Hey guys, Please do utilize the chapters function as you wish to skip to the parts you want and don't forget to click the "like" button; it does help me tons without costing you anything. Thanks ! Head to squarespace.com/jaysiyagi to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code jaysiyagi Tekton Pendragon 2 ohm: tektondesign.com/product/full-range-speakers/full-towers/pendragon-2-ohm/#color *My Daily Components (All Tested And Proved To Work in Blind Tests)* Fancy speaker stands I use: shop-links.co/choe8oQHC9w Speaker stands I use (budget): amzn.to/3ssRhI3 Desktop Speaker Stands I Use: shop-links.co/chofc1R7mpT acoustic panels I use: ua-acoustics.com/ acoustic curtain: amzn.to/31d1zAM my fav hifi tweaks: (Isoacoustics devices) amzn.to/3j5FGvM Speaker Isolation Feet I Use: shop-links.co/choffy3csSK Turntable Isolation I Use: shop-links.co/chofgeNORJP Component Isolation I Use: shop-links.co/chofhTC3wc7 0:00 Intro 1:11 Why 2 OHM Tektons? 3:12 First Impressions 3:59 TONE & REALISM 6:30 How to set up Tekton Speakers 8:28 Tekton Speaker BUILD REVIEW 9:41 Why So Many Tweeters on Tekton Speakers? 11:19 Tekton Speaker SOUND REVIEW 14:58 Tekton AMPLIFIER REQUIREMENTS 17:27 TEKTON SPEAKER COMPARISONS
I had a dream that I met you at some kind of Audio Convention while waiting to get a Drink at bar inside the... (it was very short dream and I have no idea why you were in it.... weird.)
Jay, I’m so proud of you!! I met you on Audio Excellence Canada, and you were always entertaining, but you’ve really upped your game now! It’s has taken a while, but Bravo!! 👏🏻
Top notch review, Jay. I auditioned many speakers before going with a pr. of Tekton Pendragons 2+ yrs or so ago, and have zero upgraditis. They mate well with pretty much all gear. I’ve heard other Tektons, all which sounded excellent. Fantastic company.
Absolutely Awesome video Jay 🤘🏼❤️ I can’t say enough about what Eric is doing at Tekton !! Truly giving mere mortals a chance to enjoy the best of the best. Who offers such amazingly refined and capable speakers in the audiophile world !?! I love the fact we can have our cake and eat it to. Thank you for such a killer review👊🏻
Looks like imminence alpha 10" woofers. These are inexpensive, stamped basket small motor "8 ohm" drivers. They have a minimum impedance of ~5.3 ohm. A pair of them in parallel are going to combine to a minimum of ~2.65ohm. Throw in some crossover components, which often pull impedance down further when we start to use them to "shape" the response, and we're down in the ~2.3-2.5 ohm minimum territory here. These drivers have a very high total Q, 0.59, and relatively low Fs for a prosound 10" midbass of 50hz. Normally these would be loaded in a sealed box and likely not used below ~60-80hz due to rising distortion below resonance. The designer chose to go with a huge vented alignment for these which extends a huge shelf of response out on the bottom end below the natural resonance of the driver, made possible by the poor damping characteristics of the driver at those frequencies. Drivers operating an octave below their natural resonance, being aided by box resonance to extend the response, tend to have very high distortion at those frequencies. I would expect a ton of harmonics from all bass energy below 60hz from these, resulting in a lot of perceived "warmth." The saving grace here is that the drivers won't have to be driven hard to make a lot of sound, so they might not sound too bad at "home hifi" listening levels when used outside their intended passband. In a similar fashion, the designer has likely chosen to drive the 4 "outer" tweeters well below their intended passband. The 30mm chambered wavecore tweeters used in this design do have relatively flat response down to around 700hz, but rising distortion below ~1500hz which is to be expected. By using 4 of them there's again some saving grace in sharing the load and never expected to be driven hard in home audio settings. I suspect all 5 of the tweeters are the 4 ohm version of the TW030WA(13). The 4 used for the midrange are probably wired 2S2P, and the bandpass filter rings them up a few dB (circuit resonance) and pulls the impedance down to ~2.3 ohm minimum. This is a common side-effect of bandpass electrical filters. If you tweak the component values to give a desirably flat plateau response we generally wind up injecting some circuit "ringing" that actually pulls up the output level and pulls down the impedance. I wouldn't call this a design choice, more like a consequence of the design choice. Personally, I would just use a pro-sound amp to drive these. Most are 2 ohm stable and would handle these just fine, while also not wasting money trying to make these something they aren't. Knowing what tradeoffs have been made here I don't see anything all that special on the design side. The "2 ohm" result of this configuration of drivers is not some sort of magic, it's just a consequence of these drivers and the crossover design. The most remarkable aspect of this speaker is the fact that there appears to be $1200 worth of drivers being delivered in a $2200 pair of speakers. This is the real magic here. I don't know how they are making any money. Maybe it's a wavecore clone tweeter? Maybe they made some really good purchasing agreements or warehouse buyouts? Maybe they are using really cheese grade crossover components and box construction materials and design? Either way, despite the tradeoffs here these speakers are likely to deliver a lot of value, but personally I would rather see a coax mid+tweeter used in place of these tweeter arrays.
