Tekton Owners Thread

rick

If you have a Khartago inbound to use with the DI's look for a tube based preamp. I have owned five different Odyssey models since 1999 and they always shine with tube preamps. The simple solution is to find a used Odyssey Candela, but if you don't want to spend that much then try the Schitt but be careful about buying advertised "NOS" tubes on Ebay for preamps. They can test fine but still be noisy. Use the tubes that come with the preamp and then contact member byoungman for replacements. On this forum I am not going to go near the wire issue as many here think you can just buy it off the roll at Home Depot and all is good.
 
Thanks Rick! Hope you checked out take five audio on the cables. They are not that responsive by phone (always get voicemail) and very slow to respond to emails as well. Took a bit of a "I know where the customer stands" type email to finally receive a response, but they did respond! :biggrin: Not saying that they are bad, just slow to respond. We are spoiled by folks like Eric (who by the way has an assistant now), and another place I have bought a lot of gear Emotiva who always seem to answer emails and the phone right away.

Seminole54, I understand what you mean and it's the same on most forums.....I believe we are on one of the same other forums together and they feel the same as well. I don't necessarily buy into the Magic, but I thought I would give these a shot, they look like they may be decent cables at a fairly decent price, and probably just a few dollars more than making them myself. Time and ears will tell......
 
I wouldn't spend too much time thinking about speaker cables. People who insist that they make a big difference in sound quality, transparency, staging, etc, are not being honest. Copper wire is copper wire and there isn't much difference which one you use as long as the metal used to make the wire is of good quality and sufficiently pure. Cryogenic treatments, special noise reducing winding techniques and similar claims are marketing terms launched by the manufacturer's marketing department not their R&D lab. To get to any significant and audibly detectable sound improvement, one must move into precious metals such as silver and gold. However, that would translate into a pair of cables worth as much as a fine Italian sports car ;)
 
I wouldn't spend too much time thinking about speaker cables. People who insist that they make a big difference in sound quality, transparency, staging, etc, are not being honest. Copper wire is copper wire and there isn't much difference which one you use as long as the metal used to make the wire is of good quality and sufficiently pure. Cryogenic treatments, special noise reducing winding techniques and similar claims are marketing terms launched by the manufacturer's marketing department not their R&D lab. To get to any significant and audibly detectable sound improvement, one must move into precious metals such as silver and gold. However, that would translate into a pair of cables worth as much as a fine Italian sports car ;)

My main cables are multiple runs of pure soft annealed silver. And they, in fact, did not cost as much as a fine Italian sports car. They do sound excellent.

- Woody
 
Discussing speaker cables to use with Tekton speakers seems apropos to me, so I'll add my two cents. I never bought into the idea speakers made a big difference until recently. I had been using WE or Duelund 16 ga to great effect for years and it's a great inexpensive option. After getting the DI's and Decware amp others convinced me to give the Cerious Technologies Graphene Extreme cables and I'm so glad they did. At $649 for an 8' pair they are quite a bit more than what I was using but quite a bit less than many big name cables. With my amp and DI's being so transparent the upgraded cables made a very nice sound improvement. Like most things in audio it's very much room, equipment and personal preference dependent. The Cerious cables come with a 30 day money back guarantee but I knew immediately they were staying in my system. The DI's will fully reveal any upstream improvements. Can you tell that I love my DI's? :)
 
I wouldn't spend too much time thinking about speaker cables. People who insist that they make a big difference in sound quality, transparency, staging, etc, are not being honest. Copper wire is copper wire and there isn't much difference which one you use as long as the metal used to make the wire is of good quality and sufficiently pure. Cryogenic treatments, special noise reducing winding techniques and similar claims are marketing terms launched by the manufacturer's marketing department not their R&D lab. To get to any significant and audibly detectable sound improvement, one must move into precious metals such as silver and gold. However, that would translate into a pair of cables worth as much as a fine Italian sports car ;)

Don't go there. This has been debated extensively & always starts a pissing contest.
 
Discussing speaker cables to use with Tekton speakers seems apropos to me, so I'll add my two cents. I never bought into the idea speakers made a big difference until recently. I had been using WE or Duelund 16 ga to great effect for years and it's a great inexpensive option. After getting the DI's and Decware amp others convinced me to give the Cerious Technologies Graphene Extreme cables and I'm so glad they did. At $649 for an 8' pair they are quite a bit more than what I was using but quite a bit less than many big name cables. With my amp and DI's being so transparent the upgraded cables made a very nice sound improvement. Like most things in audio it's very much room, equipment and personal preference dependent. The Cerious cables come with a 30 day money back guarantee but I knew immediately they were staying in my system. The DI's will fully reveal any upstream improvements. Can you tell that I love my DI's? :)


Great point, Mac. IMO, the key components are the sound generator (the amp) and the sound replicator (the speakers). That is where the magic happens and where most of the budget should be allocated for. The conduit between them is important, but not critical. There will be a big difference between a lamp cord and properly made speaker cables, but not a very big difference between speaker cables brand A, B or C so long they use similarly matched materials (copper to copper, silver to silver, comparable terminals, solder, etc). That said, continuously upgrading the wire goes only so far because resistance will inevitably create diminishing returns and the speaker will no longer register any difference. It's like tuning a race car to put out 500, 800, 1000 or whatever HP and expect it to keep going faster and faster with each upgrade. At some point the car will become airborne and a Toyota Corolla will drive by it.

