Tekton Design Moab


Ordered a pair just now. In Dark Gray, to which Tammy immediately said, "Oh the Charcoal is beautiful!" Charcoal sounds better than Dark Gray (even though we are talking about the same color!) so Charcoal it is!  

My beloved Talon Khorus do still sound awfully good. It will be interesting to see how the Moabs stock out of the box compare with these tweaked and modded warhorses. Both the strength, and the weakness, of the Khorus is using the 10" woofer to cover so much midrange. Its a strength because it makes for a very smooth and cohesive sound. But its a weakness because its asking a lot of such a large driver to go so high. Talon makes up for it with their isobaric design. Mounted inside and directly behind the woofer is another identical driver facing the opposite direction. The idea is this relieves the front facing driver of having to compress the air inside the cabinet. This does allow for a much faster response, and is a big reason for the wonderful music the Khorus produces. 

I have a feeling however it is no match for Eric Alexander's ultra-low mass driver array solution. Only one way to know for sure. So we will just have to see!  

 https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 
128x128millercarbon
Huge congrats millercarbon. I look forward to your thoughtful review. I have spent many hours looking at the Encores and reading reviews. What initially piqued my interest is one of the reviewers described the midrange detail to the speaker I own. You are likely a subject matter expert on upgrades as Eric's website does not discuss much detail concerning. I have already learned a lot about upgrades from reading about your experience. Not sure if you are getting grills as that has been a challenge for many who purchase Tekton Design speakers.  I purchased a set of Lores for my daughter so I could get a feel for Tekton Design. I spent a day listening to which in itself says a lot as it is a $1,000 speaker. 
Thanks. No grills. Upgrades I just heard about reading reviews and comments, then asking Tammy and Eric. Having myself modified speakers with new crossovers, internal wiring, vibration control and so on, I know how much difference it can make. Some can be done later but some like internal wiring is near impossible to do later. Nobody will ever do a side by side to know for sure of course, just kind of have to assume its worth it, which based on my experience it has to be.

What got me was so many comments from so many different people all centering around the theme of being incredibly detailed yet smooth and natural, a sense of ease with the speaker coasting along even at high volume levels, of being drawn in and listening for hours losing track of time. I saw comments from women who came to tears listening to Stevie Nicks, it sounded so good. Another reviewer his wife said they don’t sound hifi, because you can hear the singers voice. Hifi speakers on the other hand you hear the spittle in the corner of her mouth. Like they are competing to hear the spittle instead of the singing. Whole lot of comments like that.

The other thing that got me was the negatives. The criticisms were all the right ones, from all the right people, for all the right reasons. By right of course I mean wrong.

So many get caught up in the tweeter array they miss that there is something greater going on. Much greater. Because as so many have noticed, these same qualities are evident across the whole Tekton line. Many of which do not have a tweeter array. Clearly there is a lot more going on, or you wouldn’t have gotten sucked in to the Lores like you did. So eager to hear for myself.

I haven’t studied the Encores. Was initially aiming Ulfberht. Talking to some who have compared it seems Moab comes very close and for half the price. The Encore being between them would really be splitting hairs.
Other than the obvious differences in drivers there’s some less visible differences in parts.

Eric makes the comment they all have his "house sound" you just get more refinement and sophistication as you go up the line. Well, how do you get refinement and sophistication by adding some 7" drivers? You don’t. What you get is a more even power response. Better caps, wires, and higher quality drivers, that’s how you get refinement and sophistication. So I requested higher quality parts and drivers. The difference between my Moabs and Ulfs will probably be confined to some small lack of emphasis in the 90 to 180 Hz range, something like that, but even if its twice what I think it is, I’m gonna pay another $4k for that? Not made of money. Pass.

That’s practically a Raven Osprey there. I’d much rather have Moabs and Osprey than Ulfberhts and Melody. Not even close.

Congrats millercarbon! You have chosen wisely. I have not heard the MOABs, but I have heard the DI’s first hand and they are the best speakers I’ve ever heard by quite a large margin. I have a feeling there will be a large grin on your face for a while.
Thanks. The DI's are one of the most universally acclaimed speakers in memory. While looking into Moab I kept coming across guys like this who absolutely love their DI's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RxRTFx6Cd0=640s When you say large grin, hope so!
Raysmtb1. Thanks for recommending solidairaudio. I checked them out. Interesting stuff. I'll look into a little more.