You're actually completely right. You have my praise for breaking that down. For home it really is amazing especially for the money. I own a pair of pendragons. Not the 2 ohm version. No speaker is perfect and these have their flaws on paper but when listened to these sound great. They're not the last word in speakers but they do have some unique advantages too. They sound effortless, their midrange is very great because Eric Alexander is right by using multiple tweeters in an array the mass is lower than a woofer and it creates that realistic magic. At the same time they're big and as you explained they have limitations but they also scale up with gear really well and they have great tonality. Very natural and perfectly tuned. Eric Alexander plays in a band and plays drums so he tried to make the speaker as real and natural as possible.
Jay, your room is much different having diffusion behind your speakers. You did not have the diffusion when you had the Double Impacts. I wonder if this is causing the difference in the upper frequencies that you are hearing.
I am 60. I love hi fi even though my ears aren't very good now on the top end (was in the military for 24 years, played in bands in college, etc.). I really like your reviews and your taste. I have a lot of vintage gear and some new gear too. McIntosh, Schitt, Leak, Yamaha, etc. I am very jealous that you have the opportunity and finances to try so much great gear. Keep up the good work. I realize this is a year old thread. But I have watched hundreds of your videos and had this one pop up because I was watching other Tekton product videos. Best wishes from Mississippi, USA.
I just received my Enzo XL with seven tweeter upgrade and upgraded crossover. 8 ohm. I am blown away. Front ported and perfectly sized for my imperfect listening room. Parasound P6 preamp. Parasound A23+ power amp.
Jay, nice review. However, comparing two high quality speakers means using the same equipment for both. As owner of the Double Impact, driven by the Muzishare D100 805 tube amp, I also found the top of the DIs slightly less quick than I wanted. After speaking with Eric, I swapped out the tweeters, replacing them with Beryllium tweeters. Upon first insertion they sounded too hot, but after break in they blended in perfectly. Originally, I drove them with the Parasound JC2/A21 combo. The Parasounds are excellent, but after there is no comparison to the sound of good tubes, except in the lowest frequencies. I even biamped for a while. The Muzishare closely resembles the Wilsenton, having almost the exact same tube compliment. The Muzishare is really singing after some fairly extensive tube rolling, and on balance I prefer using it alone. To solve the low frequency issue, that is, to listen to pipe organs, I’ve just ordered a pair of Tektons powered 4-10 subwoofers. Last point. To reinforce another comment above, changes in room treatment can make far bigger alterations to the sound than even some exotic gear. It is why speakers are measured in anechoic chambers.
