Impact Monitor
Original price was: $2500. $1699Current price is: $1699.
/ pair
With near full-frequency sound – impactful bass, clear midrange and sweet highs – and large soundstage, the Impact Monitor is a great choice if you need to save some space in your listening area, as compared to our floor-standing speakers.
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Description
Tekton Design Impact Monitor: A New Standard in Audio Performance
The Impact Monitor isn’t just a speaker; it’s a statement. This patented, award-winning design redefines what’s possible from a compact loudspeaker. Experience an unmatched level of sonic realism, with a midrange clarity and presence that’s the direct result of our proprietary technology.
Unparalleled Accuracy and Detail
- Patented Design: Engineered with cutting-edge technology, the Impact Monitor boasts a unique driver configuration and crossover network that delivers exceptional accuracy and detail across the entire frequency spectrum.
- Award-Winning Performance: Recognized by industry experts and audiophiles alike, the Impact Monitor has garnered three prestigious “Product of the Year” awards, solidifying its position as a leader in audio excellence.
- Perfect Midrange: The Impact Monitor’s midrange is its crowning achievement. Vocals and instruments are reproduced with breathtaking realism and presence, thanks to the innovative design and meticulous engineering of its drivers and crossover.
- Superior Performance Measurements: As measured by Stereophile, the Impact Monitor achieved the best average horizontal polar response ever recorded for a stand/bookshelf speaker. This translates to an incredibly accurate and immersive soundstage, placing you right in the middle of the musical performance.
Reviews that Speak Volumes
- HomeTheaterReview.com: “These speakers do not sound like most stand-mount speakers regarding how they handle ‘big’ music…the Impact Monitors create a gigantic soundstage that sounds a lot like large electrostatic panels—but with a more accurate size and placement of individuals in that space, along with greater macro-dynamics and low-end extension.”
- Stereophile.com: “They delivered exceedingly smooth, liquid sound that was weighty, coherent, and impactful…The Impact Monitor is an all-rounder—a loudspeaker capable of satisfying many serious audiophiles, dance-partygoers, and record collectors.”
More Than Just a Speaker
“‘Perfect midrange!’ I’ll never forget RMAF 2017. The buzz surrounding the Impact Monitor’s debut was all about that ‘perfect midrange.’ As an audiophile and loudspeaker designer, I’d never heard those words uttered or rolled off the tongue of an audiophile. To have my work described as having ‘perfect midrange’ was like winning a Grammy.” — Eric Alexander, Inventor and Audio Designer
The Impact Monitor is an investment in your audio enjoyment. It’s a speaker that will elevate your listening experience to new heights, revealing nuances and details in your favorite music that you’ve never heard before.
Experience the Impact
Discover the difference that true innovation and exceptional engineering can make. Bring the Impact Monitor into your home and rediscover the magic of music.
- Made under U.S. Patent 9247339
- Proprietary 3-way loudspeaker design
- Proprietary Tweeter Array: Experience “perfect midrange” with our patented, low-mass, polygon-oriented tweeter array.
- Proprietary controlled directivity – acoustically superior proprietary polygon-oriented, seven ring radiator mid/high frequency array. This array disperses a precisely focused acoustical power pattern of that of a horn or waveguide without the audible ringing influence of horn flare walls constraining the soundwave for acoustically superior mid-range high frequency performance
- Dual 6.5″ Transducers
- 94dB 2.83V@1m sensitivity
- 4 Ohm design for optimum performance (8 Ohm available please inquire)
- 40Hz-30kHz frequency response
- 120 Watt power handling
- Height 24.5″x Width 10.125″ x Depth 13.0″
- Weight 43 lbs
- Proudly manufactured in the USA
8 reviews for Impact Monitor
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Professional Reviews
Herb Reichert, Stereophile
"The Impact Monitor is an all-rounder—a loudspeaker capable of satisfying many serious audiophiles, dance-partygoers, and record collectors. Few speakers can play every musical genre with the Impact's level of ease, acuity, and, uh . . . impact. Add to these virtues the fact that few other moderately priced audiophile speakers can play so loud without distortion. And they're unusually easy to drive."
