Tekton M-Lore Speaker Review

[Jim Creek]

This woofer looks like and an Eminence Alpha8 or Beta8. Having used that driver before, I would not recommend using it above 2kHz, and maybe not even that high. The measurements show, and listening tests confirmed that above that, it is pretty rough with breakup resonances. Taking any 8” to 3kHz is going to be rough, but those in particular…

Yes, it looks like an Alpha 8, a $79 speaker.

ALPHA-8A 8

Recommended for professional audio mid-range applications in a sealed cabinet, or as a mid-bass in a vented satellite enclosure.

eminence.com

 

[Short38]

Thank you Amir for this review. I admire your efforts in attempting through equalization to arrive at something listenable.

 

[UNICRON-WMD]

The tweeters combine and cause beam forming. End result is that the sweet spot will be quite narrow in both width and height. You would need to sit far from them to get any decent range of motion without tonality change.

As far as I know. The Double Impacts are a 4 way design.

1 tweeter = high frequencies
6 tweeters = mid-high frequencies
2 6" woofers = mid-bass
2 10" woofers = bass

The 7 tweeters are supposed to replicate a coaxial design. Only the center tweeter does higher frequencies. The 6 surrounding tweeters only do the mid-high frequencies.

 

[lewdish]

Cost wise still decent value I think, I don't think it's good but it's possible to the avg normie probably. I'm glad that someone has finally measured some Tekton speakers, though I'ma more interested in knowing how those tweeter array speakers measure. It does feel like they have some sense of knowing what they want to do but I don't know if the implementation is really all that well.

 

[totti1965]

This is a review, listening tests, equalization and detailed measurements of the Tekton (Mini) M-Lore speaker. It is on kind loan from a member and costs $US 750 a pair.
View attachment 319407
As you see, this is a mini-tower speaker if there is such a thing. I had to put a 6 inch stand under it to get the tweeter to my ear height. There is nothing on the back side other than binding post. Not even a label.

Speaker was measured using Klippel Near-field Scanner. Tweeter center was used as acoustic reference.

Tekton M-Lore Speaker Measurements
Let's start with our usual anechoic measurements:
View attachment 319409
Boy, that is a pretty chewed up response. It is not terrible at high level but there are a ton of variations across the full audible band. We also have directivity error due to high crossover point and mistmatch of sizes of tweeter/woofer without a waveguide for the former. Sensitivity is a couple of dBs higher than a bookshelf speaker but also that much lower than a typical tower speaker.

We can see the source of variations in near-field driver responses:
View attachment 319410

Combine the rough on-axis response with poor directivity and the off-axis response becomes that much worse:
View attachment 319411

Resulting in rather poor predicted in-room response:
View attachment 319412

Directivity as noted is poor:
View attachment 319413
View attachment 319414

View attachment 319415

The larger speaker and drivers do provide an advantage in power handling relative to a bookshelf speaker:
View attachment 319416

Careful in analyzing the absolute distortion levels due to frequency response variations:
View attachment 319417

I ran a 10 dB set of sweeps to see if there is limiting and found one right at 105 dBSPL -- plenty good enough:
View attachment 319418

Speaker did sound fairly distorted though at 105 dB (although not breaking up).

Impedance is rather high which is good as far as stress on the amplifier:
View attachment 319419
We see a couple of clear resonances and more of them in the waterfall graph:
View attachment 319421

And the step response:
View attachment 319420

Tekton M-Lore Listening Tests
I had measured the speaker a week ago so they were not fresh in my mind. It took all of 3 seconds to realize something is wrong with the response with sound seemingly coming out of a box. Took out the EQ and went after the boost around 600 to 700 Hz:
View attachment 319422
That took out the boxiness but the sound was still not right. Filled in the notch in bass and boosted the gap in treble to balance that. Now the sound was more full but boomy so I put in my one correction for room mode I have around 105 Hz. With these in place, the sound was far more full and balanced. Male vocals sounded terrible without it.

