) more common?

  3. I can’t even claim to have a basic understanding of electronics, I’ve read up on ohms and what not and my eyes glaze over.. I spoke with Eric and he, without hesitation, stated my NAD T955 would be plenty sufficient to run whatever options I went with. Thoughts? I intend on using the NAD until it dies (hopefully no time soon) and will deal with next steps when the time is right…

  4. I am super nervous about ordering something so expensive unheard, If anyone is interested, I would like to have a discussion relating to my type of music and listening environment/levels.. (not including in this post to keep size down..)

  5. Any other relavant information I haven't considered, particularly in the area of justifying a purchase such as this?

There are probably 100 other little tidbits I could include in this but I am trying to be as brief as possible and I still wrote a novel… Anyhow, any productive assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

la10slgr
I can't argue that everyone hears differently, just as no two voices are the same. One of my best friends has Wilsons and they just leave me cold. I guess the only thing I would say is in my case what I hear in any stereo is more objective than usual because of my many years as a musician. As I said before I've heard every instrument many times in the real world so I know exactly what everything should sound like. And please believe me I'm not trying to be arrogant or a know it all. And as I said I haven't yet heard the DIs so I can't say anything about them until Mike ships them to me in the next 3 weeks. I'm sure they're amazing and I'll weigh in again once I have them in the house. 
@david_ten 
yes, went with the double impacts.

i couldnt stand having them staring at me any longer so I hooked them up to the original system I listed at the beginning of the thread.. *****i didnt change any of the settings on my receiver (room adjustments, equalization) so i know this isnt optimal**** nor is it the final destination for the DIs but I wanted to hear them!!!  First impressions:
1. Yeah, that efficiency is there!  These things effortlessly fill up a 10x14 room with 18 ft vaulted ceilings (just realized thats the size of the new room sans the ceiling space..) and a breakfast nook, and on into the kitchen with clarity
2. I found that bass I was worried about.. If there was supposed to be deep bass, there was deep bass, if the bass wasnt that low, it wasnt that low etc.. I feel they are very accurate speakers..
3. Said differently, everything was very even... i found I could focus on any instrument and easily hear it in detail or I could "pull back" and not focus on anything specifically 
4.  At loud volumes (I mean ridiculously loud.. rock concert level...) the highs lost some clarity but im chalking that up to a couple of factors.. first and foremost, I didnt flatten the eq and my PSBs require a little boost in the higher range... Secondly. The speakers have not had adequate break in time.  Now, at more reasonable levels they were just fine
5. The size does take a little getting used to but after a couple of days my wife didn't even mind them being in the room... so needless to say the 1-2 day trial has been extended...

in other news.. the room construction should begin in earnest within the next week or so along with other odds and ends falling into place as well...  wish me luck!

obviously I'll l update the impressions once everything is in place
We are already wayyyyyyy off the original topic here but since the thread is already established....    I have some questions regarding sound containment and y'all seem to know some things....

Now that the framing is up I can officially state the size of the room is 11x15...  the room is freestanding as it is not attached to any structural walls or the ceiling.  There will be 2 layers of insulation on the ceiling.  Since I have a subfloor below my basement I put the framing on top of a layer of 1/4 inch styrofoam.  I am double drywalling with green glue in between layers and will have insulation between the studs..  I am considering using the aforementioned styrofoam as a buffer between the studs and drywall.. Of course the spaces between drywall panels will be sealed and the outlets and whatnot will be sealed as well, most likely with spray insulation...

I don't plan on finishing the drywall so am curious about how to "finish" the walls and have the makings of a good sound space and also contain sound as much as possible...this is s a dedicated room so functionality is the important part...  my original intent was to put industrial carpet on the walls and call it good...  I am also considering curtains or panels that are similar to moving blankets but made specifically for the purpose of absorbing sound...  

thoughts on on these ideas?  Also open to suggestions as well but at this point cost is becoming more and more of a factor so please keep that in mind...

thanks!
Also, I am actively perusing the sound proofing threads as well, just figured since we were already here might as well ask...