The Audio Fool, The Audiofool
"You immediately hear the large soundstage of the Tektons. The Tektons produce a soundstage that is wider, taller deeper and a bit easier to track all the details. The vocals are a little airier, dreamier. The clarity and details are ahead in the Tektons. You can easily hear the guitars and the snares and the piano. You can hear every instument in their exact locations."
Steve Guttenberg, Audiophiliac
"It's got gravitas, it's got balls, it does dynamics. You play piano on this speaker, it feels like a piano. It's got efficiency of a horn, it's got dynamics of a horn and it's got real kick-ass bass."
Terry London, Home Theater Review
"You get the speed and velocity normally only found in horn speakers, which gives you the sense of “aliveness” of real music, without the colorations of those designs. And you get the micro-details, decays, and transparency normally associated with electrostatic planar designs without the etch or sharp, analytical edge. This speaker not only completely disappears like all great stand-mount speakers, but it creates life-sized three-dimensional players much more like a large floorstander. It renders beautiful, natural timbres and tonal colors with all instruments. The bottom-end extension is accurate and taut; you don’t really need a subwoofer for music or everyday TV listening. Finally, these speakers have a silky-smooth, grainless signature that draws you into the music. Is this a killer speaker for smaller rooms? You bet it is. The Impact Monitor has become my new reference speaker for my second system in a smaller acoustic space."
Victor Chavira, Positive Feedback
"IM's outstanding dynamic responsiveness, remarkable mid-range clarity, near full frequency, and user-friendly dimensions are assets that few, if any, speakers possess at [this price.]
As long time dyed-in-the-wool audio geek, I never imagined listening to, much less enjoying, an orange painted speaker system that included 14 tweeters! Nevertheless, the orange color scheme and technology makes sense to me now. The Impact Monitors can summon fury like the Heritage Softail next to you at the intersection and deliver to you to your musical destination like a magic carpet ride on the open highway. As one audio friend told me before leaving an afternoon's listening session, "You need to keep these!" I believe I may heed his advice.
Highly recommended without reservation."
Steve Guttenberg, Cnet
"I can't think of another audiophile grade speaker for the money that energizes a room like the Impact Monitor.
The Impact Monitors treated vocals well, they sounded full bodied and natural, so soul singer Macy Gray all but materialized between the two speakers. Pianos are tough to get right, but the Impact Monitors nailed the percussive transients and full tonality of Milcho Leviev's astonishing Man From Plovdiv solo piano CD. He's a powerful player, really slamming the keys and the Impacts were giving his piano its full due. Morphine lit up the Impact Monitors, and I must say Dana Colley's sax emerged with all of its brassy, breathy beauty intact [...] The Impacts have a way of bringing the soul of music back to life in ways that you just don't get from other speakers in their price class."
Jason Victor Serinus, Stereophile
"[T]he Tekton monitors [...] blew me away.
Its sound [...] far surpassed any number of systems costing way more. A notable achievement, worthy of both review and acclaim."
Herb Reichert, Stereophile
"It was not subtle. The [...]Tekton Impact Monitors were doing it all: singing, drumming, shaking the air, drawing me in, and making every CD or LP pure pleasure to listen to. A little soft…but not too soft. Imagine a gentle but guiding touch with a most perfect sparkle—and then firm and impactful when necessary."
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1 PR. Tekton Design Chorus Monitor – Black Oak – New Model – $299 Delivered
Original price was: $500.$299Current price is: $299.
