Wayne's Observations:
Impressions:
The Tekton Model Lores surprised me. I knew very little about them, and - for no particular reason - had placed no expectations on them. When they ended up performing extremely well, I was knocked out altogether.
Soundstage and Imaging:
The Model Lores gave an absolutely monstrous soundstage. If anything, it was pushing at the walls and ceiling, asking for more space to fill with sound.
The imaging was eye-opening. The sounds recorded with tightest imaging were presented the size of a pea, practically pinpoint sharp. In a soundstage that large, the effect was baffling. Voices seemed carved from the air by lasers. Cindy's vocals on Ain't It A Shame originated from a point source.
In discussions about imaging there are those who will say they prefer softer imaging because it is more like natural sound sources, which usually have some size to them. A singer is not a point source, since they have sound radiating from their face, throat, and chest. Why not have an image that large?
My disagreement is not that a larger image sounds bad. It sounds wonderful if it was recorded to sound that way. But a voice recorded by a single microphone and handled properly through the recording and mastering process can sound like a point source in the recording, and that is the way I want to hear it, not "fluffed up" by poor driver matching to sound bigger. The Model Lores were doing their job, and I loved it. The effect was a sense of realism that had the psycho-acoustical brain wondering if Cindy had been transported to the room by the Tektons. In my experience, only the sharpest imaging can accomplish that delightful little trick. Well done, Lores.
Soundstage development and cohesiveness were natural and convincing, very true to life. The Tektons completely disappeared in the sound field.
Frequency Response:
Let us start with the bass. Phil's kick drum on I Don't Care Any More had depth and power that punched right in the gut, almost feeling like there was a subwoofer involved. The genie's deep voice on Three Wishes was especially powerful, like he was speaking to us through the ground. The bass seemed tight and well defined. Not quite as refined as it might be - there was sometimes a sense that something was missing, but I could never identify what it was - but not worthy of major complaint, either. Bass for bass lovers.
The peak just below 2 KHz was like a definition laser. Details in voices and instruments were laid bare, nothing could hide from the Lores. It could be a little much after awhile, though, slightly fatiguing. With more time to play with them, we might have found an off-axis setup that tamed that peak without sacrificing the monstrous soundstage and laser imaging. As it was, the forwardness of that peak was one small negative for a pair of speakers whose assessment was adding up to mostly big positives.
Physical and Visual:
For some reason I think of an old Victrola horn when I see the Lores, with the large woofer at the top. Their appearance is somewhat atypical for tower speakers, but in no way unattractive.
Overall Listening Experience:
The Tekton Model Lores have so many great qualities going for them, I find myself wishing for the chance to work with them again. I would love the chance to try to find a setup with the same monstrous soundstage and laser imaging, and with that midrange "details" peak just slightly tamed.
What These Speakers Are Best For:
There are no limits for the Model Lores. They needed to be spaced away from the LP, so might not be the best choice for a small room. And the midrange might get out of hand in a very live room. In a larger, deadened room, they have surprises in store. Who knows, maybe there is a sweeter-still sweet position waiting to be discovered, with perfect midrange AND all the rest!
Leonard's Observations:
I was excited to hear these and expecting them to wow me based upon what I have read about Tekton in general. They did not disappoint. These would compete with the Klipsch and Magnepan as my favorites in the second tier of speakers. They are very dynamic and lively-sounding and frankly, fun to listen to. I found them only a little bright, and lacking only a little detail compared to the Arx and ML. The bass was full sounding, perhaps a bit lacking in detail and tubby in the 50-70Hz range, but not tiring. They seemed to handle the blues guitar of Kenny Wayne Shepherd better than most of the other speakers. Anyone who says that reproducing the unnatural sound of an electric guitar is an incidental feature of speakers will get argument from me. I like a Strat to sound like a Strat, not a Les Paul. There is something to be said for being able to produce distortion precisely, which is much of what electric guitars are about. I suspect it is partially the sensitivity and dynamics, and partially being able to handle complexity in the signal. The detail on acoustic guitar and strings from a deep bass to violin was impressive. With the high efficiency of this speaker, it is very versatile and would be something one would be happy with for a long time under many system conditions.
Quenten's Observations:
Let's just say I was getting pumped now. Every speaker thus far had outdone the previous one hands down, and now here were the Tekton Lore's, very respected speakers with many good reviews. Placement went quickly and yielded a nice, wide soundstage, but just not as full as the ML's or A5's. By no means bad, just not quite as full, something that would be easy to miss without this kind of comparison. I also noticed a slight drop off in the tonal quality of male vocals. This was not apparent at all with female vocals. Bass response was a bit dull as well with the bass melodies in the Supertramp album (synthesizer generated). Track #1 "School" has a very nice bass melody at about 4:50 that I like to use for this test, as it is a very revealing passage. Taking my turn in the back showed a slightly more diminished soundstage (off-axis response). While it did encompass the speakers, it fell short reaching out to the walls.
Sonnie's Observations:
The Lore's were probably the most intriguing speaker of the bunch for me, simply because they seem to have gotten a lot of attention recently and their big brother, the Pendragon, has scored serious acclamations from a few reviewers.
Imaging and soundstage was pretty good on the Lores… probably as good of imaging as I have heard in any of the speakers. The bass was to die for in my opinion… I loved it. I wish all of them had this bass, as it was the only bass I really felt.
On the B-52’s Ain't It A Shame and Revolution Earth I thought the voice was a little sharp. I tried toeing the speaker out a little to compensate, but not only did the soundstage and image suffer, it did not really help.
With Nickel Creek's Ode To A Butterfly the imaging was very defined, but not quite as deep as what I have heard on a few other speakers.
The bass on Phil Collin’s I Don’t Care Anymore was cool. I had not really commented much on this song thus far... and it was pretty good on most of the speakers, yet was a step above on the Lore's.
Once again, the bass on Pink Floyd's Dogs Of War sounded sub-like, almost like we had a small 8-10” sub in the room, yet the sax was a bit bright.
On Roger Water's Three Wishes the genie was again amazing sounding and although I feared the guitar might be too edgy, it was really good and sounded about as good as it had sounded with any of the speakers.
I thought the Lore's really brought the bass extension, and perhaps having the larger dynamic driver and being the most sensitive of all the speakers, this made sense. The major issue I had was how bright they were. We thought tilting them up a bit might help, but it made them brighter for me. It did not seem like anything we did was helping tame the brightness. Had these speakers been smoother through that upper midrange area, they could have easily stole the show. I truly look forward to listening to... and perhaps reviewing the Pendragon model at a later date, but I think the Model Lore's might need some taming before I could live with them.