Sub-bass response was decent. There was some distortion but it was trying to play it -- something most bookshelves can't do. I turned up the volume some and could not detect an immediate limit/break up.

All in all, the sound went from lousy to OK/good.

Conclusions
The objective failures of the Mini Lore are pretty obvious. While the speaker is a decade old (?), all of this was known then as well as now. The flaws directly translated to subjective listening tests presenting an unpleasant, boosted upper bass, lower treble. Equalization helped a lot but there are many more faults than my attempt there. The main positive here is the larger cabinet relative to a bookshelf speaker allowing higher dynamics and a bit more deep bass response. Otherwise, I can't see any redeeming characteristics. I don't know what reference Andrew Robinson had to say this about the speaker:
View attachment 319408

Competition has little to worry about.

I can't recommend the Tekton M-Lore speaker.

Published Manufacturers Specifications:

• Perfect impulse time-alignment
• 8″ woofer
• 1″ silk soft dome tweeter
• 8 Ohm impedance
• Frequency Response 38Hz-20kHz
• 95dB 1W@1m
• 200 Watts power handling
• Height 34″ (86.36 cm) x Width 9.125″ (23.17 cm) x Depth 10″ (25.4 cm)
• Weight 35 lbs.
• Manufactured in the USA

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome. Click here if you have some audio gear you want me to test.

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……… But the distortions between 1.5 kHz and 3.5 kHz at 86 dB at least are the lowest, that I have ever seen!

 

[thewas]

As far as I know. The Double Impacts are a 4 way design.

1 tweeter = high frequencies
6 tweeters = mid-high frequencies
2 6" woofers = mid-bass
2 10" woofers = bass

The 7 tweeters are supposed to replicate a coaxial design. Only the center tweeter does higher frequencies. The 6 surrounding tweeters only do the mid-high frequencies.

Correct, their Tekton Design Impact Monitor loudspeaker has been measured by Stereophile and its directivity is quite smooth although of course rising quite high above 4 kHz:

Source: https://www.stereophile.com/content/tekton-design-impact-monitor-loudspeaker-measurements

 

[voodooless]

Correct, their Tekton Design Impact Monitor loudspeaker has been measured by Stereophile and its directivity is quite smooth although of course rising quite high above 4 kHz:

Source: https://www.stereophile.com/content/tekton-design-impact-monitor-loudspeaker-measurements

Vertically though, it’s a total mess with three deep valleys at 600 Hz, 1.5 kH and 3 kHz. The center-to-center distances are way too large for the crossover points to prevent lobing.

 

[thewas]

Vertically though, it’s a total mess with three deep valleys at 600 Hz, 1.5 kH and 3 kHz. The center-to-center distances are way too large for the crossover points to prevent lobing.

Also had seen that and especially the 2 upper dips surprise me as the tweeter arrary is symmetrical so the plot should be more similar to the horizontal ones unless the woofers are crossed with a very small slope.

 

[Karl-Heinz Fink]

Thanks @amirm for reviewing another tower.

I generated 2 EQs: the first one optimise for a flat listening window and the second one optimise for a higher score.
EQs are using PK (Peak) only and are limited to +/-6 dB.

Score is 3.5 and would be 5.7 with a perfect subwoofer.
With EQ Flat: score is 5.1 and resp. 7.0 with a perfect subwoofer.
With EQ Score: score is 6.0 and resp. 7.6 with a perfect subwoofer.

First set of graphs show nice improvement on all curves.


Here are the graphs when you optimise for improving the score.