Great review... On behalf of a number of Canadians... I'd really appreciate if you could perhaps discuss the shipping experience. I am very much leaning towards a set of Tekton based upon your reviews but it's difficult to understand the added expenses/time when ordering to Canada. For instance, I went to order a $50US product from a company in the US and as I was checking out, the shipping fee went from free for domestic shipping to over $100US for shipping alone. Another product was $80US and shipping to Canada was an additional $120US. Of note, these examples were products that were small in size and weight - for example, one was for two 750ml bottles of liquid ceramic polish for my car. While I could have it shipped to a US address, I'd rather not go through the hassle of cross-border shopping if possible.
it's the reality of American sellers. They often operate under our of date info or on account of one or two bad experiences shipping to Canada that happened years ago.. the reality is that many products that are manufactured in the United States enjoy customs/duty free shipping when crossing the Canada or Mexico border. we can thank updated treaties (ie NAFTA 2.0).. it's possible that these shippers experienced undelivered or returned packages in the past and have been a little bit put off by the fees that they would have had to pay. it's not worth it trying to get through to them.. my best suggestion would be to not give these companies your business.. I always think that manufacturers need to be attuned to information like this rather than having their customer base suffer for their ignorance and unwillingness to consider that their shipping policy is based on out-of-date info. screw them. their loss. that being said, if it's unavoidable or you still don't care about that and you want the product, there are services that you can ship the product to in the United States (so it is a US address..) and they will literally walk the product over the border and put it in the mail for you. I mean they'll put your product in a truck along with all their other customers' products and cross the border. If applicable, they will pay the custom or duties on your behalf, (since this is not a way of evading those fees), and invoice you the fees. it's a subscription model.. you pay a monthly fee which secures you a storage slot at their warehouses.. (it's not a PO box). it's similar to penguin pickup here in canada.. my brother uses one all the time.. but unfortunately can't remember the company name. and since me and him are not talking at the moment (don't ask! lol) I can't ask him.. but it's a legit service and there are a few companies doing this.. but you also should consider that these companies are absorbing the costs of shipping even if it says free shipping in the US. they're still paying for shipping, and many companies will charge them an international shipping rate even to ship to canada.. companies like Purolator and ups are the worst for this.. USPS tends to follow whichever laws or treaties are relevant for the product being shipped.. ups and Purolator usually don't care what is in the package other than its value.. and they'll charge the shipper regardless of manufacturing location or duty free or tariff exceptions.
Awesome review! I ordered some Tekton Moabs a couple weeks ago and am looking forward to receiving them sometime in the coming weeks. I'm using JBL Stuudio 580's right now, stacked on top of some cheap Dayton subs. They work very well and it's hard to imagine what this upgrade will be like until I hear it!
@@charlesmiller6281 I feel like we've talked about this on the Facebook group already 😅 Mine are going on my SVS isolation feet and a slab of concrete for the foreseeable future. This solution has done wonders for my current system. I'm not doubting the podiums, I just know that I need other things more :)
Been watching you for a very long time and I Love your videos... You have reached next level editing and style... Great to see back better than ever after that crazy experience you had happen.
Great review! I just looked at the order page on Tekton's website, and it looks like you can choose between 4 or 8 ohm for free, or 2 ohm for an extra $300. I currently have the KLH model 5's, and recently padded the inside with No-rez from GR Research. They are great speakers, but after watching these reviews I am starting to get that itch....
I enjoyed your review. (Full disclaimer: I have owned the original Pendragons for 4 years) But the review missed the boat. Luxman makes some fine amplifiers but the unit used in the review is as rare as hen's teeth. What subscribers want to know is how does this speaker perform with a range of Class D amplifiers at different price points? For example: Topping, Loxjie, SMSL, Peachtree, Crown, Purifi, etc. After all, the speaker was specifically with this in mind. Also, this loudspeaker has very high efficiency and high powered amps are not needed in average sizerooms. So, a follow up review with a range of Class D amplifiers would be appropriate.
The bass control on 4-Ohm Pendragons can also be amazing but it’s totally dependent on upstream gear. Pairing with Parasound’s JC2 preamp and JC5 amplifier leads to fabulous bass presentation and control but the synergy isn’t perfect as the soundstage is flat. Swapping from solid state to tube preamplification (Rogue RP7 or Primaluna Evo 400) leads to a more holographic presentation but bass control is diminished.
