have had the Perfect Sets for five months now and I am VERY happy with them! They are truly outstanding speakers, especially for the price! I also own a pair of Lores, which I also think are fine speakers, but I wanted to try out a speaker with the seven element midrange/tweeter setup and the Sets seemed like the right fit for my budget and space. Compared to the Lores the Sets sound bigger, with more depth, fuller sounding across the whole audio range. They definitely outshine the Lores in the lower bass. The Sets offer great detail, without being clinical or harsh. The soundstage is excellent, broad and deep.They are very dynamic, transparent, and well-balanced from low to mid to high. I listen to several genres of music, rock, orchestral both classical and modern, R&B, and jazz, and the Sets do well with all of these, but I think they really excel with orchestral material, providing excellent timbrel resolution, definition, and superb separation, making it easy to pick out individual instruments from the mix. I will say that they do need some time to break-in and I think they are still improving a bit even after five months of daily listening. Many thanks to Eric Alexander and Tekton for making speakers that are simply a joy to listen to!
The Pendragons are outstanding speakers. I ordered the 3 high frequency driver version with the crossover and wiring upgrade, in 4 ohm painted in Tekton’s standard blue. I have had them in my music only system for 6 weeks. I am very pleased and very impressed with these speakers. I am going to provide a few details to better understand the context of my review.
I am going to be 69 years old this year and have been into the audio Hi fidelity hobby since I was 13. During this time I have built speakers, worked on electronics, performed sound and lighting work for theater groups, did some DJ work for parties, and in combination with my audio friends have owned and hear hundreds of components. My last speaker build started in 2015 which was a large 3 way monitor style as I was not impressed with tower speakers in general and especially with their lack of bass response. I was about to spend around $1000.00 on some quality 12 inch woofers when I saw an add for Tekton speakers in Stereophile. I started to research the web site and became interested in the Tekton design and was immediately surprised by the affordable prices on most of the models. I called and first spoke to Tammy and then to Eric. I explained my current stereo set up, sound room, and the my choice of music. They both recommended the Pendragon and I decided to give them a try. Cost was $2175.00 for the pair delivered to my home after about 7 weeks.
These speakers far exceeded my exceptions. I had researched many reviews on line but I still had doubts about a pair of towers for this price. Well the on line reviews are correct. The Pendragons are outstanding speakers. They are dynamic, efficient, and very well balanced. Bass response is the best I have hear in a tower design. Mids and highs are detailed without being harsh or sterile sounding. Driver components are very good quality, cabinet is well made and paint job is excellent. There is nothing cheap looking about these speakers. What I hear when I listen to my stereo tells me that Eric’s crossover design provides a stability and balance across the frequencies of sound that I have never heard in a speaker at this price.
Almost all of my listening is done from vinyl. I listen to 1960s to current rock, jazz, acoustic, folk, and a little bit of classical music. Everything I have played on these speakers sounds great, especially if the quality of the source is good. If you have good electronics in your system, you are going to discover the wide ran of quality from your music sources, vinyl, cds, digital, etc. The Pendragons will not make a poor recording or source sound great, but with good quality source material the Pendragons sound like an expensive audiophile speaker.
These speakers are efficient and can take a lot of power. In my stereo at 1.5 watts, the Pendragons fill my 16 by 22 finished basement sound room with their dynamic sound. I was able to play Communication Breakdown from Led Zepplin’s first album at 8 watts which just about drove me from the room. I put on some ear protection and buried the power amp’s 150 watts per channel into the Pendragons and ran outside my house. I took off my ear protection and it sounded like Led Zepplin when I saw then live in 1972. The sound quality was outstanding at such high volumes.
It took about 50 hours to break in these speakers. I break in new gear at modest volumes. Give them a little bit of time at the start and then they are ready for take off. I have a pair of passive subwoofers that I made in my stereo system. On good to excellent vinyl recordings, I do not have to use them, the Pendragons produce enough bass. Only use them on lower quality source material and the subs blend in well with these speakers. My passive subs are doing lower bass duty up to 65Hz.
I highly recommend the Pendragon speaker. Considering the quality of construction and the quality of sound these speakers are an outstanding value. In the audio world today you can spend a lot more and not get as dynamic a speaker. Just so you know, I do not work for Tekton and no one has paid me for this review. Enjoy your music.
Wife: Hi honey! Wow, that house is gone!
Me: What house?
Wife: The one two doors down…?
Me: (blank emoji face)
So this is the conversation that took place approximately 8 hours after having taken possession of my Pendragon’s. From the time I started listening to the time she walked in the door, I was so immersed in the sound, I was completely oblivious to the total demolition of a house within 100 ft. And I would say, that level of ecstasy is as close to heaven as I can get on this planet, currently anyway.
It’s impossible to translate what I am hearing to the recipients of this review. It’s the boogie-man of online or manufacture direct purchases. Quite frankly I wish there were more audio enthusiast groups out there hosting listening parties etc. I’d love for more people to hear these speakers, because they are exceptionally good.
