Hi guys,
This is my first Audiogon forum post. I am only making this mini-review/impression because I feel like the Moab is a hidden gem that deserves more credit. Hopefully this will help anyone else who is still curious about Tekton Design.
Firstly, I have been on the hunt for speakers/full system in the $10,000 range and below. To date I have owned and extensively tried the Focal Kanta 2, Zu DW MKII, B&W 805 D3, Raidho X-1, Ascend Acoustics Sierra 2, Scansonic MB-1, and a whole lot more. Any of the bookshelf speakers I owned was flanked by SVS SB16-Ultras to fill in the low-end. Of course I have demoed numerous speakers up and down Focal’s speaker range, Paradigm, Klipsch, etc.
My listening room is extremely small at a mere 10ft x 9ft. However, before everyone freaks out, I have fully treated my room with GIK Acoustics panels. To be specific I have 2 Monster Bass traps, 2 Standard 244 Bass Traps, 3 242 Acoustics Panels, 2 Diffusers, and acoustic drop-down ceiling tiles with thick insulation above them. I am within the recommended reverb coefficients for listening. In other words my room sounds pretty good compared to an untreated room.
My system focuses on lossless digital playback through Tidal. I currently am running a Topping D10 dac, Schiit Freya S pre-pmp, Pass Labs X150.5 amp, and Nordost/Pangea cables throughout my system. Not the most elite system but a solid group of kit.
My sonic preferences are a bit on the forward side. I like some weight to bass, solid attack and sparkle with highs, and an accurate midrange that makes voices almost holographic. I am very sensitive to the upper-midrange frequencies and any sort of ringing in tweeters to the point where I can’t listen after 10 minutes. I love all sorts of music, classical, jazz, rock, metal, electronic, folk, etc. Enough about myself though, let’s get to the meat and potatoes, the Moab.
First off the Moabs were delivered through a freight service in massive boxes. The instructions say to use a hand-truck/wheeler to move the Moab boxes. The instructions are NOT kidding. The Moabs are nearly impossible to lift without breaking yourself or the speaker. When it comes time to get the Moabs out of the box they use a neat split box where you lift off one half, then the other. The only issue is if your ceiling isn’t tall, (like mine) unpacking won’t quite work as planned. The Moab boxes are well protected with styrofoam, plastic wrap around the speakers, and a felt/foam driver protector on the front. Hopefully in the future they can allow for a bit better plastic foam packaging instead of plain styrofoam. Or maybe make it an option on the website for an extra $50-$100.
On first encounter I noticed that the light grey satin finish that I ordered was nicely layered on, absolutely no signs of poor paint work or damage. I used a flashlight to examine closely for any smaller hidden details and none were to be found. Awesome job! My Focal Kanta 2 had a very lackluster gloss paint job comparatively. You can smell the paint off of the Moabs when they are new but it goes away with time. I didn’t order the optional grilles so I can’t comment on those. The Moabs came standard with floor spikes that were of solid quality to get the job done.
I ended up placing the Moab about 1ft off the side walls, and 1 1/2ft off the wall behind the Moab. I did a slight toe-in to focus the sound toward my sweet spot. The tweeters do sit at ear height in my sitting position, which I did find important. There are a lot of people that recommend giving a whole lot more room but I found that a foot on each side was good enough with ample room treatment.
Sound wise I have been utterly surprised. For me, the Moab was a complete leap of faith. In my mind there was absolutely no way the Moab would sound good compared to some of the other speakers I have tried. I mean I am coming from state of the art diamond tweeters, beryllium tweeters, ribbons, and drivers full of exotic materials. To think that a speaker loaded with soft-dome tweeters and paper woofers could possibly amount to anything was seemingly outlandish. Boy was I absolutely wrong, the Moabs are absolutely stunning.
The highs that are produced by the center tweeter are what my ears call natural. The tweeter really hits a good spot between playing it safe, yet still giving you the detail you’d expect from a top of the line speaker. I listened through various tracks, particularly cymbal heavy tracks and nothing felt missing in the treble response of the Moab. Not to mention there really wasn’t ever too much going on in the treble response. There was an appropriate amount of air, definition, and presence that the tweeter produced as well. I didn’t expect so much refinement from the Moab’s soft-dome tweeter. As far as soft-dome tweeters go, I actually think the Moab tweeter hits the jackpot. The only tweeter that I have enjoyed more than the Moab tweeter was from the Ascend Acoustics custom RAAL Ribbon tweeter. However, the downside with the RAAL Ribbon tweeter was a pretty limited listening window, which the Moab’s soft-dome tweeter improves upon by a bit. It’s still important to note that I got the best experience being level with the tweeter on the Moab.
