Ulfberht
$9830
/ pair
Named after medieval-era Viking swords, the Ulfberht loudspeaker is the ultimate hammer/butterfly of sonic expression, striking out at the listener with percussive elements and a constant velocity that matches all musical instruments and the human voice. The listening experience is an entirely new level of realism with a huge soundstage, energy, realism and perfect finer details. It’s a bold claim, but we believe that the Ulfberht is the most acoustically advanced audiophile loudspeaker available on earth today.
Free shipping in the continental US!
Description
High-end loudspeaker manufacturers have become very good at making visually striking products that are undoubtedly works of visual art… but unfortunately, those looks don’t necessarily translate to better sound. At Tekton Design, our emphasis has always been to create the highest-performing, yet cost-effective loudspeakers conceivable – all of which are solidly grounded in electro-acoustical physics. We reject the notion that high-end hi-fi needs to be high-priced, and boldly ask: Do you want a pretty pair of museum pieces that put out “good enough” sound? Or are you ready for loudspeakers that produce a level of fidelity positively guaranteed to rival or often exceed the biggest and most expensive brands out there at a fraction of the cost?
- Made under U.S. Patent 9247339 with multiple new patents pending
- Proprietary 4-way loudspeaker design
- Ultra-linear frequency response with ±.5dB deviation from 70Hz-20kHz
- Simple and elegant minimum phase (single crossover element) mid-range and tweeter
- Ultra-linear, entirely time-invariant minimum-phase mid-range section
- Proprietary patent pending 15 dome radiating hybrid MTM high frequency array
- Four 7″ mid-bass patented ‘overtone & harmonic’ bass transducers
- Dual 12″ woofers
- 99dB 2.83V@1m sensitivity
- 4 Ohm design for optimum performance
- 20Hz-30kHz frequency response
- 1000 Watt power handling
- Weight 225 lbs
- Height 77.0″ (195.58 cm) x Width 16.0″ (40.64 cm) x Depth 17.0″ (43.18 cm)
- Manufactured in the USA
Dan Jones –
My first impression of the Ulfberhts was like my first time experiencing IMAX, beautiful sweet huge music enveloping you. And all done with two speakers! Set up was a breeze with my very strong son. Once they were set up on the carpet in my familyroom they are easy to slide around, I will add the feet once I’m satisfied with their position. Once they were in place the soundstage is so deep and wide the soundtrack to Braveheart made me think I was listening to surround sound, there was music and drumbeats coming out of everywhere, all in perfect time. My room is not huge or small 18-foot deep by 27-foot wide and open on two sides. I placed the speakers where the others were, toed them in between 1 and 2 inches and got a perfect soundstage, it couldn’t have been easier and the speakers are aimed in the narrow width of the room too so don’t think you have to go the long way with these. I have no room treatments and probably never will, the music is so satisfying as is!
I auditioned other speakers costing 20k to 70k and none of them had this quality of heft and soundstage.
Powering these best ever sounding speakers in my opinion are:
Mcintosh 501 amplifiers
Lampizator Golden Atlantic DAC and pre amp. (another item that I guarantee will make your Ulfberhts sound that much better).
Acoustic Zen Silver speaker cables and interconnects.
PS Audio Power Conditioner and Power Cords.
Thanks Eric you’re the man! 👏
Oat (verified owner) –
I have had my Ulfberhts for several months and I am extremely happy. This is the best speaker I have heard to date. I am sure there are better sounding speakers out there, but for the first time, I don’t care. My Ulfberht has the one center Be tweeter and upgraded crossover. Fit and finish are outstanding.
I have heard $50K+ setups with B&W, Sonus, Faber, etc. They just do not measure up. Everyone’s preference is different, but my top two are effortlessness and clarity. I spent many years believing the marketing and reviews that claim small box speakers sound big and will fill your living space well. I purchased large Klipsch, B&Ws, etc, trying to reach this goal. What I finally realized is I needed a large speaker that could handle music and movies effortlessly. This speaker exceeds that and then some.
My Ulfberht’s are connected to two Benchmark AHB2 amps bridged with a Marantz AV10 pre/pro. I can hear everything. Any small change in my system is clearly heard. For example, I did not know how much better Tidal sounds from an AV10 compared to Apple Music from an ATV 4K. I laugh when I hear people say they cannot hear the difference between MP3s and Hi Res music.
This speaker has it all. Deep bass, clear sparkly highs, clear mids, etc. What I really like is that the speaker is so sensitive to change. This allows you to tailor the sound to your exact needs. If you want acoustic guitar heavy music that pops out at you, no problem. You want deeper bass for a song or movie, no problem. I have listened to a movie clip at 107db with no problem (warning, I do not recommend this).
