“Invest” in Tekton?


I’ve been a member of Audiogon for a while but haven’t really had the need to utilize the forums until now... I’ve perused the forums pretty extensively the past couple of days but haven’t really found my specific question.... First some background: I’ve had my current system for quite some time (PSB image: 5t, 9c, 2b, subsonic 6; Denon AVR3311 as preamp; and a NAD T955 amp) and have been pretty happy with it... yes, I tend to hold on to my stuff for a while.... I recently decided to explore the option of upgrading/updating my speakers and was pretty interested in some midlevel stuff (SVS Prime, Emotiva, PSB X2T, Paradigm 8, 9, or 10 something…) but ultimately decided the $2000-$3000 price tag wasn’t worth the investment as they were all roughly in the same league as my PSBs... Somehow, I stumbled upon the review of the Tekton double impacts... don’t even know how I found it but there I was... I kinda chuckled to myself when the reviewer started comparing them to $20,000 speakers and then started calling them better at some things... I was a little pessimistic about the review because in my aforementioned research every speaker was the greatest thing since sliced bread.. (To be honest, in my eyes, the professional reviewers lost some credibility because every speaker was just great, couldn’t find a bad review no matter how hard I tried...) Anyhow, the comparison to speakers 7-10x in price piqued my curiosity so I started snooping around for any Tekton reviews I could find and lo and behold, everyone loves them and the comparisons to speakers multiple times their price were plentiful. Ok, so the Tektons are good and now I’m more interested than I should be…

So here’s the rub… I’ve never even considered spending $5000-$6000 on a speaker system (5.0-5.1). Never in my wildest dreams… I’ve always had a theoretical limit of $3k and never gave anything above that a thought. Along comes Tekton with speakers that are in the 5-6k price range (5.0-5.1) but are being compared to speakers $20,000+ and the fact people are putting them in the same league as speakers in that price range, and saying they are better in some instances, is intriguing…

So here’s where I am asking for some assistance. It seems the Tekton lineup is a unique opportunity to acquire reportedly superior sonic performance with apparently unparalleled value. However, $5-6k is a TON of money in my world.. It won’t break the bank but admittedly, it bends it pretty significantly and spending this kind of money on speakers definitely wasn’t a consideration even a week ago… Personally, I am seeing this as a once in a lifetime purchase (am 43 and would expect these to be the last major speaker purchase of my life) but I do need to justify to my betrothed. My original sales pitch to her included the analogy “it seems they are selling Lamborghinis for the price of a Mustang…” and “I really don’t think there will be another opportunity like this” (when did I start selling timeshares???!!!) There are other barriers with her as well (e.g., “They’re how big?!”) but she does have somewhat of an understanding of how much I like music and stereo stuff.. somewhat…

So my actual questions:

  1. To those that have actually heard the speakers, (transducers?)… do you really feel they are leaps and bounds better than typical speakers in the 3-6k range (generally speaking…)? For comparison, I liked the SVS Ultras but due to price and size (yeah, I know how big the Tektons are..) I put them in the “maybe someday” category. To be clear, I’m not asking is “x better than y?” but rather “Do these $3000 speakers really belong in the same class as $20,000 speakers????

  2. In your humble opinions, is this really a rare/unique opportunity with unparalleled value that is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” or are situations like this (incredible value for the money) more common?

  3. I can’t even claim to have a basic understanding of electronics, I’ve read up on ohms and what not and my eyes glaze over.. I spoke with Eric and he, without hesitation, stated my NAD T955 would be plenty sufficient to run whatever options I went with. Thoughts? I intend on using the NAD until it dies (hopefully no time soon) and will deal with next steps when the time is right…

  4. I am super nervous about ordering something so expensive unheard, If anyone is interested, I would like to have a discussion relating to my type of music and listening environment/levels.. (not including in this post to keep size down..)

  5. Any other relavant information I haven't considered, particularly in the area of justifying a purchase such as this?

There are probably 100 other little tidbits I could include in this but I am trying to be as brief as possible and I still wrote a novel… Anyhow, any productive assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

la10slgr
+1 also rebbi. I have had the same experiences as you in the past. I have also found what a particular reviewer thinks is great sounding may just be OK with me at best. They have prejudices when it comes to sonic personalities and often have different sonic priorities.  
I will be getting the DIs from Mike at Audio Archon- he's a very good friend. The home theater reviewer terry London is also our good friend. I will say this- I am a high level professional musician, been playing 37 years and I know exactly what every instrument sounds like in the real world, my ears are good and accurate as ears can be. I'm also somewhat of an engineer I've done tons of studio and home recording over the years. Anything terry London says can be 100% trusted, he and Mike Kay hear like musicians. My entire system has been recommended by terry and Mike, they're never been wrong. Yes these speakers are better than $50,000+ speakers. Furthermore magico Wilson etc suck, they sound like hi if not real music. They spend more on advertising and people buy into it and pay insane amounts of money for inferior speakers. I do agree with one of the posters in this thread that everything matters- wires, DAC, player, amps. But I do think speakers make the biggest difference in the sound. I also agree you have to hear them in your room- the room is huge in the equation. Terry has said these are the best speakers he's ever heard, I believe him. If you can afford the $300 to ship them back if you don't like them by all means give them a try, but to the original poster I would suggest better electronics as well. The best pre the three of us has heard? Linear Tube Audio microzotl a bargain at around $2000. Best DAC- concert Fidelity, wires MG cables. Power cords Furutech. Power conditioner Furutech. Get all these and the DIs and you'll never need to buy anything again for a long time.
Oh one other thing- I'm married and anyone who is can relate to the wife acceptance factor. My wife has a bachelors in interior design and always complains my Grand Veenas are too big for our living room. She's gonna really freak when I get the DIs since they're bigger.  But usually they get used to it once the speakers are in the room. Plus we finally got a new fridge stove and hood so she's super happy and I'm hoping it will ease the blow when the speakers arrive. Maybe you can get something new for the house to appease her. 
Sslide, thanks for your comments. Most interesting and good for us to hear. Please remember what may sound good to you and Terry may still not be someone else's sonic bliss. We humans hear differently, have sonic flavors we prefer,  and nothing in the world of audio is absolute except the fact that all preferences are subjective with no right or wrong. I am constantly amazed how some folks praise gear I have not really cared for as well as the reverse. 

I am sure some like the sound of Wilson speakers better than Tekton and that is most understandable. It is just the simple truth about our individual preferences. 
I can't argue that everyone hears differently, just as no two voices are the same. One of my best friends has Wilsons and they just leave me cold. I guess the only thing I would say is in my case what I hear in any stereo is more objective than usual because of my many years as a musician. As I said before I've heard every instrument many times in the real world so I know exactly what everything should sound like. And please believe me I'm not trying to be arrogant or a know it all. And as I said I haven't yet heard the DIs so I can't say anything about them until Mike ships them to me in the next 3 weeks. I'm sure they're amazing and I'll weigh in again once I have them in the house.