Moving onto the mids all I’ve gotta say is that they are what I like to call, "PFM" (Pure F***** Magic.) Seriously, the 14 tweeter mid-range on each speaker are stellar to the likes of which I’ve never heard a better sounding mid-range. I don’t know what kind of voodoo magic is going on inside of the Moab, but it sure does sound fantastic. The mid-range stays nice and full with a little bit of help from the dual 12" woofers on each speaker, yet the low-mass tweeters are able to really pick out those mid details and show them off effortlessly. The MTM combo gives you a holographic image, this is the first time I have ever felt like I could reach out and touch the singer or poke someone playing the strings. I am curious what the higher tier models in the Tekton line can do with more reliance on dedicated mid-woofers. As far as a $4,500 per pair, shipped to your home pair of speakers go I found nothing to complain about because they didn’t give me anything to complain about.
Bass. Yup, you guessed it, the Moab is able to deliver a great bass response. Part of the great bass response from the Moab is the placement of the woofers, both high and low on each speaker. This effectively fills more of the room nulls, thus creating a more cohesive bass presentation. As far as quality and quantity goes the Moab really gives you what you need. Whether you listen to acoustic bass or some electronic bass, the Moab has you covered. Of course, the Moab doesn’t quite produce the 30hz and below region as well as a dedicated subwoofer, like the SVS SB16-Ultra’s I had in the past. However, I still feel the Moab has enough bass to please the bassheads and still enough bass texture/accuracy to please the other folk. By no means is the Moab a slouch in the bass department, you call for it, you get it. Playing "Mountains" by Hans Zimmer off of the interstellar soundtrack really shows off the bass capabilities of the Moab when playing some impressively low organ notes, a truly visceral experience.
So to wrap it up I really felt like the Moab was able to hit a sweet spot at $4,500. Nothing risky with the highs, incredible mids, solid bass. You certainly could do much worse with $4500 than the Moab. Tekton Design does offer a trial period so if people don’t like the speakers, they can send them on back. I do believe the shipping fees are on you. For most though, I think the Moab is a keeper, a great testament to the $5,000 speaker range. If you’re a non-believer it’s time for you to believe that the crazy, 15 tweeter design, actually works. There is no combing, just fantastic sound, this is coming from a former skeptic. Thanks Eric for creating one awesome pair speakers!
(No I wasn’t paid for my poorly written, novice review)
This is my first Audiogon forum post. I am only making this mini-review/impression because I feel like the Moab is a hidden gem that deserves more credit. Hopefully this will help anyone else who is still curious about Tekton Design.
Firstly, I have been on the hunt for speakers/full system in the $10,000 range and below. To date I have owned and extensively tried the Focal Kanta 2, Zu DW MKII, B&W 805 D3, Raidho X-1, Ascend Acoustics Sierra 2, Scansonic MB-1, and a whole lot more. Any of the bookshelf speakers I owned was flanked by SVS SB16-Ultras to fill in the low-end. Of course I have demoed numerous speakers up and down Focal’s speaker range, Paradigm, Klipsch, etc.
My listening room is extremely small at a mere 10ft x 9ft. However, before everyone freaks out, I have fully treated my room with GIK Acoustics panels. To be specific I have 2 Monster Bass traps, 2 Standard 244 Bass Traps, 3 242 Acoustics Panels, 2 Diffusers, and acoustic drop-down ceiling tiles with thick insulation above them. I am within the recommended reverb coefficients for listening. In other words my room sounds pretty good compared to an untreated room.
My system focuses on lossless digital playback through Tidal. I currently am running a Topping D10 dac, Schiit Freya S pre-pmp, Pass Labs X150.5 amp, and Nordost/Pangea cables throughout my system. Not the most elite system but a solid group of kit.
My sonic preferences are a bit on the forward side. I like some weight to bass, solid attack and sparkle with highs, and an accurate midrange that makes voices almost holographic. I am very sensitive to the upper-midrange frequencies and any sort of ringing in tweeters to the point where I can’t listen after 10 minutes. I love all sorts of music, classical, jazz, rock, metal, electronic, folk, etc. Enough about myself though, let’s get to the meat and potatoes, the Moab.
First off the Moabs were delivered through a freight service in massive boxes. The instructions say to use a hand-truck/wheeler to move the Moab boxes. The instructions are NOT kidding. The Moabs are nearly impossible to lift without breaking yourself or the speaker. When it comes time to get the Moabs out of the box they use a neat split box where you lift off one half, then the other. The only issue is if your ceiling isn’t tall, (like mine) unpacking won’t quite work as planned. The Moab boxes are well protected with styrofoam, plastic wrap around the speakers, and a felt/foam driver protector on the front. Hopefully in the future they can allow for a bit better plastic foam packaging instead of plain styrofoam. Or maybe make it an option on the website for an extra $50-$100.