I am sure this speaker has a decibel limit, but I would not want to be in the room when it occurs. I have my max volume limited to insure I do not kill my love ones.
Lastly, this is a heavy speaker. My three family members could not lift it from one room to another. So be careful.
Eric is a design genius. This design makes so much since to me. I will keep these speakers forever. I actually want more Tekton speakers for my bedroom. I am looking at the half Ulfberht.
Mark –
I have a set with the be tweeter in the middle.run by michi rotel m8 1.8kw into 4 ohms.have equipment to analyze frequency of speakers.grant it the equipment is not recording level quality but close.dad was a physicist an we have played with speakers for decades.have several years of physics math electronics in college. The equivalent of three ph.d with decades of higher education. I have the 1812 as well.have many high end speakers.revel salon genesis infinity irs duntec dali pbn b&w matrix 800 and right next to these tekton are focal utopia be top of the line. We analyzed both and they are close within 5%. These tekton might not look as pretty as the focal but for the money they sound fantastic. Read the reviews on these.they say they are giant killers.mine sit between the high end wilson and utopia grand.you put a good amp on these you will be happy
Jayla (verified owner) –
So far so good. Big soundstage. Working well with quality recordings and bi-amping with monoblocks. In early stages of break-in and refinement of room position and acoustics. Have not used with any EQ.
William Thomas –
Have lived w/ the Ulfberhts now for over a year where I tread media tracks before them like some Hobbit before the two towers. The Ulfberhts are massive casting a shadow before them. Yet, they perform an incredible act of disappearing before the eyes creating a soundstage that never ends in width x height x depth.
User Review –
I took possession of the Ulfberhts about a week ago. I have never heard speakers like this before, and I have owned and listened to a lot of speakers. The Ulfberhts replace my Vandersteen 3a Signatures, which are really excellent, and the Ulfberhts completely blow them out of the water.
I haven’t heard the Double Impacts,so I can’t compare them, but the direct comparisons I have read are clear that the Ulfberhts represent a significant improvement.
So, what exactly do they sound like? I suppose the one quality that struck me immediately, and why they sound like no speakers I have ever heard, is their ability to convincingly reproduce the immediacy, grandeur, and excitement of live music. When the horn section started blasting in Simon and Garfunkel’s “Keep the Customer Satisfied” on the “Bridge over Troubled Waters” album my eyes literally welled up with tears. When I played the Eagles’ “Hotel California” it was like I was hearing it for the first time. The clarity, impact, and excitement was unlike any version of that song I had ever heard, though I had listened to it probably a couple of hundred times throughout the years.
What is it about the Ulfberht sound that accomplishes this? I think it is a combination of several things. First, the sheer size of the soundstage it throws is massive. Each tower stands over six feet tall and includes 21 drivers! Live music is big, and so having a really big speaker is useful in reproducing it. Second, the speaker manages to extract an amazing amount of detail from the recording. I was hearing multiple musical elements from familiar tracks I had never noticed before. Third, despite the awkward-looking pair of seven-driver midrange arrays, the center image floated in a precise space in between the speakers about five feet off the ground. Furthermore, the midrange was utterly natural and lifelike. And, finally, and I cannot emphasize this enough, the sound in general is incredibly exciting and seductive. These have to be the best speakers ever for rock music. At the same time they excel with intimate quiet music also, probably because of the beautiful midrange presentation. For example, played through the Ulfberhts, Sara McLaughlin’s “Angel” created the illusion of being in the studio as she recorded the song in a way that I wouldn’t have thought possible.
Any downsides? I can think of a couple. First, this speaker is truly massive. It completely takes over the room. It probably has one of the lowest WAF of any speaker recently manufactured. I bought the speakers at an estate sale, so I got a really good price, but if I were paying full retail I think I would go for the Encore, which I am sure sounds very similar (the Encore uses the same 15-driver MTM array), but which is also smaller and less expensive.
Second, again because of their size and dual 12″ bass drivers, the Ulfberhts are capable of putting out an enormous amount of bass, so you have to be very careful with room placement. In particular, I found the bass to be unnaturally boomy until I had pulled the speakers out 3 feet from the back wall. Needless to say, you are going to need a decent sized room for these speakers. I installed them in an 18 x 26 foot room with an 8-foot ceiling and this seems fine.
I live in SW Missouri. If anyone is interested in auditioning these truly great, and I think game-changing, speakers you are welcome to drop by for an audition.