Tekton M-Lore Speaker Review

[fpitas]

So much so that it is still too costly for their top-of-line models.

View attachment 556205

Needs more tweeters.

 

[DanielT]

So much so that it is still too costly for their top-of-line models.

View attachment 556205

It’s strange—the tweeters are flush-mounted but the woofers aren't; one wonders why?

 

[DanielT]

Anyway, regarding good floor-standing speakers for $700 that were mentioned earlier in the thread—or rather, recommendations for such speakers—it’s fair to say the market isn't exactly flooded with them.

Good hi-fi speakers aren't cheap, but then again, it doesn't have to be an exorbitantly expensive hobby compared to others. Plus, it gives you access to all the music you want to listen to, whenever you have the time. That’s unlike, say, a seasonal hobby...
like sailing your boat or... well, you get the idea.
(sailing, at least in the northern temperate zone)

 

[NTK]

It’s strange—the tweeters are flush-mounted but the woofers aren't; one wonders why?

The front MDF is too thin? Just my guess. Or Hanlon's razor?

 

[DanielT]

The front MDF is too thin? Just my guess.

That just makes the whole thing even worse— if your guess is right, that is. Skimping on thin MDF for their top-of-the-line models, I mean.

 

[fpitas]

That just makes the whole thing even worse— if your guess is right, that is. Skimping on thin MDF for their top-of-the-line models, I mean.

Maybe it gives character to the sound

 

[Roland68]

Anyway, regarding good floor-standing speakers for $700 that were mentioned earlier in the thread—or rather, recommendations for such speakers—it’s fair to say the market isn't exactly flooded with them.

Good hi-fi speakers aren't cheap, but then again, it doesn't have to be an exorbitantly expensive hobby compared to others. Plus, it gives you access to all the music you want to listen to, whenever you have the time. That’s unlike, say, a seasonal hobby...
like sailing your boat or... well, you get the idea.
(sailing, at least in the northern temperate zone)

In Germany/Europe, you could get a pair of Heco Aurora 700s for around this price during clearance sales.
They are highly underrated speakers that can easily hold their own against much more expensive models. They feature very sturdy, well-crafted cabinets, quality drivers, and well-dimensioned crossovers.

 

[DanielT]

In Germany/Europe, you could get a pair of Heco Aurora 700s for around this price during clearance sales.
They are highly underrated speakers that can easily hold their own against much more expensive models. They feature very sturdy, well-crafted cabinets, quality drivers, and well-dimensioned crossovers.

That’s right. In Germany, at least. Really good speakers.

If I lived in Germany, needed a pair of floor-standing speakers, and lived near this seller, I wouldn't hesitate to buy a used pair. They’re selling for €370.:

Heco Aurora 700. Flawless condition. Non-smoking household.

Private sale; no warranty or returns.

Heco Aurora 700

Heco Aurora 700 wie abgebildet mit Frontgitter. Nichtraucherhaushalt. Privatverkauf ohne jegliche...,Heco Aurora 700 in Wuppertal - Oberbarmen

www.kleinanzeigen.de

Generally speaking, you get a lot of speaker for your money when buying used. This is especially true for floor-standing speakers, as the pool of potential buyers is smaller (shipping them as standard parcels is difficult without a lot of effort and high shipping costs).

However, I’d be a bit more hesitant about used vintage speakers—even those considered top-notch in their day. For one thing, "top-notch" back then doesn't automatically mean "top-notch" now, and then there’s the issue of condition (dried-out ferrofluid, rotted foam surrounds, etc.). By "vintage," I mean around twenty-five years old or older.
If restoring and fixing up vintage speakers is a hobby of yours, then that’s a different story, of course.

 

[fpitas]

That just makes the whole thing even worse— if your guess is right, that is. Skimping on thin MDF for their top-of-the-line models, I mean.

Guys that design cabinets for use on-the-road can do surprisingly well by bracing thinwall material. The point of course being to save the roadies' backs. Perhaps Tekton did that...

 

[somebodyelse]

Guys that design cabinets for use on-the-road can do surprisingly well by bracing thinwall material. The point of course being to save the roadies' backs.

That's putting a generous slant on it. More likely reduced load on trussing, and not needing as many roadies to get the job done.

 

[Roland68]

Guys that design cabinets for use on-the-road can do surprisingly well by bracing thinwall material. The point of course being to save the roadies' backs. Perhaps Tekton did that...

