Mark - You were right these Tekton Fostex 4.5 inch speakers are the 'Bomb' - My best value in audio in 30 years!

[Parrot]

SET amps work very well with these!

That would make sense. Reading between the lines a little, as you have to in audiophile world, I take it these speakers could be described as "dainty" or "precious." Then with all the descriptions of the speaker's "harshness" under certain conditions, it does seem like powering them with a rolled-off amp would help to tame them.

[Daddy Dee]

Mark,

Thanks for your take on the Tekton compared and contrasted with Belle. Most interesting. I have done a little reading on the full range drivers and have found some folks feed them with some sort of passive networks. Obviously these aren't crossovers, because of the full range drivers. I'm not exactly clear on what one would desire here, I suppose some EQ. Are the Tektons used with some such design or does the driver operate straight out of the amp signal? It is somewhat amazing that the smaller driver would do better.

edit: now is see you mentioned something about this above.

[Cut-Throat]

Mark,

My take on subwoofers were exactly as yours until I heard (or didn't hear) a REL subwoofer about 8 years ago. I bought a REL Strata III about 7 years ago. It connects to your amp just like the speakers. And it does not cut in and out like a lot of subwoofers. The full signal goes to the Sub and you adjust it for room placement and bass 'kick in' ( Usually a lot lower than the speakers spec) For instance I am running it with the Tekton's at 28hz down. The Sub actually plays underneath your speakers. I am guessing that If you heard a REL, it wasn't set up right. It takes about a good 1 hour to get it positioned and tuned correctly. But once it is Set up right, It gives the music a texture that is missing. Even high notes on Pianos have a bass texture that is missing without the Sub.

A good Sub woofer should be seen and not heard! It fills the Bottom in nicely with Khorns too!

[meagain]

Oldtimer---

These are "audiophile" speakers. Don't get them for people who are just looking for a neat small bookshelf speaker, right? In other words, if someone is just going to listen while vacuuming the rugs or cleaning the house, this is the wrong speaker.

But for their price, a price more along the lines of grabbing a bookshelf type at Circuit City or BB, gosh.... They sound like a nice deal to have the bonus of sounding nice.

Sounds like these would be great in any nearfield situation or a bedroom speaker, office speaker. They look handsome as well. Wish I could hear them. Does this guy go to AK Fest or anything?

[Cut-Throat]

Mark,

That is the best thing about a REL, you tune it to your ears. This takes into effect the room, Sub placement, speaker placement and bass output. Once in a while you see a REL Strata III on audiogon, but it's not there long. They also make bigger subs, but they are not as musical as the Strata III which only has a 10 inch woofer.

BTW - You referred to 'British Sound' - That is where REL is located and manufactured. I ordered mine from England. Saved a few bucks, but has to convert it from 240 to 110 volts. No big deal as you probably know. I paid about $1200. They were listing at $1500 when I bought mine. - Not cheap.

[sfogg]

Mark,

REL's are good subs. ACI makes musical subs too. I've had several Titan's with a couple of different woofers in them over the years and the are very good. In my upstairs system I use their SV10 woofer (what is in their Force sub) in a DIY tiny little sub with good results.

Part of the problem you may run into is in where you would need to cross to a subwoofer. You might have to do it fairly high with those speakers in which case a single subwoofer might be too obvious. If you seriously consider subwoofers at some point consider two to keep the spatial properties of bass intact.

If you ever feel like going the DIY route for a musical subs try a sealed design and aim for a Q of around 0.5. I would doubt you would be disappointed with the SQ of that unless you room is totally slaughtering the bass response. I have an older ACI AC12 woofer (what they used in their original Titan sub) that is your for the cost of shipping if you ever want to play around with it. DIY offers interesting possibilities of integrating the woofers into enclosures that could double as the stands. The original ACI Titan design worked well for this though then you loose the ability to optimally place both the mains and the subs within the room.

Shawn

[edwinr]

Single driver speakers like this Tekton and Jim's Loth-x models have an amzing coherency to the sound - especially for near field listening. The Belle and other 3-ways will sound much more coherent at a greater listening distance...

I can't listen to my Martin Logans from less than 15 feet away. Closer than that the soundstage and imaging cease to exist.

[sfogg]

"Again, I am not a big bass hog or bass freak. I can hear the bass notes just fine even with the Tektons - I don't need to be slapped in the solar plexus. But, I do think that just a tad of subwoofage might really make these killer speakers."

That was why I suggested the alignment I did. It is very tight/musical however you want to describe it.... anything but boom boomy. This is the alignment I went with for my L/R subs.

ACI subs are often compared again RELs for music sound quality. And remember, having excessive subwoofer output ability is just like your using horns.... when you listen at lower levels distortion is lower as the system is stressed less.

Shawn

[Gilbert]

I'm batting 2 for 2 on these now. The fella I sold my black pair to likes them as well. Indeed, they sound a bit better up on a stand. I was using the tops of my Belles, but yesterday I ordered some nice wooden stands and they should be here in a few days. I would think 2W is plenty for them. Of course I use the pCATs, but I am hardly pushing them beyond a few watts, and the sound is mesmerizing. Nice finish work for a $500 set of speaks, huh? Glad to hear you are enjoying them!

