The History of Tekton Design's Patented Tweeter Array 

Eric says he plays drums....viewer checks Eric's forearms.... Yup. He's telling the truth. Great video. I find it critical to understand the designers perspective on music, because it ALWAYS comes through in the final product. Love Eric's philosophy on getting the driver mass down while increasing surface area. He's onto something real in sound reproduction.

Eric, by leaps and bounds this is your best video to date. In your past ones, I met Eric the engineer and designer. After this video, I got to know Eric as a person and how his heart beats. It was touching to see your passion at certain moments because you truly know what you have and believe in it. Genuineness is very hard to fake and I think your viewers appreciate your candor. Also, I think I now have a much better understanding finally, of how your patents work. Great explanation without going right over my head with specialized terminology. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly of all, thank you, thank you, for offering your products at a price eminently affordable to people. Any big name company would NEVER do that. It would be expensive and exclusive to the elite. That tells me you are more concerned about advancing music and getting its enjoyment into the hands of people, rather than getting rich quick. Ironically, by continuing to do this, you’ll probably get both. Many thanks for the smiles, tears, and enjoyment that will undoubtedly be felt in numerous households by the power of music both now and in the future. Gary

For those who have never heard Tekton speakers do yourself a favor and try them before you buy something else. Maybe you'll prefer something different but these are truly exceptionally realistic and dynamic speakers for thousands, often tens of thousands less than designs that compete favorably. At Rocky Mountain I only heard two systems that sounded as good as the Tekton Moabs that were on display. The $225,000 Gobel Divin Noblesse and the $37,000 Vandersteen Kento. The Moabs are only $4500. I have since found two gentleman relatively local to me with Tekton speakers. One with a pair of Lore's and one with a pair of Double Impacts. The Lore doesn't use the same technology as the Moabs and the Double Impacts but they are more musical, dynamic and generally realistic than most anything I've heard under three grand. The Double Impacts, given the better listening environment compared to a hotel room are just smaller Moabs to my ears. I can't say that for three grand they DI's are better than your personal favorite speaker. However, I'd wager if you put them behind an acoustically transparent screen to remove the brand and appearance bias and tested them against any number of well known high end brands that a majority of people would select the Tektons. And not just because they would be the only ones most of these listeners could afford either!

Boycott

When I first heard the Ulfberhts my immediate impression was, "Gee, this sounds more like live music than any speaker I have ever auditioned." Based on this video, this appears to have been Tekton's design goal. To my ears they have succeeded, at least with the Ulfberhts. I haven't listened to any of the other models, though I would expect the Encore and Moab to sound similar.

Genius. Audiophile since 1970's, trying to think of a similarly brilliant game-changer, coming up empty. Well done, Eric.

PS Eric I believe you already have a legendary speaker that in 20 to 30 years from now people in the know will just mention double impact and immediately know your brand and speaker just like the very other greats in history good luck brother I think you're a legend

Great Video, I've already told my wife we're getting Tekton's after we get our new house. I'll be calling you for a consultation when I'm ready.

My next speakers will be Tekton! I can’t wait!

Will never ever consider your products due to the way you treat others by threatening litigation. I will also spread the word to any others to avoid buying your products if they ask me.

I have had my Moab’s for two months now and they blow my Magnepan 20.1s out of the water. I want to thank you Eric for creating such an amazing and affordable speaker. If you get a chance check your email, I sent you a pic of my dedicated room set up.

The violin sound comes from the wooden box. The box weighs more than 1/4 gram. The string vibration causes the box to vibrate through the connection at the bridge. The box of the violin is like a speaker. All acoustic stringed instruments have a “speaker box” to amplify the sound (tone is dependent on box shape, size, mass, rigidity and tuning ports or f holes). Electric guitars use pickups and amplifiers that eliminate much of the need for the acoustic box or chamber (the body of an electric guitar still adds tone).

I’m a musician too. I have played guitar since I was 13, had countless rehearsals, toured the world, and played live countless times too. I knew that Tekton was the real deal the second I heard em, and have been the proud owner of a pair of Pendragons for over 6 months now. They sound as close to any live music I have ever heard out of a loudspeaker. Thank you once again, Eric! 🎶🔊🙂

+1 for being a musician, +10 for being a drummer!

I only wish I had the $$$ and the space for even one of your smaller setups. I totally get what you are doing and why your doing it, and I wish you only the greatest success in your endeavors. Basically you are giving us a phased-array of tweeters that can produce the kind of midrange we've all been missing in our various two-way's all these years.

Hey Eric, can you go get your wife's boyfriend so I can talk to the man of the house?

Eric, if any speaker manufacturer has bridged the gap between real music and HiFi, it’s you. You do it without gouging your customers with ridiculous prices too. Not trying to kiss up, just stating my opinion. I’m also a musician, and very much appreciate your designs.