View attachment 319428

Go to spinorama.org do get more graphs, eqs etc

......mmmmh, I'm wondering if that sort of EQ is such a good idea. The port tuning of the box is 47Hz or so. Boosting below the tuning with 6dB? I think it's not a good idea. My first idea would be a high pass with a Q of around 1.3-1.5. As long as you boost on the tuning frequency, you gain level from the port and as long as the diameter is large enough, it works well. The high-pass function also reduces the excursion below the tuning. Below the tuning frequency, the cabinet is more or less open and only the suspension of the driver controls the cone - not very linear and dangerous for the driver.
The hole at 180Hz is a strong standing wave mode in the tall cabinet.......I would never put more energy into such a resonance.
Adding boost at the low end to get maximum level, but with the very sharp roll-off, is something that I would not do on a speaker, as it adds ringing....can end up with boomy bass. But I learned the taste of bottom end is different in the US.
To take out the 600-700Hz thing is OK. Without simulation it (Tolvan, The Edge), I would say, it's an effect of the cabinet shape, with the woofer hanging on top of the box. Could be also the edge resonance of the woofer, but as I did not see distortion going up, it should be the cabinet.

 

[ocinn]

Tekton is the Timothy Dexter of audio (highly recommend reading about him if you are not aware).

They are like the high school dropout alcoholic that uncle everyone has, that shows up to the family reunion and somehow, against all odds, can hold his own in the dreaded dinner table ideology/theory/political debate.

They clearly have no idea what they are doing, however manage to throw together a probably more objectively flawed design than their clueless peers (ZU, Devore, etc) and somehow it manages to suck less. Pretty impressive.

I ran a 10 dB set of sweeps

Thank you for this as a pro audio guy. Hope to see more.

 

[TonyJZX]

i think someone people here expressed their thoughts on 'unsophisticated' cabinet design - i get that

but this company is not JBL Revel Infinity Samsung... they do not have access to Chinese and Indonesian state of the art facilities and wave guides and the like... I think Tekton are leaning into that 'made in usa' cottage industry kind of look... what you get in basic cabinet design you make up in... tweeters?

thing is us not in the continental USA will never be able to listen to these and so this is a curio to us

 

[mcdn]

......mmmmh, I'm wondering if that sort of EQ is such a good idea. The port tuning of the box is 47Hz or so. Boosting below the tuning with 6dB? I think it's not a good idea. My first idea would be a high pass with a Q of around 1.3-1.5. As long as you boost on the tuning frequency, you gain level from the port and as long as the diameter is large enough, it works well. The high-pass function also reduces the excursion below the tuning. Below the tuning frequency, the cabinet is more or less open and only the suspension of the driver controls the cone - not very linear and dangerous for the driver.
The hole at 180Hz is a strong standing wave mode in the tall cabinet.......I would never put more energy into such a resonance.
Adding boost at the low end to get maximum level, but with the very sharp roll-off, is something that I would not do on a speaker, as it adds ringing....can end up with boomy bass. But I learned the taste of bottom end is different in the US.
To take out the 600-700Hz thing is OK. Without simulation it (Tolvan, The Edge), I would say, it's an effect of the cabinet shape, with the woofer hanging on top of the box. Could be also the edge resonance of the woofer, but as I did not see distortion going up, it should be the cabinet.

Stop talking sense @Karl-Heinz Fink ! Great common sense points, thank you. There is value in these theoretical EQ analyses but they do have to be checked against the reality of the speaker construction.

 

[Sokel]

This woofer looks like and an Eminence Alpha8 or Beta8. Having used that driver before, I would not recommend using it above 2kHz, and maybe not even that high. The measurements show, and listening tests confirmed that above that, it is pretty rough with breakup resonances. Taking any 8” to 3kHz is going to be rough, but those in particular…

They look very similar with the woofers Genelec uses.
(on the other hand I guess all pro drivers look the same more or less)

 

[voodooless]

They look very similar with the woofers Genelec uses.

Really, which one?

 

[Sokel]

Really, which one?