Aarrrrhg me matey's!..... it appear's that we have a defect from the SS Heritage, and he is instigating a Mutiny aboard our very ship....... Aarrrrhg, what say yee.... shall we flog him, keel haul him, or join the mutiny?.... Ooooh but remember, severe punishment awaits those caught by Captn' blood thirsty Michael (aka Capital Punishment Colter), and he will not rest until all mutineers are hanging from his gallows.

Arrrrrrhg, me thinks my Indust. Heresy's are up to the task of competeing with this bugonia veneered beauties, but only a true mano-a-mano compairison will suffice the courts..... Arrrrhg!

[tigerwoodKhorns]

Mark,

I run a Klipsch SW15 that I used with my K Horns and now with my B&W's, both of which have 15" woofers. The sub definately adds to the mix. I have it tuned so that the music just goes lower, not louder.

My big difference with the sub just happened recently. I used my Behringer DEQ2496 to set my room EQ. It will not adjust the bass so I noted the dips and adjusted manually. (I know, don't add too much boost or it can tax your amp). The sub is not truely seamless. No boominess at all. The Velodyne DD subs have this feature (built in bass eq).

[Cut-Throat]

Aarrrrhg me matey's!..... it appear's that we have a defect from the SS Heritage, and he is instigating a Mutiny aboard our very ship....... Aarrrrhg, what say yee.... shall we flog him, keel haul him, or join the mutiny?.... Ooooh but remember, severe punishment awaits those caught by Captn' blood thirsty Michael (aka Capital Punishment Colter), and he will not rest until all mutineers are hanging from his gallows.

Arrrrrrhg, me thinks my Indust. Heresy's are up to the task of competeing with this bugonia veneered beauties, but only a true mano-a-mano compairison will suffice the courts..... Arrrrhg!

No way are these tekton speakers are going to replace my Altec/Khorn System - Not even close. - But that is not the point! - The point is for $300-$500 a pair this things are a great value and would provide great music in a secondary system. I'm having a friend over today to listen to them that is not an audiophile, but would probably pay this much for a great sounding set of speakers.

I'm not sure who would win in a shootout with the Heresys however. They are different animals like Mark said, but some might prefer the sound of the Tektons over the Heresys. I have not spent much time with Heresys to know for sure though.

[tigerwoodKhorns]

Dee--

Yes, the baffle step EQ is just a simple resistor and coil to prevent the speaker from rising in the HF due to the small baffle and driver. It's not a crossover. This function could be provided outside the box also. The smaller driver (comparing the 4-1/2" to my larger 8" Fostex) has smoother HF, more even dispersion and better balance up and down the scale. The downside it that it can't play as loud as the 8" and it has slightly less bass. However, those are just the usual tradeoffs made in any speaker selection. So far, the good outweighs the bad in my comparison of the 4 and the 8. In a small room, for people who don't desire marching band loudness, a very modest amplifier and these speakers will make an amazingly "high end" system with the utmost in simplicity.

Sounds like a zobel network. What are the values of the components?

[DizRotus]

How did this get out of sequence?

Paul,

I couldn't hazard a guess. Most of the vented enclosures I've seen have the driver on the wider side, for what that's worth.

[DizRotus]

This is weird. No matter what I do, the reply to Paul's question is loaded into the thread ahead of the question.

Paul,

I couldn't hazard a guess. Most of the vented enclosures I've seen have the driver on the wider side, for what that's worth.

[paul cbc]

This is weird. No matter what I do, the

reply to Paul's question is loaded into the thread ahead of the

question.

Paul,

I couldn't hazard a guess. Most of the vented enclosures I've

seen have the driver on the wider side, for what that's worth.

Neil,

Thanks for your reply.

Not sure if this is in sequence or not.

No doubt, my question on Orientation messed everything up! []

Best,

Paul

[DizRotus]

Mark, I built related speakers using the Radio Shack 40-1197 version of the Fostex FE 103.[1] While I’ve never heard the 40-1197 compared directly to the Fostex, I suspect the similarities are greater than the differences. The biggest difference is that the drivers were free from forum member Klipschguy and the experimental enclosures were made from spare underlayment, i.e., cost $0.00.

The filter that I’m using is a 10 ohm resistor and a 2 uF capacitor wired together in parallel and then inserted into the positive lead to the speaker. The difference is not startling, but it does address the slight HF bump. Of course, it also makes them somewhat less efficient. Bottom line, they sound better with the filter.

When time permits I plan to build vented enclosures similar to the Tektons. Your observations of the Tektons as compared to Belles agree with my own comparisons of the 40-1197s to Cornwalls and Heresy. My most recent comparison was to the pair of industrial Heresey that Michael Colter recently bought off eBay.[2] There is a lot to like about a good single driver speaker. They’ll never replace horns, but they have their niche.

[1] Single Driver Rear Horn Experimentshttp://forums.klipsch.com/forums/thread/548426.aspx

[2] Colter's latest acquisition

http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/thread/875391.aspx

[paul cbc]

DizTotus,

Nice job on the speakers.

I
just purchased a pair of these (4.5") speakers from Eric and have a
question: He offered to orientate the driver on either the narrow
or wide side of the cabinet. Any thoughts as to which would be
preferably sonically?

My thanks,

Paul

[DizRotus]

Mark,

I'll build some later and see for myself.

[Kudret]

He offered to orientate the driver on either the narrow

or wide side of the cabinet. Any thoughts as to which would be

preferably sonically?

I am interested in hearing the answer to this question. Any opinions?

Kudret

[Kudret]

Thanks, Mark.

Kudret