👍👍👏👏👌👌Hello Eric I'm very pleased to see you making more videos you are a great designer / inventor whoever hears your speakers are really shocked at the prices you get so much for your money I'm going to be a client of yours very soon got to save up a few more pennies but these videos are so valuable in the explanation of your beautiful speakers keep up the great work a big fan Steve Costello... 👍👌

I'm fairly certain a pair of Lore Reference Beryllium are my next speakers and then when i buy a house straight to Ulfberhts.

Just because something g gets a patent doesn’t mean it’s any good. Or even that it actually achieved what is claimed necessarily. Patents are easy to procure for such things if one is willing to do paperwork and pay legal costs. These radial arrays are really a ring of drivers crossed over to work more like mid range surrounding one crossed to work as a proper tweeter. Even then, physics suggests it is a configuration that creates more issues than it solves. And it’s a very unnecessary anyway given the science behind wave guides on conventional tweeters …which Alexander seems to ignore as it’s the 1980s. And radial arrays seem so pedestrian anyway. If you want a whiz bang tweeter, go for and AMT or ribbon…of even a KEF coaxial with its fact tangerine wave guides etc. This is all smoke and mirrors.

Just too funny that folks who haven't even heard your speakers absolutely declare how terrible the comb filtering must be / IS... again just too funny for as you state, Stereophile's review proves that your design has no comb filtering (not that it needed proving to anyone who already owns a Tekton speaker, or for those who have taken the time to actually audition your speakers). The INTERNET, one of the most informative places on Earth, and at the very same time the one place on Earth with the most uninformed :)

I have only sampled the Lore standards but they better my very expensive extremely well reviewed monitors , with much less power driving the Lores … I can only imagine how much better these higher end Tekton speaker sound . I have 40 yrs pursuing audio excellence , what Eric is saying , I get it , the Tekton flavor is like you are in the studio during the session , dynamic , full range detail with texture . Never fatiguing .. Of course the source upstream can cause fatigue but if the source sounds good Tektons will render true .

Eric, I Love this video and what we learn from it. So many people love your speaker designs and more and more people are getting hip to what you’re doing. I have a pair of Encores being built by you right now so I thank you. Lots of curious people wanting to know about your 2-10 & 4-10 subs including myself so perhaps at some point you could tell us a little bit about them (I know you’re quite busy so...). Anyways God Bless. Much Love & Gratitude 🙏🏻❤️

Just want to encourage you to make more videos, and thank you for the ones you have made 😁

Like Eric, I’m a life-long musician (drummer/percussionist), so I know exactly what he’s talking about regarding traditional speaker designs and sonic realism. I want to own a pair of Tekton DI’s someday...

Great video Eric, I enjoyed the explanation. 😎

I know I’m 2 years late but, I love it!!!

I'd also like to add, that from my viewpoint, it's really great that Eric is also a musician and not "just" a speaker designer. Playing music is so much different than listening to it - but both playing or listening are great unto themselves and deserve the best you can afford when it comes to audio equipment. Once you get it home and listen to it, you'll be glad you did! You only live once, so enjoy the magic of music every day in your life! (Besides, music is the only way to stimulate the soul.)

We're working on it, but it's impossible. I like your enthusiasm good sir.

The D. I ‘s are just incredible!!!! Tekton Nation!! Thank You Eric

I've been a ribbon fan ever since hearing the amazing soundstage of Apogee Scintillas back in the '80s. Unfortunately, those ribbons had no dynamism at all, and I was all cones and domes until 2016, when I was introduced to Jack Smiley's hand-built air motion transformers that crossover at 500 Hz. I totally get what you're doing, using multiple tweeters to cover the mids with athleticism. However, there's still the issue of a tiny dome trying to fill a big room with the highs, and that's where air motion transformers come out on top. That said, I would still love to audition some Tektons. Unfortunately, I could not find them at the last two AXPONA shows. It's mind-boggling to me that you'd settle on a direct sales model with no presence at audio shows. Currently, I'm building the Blue Rose Ballroom, which will be one of the best sounding small venues in the world, and I settled on Coda Audio for the sound system because they have a tweeter design with 50% less distortion that uses a pair of flat ring diaphragms instead of a 4" dome. I have a pair of their HOPS8 point sources in my living room, and they have the sound I've wanted at home for 40 years and never achieved. They're nowhere near as revealing as air motion transformers, but they slam music into my chest like nothing else I've ever heard. If they scaled their dual-ring driver down to home audio power handling levels, with even lower mass ring diaphragms, they could take the home market by storm.

Thanks for your explanation. This the first time I heard about the technical background on these speakers from the horse's mouth.

