The sight of fifteen tweeters on a speaker surprises almost everyone who sees them for the first time. How could that possibly work? Wouldn’t there be comb filtering? Won’t it just sound terrible? Once the skeptics hear the music, all their concerns tend to turn to awe instead. The sound of this patented tweeter array has a way of changing minds.
Eric Alexander, who you may know is the founder of Tekton Design, is also its sound engineer. He’s the one that comes up with all the loudspeaker designs and tests them. When he talks about his array, he mentions that it’s pretty polarizing in the industry. Where did he get the idea for this array of tweeters? To learn more, we’ve got to go back 20 or 25 years.
Eric’s a lifelong musician and he used to be a professional drummer. He says he loves making speakers though and isn’t keen to get back into drumming and touring with bands. For a while, he was designing loudspeakers and playing in a band at the same time. That’s when he says he had his epiphany.
His band rehearsals would be going for 3 or 4 hours once a week, and since rehearsals are pretty low stress, he was able to play and also enjoy the music. He says, “So imagine playing music all night long – a live garage band scenario – and then going home and sitting down and listening to what I thought at the time were some of the world’s best loudspeakers and having a moment of, ‘Holy cow, what is this? This does not sound anything like what I just experienced back with the band.’”
He adds, “I challenge anyone – you could go and have that same experience today. Call the hottest local garage band or go to the symphony hall and ask if you can sit in on a practice session and get next to where the conductor stands and listen to what is actually going on. Folks, that’s real music. That’s real, real music. Shouldn’t an audiophile want to have a real music experience, not something that’s dulled down and warmed down and liquid fluid sounding? That’s not music.”
When he realized that loudspeakers weren’t replicating the sound of live music very accurately, the fire was lit and Eric started looking for a way to make recorded music sound like it does in real life. Over many years he’s worked on refining and perfecting his loudspeakers to sound more like live music; energetic, lively and dynamic. He’s pushed and pushed and pushed trying to improve this formula with every loudspeaker he releases. He says he’s not out to take over the loudspeaker world, he just wants to share the magic of live music with everyone.
One day, Eric realized there was a real size discrepancy between a violin string and the drivers on a speaker. A violin string can produce sound at 440 hz, yet the weight of the moving mass of a violin string is far, far less than the weight of the driver that normally reproduces sounds in this range. Eric wanted to know exactly what the size discrepancy was, so he measured a violin string from neck to bridge on a violin, cut it, and weighed it. It weighed ⅓ of a gram. The 8-inch drivers normally used to reproduce the sound of a violin in the 440 hz range, even the best ones, weigh around 20 grams. That is a huge difference in mass, and becomes problematic when its job is to reproduce the sound of the ⅓ of a gram violin string at 440 hz.
So how exactly does he reproduce the sound of ⅓ of a gram of moving mass? He says he has three ways to do it, but the way he does it in his loudspeakers is the cheapest and best bang for your buck, which is how his loudspeakers can be so affordable and sound so fantastic. This is where the patented tweeter array works its magic. As it turns out, the moving parts of tweeter drivers only weigh between .2 and .5 grams, and he has all the tweeter drivers except one (which reproduces the highest frequency sounds) working in unison in the midrange, each moving ⅓ of a gram at 440 hz (sound familiar?) to reproduce the sound of a 440 hz note on a violin accurately.
You may be wondering, “What about comb filtering?” Because the midrange tweeters are working in unison, there is no comb filtering as all the sound arrives at the same time to the listener’s ears. Only the middle/center tweeter reproduces the higher frequencies, so it doesn’t cause comb filtering either. Stereophile has measured the Impact Monitor and found there is no comb filtering, and in fact stated that the Impact Monitor has the best average horizontal polar response in the bookshelf stand category in the history of Stereophile and all of their measurements.
The proof is in the pudding, as they say. Many audiophiles, reviewers, and even Grammy-winning artists have raved about them. Some even go so far as to say they have a “perfect midrange,” a compliment that Eric says he’s never heard uttered about any other speaker. Nearly every review about Tekton Design’s speakers says they sound like speakers several times their cost. It’s not hype, it’s science. And it’ll knock your socks off.
Thanks!
