Tekton M-Lore Speaker Review

[DanielT]

To be honest I was expecting much worse. Although it's not state of the art, measurements look relatively reasonable for average speaker. If it was more expensive I would not like it, but considering the price, and that is built in USA, at least cabinets, I think it's a good deal. I would never buy speakers with more than one tweeter but this model is semi decent.

Only thing I don't understand is why they didn't chose more robust tweeter and crossed it at around 1800 hz. They are famous for using tweeters as mid drivers with very low frequency, I don't remember claims, but I think it was well under 1000 hz

It all comes down to compromises. The tweeter i Tekton M-Lore, Peerless BC25 cannot be pushed too low without increasing distortion. 1.8 kHz even with a steep filter is too low for that tweeter. Seen from a distortion angle. That is the disadvantage. BUT the advantage CAN be better directivity, FR and so on if you do that. Note, it may be so. Trade-offs.

There are very few 1 inch dome tweeters that that works well being crossed as low as 1.8 kHz.In fact, I can't think of a single 1 inch dome tweeter that would do it well (more than ok in that case). That even with a steep crossover filter.

You can see the distortion plot here on the tweeter in Tekton M-Lore:

Peerless BC25TG15-04 | HiFiCompass

hificompass.com

Actually, creating a two-way speaker with an 8" woofer and a 1" dome tweeter is a pretty hopeless undertaking. A design that belongs to a bygone era.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

SPEAKER WARS

ESPIODE IX
A TALE OF WOE....

LONG AGO IN A FAR IN A FAR-OFF GALAXY

THERE WAS A RAY OF HOPE FOR THE HIP-STAR DOOFUS

ALTHOUGH I WAS GETTING INTO AUDIO AND WAS BUYING AND SELLING ALOT

AND HAVING EARNED A FEW SCHECKLES

NO ONE COULD FORSEE THE CONFLUANCE OF EVENTS ABOUT TO UNFOLD

EVADING THE DREADED STEROPHILE RECOMMEDATIONS

MY SHIP FELL UNDER THE GRATATIONAL PULL OF THE MENACING EVIL OF

DARTH GUTTENBERG AND THE LIKE

AND HERE BEFORE ME, THE TEKTON CONSUMER CAMPAIGN WAS AT HAND

THEY WERE EVERYWHERE

AND SO, I YEILDED TO TUBES AND THE TEKTON PERFECT SET (SINGLE ENDED TRIODE)

COULD IT BE ...SPEAKERS MADE EXACTLY FOR TUBE AMPS.

THEY ARRIVED AND NO MATTER WHERE I PLACE THEM

THEY WERE LACKING

AND TO THIS DAY THEY ARE THE MOST EXPENSIVE LAMP TABLES I HAVE EVER OWNED.

SAVE US OBE-WAN-AMIR YOUR OUR ONLY HOPE

​

 

[fpitas]

They do make nice lamp tables, though.

 

[pablolie]

Considering the price point, it probably isn't that bad.

That said, I'd be more interested in one of those multi-array tweeter designs that seem to be part of Tekton's more unique products. Especially one with the upgraded beryllium driver. Never heard them, but a friend in Seattle got them and seems to really like them. I'll make sure to check them out when I visit next month. And one thing I like about Tekton is that they offer a ton of colors, but that matters to me.

 

[ExUnoPlura]

Considering the price point, it probably isn't that bad.

That said, I'd be more interested in one of those multi-array tweeter designs that seem to be part of Tekton's more unique products. Especially one with the upgraded beryllium driver. Never heard them, but a friend in Seattle got them and seems to really like them. I'll make sure to check them out when I visit next month. And one thing I like about Tekton is that they offer a ton of colors, but that matters to me.

I have Tekton Double Impacts and used them for a few years. They handled bass well and I could easily REW them into a good fit with a slightly treated room. Alas, the paint was easily nicked and scraped when moving them around, and the touch-up jar they sent me was a poor match for some reason. They are now in storage until needed.

 

[Doodski]

Tekton Double Impact

What's it like having all those tweeters? I like a lot of top end so that seems attractive.

Double Impact

tektondesign.com

 

[Fledermaus]

The tweeter looks like the Peerless BC25 used in the Dennis Murphy AAM. Surprised they weren't able to eke out more sensitivity from this combination.

If so, it could have been crossed lower, say 1.5 - 2 kHz instead of 3 kHz, which would have minimized that directivity mismatch.

Edit: yeah, right, distortion...

 

[ExUnoPlura]

What's it like having all those tweeters? I like a lot of top end so that seems attractive.

