Mofi Sourcepoint 8 vs. KEF R3 Meta

The lore’s just a regular speaker, might as well get something else...The Tekton midrange is something unique that comes from the small driver array.

@helomech  wrote

@deep_333 

I am not experienced with Tekton’s midrange array. I did once own their Lore Reference towers with the Be tweeters. That speaker had decent midrange for the price. It was ultimately letdown by excessive cabinet resonances. At one point I removed the ports while attempting to damp the resonances.

could be some dude on the payroll went through the revolving door....perhaps, its janitor, speaker builder, billing, logistics, customer service all back to 1 guy these days for more QC! 

The inner port ends looked as though someone had eyeballed the chosen length and then sloppily cut them with a pocket knife. One of the ports was cut so diagonally that one half of the tube was a whole inch longer than the opposing half. Combine that sort of build quality along with their customer service and I will never again consider a Tekton product.

I had the og tad reference from Ajones for around 15 yrs or so, which at its time was one of the best to get..

If the array wasn’t some kind of clever breakthrough, certain euro brands wouldn’t be copying it for their cost no object models....there is a science behind it. I think one can also go in with some cadillac drivers for the entire array and every other driver, if he paid up for a custom build...but, i am about to retire, done buying things...

Regardless, I am doubtful their midrange array is a match for the Satori Textreme drivers, considering the latter are nearly as good as the custom Textreme midranges in Rockports. Not going to say it’s impossible but my experience leads me to believe it’s highly unlikely. 

If the array wasn’t some kind of clever breakthrough, certain euro brands wouldn’t be copying it for their cost no object models....there is a science behind it.

I’m versed in his theory and patent on the driver array. I am not aware of what Euro brands are copying it however. I believe McIntosh actually pioneered some version of this concept many years ago. Those speakers are widely regarded as mediocre. Maybe Tekton’s implementation is far superior. can’t say. What I do know is that many of the affordable three-way designs from the usual suspects (KEF, Focal, B&W et al.) have a quite unremarkable midrange compared to many two-ways equipped with higher-end drivers. 
 

Congrats on your retirement!

mattw73: That's an interesting take on the R3 Meta. The main complaint most reviewers and owners state is the R3s can be fatiguing. Their exceptional clarity can have a downside. 

Many folks also state how lively and fun the R3s are. I've never read a complaint about them not being engaging, or lacking excitement. Some folks say the SP 8s can be a bit dull and lacking top end sparkle. I guess different ears for different people. 

Nonetheless, thanks for your comments.

I do like satori textreme and had some d 10 made by tyler acoustics and they do sound like rockports.madisound has a kit you can make with them painted nice finished cabinets. About 5k . Jbl has some horns made out of that material and the new yamaha ns 5000 are of similar material. Textreme measures just under beryllium but it's expensive and hard to work with. I have some eminence horns that are made of textreme before b &c bought them out. Ps audio made thier mids and tweeters out of textreme as I toured thier facility and talked to Paul and staff. Maybe you should build some out of textreme and berillium tweeter sounds like your pretty handy. If you want no resonance look at magico q7 at 700 lbs each. Knock rap test hurts. Enjoy the search.

@output555 

Since you already have a subwoofer get the R3 Meta.  After hearing both, the R3 sounds clearer and more refined but the MoFi plays bigger and more dynamic- something the sub will compensate for. I would much rather have a more refined sound. 

FYI the Meta versions are a huge improvement compared to the IMHO awfully metallic sounding non-Meta versions. 

The R3 also come with port plugs which can help with close to wall positioning and subwoofer integration.   R3 for the win in your position.