That's putting a generous slant on it. More likely reduced load on trussing, and not needing as many roadies to get the job done.

Such loudspeaker enclosures are typically constructed from phenolic-coated plywood (often referred to as "screen-printing board"), which is highly durable and made from lightweight, inexpensive woods (poplar, pine, or birch). The phenolic resin coating—which also partially impregnates the wood—makes the panels resistant to environmental factors but makes them extremely difficult to bond with adhesives. They offer exceptional stability and fracture resistance, even at thicknesses of just 9 or 12 mm. However, they are generally unsuitable for standard loudspeaker construction, partly due to a greater tendency to vibrate.

 

[Davey2156]

139 pages of back and forth on a cheap 8" two-way speaker?

 

[fpitas]

139 pages of back and forth on a cheap 8" two-way speaker?

 

[dogmamann]

A wise old man said on another forum once, ..the scariest thing for the measurement adverse dogmatic audiophiles and the measurement heavy dogmatic audio scientists alike is a piece of cloth covering their eyeballs when they are scrutinizing audio equipment with their music. Who knows what they would pick as their preferred sound when that piece of cloth covered their eyeballs.. But, i understand, they all have to make a living somehow.

You are dipping into dangerous waters.

 

[dogmamann]

Anyway, regarding good floor-standing speakers for $700 that were mentioned earlier in the thread—or rather, recommendations for such speakers—it’s fair to say the market isn't exactly flooded with them.

Good hi-fi speakers aren't cheap, but then again, it doesn't have to be an exorbitantly expensive hobby compared to others. Plus, it gives you access to all the music you want to listen to, whenever you have the time. That’s unlike, say, a seasonal hobby...
like sailing your boat or... well, you get the idea.
(sailing, at least in the northern temperate zone)

Logically at 700, why would anyone need a floorstander. We get grey bookshelf’s which can go as deep as this speaker easily with less distortion and better directivity. I see no reason to buy this.

 

[DanielT]

Logically at 700, why would anyone need a floorstander. We get grey bookshelf’s which can go as deep as this speaker easily with less distortion and better directivity. I see no reason to buy this.

That design ideal—pairing an eight-inch (or larger) woofer with a non-waveguided one-inch dome tweeter—largely belongs to the past.

Example:
Snell Type E/III from the early 1990s:

Sweden’s "equivalent" (which was quite popular), the QRS 500 also from the early 1990s:


The all-time classic, the Dynaco A-25; here is what Gemini AI says about it:
Estimated Units: Between 600,000 and 1 million individual units were sold roughly between 1968 and 1980:

Okay, the Dynaco A-25 had a ten-inch woofer paired with a one-and-a-half-inch tweeter, and isn't a floor-standing speaker, but still.

Provided they are in good, restored, or refurbished "like-new" condition—I would choose any of those models over the Tekton M-Lore Speaker any day of the week.

By the way, the Dynaco A-25 is available as a kit with modern drivers; it’s called the A-26:

https://www.seas.no/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=475:seas-a26-kit&catid=66:seas-d

Modern two-way speakers with an eight-inch woofer and a one-inch tweeter do exist, but they often feature a waveguide for the tweeter and are often active speakers.
Not floor-standing, but that combination of drivers—here are a few examples of that type of active speaker, picked at random:


Edit:
I don't know if the aforementioned vintage models measure better than Tekton M-Lore —except for the Snell, which I know does:

Snell Type E/III loudspeaker Measurements | Stereophile.com

Sidebar 3: Measurements Before Tom Norton sent the E/IIIs off to Larry for auditioning, I ran them through a subset of my basically standardized set of tests. Fig.1 shows the speaker's impedance and electrical phase. (The twin curves in the treble show the tweeter-level control set to its...

www.stereophile.com

Even so, I would choose them, for reasons I can't quite justify. Mind you, I heard the QRS 500 a few decades ago, and as far as I recall, they sounded pleasant.
Those QRS 500 feature with solid cabinets and Vifa drivers.

 

[fpitas]

the Dynaco A-25 had a ten-inch woofer paired with a one-and-a-half-inch tweeter, but still

A friend had some. Once upon a time they were pretty reasonable & a lot of fun to listen to.

 

[jkasch]

Then there was the Snell Type 1 with its floor level woofer and tweeter that were augmented by a reflective front ramp.