On first encounter I noticed that the light grey satin finish that I ordered was nicely layered on, absolutely no signs of poor paint work or damage. I used a flashlight to examine closely for any smaller hidden details and none were to be found. Awesome job! My Focal Kanta 2 had a very lackluster gloss paint job comparatively. You can smell the paint off of the Moabs when they are new but it goes away with time. I didn’t order the optional grilles so I can’t comment on those. The Moabs came standard with floor spikes that were of solid quality to get the job done.
I ended up placing the Moab about 1ft off the side walls, and 1 1/2ft off the wall behind the Moab. I did a slight toe-in to focus the sound toward my sweet spot. The tweeters do sit at ear height in my sitting position, which I did find important. There are a lot of people that recommend giving a whole lot more room but I found that a foot on each side was good enough with ample room treatment.
Sound wise I have been utterly surprised. For me, the Moab was a complete leap of faith. In my mind there was absolutely no way the Moab would sound good compared to some of the other speakers I have tried. I mean I am coming from state of the art diamond tweeters, beryllium tweeters, ribbons, and drivers full of exotic materials. To think that a speaker loaded with soft-dome tweeters and paper woofers could possibly amount to anything was seemingly outlandish. Boy was I absolutely wrong, the Moabs are absolutely stunning.
The highs that are produced by the center tweeter are what my ears call natural. The tweeter really hits a good spot between playing it safe, yet still giving you the detail you’d expect from a top of the line speaker. I listened through various tracks, particularly cymbal heavy tracks and nothing felt missing in the treble response of the Moab. Not to mention there really wasn’t ever too much going on in the treble response. There was an appropriate amount of air, definition, and presence that the tweeter produced as well. I didn’t expect so much refinement from the Moab’s soft-dome tweeter. As far as soft-dome tweeters go, I actually think the Moab tweeter hits the jackpot. The only tweeter that I have enjoyed more than the Moab tweeter was from the Ascend Acoustics custom RAAL Ribbon tweeter. However, the downside with the RAAL Ribbon tweeter was a pretty limited listening window, which the Moab’s soft-dome tweeter improves upon by a bit. It’s still important to note that I got the best experience being level with the tweeter on the Moab.
Moving onto the mids all I’ve gotta say is that they are what I like to call, "PFM" (Pure F***** Magic.) Seriously, the 14 tweeter mid-range on each speaker are stellar to the likes of which I’ve never heard a better sounding mid-range. I don’t know what kind of voodoo magic is going on inside of the Moab, but it sure does sound fantastic. The mid-range stays nice and full with a little bit of help from the dual 12" woofers on each speaker, yet the low-mass tweeters are able to really pick out those mid details and show them off effortlessly. The MTM combo gives you a holographic image, this is the first time I have ever felt like I could reach out and touch the singer or poke someone playing the strings. I am curious what the higher tier models in the Tekton line can do with more reliance on dedicated mid-woofers. As far as a $4,500 per pair, shipped to your home pair of speakers go I found nothing to complain about because they didn’t give me anything to complain about.
Bass. Yup, you guessed it, the Moab is able to deliver a great bass response. Part of the great bass response from the Moab is the placement of the woofers, both high and low on each speaker. This effectively fills more of the room nulls, thus creating a more cohesive bass presentation. As far as quality and quantity goes the Moab really gives you what you need. Whether you listen to acoustic bass or some electronic bass, the Moab has you covered. Of course, the Moab doesn’t quite produce the 30hz and below region as well as a dedicated subwoofer, like the SVS SB16-Ultra’s I had in the past. However, I still feel the Moab has enough bass to please the bassheads and still enough bass texture/accuracy to please the other folk. By no means is the Moab a slouch in the bass department, you call for it, you get it. Playing "Mountains" by Hans Zimmer off of the interstellar soundtrack really shows off the bass capabilities of the Moab when playing some impressively low organ notes, a truly visceral experience.
So to wrap it up I really felt like the Moab was able to hit a sweet spot at $4,500. Nothing risky with the highs, incredible mids, solid bass. You certainly could do much worse with $4500 than the Moab. Tekton Design does offer a trial period so if people don’t like the speakers, they can send them on back. I do believe the shipping fees are on you. For most though, I think the Moab is a keeper, a great testament to the $5,000 speaker range. If you’re a non-believer it’s time for you to believe that the crazy, 15 tweeter design, actually works. There is no combing, just fantastic sound, this is coming from a former skeptic. Thanks Eric for creating one awesome pair speakers!
(No I wasn’t paid for my poorly written, novice review)