Tekton M-Lore Speaker Review

[Doodski]

This is a very recent review of Tekton's high end ($30k) Moab loudspeakers in Stereophile.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/tekton-moab-be-loudspeaker
The reviewer owns a pair of an earlier version of these loudspeakers. There are measurements. Perhaps someone who is good at interpreting the data could comment.

My condensed version is they are efficient but have a very horrible impedance and they are colored.

 

[IAtaman]

This is a very recent review of Tekton's high end ($30k) Moab loudspeakers in Stereophile.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/tekton-moab-be-loudspeaker
The reviewer owns a pair of an earlier version of these loudspeakers. There are measurements. Perhaps someone who is good at interpreting the data could comment.

Given that the company only endorses “solicited” reviews, and would like to have control on the review outcome, does it really matter what it says? As far as I am concerned, it is a paid review.

 

[Ze Frog]

Given that the company only endorses “solicited” reviews, and would like to have control on the review outcome, does it really matter what it says? As far as I am concerned, it is a paid review.

We need to stop referring to these people as 'reviewers', they are influencers and marketing and nothing more. That's the massive problem, and that's why Tekton are up in arms because an actual 'review' is never the intention. Even though to be fair to Stereophile, they do add measurements, albeit nothing else in the so called 'review' ever really correlates to such, they are kind of stuck in a weird position whereby they are trying to maybe give facts, but at the same time mislead people. Sites such as Stereophile it's almost more damning than those that don't measure in some ways. It's clear all of these people have either a vested interest in peddling stuff for personal gains, or these people have absolutely terrible ears and wouldn't be able to discern an 'audiophile' system over a tin can on a piece of string. Steve Guttenbergs channel is especially hilarious when a guy his age is starts waxing lyrical about the speakers very ability to convey the upper registers etc that he can't even hear anymore anyway, lol.

I should add that I have nothing against Steve or others personally, it's a living for them and I understand not everyone has such strong morals. However you can't totally blame these people when the consumer is so easily manipulated. This is why sites like this are so valuable. Hopefully over time consumer stupidity will ease as time goes by, people will begin learning not everything on the internet is what it appears, it's still early doors really internet wise, took people decades to question television. Back in the 00's, here in UK there's a soap called EastEnders and a character got arrested for shoplifting on an episode and people were actually contacting the BBC etc to try and free her and stuff as they genuinely totally forgot it was make believe. And this was like half century of exposure to television. We are an intelligent species with a lot of remarkable achievements, yet at the same time extremely simple in some ways. One day people will look back at this era of time and chuckle.

 

[vlad335]

We need to stop referring to these people as 'reviewers', they are influencers and marketing and nothing more. That's the massive problem, and that's why Tekton are up in arms because an actual 'review' is never the intention. Even though to be fair to Stereophile, they do add measurements, albeit nothing else in the so called 'review' ever really correlates to such, they are kind of stuck in a weird position whereby they are trying to maybe give facts, but at the same time mislead people. Sites such as Stereophile it's almost more damning than those that don't measure in some ways. It's clear all of these people have either a vested interest in peddling stuff for personal gains, or these people have absolutely terrible ears and wouldn't be able to discern an 'audiophile' system over a tin can on a piece of string. Steve Guttenbergs channel is especially hilarious when a guy his age is starts waxing lyrical about the speakers very ability to convey the upper registers etc that he can't even hear anymore anyway, lol.

Yeah, I'm 58 years old and I can't hear 11.5k playing a test tone. My wife can. She can hear up to 14k (she's 52) Probably why I love my Klipsch speakers. Haha!

 

[ta240]

If they don't say anything remotely negative about any products that they review, then they are infomercial hosts.

It is one thing to not review products that they don't like, but even really good products tend to have something that isn't perfect about them.

 

[doug s.]

My condensed version is they are efficient but have a very horrible impedance and they are colored.

maybe you were reading a different review than the one i read?

(from the measurements section):

"The Moab has one of the most demanding impedances I have encountered, though this will be somewhat ameliorated by the high voltage sensitivity." "(the only thing remotely close to your comment.)

