Tekton Speaker question - Mark, Anyone???

[tigerwoodKhorns]

I just received my small Tekton speakers. I bought the very small Fostex 103 based speaker so that I can put them on my desk at work. They do everything well that has been previously stated by others. The imaging and detail is right on, but because they are so small they have no bass to speal of. Now, I am not looking for anything that I can feel, I just want to hear the bass notes in my office to give the music a warm sound.

How is the 127 based speaker? I did not get these because of wanted somehting small for my desk. But I need soem bass. The JBL 2800's that I had in there did have bass. In teh alternative, I can contact Erik about having a subwoofer built.

Please don't take this as a negative on Erik. His work and service are outstanding, I just may be asking for something that these little guys cannot do.

Mark, how do your Tektons compare to the RB 5's that you used at the LA show?

Thanks,

Chris

[Erik Mandaville]

Chris:

I understand your thoughts on this. Bass response is not this kind of speaker's forte'. Even the larger Lowther drivers in the big, rear-loaded horns below suffer the same thing. Within their range they can be remarkable, but can't be expected to handle and loudly and cleanly reproduce the lower octaves as well as a loudspeaker that's so designed.

[shload]

Chris,

I do notice a good bit of difference in the bass between the 103 and 127 speakers. I have both in use the 127 4-1/2 in my 2-channel and the smaller 4in 103 used with TV. Actual speakers 4-41/2 not much difference in size, but the box size that Eric uses, I think is what creates more of the bass.

Joe

[shload]

1

[tigerwoodKhorns]

Thanks for the responses. I was using an old set of JBL 2800's ($200 back in 1989 - OK at best). The JBL's have 6" woofers and had plenty of bass for my purpose, which is very low level listening while I work. I just want the music to be well balanced and have a "warm" sound, which requires some bass. Certainly anything that you can feel would be unaccepable to the nag in the next office.

The 103's have a great midrange but are just lacking in the bass. My test was using Diana Krall, which has very well recorded bass. It was just plain missing. Eric told me that the speakers do need break in, but I really don't think that this will be fixed by break in. I have played them for about 50 hours so far. I have them in my office playing all weekend. I'll see on Monday.

I may try the 127 based speakers. They are larger but will still fit on my desk. I really liked the idea of the smaller speaker because they fit so well on my desk. Eric's small subwoofer may be the answer, but I think that it will probably need to be crossed at 100 to 120 HZ, which may take away from the strong point of these speakers, especially because there is no way that a subwoofer will go on teh top of my desk.

Eric's service is outstanding. UPS screwed up the shipping and started sending them to homes all over the valey. Eric was very concerned and tried to help. He is a great seller. His quality is also outstanding. You don't find this kind of finishing on speakers until you get into the very expensive high end stuff.

[tigerwoodKhorns]

FWIW, I've been toying with that small REL subwoofer for a couple of months with the 127 Tektons and I can't say I am all that enthused. It's "ok" but it changes the fundamental character and tone of the sound as a tradeoff to deeper bass. There's that certain "something" about the sound of the 127 alone which is easy to foul up with subwoofage.

Is the 127 driver ideal or the 6" version. The 6" should have the warm bass but can it make it up high really smoothly?

FWIW, I found this interesting. When I heard the Tektons I thought that they imaged well and sounded good, but nothing that outstanding. Then I hooked my small JBL's back up and the Tektons sounded so much better. Then I realized what was going on. My point of reference is B&W N801's, which do well what the Tektons do well, but on a larger scale. In any event, if you have not had the experiance, listen to the 800 series. They are like the Tektons but have bass, treble and air and authority with a big sound (if so desired). The Tektons are a bargain, but if you like them it is worth giving the B&W's a test drive, at least for the experience.

[mike stehr]

Kinda off topic, but I'm really liking these B&C 12" coaxials. Pay no heed to the lampcord wrapped around the crossover....I fixed that....