Double Impact

tektondesign.com

Worked well for me. There might be a bit more diffuse imaging than other speakers I've had or have. I had them in a giant room with some treatment and a rug but also 20' ceilings and windows all around. I drove them with mono-blocked Schitt Aegirs and a Topping DAC fed via a Raspberry Pi and they were as loud as needed without issue. I think Stereophile found the sensitivity measures to be overstated for the Impacts, but that setup was great for that room (with REW).

 

[Jim Creek]

It all comes down to compromises. The tweeter i Tekton M-Lore, Peerless BC25 cannot be pushed too low without increasing distortion. 1.8 kHz even with a steep filter is too low for that tweeter. Seen from a distortion angle. That is the disadvantage. BUT the advantage CAN be better directivity, FR and so on if you do that. Note, it may be so. Trade-offs.

There are very few 1 inch dome tweeters that that works well being crossed as low as 1.8 kHz.In fact, I can't think of a single 1 inch dome tweeter that would do it well (more than ok in that case). That even with a steep crossover filter.

You can see the distortion plot here on the tweeter in Tekton M-Lore:

Peerless BC25TG15-04 | HiFiCompass

hificompass.com

Actually, creating a two-way speaker with an 8" woofer and a 1" dome tweeter is a pretty hopeless undertaking. A design that belongs to a bygone era.

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.

 

[Bogda89]

It all comes down to compromises. The tweeter i Tekton M-Lore, Peerless BC25 cannot be pushed too low without increasing distortion. 1.8 kHz even with a steep filter is too low for that tweeter. Seen from a distortion angle. That is the disadvantage. BUT the advantage CAN be better directivity, FR and so on if you do that. Note, it may be so. Trade-offs.

There are very few 1 inch dome tweeters that that works well being crossed as low as 1.8 kHz.In fact, I can't think of a single 1 inch dome tweeter that would do it well (more than ok in that case). That even with a steep crossover filter.

You can see the distortion plot here on the tweeter in Tekton M-Lore:

Peerless BC25TG15-04 | HiFiCompass

hificompass.com

Actually, creating a two-way speaker with an 8" woofer and a 1" dome tweeter is a pretty hopeless undertaking. A design that belongs to a bygone era.

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

 

[Hipster Doofus]

What's it like having all those tweeters? I like a lot of top end so that seems attractive.

Double Impact

tektondesign.com

Nothing good can come from so many speakers…it’s like doing things by committee. Smile

 

[voodooless]

It all comes down to compromises.

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

 

[pablolie]

Nothing good can come from so many speakers…it’s like doing things by committee. Smile

Like Zu, or Devore... etc... they have a semi-fanatical following though. So they have to be doing something right for someone.

Sometimes we have to question if perfect linearity and sinad etc is what really moves people. I entirely grant them the right of preference.

The fact that I, myself, have always preferred a more revealing delivery doesn't mean I don't get why others trade ultimate accuracy for a delivery that is overall more forgiving and flatters many recordings.

Many in here hold ASR as a source of ultimate truth, but I think the boundaries in audio are a bit wider. In this Audio "Science" corner, we can regularly see that some use measurements as a crutch to justify their questionable and super-human golden ear capability claims.

These speakers are made fun of, while for the price they actually seem a not-too-bad proposition.

Sometimes ASR shows me that -in audio- disclosing accurate measurements doesn't eliminate the potential for irrational claims of being able to listen to minute differences - in fact it sometimes seems to provide a pseudo-scientific crutch to rehash the same implausible platinum hearing capability claims this site originally set to disprove....

 

[amirm]

What's it like having all those tweeters? I like a lot of top end so that seems attractive.

Double Impact

tektondesign.com

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.

 

[dzerig]

Is this the M-Lore, or the M-Lore MIni? Two different speakers. You don't recommend the "M Lore" but this seems to be the Mini?

 

[voodooless]

Is this the M-Lore, or the M-Lore MIni? Two different speakers. You don't recommend the "M Lore" but this seems to be the Mini?

This is a review, listening tests, equalization and detailed measurements of the Tekton (Mini) M-Lore speaker.

 

[Dave Tremblay]

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…

 

[amirm]

Is this the M-Lore, or the M-Lore MIni? Two different speakers. You don't recommend the "M Lore" but this seems to be the Mini?

I found that it is both referred to as Mini Lore and M-Lore. I am assuming the later is short form of the former.

 

[PowerSerge]

I actually really liked the tweeter array on my double impacts. The upper range they produced sounded really nice and had a sort of horn effect which I enjoyed. The problem was I didnt like anything else. Male vocals were very boomy or bassy and the bass itself just felt disconnected from the rest of the sound. The speakers didnt get close to as low as they advertised. I have an in room measurement if interested.

 

[Steve81]

Now I really want to know how this thing performs. My money is on not so good.

1812 Model V12

tektondesign.com