“Invest” in Tekton?

@la10slgr:

I commend you on your thoughtful approach to making your choice(s) and for reaching out to other members for feedback and guidance.

My advice will match some points that have already been made, and will be contrarian in other ways. These are some things I wish I had impressed upon myself 20 years ago!

If you find this too direct, I encourage you to consider that: This is also a letter of advice to myself. : ) Which I hope makes it less personal.

1. Only you know your musical and sound performance preferences. Your room is unique. Your current system is also unique to you. How you utilize it, is also specific to you. How your partner’s sound, music and aesthetic preferences factor in are also unique.

Therefore, whatever is said, including what I am about to, should be unwaveringly evaluated through your own filters and situation.

2. Expect your sound and audio related IQ / EQ to move forward and higher (hopefully) over time and with experience.

a) Don’t get hung up on this speaker purchase being a life-time long one. Did you say that to yourself when you got the PSBs? If so, it’s a trick we often play on ourselves to justify the spend and keep the partner happy.

b) You are 43! You’ve got another 40 plus years of good hearing left in those ears of yours. Likely more with medical and tech advancements over that time period.

c) As you get more established, the discretionary spends (on anything really) generally get easier.

3. If audio is something you truly love and ARE INTO: I would, when the time is right, skip past the analogies with your ’betrothed’ and have a conversation about what you love, and enjoy, and dream of, so she realizes, IF THIS IS THE CASE, how important and essential it is to you. There will be lifelong benefits from doing so.

4. Most audio equipment is good. In fact most, even at the lowest of price-points, is remarkably good.

a) We (and I am exhibit 1.) expend a lot of time trying to figure out what is better. This isn’t necessarily a ’waste’ of time, though it depends on how the one goes about it. But it most certainly can get in the way of listening enjoyment. Figure out what balance works best for you.

b) Understand what ’enjoyment’ is and means to you.

5. Conventional advice, especially in the short history of electricity based audio, has been that the speaker is the most important component in the audio chain. Linn is known for it’s historically opposite approach.

a) I started with a full embrace of the conventional approach at the time (which btw is fracturing, or is, at the very least, not as rigid now). I wish I had not.

b) There is a very, very long chain that the electrical signals pass through before reaching the speaker.

c) Think and reflect about point b), perhaps even read up on these areas so you can decide for yourself....if it were my money, I’d spend it on the source and power supply/cabling, and see how your current speakers perform. If you are still not happy with the PSB system, then go with new speakers...your ’upgraded’ speakers will appreciate and reward you for the enhanced front end and power.

d) You may be very surprised how your PSBs (or any other reasonably priced speaker) will sound with a much higher performing front end and cleaner power. Take yours to one of your local dealers and hook them up so you can make that call for yourself.

5. The room, the room, the room. Treat it, well. : )

6. Speaker placement and seating positions.

7. Speaker isolation.

8. Speaker Cable.

9. You want to change your speakers, but you haven’t truly clarified why!!! This is from your original post (I apologize if you have clarified this further into the thread): "I recently decided to explore the option of upgrading/updating my speakers".....)

a) Your post is mainly about value, spend, and performance to price ratio. If you can dig down into WHY your are replacing the PSBs, etc., I think members will be able to give you more specific and perhaps more useful feedback.

b) The ’why’ may also help you in realizing that it might not entirely be a speaker issue.

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Despite my indirect efforts to dissuade you from a speaker spend, let me state, For full disclosure and disclaimers know and unknown, that I do own the Tekton Double Impacts and am very happy with them.

I’ll close with how I started: These are some things I wish I had impressed upon myself 20 years ago!

BUT THEN THERE WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN THE JOURNEY.

Happy travels. Best wishes and good luck.

Warning: virtual novel coming up but it’s my post so…

 

Ok, I’ve been reading all the latest comments and have fallen behind replying so thanks to everyone who has chimed in! At least to some degree I have initially considered a lot of thinking points that have been presented and fortunately have been presented with some new angles to consider, which is exactly why I turned to y’all in the first place so truly, thank you for your comments…

I have spent a lot of time since my original post contemplating the known variables. I’ve also spent some time working with my wife regarding what is/isn’t acceptable in terms of aesthetics... Of all things, a video cabinet that I (with my father-in-law’s expertise and guidance) created with my own two hands was the line in the sand, it has to stay where it is... Oh the irony! I crafted the cabinet to fit perfectly with my PSBs leaving no room for anything wider.. oops… At any rate, she was pretty insistent the video cabinet stays so there were some conversations about that…  So that coupled with the growing list of logistical issues (e.g. the growing realization the components need to be at a comparable quality level, all the work that would need to be done to accommodate the speakers…) and the writing was on the wall… But don’t fret!!!