"The overall balance is impressively even from the middle of the midrange through to the top audio octave, though there is a slight excess of presence-region energy compared with the output above and below that region.... ...The contour lines in this graph are generally even, which implies stable stereo imaging, though a lack of energy develops between 1kHz and 4kHz at extreme off-axis angles. This will tend to compensate for the on-axis excess in the same region, which means that reducing the toe-in angle will give the most neutral treble balance...."

and:
"The Moab Be's measured performance suggests that with care in setup it will offer a neutral sonic balance."

and the reviewer certainly seemed to like them, altho he feels the much less expensive standard moab to be the real bargain.

there are reasons why i would now no longer ever consider tekton's products, due to eric's threatening independent reviewers with legal action, for their differing opinions, and the fact that eric doesn't like their hard data measurements; and slandering amir with such preposterous statements such as :

"Note: the Mini Lore was recently pulled from my lineup due to a slanderous and deeply flawed review by Amir at Audio Science Review the “place where we pretend to know a lot more about audio that we really do.”

after all, as even eric himself acknowledges, in less irrational moments - not everyone has the same taste in what they think sounds good. amir's review was not even remotely slanderous or deeply flawed. unlike eric's comment about it.

doug s.

 

[Doodski]

maybe you were reading a different review than the one i read?

(from the measurements section):

"The Moab has one of the most demanding impedances I have encountered, though this will be somewhat ameliorated by the high voltage sensitivity." "(the only thing remotely close to your comment.)

"The overall balance is impressively even from the middle of the midrange through to the top audio octave, though there is a slight excess of presence-region energy compared with the output above and below that region.... ...The contour lines in this graph are generally even, which implies stable stereo imaging, though a lack of energy develops between 1kHz and 4kHz at extreme off-axis angles. This will tend to compensate for the on-axis excess in the same region, which means that reducing the toe-in angle will give the most neutral treble balance...."

and:
"The Moab Be's measured performance suggests that with care in setup it will offer a neutral sonic balance."

and the reviewer certainly seemed to like them, altho he feels the much less expensive standard moab to be the real bargain.

there are reasons why i would now no longer ever consider tekton's products, due to eric's threatening independent reviewers with legal action, for their differing opinions, and the fact that eric doesn't like their hard data measurements; and slandering amir with such preposterous statements such as :

"Note: the Mini Lore was recently pulled from my lineup due to a slanderous and deeply flawed review by Amir at Audio Science Review the “place where we pretend to know a lot more about audio that we really do.”

after all, as even eric himself acknowledges, in less irrational moments - not everyone has the same taste in what they think sounds good. amir's review was not even remotely slanderous or deeply flawed. unlike eric's comment about it.

doug s.

That's what I said..LoL. Who cares about the subjective part?... sigh*

 

[Ze Frog]

Yeah, I'm 58 years old and I can't hear 11.5k playing a test tone. My wife can. She can hear up to 14k (she's 52) Probably why I love my Klipsch speakers. Haha!

I'm 42, already done to 16k. Have read before that women do have less hearing degradation, lol, maybe because we don't nag them as much as they do us.

 

[doug s.]

That's what I said..LoL. Who cares about the subjective part?... sigh*

so, i guess you missed the part about the overall balance is impressively even from the middle of the midrange through to the top audio octave... and that the slight presence region rise can be tamed by reducing toe-in. and that the Moab Be's measured performance suggests that with care in setup it will offer a neutral sonic balance. "LoL sigh* "

re: "who cares about the subjective part?" ask amir why he likes the jbl 590 - is it because of the less than stellar measurements? in spite of them? or that measurements do not always tell the whole story, especially concerning loudspeakers?

here's my condensed version, which is quite a bit more accurate than yours:

My condensed version is they are efficient but with a demanding impedance, which is somewhat lessened by its high efficiency. and they are quite neutral, especially when care is taken with toe-in and set-up.

"colored"? only your negative description is colored. a lawyer might even consider it lying w/intent to cause harm.

doug s.