Hi Harry,
I was on the fence too and also struggled with purchasing something at this price without auditioning first. In the process, did something I’ve never done before, almost wore out my shopping cart. The four Moab’s I ended up purchasing were in my shopping cart twice a month for six months with my finger hovering over the purchase button before I finally pressed it. That’s a lot of wear. After months of over analysis, one day I pushed the button! Here’s why…
1. I read many posts from audiophiles who on their 10+ year journey thru many speaker models of similar or higher prices said this was the best speaker they have ever heard for several multiples of the price of Tektons. Audiophiles are not paid and you know they are experts by just listening to their story and the 3 pages of detail on many of the posts. It is rare to hear anyone from this community say end-game speakers but there are in the ballpark of 20 different audiophiles who said this across many posts and boards. More posts about end game speakers than I’ve heard about any other brand. This peaked my interest
2. Another factor is how long speakers last. I have some 30 year old B&W 804’s which sound just like they did when I bought them. Speakers don’t break after 5 years (like Apple products that no longer update) which helps spread the cost over time. They last for decades
3. Tekton’s are easy to drive and my Moab’s sound amazing driven with modest electronics totaling $4k. Have a couple of Class D amps, a used Marantz SR7013 11.2 Receiver, RME ADI-2 DAC, and BlueSound Node 3 streamer. I’m sure improvements could be made in the electronics department, but it sounds really good with this setup.
4. Worse case is I would send back and lose shipping costs or would sell on Audiogon.
5. Over 9 months I watched about 25 people on FB post that ordered speakers and they would give updates a week after hooking them up. All but two loved them. The number of happy customers is very high especially considering Tektons are rarely auditioned first. One guy bought them and was unhappy and unreasonable IMO but Eric the owner plus the FB community took care of them.
6. The clincher…. If I didn’t buy Tekton, the next similar speaker was at best the same price but was actually twice as expensive. It was worth the risk of paying return shipping to save $10k a pair so I pressed the Purchase button!
Now thanks to Tekton I am an audiophile and understand what this level of speaker provides. The clarity is amazing and I no longer have any trouble understanding lyrics or dialog in movies. In Ozark’s, Wendy was wearing jewelry in this one scene and we could hear it jingle as she walked. It was so cool. Listening to familiar music is a new experience again as me and my wife listen to 70’s and 80’s music together, the system reminds us of being at the concert. There is one spooky thing about high end speakers like these that surprised me, the sound doesn’t seem to come from the speaker. My eyes tell me sound should be coming from the speaker I’m looking directly at but my ears can’t tell where the sound is coming from. Getting within a foot of the speaker you can tell the sound is coming from the speaker, but 5 feet away you can’t tell. This is soundstage. Being enveloped in sound is really cool and watching movies with Atmos takes it to the next level especially with Moab’s as side speakers. They sound great at low, normal, loud and at club levels.
Before Tekton I auditioned different speaker brands like Kef and B&W 802’s in the Magnolia section of BestBy hooked up to $6k McIntosh amps and preamps and thought this was incredible and one of the best systems you can buy. Went back and listened after getting my Moab’s, now I am spoiled. I’m no longer impressed and am not going to buy high end speaker from Magnolia. They sound average to me and I can’t make myself put them in the shopping cart or save for later. They don’t sound real like the Moab’s.
Good luck and safe travels on your journey,
John
I think I have read almost everything in print about Tekton Design speakers but unfortunately I have not been able to actually hear them in person. I am really interested in the double Impact but there’s no way I can spend that kind of money on speaker I’ve never heard. I keep trying to find someone that will let me listen to them. So far unsuccessful.
Many people on the Facebook group Tekton Design Speakers Worldwide Owners Group are willing to audition their speakers for others, so try that if you haven’t already. We also have our 60 day guarantee, which is as follows:
60-Day Risk-Free Trial
We are confident that you will love your purchase, but no doubt, having the speakers in your intimate home setting is the only way to truly test them. If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase, you can return the speakers within 60 days, subject to the following terms:
Returned speakers must be in new condition with no signs of damage or abuse, including scratches, blemishes, chips, cracks, etc.
Returns must be made using the original packaging correctly to avoid damage in transit. Contact us for proper packing instructions if needed.
Custom loudspeaker projects, special requests, custom paint colors or finishes, and non-standard veneers are not eligible for returns and/or refunds.
Purchaser pays return shipping costs and is responsible for packaging and all delivery arrangements.