Zu Omen or Tekton Lore


Best floorstanders under $999 for low power SET amp?

Thanks
mstark
Hey guys! I suppose I need to clarify a few things. Telescope is right on.

My dealer buddy ended up taking on trade a pair of Greybeard KB 2/1 speakers and offered them at an insane price because the co. is out of business and frankly, most people have not heard of the company. The Greybeard KB's 2/1’s sold for $9K back in 2000, and the cabinets alone likely cost $2K to build - 2" thick would and finished in slate. Also, all scan speak drivers/tweeter and they have quite an addicting sound as well. Knocking on the cabinet is like hitting a stone wall, lol!

In many ways the Pendragons were the best speaker I have owned. While the sound completes with many $5-$10K speakers, the build quality of course does not. The build quality is good though… just not quite at the level of a serious high end speaker. But +they are not far off! I think adding Black Hole dampening would just set these apart and be the icing on the cake. The good thing about Eric is, as a custom builder, he could do it if someone was willing to pay the premium. And the only reason I say this is because I now own a speaker with a bullet proof cabinet.

The Pendragons recreate the "live" sound amazingly well (better than my Greybeards)! and the bass had the most impact and slam out of all of the speakers I have owned. The bass is also very tight, and in fact on the last day before packing them I was seriously rethinking and regretting my decision to sell them but they were just not the best fit for my room. Although my room was likely just big enough, due to the layout, I have to sit about 5-6.5ft from the speakers and they are just not really designed for that.

As far as the Lore vs. Pendragon, see my review of the P-dragon in the reviews section. In my room, I likely should have stuck with the Lore. Although it does not have the slam and low end of P-dragon, it is better suited for small to midsized rooms and/or near field listening. In other ways I think the two are quite similar – while the Pendragon is completely full range and leaves nothing really on the table, the Lore seemed to get 3D and disappear a little easier but I attribute that to the fact my room was better suited for them and single driver speakers typically do. It is always about tradeoffs.

But make no mistake - the Pendragon is an excellent speaker and my selling them had to do with the timing of the Greybeards and the fact that they were not the best speaker for my room. I did hear that Eric is designing a mini-Pendragon though, and that should be interesting…

So there you have it… you know I always call it how it is guys. Hope this helps. -GP
I have another very relevant point I want to make... some of you remember, I drove my Lores with 25wpc Quicksilver Mini Mites. It was a perfect match and my recollection of the sound was one that was about as perfect as it could have been. That was one SWEET system for $2K! I then had a chance to get the P-dragon at the intro price, and jumped on it... but to make room it meant stepping down in amps (a big gamble), and I then used a XindaK MT-1. The Xindak is also a very nice amp, but I never thought I had the same match as I did with the “Quicks”... although it was getting better by the day before I chose to go in this new direction. I think with 12 watts and mostly weekend listening… it was just taking a while to break the speakers in.

I now have a Marsh A400s driving my Greybeards, and I "think" I am back to a great matching system again. I have been blessed that most of the time when I make changes, I end up matching equipment well. But I have to say with the P-dragons it was a decent match but I just know it would have been a different animal with those Quicksilver’s... FWIW
ok after reading gpowered latest coment I DEMAND apologies from everyone who slammed me in the past on this thread!
Cwazz, I certainly think you get to gloat a bit, after following this thread (actually was interested in Zus not Lores). 6 weeks for the Pendragons, and then shunned for a decade old design from a company that's out of business. That might be a record! :)

Might be appropriate to update your review, Gp. :)

Ain't this fun?

John
Please understand there is nothing in my review of the Lore or the Pendragon that needs to be rectified. Let's have some common sense - NO $2,500 speaker is going to have $10,000 speaker build quality, but in case of the Tekton's they do rival much more expensive designs in sound! That's where Cwazz and I differ! I could have easily stayed with either speaker had I not chosen a different path. And a 10 year old design or not, keep in mind that the Greybeard speaker I have now retailed for $9K back in 2000, which means $15K today... and in allot of ways P-dragon beat it. It just wasn't the best speaker for my room. I think that is a tremendous testimony.

Here is the bottom line: regardless if the product is exceptional or just plain good, whether it is $1K or $20K, the newness always wears off and the temptation to move on to something else arises (some of us worse than others).

I for one am not afraid to make changes... I've been doing this long enough to know I can just as easily put another fine system together. Just ask my wife... lol.