 

[Doodski]

so, i guess you missed the part about the overall balance is impressively even from the middle of the midrange through to the top audio octave... and that the slight presence region rise can be tamed by reducing toe-in. and that the Moab Be's measured performance suggests that with care in setup it will offer a neutral sonic balance. "LoL sigh* "

re: "who cares about the subjective part?" ask amir why he likes the jbl 590 - is it because of the less than stellar measurements? in spite of them? or that measurements do not always tell the whole story, especially concerning loudspeakers?

here's my condensed version, which is quite a bit more accurate than yours:

My condensed version is they are efficient but with a demanding impedance, which is somewhat lessened by its high efficiency. and they are quite neutral, especially when care is taken with toe-in and set-up.

"colored"? only your negative description is colored. a lawyer might even consider it lying w/intent to cause harm.

doug s.

Oh please... sigh*

 

[doug s.]

Oh please... sigh*

ok, you win - "overall balance is impressively even from the middle of the midrange through to the top audio octave" = colored.

doug s.

 

[SIY]

My condensed version is they are efficient

Don't confuse efficiency with sensitivity.

 

[Everett T]

This is a very recent review of Tekton's high end ($30k) Moab loudspeakers in Stereophile.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/tekton-moab-be-loudspeaker
The reviewer owns a pair of an earlier version of these loudspeakers. There are measurements. Perhaps someone who is good at interpreting the data could comment.

Well this presents as a bit of mess, the vertical...

 

[tetragrammaton]

maybe you were reading a different review than the one i read?

(from the measurements section):

"The Moab has one of the most demanding impedances I have encountered, though this will be somewhat ameliorated by the high voltage sensitivity." "(the only thing remotely close to your comment.)

"The overall balance is impressively even from the middle of the midrange through to the top audio octave, though there is a slight excess of presence-region energy compared with the output above and below that region.... ...The contour lines in this graph are generally even, which implies stable stereo imaging, though a lack of energy develops between 1kHz and 4kHz at extreme off-axis angles. This will tend to compensate for the on-axis excess in the same region, which means that reducing the toe-in angle will give the most neutral treble balance...."

and:
"The Moab Be's measured performance suggests that with care in setup it will offer a neutral sonic balance."

and the reviewer certainly seemed to like them, altho he feels the much less expensive standard moab to be the real bargain.

there are reasons why i would now no longer ever consider tekton's products, due to eric's threatening independent reviewers with legal action, for their differing opinions, and the fact that eric doesn't like their hard data measurements; and slandering amir with such preposterous statements such as :

"Note: the Mini Lore was recently pulled from my lineup due to a slanderous and deeply flawed review by Amir at Audio Science Review the “place where we pretend to know a lot more about audio that we really do.”

after all, as even eric himself acknowledges, in less irrational moments - not everyone has the same taste in what they think sounds good. amir's review was not even remotely slanderous or deeply flawed. unlike eric's comment about it.

doug s.

is this what you meant? This isn't outright terrible, sure, if you assume they cost no more than 1/5 of their actual asking price.

Let's look at how a 1/3 cheaper speaker fares here:

Oh

Oh my

Maybe Tektons are for those who appreciate an off axis response with a bit of "random" flare?

 

[Prolix]

and:
"The Moab Be's measured performance suggests that with care in setup it will offer a neutral sonic balance."

Historically, if Atkinson likes the measurements he'll give them a "rating" (excellent, great, generally good, measured well, etc) in the last line, but it does seem like he might be moving away from that particular tell.

 

[Ze Frog]

is this what you meant? This isn't outright terrible, sure, if you assume they cost no more than 1/5 of their actual asking price.

View attachment 362282

Let's look at how a 1/3 cheaper speaker fares here:
View attachment 362284

Oh

Oh my

Maybe Tektons are for those who appreciate an off axis response with a bit of "random" flare?

The tragedy really is, if he stuck to the idea they are voiced a certain way, a lot of people and his current customers would never have seen all these comparisons or his demeanour. Talk about shooting oneself in the foot.

 

[ta240]

The tragedy really is, if he stuck to the idea they are voiced a certain way, a lot of people and his current customers would never have seen all these comparisons or his demeanour. Talk about shooting oneself in the foot.