Joel –
Simply put, an unreal value in terms of cost to performance ratio. I have owned so many different pairs of speakers that I have lost count, including a pair of full size Double Impact. I have never owned anything uber expensive and the most costly pair I owned was in the 10K range. However, I have done extensive auditions in systems costing well into the seven figures including visiting Axpona and going into most of the rooms. Taking in account my journey in the audiophile hobby I consider the Impact Monitors one of the best deals in stand mount speakers, period. These speakers offer excellent tonality and amazing balance across the entire frequency bandwidth. They are very neutral in their sonic presentation meaning that they can’t be described as laid back or forward. One of their best attributes is how incredibly good they image. In my room and with my current setup these speakers put out a disappearing act that I have only gotten from one other speaker pair out of the countless pairs I’ve owned. I’d say that anyone in the market for a new pair of stand mounts with a budget in the 10K or so should give these an audition. Chances are that they will find what they have been looking for saving a great deal of money to invest in other aspects of their system.
Joel –
Simply put, unreal value to performance ratio. I have owned so many speaker pairs that I have lost count, including a pair of full size Double Impact. I haven’t owned anything uber expensive and my most expensive pair was in the 10K range. Given my journey in the audiophile hobby I can attest that the Impact Monitors offer an unreal value. These speakers offer a great and extremely balanced tonality. They are Kings at putting out a disappearing act, meaning that they image incredibly well which is one of my most wanted features in any speaker. The balance they offer across the entire frequency bandwidth is hard to come by at their modest price point. I would say that if you are in the market for a pair of stand mounts with a budget of 10K or so you must give these an audition. I am almost certain that you will be blown away at the performance you can get with these and may use the saved money on other parts of your system without sacrificing any performance. It is very interesting to me that many big players in the audiophile speaker arena, take Elac just to mention one, are now coming up with copies of the tweeter array Tekton uses and they are charging a mega premium for their speakers.
Willis B. (verified owner) –
I’ve only had these for a few days, but first impressions are very positive. The IMs have a big expansive sound with good instrument separation and detail and with totally credible tonality. They are also as full range as most people might need and come to the party with force without sacrificing the ability to be deft when the music is more delicate. I listen mostly to jazz, and they are in their element there, whether it’s big band or small combo, traditional jazz or modern jazz. I have them a foot or so from the front wall, and they do well. However, I high-pass the signal above 60 Hz and let a couple of 10 inch sealed box subwoofers manage everything below. They are big, not 43 lbs (which I suspect is the shipping weight), but more like 38 lbs (I weighed them on my digital scale). They are manageable, but as you can see from the photo, they take up some space. The speaker beside the IM is a Polk LSIM tower that’s close to 4 ft high and about 78 pounds. I have the IMs on Monolith 18 inch stands rated up to 75 pounds. The top plate is just barely smaller than the dimensions of the speaker, which aids in stability. Also, the stands are fairly heavy with the columns filled with sand. However, this is a top heavy arrangement. Works for me, but except for occasional visits from my granddaughters, there are no children around. In a different situation, I might have opted for the Enzo 2.7, which might be more secure, especially if outriggers were employed. But there is just something really imposing about the IMs sitting up in the air like this. Another option would be to put them on small 20 inches high steel-legged tables (about 15 inches square) that are also very affordable, but probably violate an audiophile commandment of some sort. I have some of these tables and will use them if I feel they are really needed. For now, no. The speakers are stock with no upgrades except for a custom paint color (Behr, “Letter Gray”). I have two 80 mm foam plugs for the ports, but am not using them. I still have a pair of Lores in a different room. While they don’t quite equal the IMs, they are not far behind, and I intend on keeping them.
AJ Zeppenfeld –
I picked up a 2-10 subwoofer last year, mainly on the rare chance that it would be more musical than other stuff Ive tried. Not only did it blend well with Maggies – a very tall task – but I just fell in love with it overall. I got a wild hair (as they say down here in the south) to upgrade my theater room. I always prefer a more “audiophile” speaker for HT, since I am all about the subtle details and realism more than the loud explosions and dynamics. So, long story short, I bought five of these Impact Monitors – one of which was modified as a horizontal center speaker. Everyone tends to love their new stuff during the honeymoon phase, but this is just different. These are absolutely incredible. Aside from the fact that the poor delivery driver had quite the task carrying five large 40lb boxes to the front door from the street, it’s nothing but love for these Impact monitors. Tekton is the real deal and TOTALLY worth the wait. Incredible.