Just to quickly summarize, if my budget is say, $10K, I'd spend at least $8K on the amp and speakers and the rest on everything else.
 
rick

If you have a Khartago inbound to use with the DI's look for a tube based preamp. I have owned five different Odyssey models since 1999 and they always shine with tube preamps. The simple solution is to find a used Odyssey Candela, but if you don't want to spend that much then try the Schitt but be careful about buying advertised "NOS" tubes on Ebay for preamps. They can test fine but still be noisy. Use the tubes that come with the preamp and then contact member byoungman for replacements. On this forum I am not going to go near the wire issue as many here think you can just buy it off the roll at Home Depot and all is good.

seminole54,

I really have my eyes on the Rogue Audio 99 Super Magnum Preamp. It looks really nice, but pricey even used. The Schiit Freya looks good as well, but a little concerned with some postings about bad tubes, humming issues and the need to replace with better tubes. I have never owned amps or preamps with tubes, so want something I can use out of the box. The Candela is an option, but have not read too much about it. I know the Odessey amps have good reviews, but not sure if their preamps are as good. Any input would be helpful. Rick
 
Rick

I have never owned one of Klaus' preamps but that model has been around almost a decade and has many loyal users. You can find out more about all things Odyssey on their forum at Audio Circle. A really safe solution to the preamp issue is a used W4S STP-SE. Not tubed but a very similar sound and does sound great with the Odyssey and any other amp I have tried it with. Dead quiet and trouble free. Never heard or owned a Rogue product. They have their fans but also detractors over the years for noise issues. One good thing about buying used as you can try and re-sell if not to your liking. What are the requirement for you in a preamp.

Jack
 
Did any one notice that there is a new website.I was looking to buy double impact speakers.My amp is going to be rogue cronus magnum ii integrated amplifier.The website has double impact speaker with 8 ohm to used with tube amp.Which speaker should i buy.
 
Did any one notice that there is a new website.I was looking to buy double impact speakers.My amp is going to be rogue cronus magnum ii integrated amplifier.The website has double impact speaker with 8 ohm to used with tube amp.Which speaker should i buy.

I would call and talk to Eric. The CM has both 4 and 8 ohm taps so you are safe either way but he would most likely have a better idea.
 
I agree, talking to Eric would be best as he's probably the only one to have heard the 8 ohm DI. He only announced the 8 ohm version two days ago. It would be interesting to find what sonic differences there might be between the 8 and 4 ohm versions.

Terry London is driving his 4 ohm DI's with a 1 watt Linear Tube Audio MZ2-S with NOS Tungsol Black Glass Oval Plate 6SN7 tubes and loves it. He reported up to 100 db sound levels in his quite large listening room with no distortion. While it's crazy to think 1 watt could accomplish this I'm going to give it a try myself.
 
Did any one notice that there is a new website.I was looking to buy double impact speakers.My amp is going to be rogue cronus magnum ii integrated amplifier.The website has double impact speaker with 8 ohm to used with tube amp.Which speaker should i buy.

My Rogue Tempest II can drive almost anything and so should your amp. You don't need to be concerned about that, imo. The bigger question is what kind of sound you like better. Generally speaking, higher Ohm speakers should sound better with tube amps since those are known to have warmer tonal characteristics. That's in theory, but in practice that really varies because what sounds warmer to me may not sound that way to you so there are no specific rules that can be observed and followed. Most of it is subjective and quite personal.The only rule that still remains is that both components should have matching impedance.

If it were me, I'd go with the 8 ohm DI's paired with your Rogue, but as other's have said, your best bet is to talk to the guy who makes the speakers because no one will know better than him. He helped me decide with my Pendragons and he was right on the money.
 
Just setup my Electrons. Wow. I don't have spikes on yet (on their way) nor an ideal listening room in terms of positioning of the speakers from the wall, but these things sound amazing. Basically, all the bad things I dislike about speakers are non-existent here. Having a true full range sound eliminates much of the issues I have with music mainly around sibilance.

These things are so detailed yet not fatiguing with enough slam at low and high volumes. Not sure how he did it, but these are the end all be all for me. I am replacing a pair of Zu Omen MKII's. I tried out the first version of Tekton Enzo and was not as big of a fan, but this is not that, and I am so thrilled.

Driving with a Wyred4Sound STI-1000 V2 integrated and using SonicOrbiter + MicroRendu + Roon as my music source.
 
The Jolida Fusion Preamp mates very well with my Odyssey Stratos Extreme pushing the DIs for a reasonable price. Just got a Vishay resistor upgrade done. Very nice.
When I use it into my Cayin A100T it is much better than the preamp section in the Cayin.
 
The Jolida Fusion Preamp mates very well with my Odyssey Stratos Extreme pushing the DIs for a reasonable price. Just got a Vishay resistor upgrade done. Very nice.
When I use it into my Cayin A100T it is much better than the preamp section in the Cayin.

Mofojo123,

Could you help me out with a model # for the Jolida Preamp? I am not to familiar with them and I am a little confused when searching for them. What I did read, they do sound real nice. Thanks, Rick
 
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