I hope you keep the Luxman as your reference amp for life. Dream amp by anyone's standards. I blew up my Luxman M4000 after having it work flawlessly for 25 years. Ooops. I unplugged my Classe DR-5 { now power switch} without turning off the Luxman first. Boom. Smoke, smell. Ooops. Probably didn't help that Furman power strip was plugged into a three prong adapter. House has no three prong outlets. That surely was a heartbreak. I hate that DR-5 for a bunch of reasons. But I'm an idiot. Cheers on your brilliant Luxman amp Jay. Please keep it forever. My dream amp
Hi Jay. Very useful and detailed analysis, as usual with your videos. I have a pair of PS Audio BHK300 monoblocks, which I know you are familiar with. The monoblocks can stably drive 2ohm loads delivering 1000 watts. Do you think these speaker will pair well with the BHKs? Do you think it makes sense to go for one of the flagship towers Tekton offers? Thanks ever so much. Agustin
Thank you for another wonderful review. I always enjoy your perspective. I wanted to find out if these Pendragon 2 ohm has the upgrade package for $300? Thanks again!
There are lots of "4 ohm" speakers that have dips below 3 ohm, so these aren't going to be much harder to drive than many 4 ohm speakers. Any good quality amp that is very stable at 4 ohm will likely tolerate these well enough. Actual "2 ohm" rated amplifiers will generally be capable of driving loads down to ~1.5 ohm or less.
From a technical standpoint theres lots of benefits going with a low impedance design. You get more power from the amplifier. The the inductor in the crossover (for the bass drivers)can also have fewer windings because of the increased current through the bass drivers. Fewer windings gives less loss in the inductor. The inductor has series parasitic resistance reducing the dampening factor. So less resistance here is really a good thing. A smaller inductor is also cheaper so you get better performance/cost results. Very clever design.
What’s with tekton subwoofers ?? There are no reviews at all from anyone so do they suck or what haha. I got and love my tekton enzo xl speakers and be thinking about a subwoofer from them like the 2-10s. Would be nice to see at least one review out there from someone I trust like you Jay. Great video man keep up the great work
I see the idea of 2 Ohm speakers, but are the 8 Ohm and 4 Ohm versions as impressive? Some of us may have what we think is a good smaller wattage amp (like a 20-40Wpc tube amp) and are not ready to go out and find a $19,000 discontinued Luxman amp to power them at 2 Ohms.
as I often do, I compare and I do clearly state that while this speaker triumphs others... it does so with requirements and downsides. Not sure what more I can say to make it a balanced review. Happy with sharing my experience. Not sure what more you want from me haha. cheers
Jay, I know you have never done a review of the Moabs but you've done a ton of Tektons, would you happen to know how these would compare to the Moabs? What about a Parasound JC5 for power? Would you say the Apollo is closer to the JC5 than the JC5 being in the same vicinity as the Luxman?
Hello mate thanks a lot for Your work, I have Burson Soloist Gt, it's 1 ohm. Do You think it will be good match for them ? I was mostly Headphone Listener 🎧 but now thinking of selling my Arya Stelth put a bit extra $ and buy set of speakers.
Please try a standard hypex amp with these speakers. Given their price, that would seem a sensible amp choice. Curious as to how that would sound with an affordable pre like the freya.
Any chance you will test the Perfect 15 ? heard that they will do well with low power amps (tube amps) - keep up the good work - hunt for silkysmoot and sweet sound 🙂
Hi Jay...if they have differencies in mids and highs are because the have different tweeters?? My tweeters are different on double impact speakers...Great review as always!
Hey Jay, great call on the 900u. I have it with the matching pre and some Sashas. If you want to do a short drive west on the 401 to compare the Tektons I'm game. Let me know. The Luxman amp really sings with the pre.
Love the color, these remind me of the "amp killers" infinity kappa 9 in size and impedance, would you say these would outperform the legendary infinity kappa 9? If so or not, in what ways?
Before you buy a pair of Tekton speakers, you may want to do a little research first. There's been many complaints from people buying these speakers and not getting them. They don't take calls, they don't return emails, etc... But they always take the money.