Laurence R. –
Overall Impression:
I have had the Double Impact Monitors for over two years now and put some quality listening time on them. They are really fun speakers for sure.
Construction:
The cabinets are rock solid and clean, though with the flat dark grey paint are fairly plain looking. That said, I do most of my listening in the dark in a dedicated listening room, so it doesn’t bother me too much. The Cardas inputs are a nice touch. As my hobby budget increased I upgraded from a pair of GoldenEar Aon2 stand-mounters to the Impact Monitors – no contest it’s night and day and I am really happy.
The Good:
The sound from these is excellent when material is above 40Hz with rock (Grateful Dead, Rush, Pink Floyd, the Cure, etc.) and most jazz. The highs are clean and pronounced – not hinted at. The mid-range is as advertised, just excellent with any material really. The sound stage is deep enough, but wide and extends beyond the outer boundaries of the speaker. Some nights listening, it’s like you are there! Spooky! The thing that really gets me with these speakers that I think not enough people talk about, and that I feel the magic in these are, is the sense of scale that these produce.
The scale that comes from these, not just at high volume, but at soft night listening volume too is amazing. After two years of listening to these properly set up in a treated room other speakers (in the $1k – $5k price range) just sound thin. Even higher end speakers in the $5,000 range that may have a touch more definition at the very top end (mentioned below) cannot compete with the mid-range or scale produced by these in my set up. It has really changed how I approach systems now, because for me it’s about enjoying the music – not analyzing it. And I do thoroughly enjoy listening to these for hours on end!
Comparisons:
Like most who are interested in “audiophile” accoutrements, I have had the chance to listen to some very expensive systems in my time and plenty of cheap ones too. While I won’t claim that these $2,000 monitors can hang with the Nagra, VTL, Wilson XVX; or Audio Research, Sonus faber Il Cremonese; or McIntosh, Bowers and Wilkins $60k Nautilus “shells” systems I heard in demo rooms (because they can’t)… I will say they outright trounce the Wilson TuneTot, Sonus faber Sonetto II and Olympica Nova I, and any B&W stand-mounter (though I’ve only heard up to the 805 D3, not the new 805 D4). There is no contest here in terms of mid-range sound and scale of presentation. Where the Olympica Nova I and 805 D3 did pull ahead was in terms of bass definition (more on that below). The TuneTot was clean to perfect musically and tonally, but gets easily swallowed up even in a small listening room. If I had $10k for desktop speakers, those would be it – but they didn’t fit the bill for main-system speakers. While the others were prettier to look at (Olympica Nova I) and the Wilson build quality was insane for a small monitor, the overall sound of the Impact Monitors was just better in my opinion. I think this is again because of the scale presented by the Impact Monitors. In fact, the scale presented by the Impact Monitors is far better than any $2k – $4k slim tower I’ve heard. In a way the Impact Monitors have ruined other speakers (within their reasonable price range) for me because now even clean sounding or tonally perfect don’t do it for me if the scale isn’t there. I also think that’s why those super-expensive systems mentioned above are so amazing – they do perfect tone and musicality at massive scale… if you can afford it, which unfortunately I can’t.
Critique:
The only place where I feel the Impact Monitors do fall down a bit in my experience is in the lower bass. Note, I am not a “bass head”. When I play albums (vinyl guy here) such as the opening to the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band, Jon Batiste’s We Are, or any Amy Winehouse; the drivers seem to bottom out on the low bass notes creating a mechanical sound that can be annoying at normal listening volumes 60 dB to 72 dB measured. It seems to happen on “artificially low notes” below 40 Hz. This has left me wanting better bass on these. If I turn it down to night listening levels the problem goes away, but for someone who has come to enjoy scale this is a bit annoying. Albums such as Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories are unlistenable at volume. That said, I can crank the hell out of Credence Clearwater Revival, Pink Floyd, Miles Davis, INXS, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, etc. and the sound is great at any level. So be wary of the type of music you will feed through these. But again, 99% of the time this is not a problem. Though that 1% of the time it is noticeable and distracting and has caused me to switch albums.