So one point that has been made a few times in one form or another is “are you sure this is something you need?” and after some extensive internal monologues I can emphatically say it is. I have always loved music, period. Even as a kid playing with my legos well into the night I had to have music playing as I built. Along those lines, I was a typical 80s kid with MTV always on and to this day, if it was a video on MTV I can pretty reliably tell you the artist within seconds of hearing it. Moving forward, I was in band from 4th -10th grade and would have kept playing but I had to make a choice between football and band (to be honest, the option was given to continue with both but I wasn’t the type that was going to be on campus from 5am to 6:30 pm every day…) and football won.. I will say this, football and band were really the only two things I committed myself to in high school, I was pretty bummed I had to give one up for the sake of the other… At any rate, no matter where I have been, music has always been with me.. There are so many songs/albums that can trigger an instant memory that would otherwise be lost… Even today, hearing the right song at the right time can literally give me goose bumps.. Latest example is Nine Inch Nails “Right Where It Belongs.” I pretty much ignored anything NIN after “Downward Spiral” but stumbled into this song a few months ago… The first 3 minutes of the song is recorded “lo-fi” but the message/lyrics brought me in and then suddenly, at 3:02, the stage opens and the song crescendos into “hi-fi” and it just gave me chills.. Those are the things that stir my soul (I am a sucker for a good crescendo!!!)… I could go on and on but I think the point has been made

Moving along… I had to omit some background in my original post as it wasn’t relevant but now has a place… For years, I have had this dream of creating a sound room in my basement… Creating a space that was all mine that I could go to and listen to anything I wanted, as loud as I wanted, whenever I wanted… It seemed we were finally at a place financially to put this dream into action so I started looking into it and figured I knew just the right people (father-in-law: very handy; buddy 1: architect, buddy 2: home theater installer.. perfect!!!) So I figured a couple grand and some help from my friends and voila!!!! Yeah…. I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus but suffice it to say, buddy 1 and 2 were less than enthusiastic about helping with the project so yeah, thanks guys... Then, I started looking into the cost of running electricity and soundproofing and the project was circling the drain before it even got off the ground.. Needless to say, I was pretty frustrated and bummed as the budget was annihilated before I bought a single item… At this point I changed course and decided “All right, I’ll just get my fix with the main system” and that’s about where y’all came in (auditioning the mid-level stuff to put in my room to replace the PSBs but decided to stand pat as there wasn’t a discernable difference so why blow the cash for no improvement…)

Well, as David_10 stated, “BUT THEN THERE WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN THE JOURNEY” So within this whole crazy story, I’m back at stage 1, building the “sound lab” in the basement.. This time with full spousal approval!!!!!! It basically came down to this revelation (this is all internal monologue):

“Wait a minute, I’m ready to drop 5-6K on a speaker system that 1) has questionable spousal approval and 2) creates a myriad of logistical problems (room set up, the damn cabinet, the right “upstream components” to do the job effectively) but won’t spend it on the sound room which has nothing but upside???? Not to mention that means only 2.0-2.1 speakers which cuts out the need for the center and rears and also cuts out the need for a 5 channel amp.. Theoretically, those savings can be applied to higher quality equipment.. WHY AM I NOT DOING IT THIS WAY??????”  

The ”sound lab” will have it’s own logistical issues as I’ve never built a room before, never worked construction, never designed a room before, and definitely never sound proofed a room before. But that’s why we have forums and youtube right???? What could possibly go wrong???!!!! But seriously, I know this is a huge undertaking (an actual electrician will be involved..) but as I said, this is something I have always wanted and am willing to put forth the effort necessary to make it happen and summer is around the corner and that just happens to be when I have spare time…

Ok, so how bout we get this back on topic???!!! So new room = new questions/logistics… I think I’m gonna eschew paragraphs and get straight to the bullet points.

The situation:

1.     New room: will be approximately 9x11 with sound treatment techniques utilized to prevent polluting the rest of the house and my neighbors tranquility (details omitted at this point, not a secret, just trying to save room)

2.     Regarding Tekton: based on owner reviews; Terry London’s review (reading the full DI  thread revealed he will call out speakers he doesn’t like… his stock went up tremendously in my book seeing that); and some other random research I have done I feel pretty comfortable with buying their speakers

3.     My musical tastes:  I have a pretty narrow window of music I like but it varies within that window.. Mainly 90s hard rock (Tool, Rammstein, maybe 80s Metallica if you don’t know the others, etc) but also alternative (Nine Inch Nails, Janes Addiction, etc. ) with a smattering of other stuff. I’ll be the first to admit a lot of it is “Noisy” but when you find the sweet stuff that just gets you.. yeah, that’s the stuff, particularly most Tool songs if you are familiar..