My 19yr old B&W 703’s have been wonderful speakers but never weighted enough in the low end to justify cutting the cord on the sub. I hate subs. For 19 years actually. And this distaste for subs led me to seek out a full range speaker with high efficiency as I now run tube amps. And, as you’re doing now, I researched everything I could for around the $2500 range. Obviously you can’t swing dead cat without hitting a $2500 speaker in this new world of global distribution. Finding the right speaker is hard.
First off, I was looking for efficiency as I run a brand new Dynaco ST70 evo 4t, ST35 and a Willsenton R8, all three tubes. The day of my “housing demolition oblivion” was achieved with a meager 45wpc amp with plenty of headroom to spare.
Second, I wanted low-end and eliminate the sub permanently. A 20hz spec is just plain sexy to me as most of my music is slanted towards bands with really good bass players or low-end in general. Given the drivers used in this speaker could be the same as I have in my bass amp, it makes sense that that driver will faithfully reproduce these frequencies. It does.
The third issue was price. Having spent most all of my professional career with one hand in purchasing, I feel pretty good about identifying an item that’s value is high and its cost low. Also to this point, I feel like if I can’t find a decent piece of audio equipment between $2500-$3000 per component, the problem is me, not equipment. I would estimate that these speakers punch above their weight more than any other speaker manufacture in production currently. IMHO.
Last thing I wanted and sacrificed, was aesthetics and sheer size. I was actually hoping to reduce the physical footprint of equipment in my listening room but to no avail. These speakers are enormous, I can’t overstate this enough. They make my old speakers look like Romper Room toys. However, it’s a sacrifice I’m okay with. The sonics make up for the aesthetics in spades.
So, to add much else to the glowing reviews you’ve already read about the Pendragon’s would be redundant. Here is what I will say about the experience dealing with Tekton, it was beyond exceptional! Not having a showroom has its drawbacks, obviously, but it also allows for more control over the service of the product and reduces costs. Which is probably the best part about Tekton. This speaker in a traditional distribution model would be much higher in price and if problems arose, you’d be left dealing with Chip, the showroom guy down at the stereo shop across town. You know the guy. I did have a problem and they handled it expeditiously and at no cost to me. I could not be happier about having spent this kind of money on these speakers. Eric, Dana and Rachel are all great and I am planning on buying my sons some Tekton’s soon. Truthfully, I wish I had found Tekton years ago. Worth every penny and much more.
Dan Willey (verified owner) –
have had the Perfect Sets for five months now and I am VERY happy with them! They are truly outstanding speakers, especially for the price! I also own a pair of Lores, which I also think are fine speakers, but I wanted to try out a speaker with the seven element midrange/tweeter setup and the Sets seemed like the right fit for my budget and space. Compared to the Lores the Sets sound bigger, with more depth, fuller sounding across the whole audio range. They definitely outshine the Lores in the lower bass. The Sets offer great detail, without being clinical or harsh. The soundstage is excellent, broad and deep.They are very dynamic, transparent, and well-balanced from low to mid to high. I listen to several genres of music, rock, orchestral both classical and modern, R&B, and jazz, and the Sets do well with all of these, but I think they really excel with orchestral material, providing excellent timbrel resolution, definition, and superb separation, making it easy to pick out individual instruments from the mix. I will say that they do need some time to break-in and I think they are still improving a bit even after five months of daily listening. Many thanks to Eric Alexander and Tekton for making speakers that are simply a joy to listen to!
Steven Francis Tessitore –
The Pendragons are outstanding speakers. I ordered the 3 high frequency driver version with the crossover and wiring upgrade, in 4 ohm painted in Tekton’s standard blue. I have had them in my music only system for 6 weeks. I am very pleased and very impressed with these speakers. I am going to provide a few details to better understand the context of my review.
I am going to be 69 years old this year and have been into the audio Hi fidelity hobby since I was 13. During this time I have built speakers, worked on electronics, performed sound and lighting work for theater groups, did some DJ work for parties, and in combination with my audio friends have owned and hear hundreds of components. My last speaker build started in 2015 which was a large 3 way monitor style as I was not impressed with tower speakers in general and especially with their lack of bass response. I was about to spend around $1000.00 on some quality 12 inch woofers when I saw an add for Tekton speakers in Stereophile. I started to research the web site and became interested in the Tekton design and was immediately surprised by the affordable prices on most of the models. I called and first spoke to Tammy and then to Eric. I explained my current stereo set up, sound room, and the my choice of music. They both recommended the Pendragon and I decided to give them a try. Cost was $2175.00 for the pair delivered to my home after about 7 weeks.
These speakers far exceeded my exceptions. I had researched many reviews on line but I still had doubts about a pair of towers for this price. Well the on line reviews are correct. The Pendragons are outstanding speakers. They are dynamic, efficient, and very well balanced. Bass response is the best I have hear in a tower design. Mids and highs are detailed without being harsh or sterile sounding. Driver components are very good quality, cabinet is well made and paint job is excellent. There is nothing cheap looking about these speakers. What I hear when I listen to my stereo tells me that Eric’s crossover design provides a stability and balance across the frequencies of sound that I have never heard in a speaker at this price.
