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REVIEW: Tekton Design Lore Speakers

Model:	Lore
Category:	Speakers
Suggested Retail Price:	$1200
Description:	Floor standing loud speakers
Manufacturer URL:	Tekton Design

Review by jaydacus on July 26, 2017 at 22:12:09 IP Address: 70.210.129.46

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Lore review

I had been considering Tekton Speakers and about 7 years. I was originally considering the Pendragon, but I'm at a point in my life where I have less space and less to spend on audio equipment so the Lore made more sense. I read every review that I could find. There really aren't that many and the ones that do exist are glowing to the point of making me wonder if they were fake. I found a lot of for sale ads where the person selling the speakers loved them but "decided to go a different direction" which really made me wonder if these speakers were any good or not.

I finally decided to take the plunge a few months ago. They were like $1200 with grills and shipping. I figured at that price, what's the worst that could happen?

The buying experience....

This is something that has come up as a negative on many forums. I believe that Eric's strength is designing speakers, not customer service. My experience was better than many I had read about, but not without hizzards. The speakers took a couple of weeks longer to get to me than I had originally been lead to believe and the grills took several more weeks beyond that. There were semi believable excuses given for each delay that really made me question Eric's professionalism, but when all was said and done I would advise patience more than caution when ordering Tekton speakers. The way I look at it is that Eric could hire more people to build the speakers faster and office people to track the orders better, but the price and quality would suffer.

Unboxing.....

All of the web pictures in the world will not replace seeing something in real life. The speakers seemed exceptionally well built and had a certain "not made in China" look and feel to them. Real wood and paint that lost its fresh paint smell in 2 days, not 2 months. Smooth edges and corners that one has to see in person to truly appreciate.

How do they sound out of the box?.....

Fresh out of the box they really don't sound great. The high excursion speaker cones are stiff and take at least 50 hours at moderate volume to start loosening up. The sound, particularly in the low end, improves dramatically during the break in process. I had read about this in other reviews and was prepared not to pass judgement too soon. That said, I could hear great potential almost right away.

How do they sound after break in?.

Compared to Klipsch speakers that I have used for years, the Lores don't produce the jaw dropping imaging that Klipsch speakers sometimes produce. On the other hand they don't produce that shouty, harsh, "ice picks on your ear drums" sound that Klipsch speakers often produce either. The Lores have a pleasant "just right" type of sound that seems to transcend every genre and time period of music. They did seem to lack some detail compared to Klipsch speakers, but as I spent more time listening I began to actually hear fine details that I was previously missing. I realized that I was not able to hear these details over the shouty midrange horns.

Highs.. .

As previously mentioned the Lores do seem a little lacking in highs coming from years of using Klipsch speakers. I think the problem is that my ears have become used to the sound of a high efficiency compression driver shouting from a horn. No non horn tweeter will ever be able to compete, but that may be a good thing. While horn HF drivers produce incredible imaging at times, they are just as likely to produce harsh highs to the point of painful. The gold tweeters in the Lores actually do great highs that are never harsh or uncomfortable to listen to.

Mids...

This is one area that these speakers really shine. If you like the forward sounding midrange and clear sounding vocals that horns often produce, you might be pleasantly surprised. If you hate the shreaky, squaky, and painful sound that horns often produce, you might be pleasantly surprised. I don't know if it's the paper cone, the whizzer, the accordian surrounds, or the combination of these things, but these speakers produce a warm vintage sounding midrange with a clairty more common in modern speaker designs. They also work great for watching TV shows and movies. Virtually every other loudspeaker I have tried had a dip in the midrange, making dialogue difficult to hear. I'm guessing that the full range driver could be the secret.

Bass...

With a rated low frequently response of 30hz the Lores go lower than most modern speakers. That being said, they don't produce super loud bumpy bass. I would not accuse these speakers of lacking bass either. Even at relatively low volumes I can feel the sound. I read another review that describes the bass as "tuneful" and I would agree. I was surprised by was just how many different types of bass sounds there were in my music that I was not hearing before. The Lores seem to have a large "bass vocabulary"that does not include such profanity as "boomy" or "overpowering". Maybe this is another strength of the full range driver. It seems like it would be physically impossible for the speaker to play over it's self.

Sound staging and imaging....

I was familiar with the concept of a wide sound stage. I never quite understood what a deep soundstage was until a heard the Lores. Aside from being able to hear the placement of sounds from left to right, I can now also hear sounds from front to back. Sounds can be closer or farther away. I even hear sounds that seem to originate from behind the speakers. The speakers will often completely disappear on good recordings.

The imaging is not as "holographic" as what horn speakers sometimes produce, but the Lores do still produce a clear and coherent image without the harshness that horns more often produce. The "sweet spot" is somewhat small. The Lores sound good anywhere in the room, but dead center at a particular height from a particular distance sounds great. My room accustics and placement could be to blame.

Conclusions......

There are certainly better sounding speakers for more money. Tekton even offers better speakers for more money. If your budget is under $2000 I can't imagine what else, new or used, could beat the Lores in terms of build or sound quality. They have a flat frequently response and produce an open honest sound that will make hours of listening enjoyment melt away. They are able to walk the tight rope between boring and fatiguing and sound effortless doing it.

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Product Weakness:	Nothing to note at this price
Product Strengths:	Sound quality

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Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier:	Silk Audio(Yaqin mc-13s)
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	NA
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Raspberry Pi/HIFIBerry with a linear ps and reclocker board
Speakers:	Tekton Lore
Cables/Interconnects:	Blue Jeans
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Everything from heavy metal to Motown
Room Size (LxWxH):	20 x 14 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments:	NA
Time Period/Length of Audition:	2 months
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	NA
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner
Your System (if other than home audition):	NA

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