Tekton Double Impacts

Congrats rubytuesday. Great looking room and gear. There are so many great choices to drive the SE’s and your LTA gear will sound great with them. I drove my SE’s with the MZ2 for a while and it sounded great.....within the limitations of one watt output. Even with only one watt it was surprisingly dynamic and loud. The ZOTL 10 should sound amazing as will your vinyl as the SE’s will flawlessly reflect whatever you place upstream of them. Please keep us posted on your impressions as the SE’s break in.

Lance, great to hear how well the SE’s are working for you. I think once your speakers and amp fully break in you’ll be in for something quite special. I’ll be very interested in hearing how they perform with your vinyl rig.

I also think Mike Kay of Audio Archon is a real gem in the audio world. Knowledgeable, helpful, honest, trustworthy and a joy to deal with. I've purchased a number of items from him, including my SE's, and I look forward to purchasing more from him. 

I agree with teajay, it's difficult to quantify increased cost with increased performance. I can definitely say the SE's are better sounding than the SE's but not twice as good. Spending twice as much rarely gets you twice the performance. It's not actually twice as much though if you're comparing upgraded DI's to the SE's. My DI's ran $3,750 and luckily the SE's were only $6000 when I bought them. For me the additional $2,250 was well worth it and would have no problem spending much more than that for them as they're that good! Having said that, the DI's are amazing and can understand those that are happy sticking with them. 

Hey @teajay 

Thanks again to you as well, I really appreciated our conversation, it was very helpful in moving past some things that were blocking my decision.  Your guidance and honesty was helpful.  I agree about Mike, it's very obvious he wants a long-term relationship with this clients and does this by being honest and straight forward.  He could have sold me far more expensive equipment (and I probably would have bought it and been just as happy).  But he listened to what I was saying, what kind of music I listen to, asked about my comfort level budget-wise, and put me into a system I could afford and now love. Couldn't recommend him more. 

@mofojo I honestly wasn't even considering the SE.  I had just purchased the Accuphase E370 and Focal Kanta No.2 Speakers.  I was in Chicago on business and was looking to buy a Lumin, since I only had an analogue front end.  I found Mike Kay at Audio Archon and his listening room happened to be about 10 minutes from where my business meetings were later that day.  I stopped by his place to check out the Lumin and he had them hooked up to a pair of Harbeth Hl5Plus'.  However, sitting next to them were these huge tower speakers with 7 "tweeters".  I initially didn't really even consider them (i hadn't heard of them until that day).  Mike suggested I just take a listen to the DI SE, as it was a quick switch from the Harbeth (which also sound amazing by the way).  I was floored by the sound of the SE's.  He played a track and it was haunting how real the voices sounded.  The soundstage was huge and the detail and coherence from this unusual looking array had me changing my whole plan, right there and then.  They were hooked up to the Aric Audio Specials, which also sound amazing!

I went home and couldn't get the SE out of my mind.  I took another trip to Chicago a few weeks later and spent the day at Mike's.  He was cool enough to even let me order us lunch to be brought in and eat while listning.  I wanted to see if what i remembered about the SE was accurate.  It was.  Amazing.  I went back home and immediately sold almost all of my equipment.  I kept the Lumin I bought from Mike and the analogue setup I already had.  Everything else, speakers, electronics, cables, all sold.  I honestly couldn't be happier.   To answer your question @mofojo I dont know if the SE is worth double the price, because i haven't heard the DI's.  What I can tell you is the $6500 SE blew my $10k Focal's out of the water.  It's not even close for me.  Bigger soundstage, deeper base, excellent coherence and startling clarity.  And, they haven't even broken in yet. 

@rubytuesday    Great story.  Good to know that you and others have been treated so well by Mike.  A real brick and mortar option. Wow.  This is becoming a rare commodity in this day and age. 

There really is something special going on with the design of the DI/SE's.  Unlike you, I did not have the benefit of an audition--just the encouragement of others like mac that took the leap of faith.  Best gamble I ever took. 

Agreed corelli, the DI/SE design certainly is something special. When ordering my DI's I had no idea what they would look like or sound but trusted in Eric's talents and it was a gamble that definitely paid off. 

One of the many things I enjoy with these speakers is how well they reflect any upstream changes made in the system. I installed the EML XLS 300B tubes today and was immediately rewarded for doing so. The Sophia Royal Princess are great tubes but right out of the box I'm enjoying the EML's more. More bass, even better tone and more detailed. Seems like the soundstage is wider and deeper also. Thanks to Charles for the recommendation. 

Sounds like you have really settled into your 300B amp mac.  Glad it is bringing you so much pleasure.  No one could accuse you of skimping output tubes, that's for sure!