Almost all of my listening is done from vinyl. I listen to 1960s to current rock, jazz, acoustic, folk, and a little bit of classical music. Everything I have played on these speakers sounds great, especially if the quality of the source is good. If you have good electronics in your system, you are going to discover the wide ran of quality from your music sources, vinyl, cds, digital, etc. The Pendragons will not make a poor recording or source sound great, but with good quality source material the Pendragons sound like an expensive audiophile speaker.
These speakers are efficient and can take a lot of power. In my stereo at 1.5 watts, the Pendragons fill my 16 by 22 finished basement sound room with their dynamic sound. I was able to play Communication Breakdown from Led Zepplin’s first album at 8 watts which just about drove me from the room. I put on some ear protection and buried the power amp’s 150 watts per channel into the Pendragons and ran outside my house. I took off my ear protection and it sounded like Led Zepplin when I saw then live in 1972. The sound quality was outstanding at such high volumes.
It took about 50 hours to break in these speakers. I break in new gear at modest volumes. Give them a little bit of time at the start and then they are ready for take off. I have a pair of passive subwoofers that I made in my stereo system. On good to excellent vinyl recordings, I do not have to use them, the Pendragons produce enough bass. Only use them on lower quality source material and the subs blend in well with these speakers. My passive subs are doing lower bass duty up to 65Hz.
I highly recommend the Pendragon speaker. Considering the quality of construction and the quality of sound these speakers are an outstanding value. In the audio world today you can spend a lot more and not get as dynamic a speaker. Just so you know, I do not work for Tekton and no one has paid me for this review. Enjoy your music.
Lynn Fitzgerald –
I love my Enzo 2.7 amazing sound. I purchased 4 of them and have been nothing but happy. Great speaker great price
Brad Overcash (verified owner) –
Wife: Hi honey! Wow, that house is gone!
Me: What house?
Wife: The one two doors down…?
Me: (blank emoji face)
So this is the conversation that took place approximately 8 hours after having taken possession of my Pendragon’s. From the time I started listening to the time she walked in the door, I was so immersed in the sound, I was completely oblivious to the total demolition of a house within 100 ft. And I would say, that level of ecstasy is as close to heaven as I can get on this planet, currently anyway.
It’s impossible to translate what I am hearing to the recipients of this review. It’s the boogie-man of online or manufacture direct purchases. Quite frankly I wish there were more audio enthusiast groups out there hosting listening parties etc. I’d love for more people to hear these speakers, because they are exceptionally good.
My 19yr old B&W 703’s have been wonderful speakers but never weighted enough in the low end to justify cutting the cord on the sub. I hate subs. For 19 years actually. And this distaste for subs led me to seek out a full range speaker with high efficiency as I now run tube amps. And, as you’re doing now, I researched everything I could for around the $2500 range. Obviously you can’t swing dead cat without hitting a $2500 speaker in this new world of global distribution. Finding the right speaker is hard.
First off, I was looking for efficiency as I run a brand new Dynaco ST70 evo 4t, ST35 and a Willsenton R8, all three tubes. The day of my “housing demolition oblivion” was achieved with a meager 45wpc amp with plenty of headroom to spare.
Second, I wanted low-end and eliminate the sub permanently. A 20hz spec is just plain sexy to me as most of my music is slanted towards bands with really good bass players or low-end in general. Given the drivers used in this speaker could be the same as I have in my bass amp, it makes sense that that driver will faithfully reproduce these frequencies. It does.
The third issue was price. Having spent most all of my professional career with one hand in purchasing, I feel pretty good about identifying an item that’s value is high and its cost low. Also to this point, I feel like if I can’t find a decent piece of audio equipment between $2500-$3000 per component, the problem is me, not equipment. I would estimate that these speakers punch above their weight more than any other speaker manufacture in production currently. IMHO.
Last thing I wanted and sacrificed, was aesthetics and sheer size. I was actually hoping to reduce the physical footprint of equipment in my listening room but to no avail. These speakers are enormous, I can’t overstate this enough. They make my old speakers look like Romper Room toys. However, it’s a sacrifice I’m okay with. The sonics make up for the aesthetics in spades.
So, to add much else to the glowing reviews you’ve already read about the Pendragon’s would be redundant. Here is what I will say about the experience dealing with Tekton, it was beyond exceptional! Not having a showroom has its drawbacks, obviously, but it also allows for more control over the service of the product and reduces costs. Which is probably the best part about Tekton. This speaker in a traditional distribution model would be much higher in price and if problems arose, you’d be left dealing with Chip, the showroom guy down at the stereo shop across town. You know the guy. I did have a problem and they handled it expeditiously and at no cost to me. I could not be happier about having spent this kind of money on these speakers. Eric, Dana and Rachel are all great and I am planning on buying my sons some Tekton’s soon. Truthfully, I wish I had found Tekton years ago. Worth every penny and much more.
Michael (verified owner) –
Well worth the wait. I’m very happy!