Exactly, there is a proven track record for saying "If you want analytical these aren't for you but if you want enjoyable then they are."
The only difference I can see here is that Erin is more mainstream, so it isn't as easy to dismiss him as 'one of those measurement people'.

 

[doug s.]

The tragedy really is, if he stuck to the idea they are voiced a certain way, a lot of people and his current customers would never have seen all these comparisons or his demeanour. Talk about shooting oneself in the foot.

i suspect the 1/6 the cost less expensive moabs will measure better.

and don't get me wrong. i almost got myself banned for posting in "colored" language what i think of eric a. but i bet these, and the less expensive moabs sound really nice. that's based on the impression of the original double impacts i heard.

even if i were still willing to consider tekton product, which is now definitely not on my list, and even if i were a new product consumer, which i also definitely am not, for $30k, i'd be looking at horning speakers, blumenhofer speakers and piega speakers, to name a few. or maybe just a pair of the spendy voxativ full range drivers to stick in my oris 150 horns in my actively quad-amped setup. (no fancy electronics, but i was able to get a flat frequency response from 20hz-20khs w/a pink noise generator and spectrum analyzer, w/o any eq. and the entire front end, including amps/speakers/x-overs; cost less than a new pair of the "cheap" moabs.)

ymmv,

doug s.

 

[doug s.]

I agree with all the above, especially on Steve Guttenberg who in all his years of activity has never given a bad review to anything. However the Tekton issue is different, like it or not he makes great speakers and his reputation has been marred unfairly, he has been called an idiot by various members. I, myself have been called stupid and uneducated, all with the backing of the moderator. This is regretable and I hope these diferences will be solved without more animosity.

if you're saying eric's reputation has been marred unfairly, i have to agree to disagree. he's the one who went after erin for no valid reason. he's the one who published slanderous insulting remarks about amir on this forum. i don't care whether or not he makes great speakers.

apologies if i'm misconstruing what you said.

doug s.

 

[dasdoing]

What a disservice to the audiophile community. This reviewer does not possess all of the truth in the electro-acoustical universe concerning how loudspeakers should sound - nor do I. I've been blessed to have garnered 18 product of the year awards and it proves I know a thing or two about loudspeakers.

First, a loudspeaker can be designed from a viewpoint of rigid science [what this website looks to be all about] or it can be designed from a viewpoint of art and creativity. In my opinion, a great loudspeaker should have a beautiful balance of science and art. Think of what a mastering engineer could do to a song! A mastering engineer is both an artist and a scientist. Good loudspeaker design must be approached from an identical viewpoint; no different than a mastering engineer producing a track of music - I make the loudspeaker sound exactly how I want it to.

Second, to assume I cannot design and market a 'flat responding' loudspeaker is woefully shortsighted. If I wanted to produce a linear loudspeaker (as the reviewer has turned my design into) I would have done that; my simulator does this task in under 3 seconds. The facts are most audiophiles don't go for the frequency response and corrections the reviewer has suggested. The only linear loudspeaker models we offer are intended for professional studio engineering and they are tools for a toolbox. Changing crossover parts values to flatten the frequency response is a super simple task; my job is to get the speaker sounding right for an audiophile. The problem is most audiophiles don't go for 'scientific sound'; to my ears, it's analytical, sterile, forward in the midrange when turned up, and frankly not much excitement to be discerned. Shipping the Mini Lore with a MiniDSP and a preloaded file converting the Mini Lore into a scientific masterpiece is no more difficult than changing a few values on the crossover.

Anyone wanting an improved version of the Mini Lore pair as the scientific reviewer has suggested my model be changed into is free to call me and I will accommodate your request.

Tekton Design caters to the audiophile community and when two pairs of Mini Lore's were returned in 2023 we must be doing something right with the design.

Respectfully, Eric Alexander - audio designer and owner of Tekton Design, LLC

The measurement doesn't look that bad overall, but if you measured your speakers I am pretty sure you would hear that 700Hz bump and try to take it out. Our ears are bad without reference....and a measurement is the best reference we can get.