4.     My preferences in a speaker: Accurate reproduction as it was intended that can fill up a room (I do like it loud), if there’s a chime in the background or hushed backup vocals I want to hear it!!! Having said that, there are 2 variances. 1). Too much tweeter makes my ears hurt.. How Klipsch is still in business is beyond me… Wouldn’t set ‘em up if you gave me a pair (at least from all that I have ever heard..) 2). I have to admit, maybe I like when the bass goes boom… Altogether, when a system sounds crystal clear across the spectrum and can bring that bass appropriately, I love it!

a.     Whilst talking to Eric, he compared one of the speakers to B&W 803/804. I have traditionally liked B&W sound so that did get me yet a little bit more intrigued.. Can’t remember if it was the DIs or the Electrons though

5.     My upstream components: HA!!! Ain’t got none!!!! Just makin’ sure you’re still paying attention at this point.. I know I would’ve started to glaze over at this point if I wasn’t the one writing the post….

 

The new questions!!!:

 Ok, hopefully everyone realizes I realize the whole “individual preference/only you can tell what’s good” bit so with any luck we can just skip right past that…

1.     Thoughts on Tekton speakers based on room size?

a.     Double Impacts – HUGE!!!

b.     Electrons – Less huge but at their pricepoint, why wouldn’t one just get the DIs?

c.     Enzo 2.7 - more realistic size (and price!) but at what cost sonically???

 Initially, my heart wants to start with the DIs and see if I need to add sub sound afterwards but my brain is telling me Enzo 2.7 with sub(s) (which would pretty much equal the price of DIs without the sub… so yeah…)

2.     Preamps/amps – What do YOU like/what would YOU recommend? The reason I ask is I am only familiar with mid high stuff (PSB/NAD, KEF, Emotiva, etc.) so I need a starting point of stuff to start looking into. If it wasn’t obvious from before, I’m a value oriented kinda guy that looks for the bang for the buck.. I know I will need to spend some money on this stuff but want to be realistic…

3.     Constructing the sound lab: I will be doing my own research but if anyone has any suggestions regarding valuable resources I am all ears…..

 Ok, that’s it for now, if you’re still with me thanks for reading and, as always, I look forward to any replies that are productive towards the conversation…

Reach out to @mac48025

He can offer you advice on your new room as well as the DIs. and other Tekton speakers.

Ok, I read your whole life story (apparently I have too much time on my hands).

Your conundrum is much easier (and cheaper) to solve now. You are working with a 9x11 room.This is not much larger than some closets. You DO NOT need floor standers, let alone large ones like those from Tekton.

What you want is good quality stand-mount monitors. These will sound better in this size of room, won't over power with booming bass, and save you $$$. 

Luckily there's many great ones for less than a pair of Tekton DIs, Kef LS50s for example.

You also don't need surround sound in a room like this, it would only muck up the imaging. So you could possibly put something like $3k into some stand-mounters and have $2k left for a nice integrated amp, maybe one with a good onboard DAC. For $800, you can find a musical subwoofer from the likes of Rythmik or REL for your headbanger sessions  (if you like overloading a room with bass).
 
You seem to desire a balanced, musical sound. It's very hard to beat British stand-mount monitors in this regard. Don't let the published specs on many of these misead you. Many of them are as resolving as the very best.

Have you noticed that Tekton seems to come out with a new model every few months, and each one is claimed to be better than the one before it? If the Enzo and Pendragon were such giant killers and made "every other speaker obsolete," then why the need for the Double Impact or that open-baffle one? I understand the need to have multiple product offerings for certain price points and applications, but the marketing method is unusual to say the least. I notice a lot of these Pendragons for sale on the used market, which makes me wonder if they're really giant slayers as claimed. 

You could put your PSBs in the planned listening room and see how floor standers cope with such a small space, but my guess is they'll overload the room.

@helomech:  great points. You could also go with active monitors. For example, the active version of the Kefs that helomech mentions, ATC, and others, etc.

I missed the room size...   9 by 11 !!! I think you are in the basement, how high is the ceiling?

Another option:

Have you considered headphones? A used TOTL / Reference system can be had for your total budget, including DAC and amp. No room treatment and subsequent spend required.

Even open backs, which I recommend getting, will not bother anyone if you are in this room, or most other rooms for that matter.

You will get the bass you desire. Or equalize it to your heart's content.