Tekton Double Impact SE vs Kef R7 Meta


Hello everyone, I’m looking for some help with my eventual upgrade path. I currently have a pair of Kef Q350 being powered by a Willsenton R8. I enjoy the clarity, detail, and instrument separation of the Kef’s, but they can be a bit polite. Soundstage is great as well, tonal balance is good as well. I’ve been looking at the R7 metas figuring they have similar sound characteristics as the Q350s just with more refinement and overall better sound, but I realize the Willsenton might be a bit underpowered (especially in triode mode) to really make them sing. Tekton is a name that keeps coming up in my research. I realize they can be a bit of a controversial choice do to some of the issues they’ve had with reviewers. All I really am concerned with is, how do they actually sound. I really want to keep that clarity that the KEFs have. We listen primarily to rock, metal, and electronic music. My room is rather large. It’s a 19’x 39’ great room (living room, dining room, and kitchen. 
 

I’d like to hear from people that have had experience with either of these speakers with similar amplification and what their thoughts are. I’m also open to other speaker suggestions. Thank you!

dstryker77

Until relatively recently, i had a Schweikert VR55 (60k, 70k,  whatever). A used pair of Moabs (curiosity purchase) killed that Schweikert, tarred and feathered. I sold it in a hurry.

Guy I know has a Alexx V (130k). I audited it extensively, took my own front end electronics...not a chance,.... you could give me a Alexxa V for free, I'd sell it immediately and keep the Moab. I run it with some high end electronics however, which cost magnitudes more than the speaker...they are well deserved in this case.

The tekton guy has cracked some code, sitting over there in the middle of nowhere Utah desert.... preserving harmonics that were long gone with the Alexx foolishness and a whole lotta crap out there.. These apparently 'high end' speaker dudes have cracked no code or innovated, but, they can put an extra shine and finish on the cabinet., call it material B, material S, material BS, etc.

@jijoh123  wrote

All I can tell you is that I owned a pair of Tekton Moab’s (List price of $5K) for 5 years up until about 4 months ago when I decided to part with them in preparation for retirement and a move across the country (I thought I didn’t want to hassle with pack and moving them). I shifted to a much smaller and "lighter" speaker, Martin Logan Montis (List price of $10K, I obtained used for $2.2K not including the $500 I spent on obtaining a used Abyss Sub to bolster the bottom end, absolutely no need for a sub with the Moabs) at half the weight and size. Ohhhhh how I now regret that change. The Moabs absolutely kick the shnizzile out of the Montis (twice the price). Clarity, imaging, impact, dynamics and the reality of the music were all far superior with the Moabs, as I expect it will be with the Double Impact compared to the KEF’s. The magic that Eric does with his designs can’ be overstated in my opinion. The Moab easily competed with contenders costing 10 even 15 times as much, as I’m sure would and will be the case with the DI’s. And there’s a "60-day money-back guarantee (excluding custom orders)". You can’t go wrong.

And if you can afford another $700, get the Moabs; they will knock your socks off.

Just my humble opinion after almost 50 years of listening to speakers from $500 to $150,000.

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I wholeheartedly agree with Deep that Wilson Audio is pretentious, aspirational, and grotesquely overpriced trash. But all that Tekton praise? That’s a bridge too far for me.

Granted, I was biased from the start because of the owner’s notorious penchant for acting like an [insert synonyms for donkey and cavity]; this is the guy who went on a crusade against ASR for calling out his speakers to sound like trash, arguing that ASR should have inserted the spikes before testing but did not, thereby causing the issue. Really. Then of course he threatened legal action, thoroughly ridiculing himself in the process.

For that reason alone, I will never own tekton speakers, or DCS or Tom Evans anything for that matter.

Now, if you told me that $12K pro speakers leave $50K Wilson speakers in the dust I would be totally willing to entertain that notion, because more than likely you would be right. But tektons? Their enclosures are plain-jane, rectangular, ported monkey coffins. Drivers are budget junk. Crossovers? Who knows. The only obvious differentiator is the sheer number of drivers (picture tekton owner conjuring dead Kabuki speakers’ spirits during late-night séance).

I think there might be Moabs for sale locally. Maybe I should go take a listen. Just for the sake of dotting Is and crossing Ts

@devinplombier Yeah, like I said in my original post, I know they're a controversial brand, but until I actually hear a pair I can't really pass judgement. The people that love them REALLY love them, and the people that don't REALLY don't lol. I expect nothing less in a hobby as subjective as audio. For now I'll keep my eye out and see if I can audition some. 

 

@jcatdcat And what color would your wife pick?

@dstryker77 Paul at PS Audio just released this Q&A video on why dynamics are so hard to reproduced.  On the speaker side, a lower mass driver has an easier time on dynamics, with Tekton array-type speaker, which uses lower mass to manage this easier, as Eric has also pointed out on the Tekton YouTube page.  Thus, Tekton is known to have good Dynamics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJHgmy-UfAQ