Final Thoughts:
These are really enjoyable speakers for most music, and rock in particular. In a small room like mine with the right equipment these beat anything in their price range in terms of sound. If you want something pretty to put in a main living room, these may not be it, but in a dedicated audio room like I have (and a lot of you too, I’m sure) that doesn’t matter. I can tell you that the prettier stuff mentioned above will give up quite a bit of sound quality in the mid-range and every bit of scale to the Impact Monitors though. If you are making your decision based on sound alone in this price range, in my opinion these are the best speakers – which is why I bought them and would highly recommend them to anyone who isn’t a “bass head”.
That said, once again I am fortunate to have an increased hobby budget, and am considering upgrading to the Electron SE or Double Impact SE to get better bass with the same mid-range and highs I have come to enjoy from the Tekton house sound. I also feel that given the size of the Impact Monitors on a stand, and that the Electron SE have the same footprint on the floor with two additional 8” woofers that they might have been a better choice. The Double Impact SE are bit bigger, but may be the last pair I need to buy. So we will see what happens. In closing, the Impact Monitors are a really good, enjoyable speaker that have brought my family, friends, and I many hours of enjoyment.
Associated Equipment:
– VPI Prime Turntable with Hana EL Cartridge
– McIntosh C50 Preamplifier
– McIntosh MC152 Power Amplifier
– Panamax PM-5300 Power Conditioner
– Tekton Impact Monitor Speakers
– Speaker Cables: Kimber Kable – Base 12VS1.25MPSB
– Preamplifier to Power Amplifier Interconnect: Kimber Kable – Base TIMBRE-114Cu-0.5M WBT 114Cu RCA
– Tonearm Cable: Kimber Kable – Specialty TAKCU 0.5M WBT-0114Cu – WBT-0114Cu WBT 114Cu RCA
– Computer to DAC: Kimber Kable – Base Kimber Kable – Specialty USBCU-BBUS-5.0MUSB Bbus to USB Abus
– IEC Power Cables: Kimber Kable PK10-1.0M5266evo-320evo & PK14-1.0M5266evo-320evo
– VTI VSP Series 24 in. Cast Iron Speaker Stands
– VTI AV Rack BL304GB
– Room 10.2′ x 10.2′ x 8′ irregular walls
MICHAEL WIMSATT –
These impact monitors sound awesome! Probably the last speakers I will buy or will go up to bigger speakers you offer!
User Review –
I have waited two weeks after receiving my Impact Monitor speakers to write to you and express my feelings about your speaker. Before ordering, I did my homework and studied numerous reviews. Always with a cautious mind, thinking that the hype may be greater than the reality.
Well, after two weeks, the smile on my face that immediately surfaces each time I listen to MUSIC as it plays on your speakers does not fade. Each day I become more enthusiastic, assured about my decision and believing that I have found a musical median that I will hold on for many years.
I am truly impressed and satisfied. I can’t explain better other than to say, that when I listen to music and close my eyes, I can easily transcend to the source and even walk around the stage while the musicians play. Simply put, I am very happy with my choice. I never thought that I could ever experience this type of satisfaction. Thank you for the work you have done and the resulting product. Unfortunately, for me, another thought is, “what would the experience be like if I listened to one of your upgrade speakers?” For now, I will set this thought aside, appreciate what is in front of me and continue enjoying the music.
My best regards,
Camilo
User Review –
Eric, I’ve spent a good part of the week listening to these speakers and they are simply amazing – the sound is so detailed and balanced, but rich and dynamic at the same time. I have tried close to a dozen other speaker brands (Klipsch, Martin Logan, B&W, JBL, Monitor Audio, Tannoy, etc.) and the Impact Monitor tops them all. The build quality is awesome too, so sturdy and solid. I already look forward to going up the product line at some point in the future.
I wish you continued success with the company. Thanks again for the excellent service.
Kind regards, Sal