They do take forever, also to add to your point; good luck in receiving Grills. They have a long history of horrible customer experience for not receiving their Grills. Pretty much kiss your $75 good-bye. If you try and contact them, they will give you lame stories of their grill builders left the company and they are behind (gee wonder why they left). Anyone don't want to believe it, they can easily go to Audigon's forum (and other forums) to see owners post way back to 2013. The company just don't care about your wait & your grills. Still waiting (going on 9 months) for mine, I've given-up calling these clowns every other month and hearing lame excuses. Not to mention, their paint jobs are horrendous. It's like they never let the primer dry and just slapped-on the over-coat. The surface paint chips really easy.
That is total bs. I have bought multiple orders from them and they do not make the charge until the speaker is being shipped out. The issue has been with delays to get them and even worse the grills.
That would not be relevant since those speakers are NOT made for amps like the luxman 🤦 They are made for proper amps with lots of current, not for bookshelves amplifiers, no matter how detailed or refined they are.
So, preferred amplification is a $20K Luxman versus the $3,700 Denefrips Apollo. Forget my 125 W push/pull Class A/B big tube amps. Not my kind of speaker. Compared to Magico, Focal and Wilson, all speakers that don't speak to me (Wilson-leave after 15 minutes). I doubt these cheaper made Tektons are my flavor of acoustic music (orchestral, opera, big band jazz) as well as heavy metal and electronica. My 30 year old Legacy Focus (found used for $2500=3000) are 4 ohm speakers/98 db efficient which probably sound just as powerful and sweet as Tektons but needing about 50 watts of high current power. Tom Port uses a 45 watt 1978 receiver to drive them to reveal utmost detail in Better Records. Tekton's are a bargain for what they offer. My pending speaker upgrade will cost 10X to 25X more and will be my last speaker. Focus for 20 years after 20 years of various higher end stats.
I've always been interested in Tektons but I vaguely remember that the owner was a prick to some reviewers. At the time, I just told myself I had to forget about Tektons, but now I forgot what the drama was.
I'd imagine the pendragons are more dynamic and lively while the DI's are more extended on the bass and highs. I don't think you can go wrong either way.
Howdy, 2 ohm speakers are not a better option in my opinion, less damping factor which controls the woofer. Don't jump on a fad, stay with 4 ohms. I have many PA speakers, and I do run those 2 ohm but only because of cost of extra amps and racks and power distribution, and trucking. There is no free lunch, and it is a compromise not a benefit. BTW, i just purchased TEKTON Double Impact SE and I should get them soon. And I am running them 4 ohm bi-amped instead of 2 ohm.
Jay congrats on your solo success; I have been watching you for years since you were the underling now you are the MAN. How do the highs of these speakers compare with the best speakers you have ever heard?
I always wondered about comb filtering with Tekton speakers. The drawback is that to avoid comb filtering, the crossovers mu st be incredibly complex. That makes me wonder about phase coherence.
They operate on low enough frequencies, not too far apart of their wavelength. Single tweeter is for higher/shorter wavelengths. Larger models like Moab has 14 midrange speakers and one tweeter. -My speakers have four 3" squawkers, one plays 0,5-4 kHz, second 0,5-3 kHz, third 0,5-2 kHz, fourth 0,5-1 kHz. This controls horizontal directivity without combfiltering and too complicated crossover, just a few additional caps.
Phase coherency is not as good as a dual concentric design or even a bookshelf speaker but I’d say it’s no different than many 3 way floor-standers I’ve heard in that regard
I literally own a pair of tekton tower speakers and have owned many concentric coaxial speakers and I am telling you from experience that the tweeter array literally is the same thing as a coaxial concentric speaker. There's no comb filtering. In fact a major reason I love my tekton speakers IS because they sound better than my kef speakers or any speakers I've owned.
Friend, you're taking theories and applying them to a product that doesn't conform to the theory. Listen to them and you'll know their is no comb filtering and phase coherency is as good as anything I've heard from almost any manufacturer. And, yes, that includes Magico, Wilson and TAD. Perhaps the Vandersteen Kento was better but not by much and didn't have the dynamics to match the Tekton.
