Wilson Audio Duette 2's vs Tekton Ulf's


Help...I am going crazy reading the Tekton DI forum.  And now there are comments regarding the Ulf.  I have a pair of Wilson Audio Duette 2's.  I have two Triad Silver in wall Subwoofers to complement the bass from the Duette 2's.  My integrated tube amp is Raven Audio Reflection MK2 with 58wpc.  That combination has been absolutely awesome for me in a room that is 30'wide x 40' long.  Yes, I know not the perfect listening room but the music that comes out of my system sounds like a concert hall.  In addition, I have a Lumin A-1 DAC / Music Streamer and a Synology hard drive for music storage.  I love my system.  This is strictly 2- channel as I have a separate dedicated theater room also.  

Originally, for fun I was going to buy the Tekton DI and just compare them to the Duette 2's.  I figured I would compare the two speakers and sell the ones that I did not like as much.  Yes, they are two totally different speakers.  Then, the Ulf's came out and Eric said they blow the doors off of the DI's.  Naturally, I am interested in the Ulf's.  However, in this situation, I would need to sell my Duette 2's before ordering the Ulf's.  Am I crazy?  I am comparing the Duette's that cost $23k vs a Tekton Mini or Ulf at $7.5k to 12k.  

I live in the Phoenix area.  If there are any audiophiles out here that would not mind listening to my current system and telling me what you think I would love to hear your comments.  It is very hard for me to give an objective opinion on my system.  Like I said I love it....but like all of us, if there is a way to improve it we do it.  I just don't know if the Tekton Ulf's are an upgrade over my Wilson's.
willgolf

Showing 2 responses by audiotroy

This is an interesting conversation, I find it disturbing that you fan boys are jumping on missionconnory whose comments seem to be one of rationality against all the Tekton hype. If his friend actually heard the speakes and say they sound like JBLs that may be a valid comment and that may be exactly how his freind feels after demoing the speakers.

I have been playing in this industry for over 40 years and there have been tons of companies making claims of building the greatest x y or z and selling that product at a fraction of the price of the majors and sometimes these same companies are also touting revolutionary patented technlogy do you remember the JSE and infinite slope crossover technology? How about Spica?

I recently heard the often touted $500 Elacs they were okay at best not a giant killer, just a good speaker for the money.

One previlent theme in audiophilia land is how many people are not willing to spend the money to invest in the real companies that invest millions of dollars in research and buiild better products these include the KEF Blade and the Paradigm Personas over the magic claims of a tiny company such as Tekton or the Wilsons of this world.

Is this the allure of the underdog, or is it the incredulous nature of industry to promote the small boutique manufacturers over the larger players.

We had the Blades setup a the NY Audio Show in 2013 and they sounded as good at the $107k YG did you hear anyone even talking about this in the magazines? To date only one British reviewer actually came out and said the Blades sound as good as the $60-70k speakers, so even some of the major players that are not the smaller boutique companies such as Wilson, Rockport, YG etc don’t get the same praise.

Eric may be a talented designer but audio is more about good engineering rather than magic and a company such as KEF or Paradigm can invest millions in research how much can Eric invest in R&D compared to the majors?

If his patent is so revolutionary many other engineers would be commenting on it, interesting how mum an entire industry is on this point and perhaps he would be making much more money licensing his patent or selling his company to one of the major companies for several million dollars and just retiring?

When Apple or Android produce radical technology you certainatly hear about it.

All of the fanboys may or may not be correct. The decdiding factor in all of this is the erronous model of factory direct vs dealers.

If the speakers were sold at dealers then the speaker buying public could hear these products and then compare them to the majors and judge for themselves the validity of these products this would validate the brand in a hurry, way more than passionate owners who may or may not know how to setup a good system or be so biased to justify their purchase.

The Tektons are so cheap a price upgrade to accomodate a normal dealer network would still make his speakers bargins just less so then they are now and lets face it if you can afford to spend $3k on a set of speakers you can pay $5k as well.

As per Wilson, the Duettes are lovely and like all WIlson loudspeakers heinsouly overpriced for a company that employs very ordinary drivers that are actually quite inexpensive compared to the cost of their loudspeakers.

Only time will tell if Tekton is building something really special or over hyped, just like the Elacs.

I have not heard the speakers so these comments are from someone who is still standing outside of this argument, Tekton may be currenlty bargins for the sound they produce or not.

Kdude your arguement is also specious a pair of Deuttes will never sound like a larger speaker and even with bass they will still sound smaller and you never mentioned if the Duettes were being used with subs without subs in a large room the speakers are going to sound anemic.

It is impossible to compare the sound of two entirely different systems with different components in two entirely different homes.

Scientific method you change out one set of speaekers for another, compare the same track switch and repeat and note what changes for the better or worse with the same gear, same room same everything.

The concept of a monitor with subs is not the same sound as a larger floorstanding loudspeaker, and if you remember my Wilson comments I am not a WIlson fanboy either, too many Audiophiles fall for their hype as well, I would take a pair of Kef Blades, Paradigm Persons, Dali Epicons, or a set of Legacy Aeris over most of the Wilson products.

Now watch the attacks come at me from the fanboys for daring to raise these points.

Weren’t the Tektons at a recent Audio show with somewhat muted response? If they were at a show and didn’t generate possitive feedback with the reviewers to me that says something interesting. If the speakers were so remarkable don’t you think they would have faired better?

Now I will end the following I am ready to drink the coolaid if I ever get to hear a set of these speakers in my shop where I hang out in, and I can compare them to the sound of the majors brands can I judge for myself.


Troy


As a Legacy dealer we think this is a wise move. If you get a set of Aeris with the standard Wavelaunch processor, then the price of a set of Aeris is around $20k and they have two huge advantages over the Ulberoths.

One they have room correction which will enable you to produce good non boomy bass with that adverse room position.

Two: they are a known and much hearlded product. The Aeris has been receiving rave reviews from many magazines for many years. 

The Aeris combines extremely high quality custom heil AMT with a few other tricky drivers with a diapole midrange system that screams huge soundstage with a lot of air.They have fantastic deep bass and have a smooth midrange, they also have fantatic dynamic range and although are large are a pretty speaker with superb woodwork.

Let us know what you think of the Aeris. We think you will find them a huge improvment over the Duettes.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