This one for example:

looks very much like this:

ALPHA-15A 15

Recommended for professional audio and bass guitar applications as a woofer in a vented or sealed enclosure.

eminence.com

or this:

Kappa Pro-12A 12

High efficiency pro audio driver for vented mid-bass, and vented bass enclosures.

eminence.com

(don't know the size,I added a 15" to the 12" one )

Edit:Eminence are divine,they care so little that they photographed a driver with a dented dust cup in the above link

 

[voodooless]

This one for example:
View attachment 319648

looks very much like this:

ALPHA-15A 15

Recommended for professional audio and bass guitar applications as a woofer in a vented or sealed enclosure.

eminence.com

or this:

Kappa Pro-12A 12

High efficiency pro audio driver for vented mid-bass, and vented bass enclosures.

eminence.com

(don't know the size,I added a 15" to the 12" one )

Edit:Eminence are divine,they care so little that they photographed a driver with a dented dust cup in the above link

You also think all apples look the same ?

It's just a classic PA-style woofer with a multi-roll surround. At least Genelec had the decency to add a ring to cover up the foam.

 

[Sokel]

You also think all apples look the same ?

It's just a classic PA-style woofer with a multi-roll surround. At least Genelec had the decency to add a ring to cover up the foam.

(look at the parenthesis of my post,we say the same)
And yes,apple and oranges,I agree,a 10k$/per piece active special product against a 750$/per pair,passive one,looks are awful I would be the first to say it (like old JBL main monitors )

 

[DanielT]

Tekton designed a speaker using very low end drivers. Digikey sells the Peerless BC25TG15-04 tweeter for under $15. The woofer does not look high-end and is not counter sunk Into the cabinet. For around $800, Elac, Klipsch, Polk, Wharfedale make floor standers pairs that look better made. Those companies have economies of scale that allow them to manufacture higher end components with better looking cabinets. Out sourcing to Chinese manufacturing resources is another advantage.

You mean like using a 15$ tweeter in a 750 $ pair of speaker (and they probably pay below $10 for it)

Peerless BC25TG15-04 seems to be an excellent tweeter option for a budget DIY speaker. I hadn't used with the 8 inch Eminence Alpha8 (which seems to be the bass driver in the Tekton M-Lore speakers), but there are plenty of other suitable bass, bass/mids that can work well with that tweeter.

I agree that this tweeter is not capable off going so low. But sb ring radiator tweeter that they use in different models with a bunch of them should go down with zero issues to 2k. I noticed that they started using aluminum version of sb tweeter that is also ok at 2k. I am using Dayton rst28f crossed 4th order with DSP at 1700 hz and it's super happy in that range

Isn't the rule of thumb to double up the FS on the tweeter plus a steep (24 dB?) filter, there you have the lowest crossover point?
The FS for the Dayton rst28f is 710 Hz and Dayton themselves state: Frequency Response 1,400 - 20,000 Hz....so that rule of thumb can probably work relatively well...or? However, I have seen others say that you should have a little more headroom and raise the crossover a bit more. In any case, the most important thing is to get a good FR and a dispersion you like, after that you can worry about distortion. That's how it is for me anyway.
That is if it's not too damn noticeable distortion to begin with, but then I'm talking about a lot of distortion. For example, amp clipping. Think high volume on an old lousy car stereo that is pushed hard. The kind that to the ears is really unpleasant distortion. Okay that was a bit OT, but still.

 

[fpitas]

This woofer looks like and an Eminence Alpha8 or Beta8. Having used that driver before, I would not recommend using it above 2kHz, and maybe not even that high. The measurements show, and listening tests confirmed that above that, it is pretty rough with breakup resonances. Taking any 8” to 3kHz is going to be rough, but those in particular…

I guess they wanted the pro-driver sensitivity (?) But yes, in other ways it may not be optimum.

 

[voodooless]

a 10k$/per piece active special product against a 750$/per pair,passive one,looks are awful I would be the first to say it (like old JBL main monitors )

KEF never had an issue making a speaker look decent enough, even in that low price bracket...