Hi Jay, Not to brag but I was able select your voice vs what was recorded off the speakers in your listening room while listening to the A/B on my iphone speakers. The difference was as you said, your voice was more deeper played through the Tektons and your voice was narrower sounding when recorded in the sound booth. I can hear very little reverb in the listen booth recording. Yes the timbre of your voice was very similar but what gave it away for me was that the replay via the Tekton sounded like the room you recorded the prologue of this review in…. which is indeed what was the case. In your review you mention the comparison 3 times to that of an open back speakers, which make an model did you have in mind? Can you please review the Linkwitz Labs LX521.4 or the LX Studio open baffle speaker. I have never seen a review of either of these speaker from an established audio reviewer. These speaker can be bought in kits form or fully built.
Hi Jay, I have watched this video several times trying to find out which preamp you were using with the Apollo and the Luxman. Couldn’t find a mention. Did you use the same preamp with both, or did you change it out with the Luxman? What was it? Thank you.
How do they compare to the Golden Ear triton? Have you done a comparison between the 2, BC the Golden Ears have a Bass frequency down to 15 hz...that's deep isn't it?
Way back in 1979 I bought a used amplifier from Great American Sound company (GAS of Ampzilla fame) that had a manufacturer rated 40 watts in 8 ohms, 80 watts in 4 ohms and 160 watts in 2 ohm capability. Haven't seen an affordable 2 ohm capable amp since. What amplifiers was Tekton referring to?
I think that this array of tweeters that act as a "virtual midrange" is very innovative! However, after reading through the patent, it appears that someone can copy this speaker merely by having the center tweeter (which gets the high frequency) being slightly smaller in size (a 3/4" dome vs. a 1" dome) than the surrounding tweeters (which get the slightly lower frequencies). It does save some money, though, to have only one style of multiple tweeters in the box, and that's appears to be what the patent is trying to accomplish.
If you use a smaller tweeter in the middle it could not play as low as the rest of them. The whole idea of Tekton design arrays (as I understand it) is that at lower end of tweeter range all (5) drivers play together and (based on a small distance between center and the rest of tweeters) it helps to prevent a lobbing effect. I am currently planning my own design with somewhat similar to these Pendragon 2 Ohm speakers driver configuration. But because I would use a ribbon tweeter in a center it would have it's own audio band with a higher bottom frequency than the other 4 tweeters. So, instead of Tekton's array my speaker's tweeter section becomes a kind of MTM design.
Great stuff Jay- have you heard the Sonus Faber Lumina V yet? I did this weekend and was kind of blown away at $2800. Wondering how they compare to the Tekton's if you have heard them.
Which Center would be good with this? The Pendragon Center is 8 ohm, and it feels wrong to mix and match... Also the caveat seems pretty big with the Amp, as yeah they are fairly cheap (well maybe not for most, but relatively speaking), however, if you have to spend 2-4x that on amplification, especially for a surround setup, that would be getting expensive quickly.
Jay, how would you compare the midrange of these vs the JBL L300’s which use the LE 85 and a horn/lens? Just wondering because I’m designing a pair inspired by the L300.
Jay, do you know what kind of tweeters are used in these speakers? On outside they look like Monacor compact domes. I am planning to build something similar but with different drivers.
Hey Jay, i notice you're using the Apollo a lot in your reviews, are you planning to do an Apollo review at some point? also I have recently upgraded to Monoblocks and was shocked by the difference, have you tried Maximum current with Monoblocks?
A is the speaker I hear more echo, bass is bloated, mids sound sucked out, there are peaks and dips. B sounds more balanced and lifelike. Testing with Sennheiser HD 600
'Consistent' low impedances do not lessen amp strains. Varying impedances don't either. The amp does not memorize the last moment of output. Each impulse requiring amplification is treated as unique. If that does not occur you get crap.
Jay, have you ever had a Tekton 15 tweeter array speaker in your system yet for review? If not have Eric send you a pair. Encore or Encore monitors will fit your room size well.
Hey. Yes they are better imho but build is worse, you are limited to using amps that can be stable at 2 ohms and also size is significantly bigger so you need the room.
Thanks for the quick response bruh...I get what ya saying. I wanna get some soon to add to my Zu Audio Dirty Weekends. You gotta try Zu speakers one day..they're good
@@feggelindh7584 Not sure about that but I definietly don't want to pay a couple hundred Euro shipping, tax and duty on top of it. And what If I don't like them or they get damaged?