The first four and a half minutes were great and felt genuine and I love that ideal for speakers you talk about and it feels like you have the passion and excitement to chase that dream of bridging between live music and reproduction in the home. But after that you really shifted gears into huckster mode. At the end of that craziness you said the next video you post will have measurements to prove that your grandiose claims are real. You posted this four years ago. And still no measurements. Get back to your passion and work from there! You clearly have a lot of real things to bring to the music world. But you’re gonna first need to do a lot of soul searching and make amends for your recent behavior. Someone mentioned your son was kidnapped and you haven’t seen him in over a decade. That is genuinely horrifying and I hope it is not true. bUt even if it is, it maybe helps explain but doesn’t excuse the ugliness you’ve brought to hhis environment inspired by the beauty of music. I hope you can find healing and experience the relief that comes from working to put broken things back together again. I’ve been there and really, has just been so liberating and peaceful for me to be start taking real responsibility instead of projecting it onto others.

awesome video! truth in live music. a foreign concept to a lot of speaker designers, and listeners. i do not think most have ever actually been to live music. its great to see someone making speakers that plays. even better that you buy instruments to hear and analyze to better replicate. a lesson many could use. i hope you have many many good years to come and keep up the great work!

Hey Eric, I notice that Macintosh is also using an array of small drivers coupled to woofers. Any concerns with patent infringement there or is that simply affirmation of your design?

My son is a professional classically trained trombonist and his girlfriend a harpist . I can state with certainty nothing comes close to sitting in front of a full orchestra hearing and feeling the music. I own tannoy westminsters they are beautiful speakers but nothing compares to hearing live music

I had seen these and wondered about the potential comb filtering issue. As long as you keep the flanking tweeters cut off low enough there is no reason it shouldn't work but I would be concerned about running such small drivers to sufficiently low frequency for this. I had wondered if you were using linear phase digital filters such as described by Horbach and Keele but I see these are passive so that wouldn't be an option. Interesting design, hopefully some day I'll get a chance to hear a pair.

So what about Electrostats and ribbon speakers? Don't hey have low mass and should be able to give the same type of performance as the Tekton Tweeter array speakers?

This is the video I was looking for! What frequencies do the smaller woofers produce if the tweeter group is covering down to 400hz? 150hz to 400hz maybe? What kind of crossover slopes are used? This is interesting stuff

Eric, another informative video. I'm hoping you have some more in the pipeline.

Love it Eric! As always, great stuff. I appreciate your explanations. Just curious if you could do a video on your new subs (2-10 and 4-10)? I'm super interested in those and how they are different from the cinema sub and if they still incorporate your sub design philosophy. Thanks again!

What passion! He truly loves what he does. I don't think he's selling hype either. Watch the reviews. Personally, I like the idea of realism in music reproduction. I'm sold on the double impact. Great price versus performance.

These look awesome, getting a lot of good accolades in the audio industry. And for the price, I will be buying the double impacts..

Eric, circular arrays have been in the public domain since the 50's. Please see Acoustical Engineering, by Harry Olson 1957 where he describes it in several places. He also has a diagram of the exact same 7 driver array (pg137 figure 6.12B). So I'm curious how you got a patent on it. Or is your patent for something else?

eric, as a musican (guitar/drums) i totally understand what you're describing. i'm also a huge car audio nut. i've listened to some amazing cars, gary summers' mercedes, andy wehymeyer's mercedes, the magic bus, and countless others. i'm curious what you're running in your vehicles? i feel with all the challenges the car provides, this is where the most fun/frustration comes from.

Can't wait to pick up a pair for myself.

I've personally heard these speakers and I must say I've yet to hear anything as good since, there is a science here that I believe only he has tapped into. I was shocked, I mean utterly shocked when I saw how affordable these were. Eric is not trying to get rich, I really think he lives to attain the perfect sound achievable out of a loudspeaker. I think he is already there but lord knows he won't quit. Steve Guttenberg said it best "You can get a better sound out of the Tekton double impacts than Klipsch Forte's at halve the price" Where else can you possibly find that..... AND THEY ARE MADE IN THE USA. Does it really get any better!

I love to hear them. I know the mike will do no justice, but a sound demo please .

I read that Tekton are not only making revolutionary speakers but also a revolutionary recording technology/method.

Hi Sir, I'm new to your videos and tekcon. There's no dealer to your speakers in Singapore. What amps are good to pair your amps? Is class D 150W 4ohm or AB 28OW 4 ohm ok to drive which of your speakers ?

Eric, As far as size goes, I'm betting your top of the range mid tower Electron SE would be a top 3 best seller beacuse, like myself, our better halves would not like it if I purchased a speaker close to her stature in size. I would love to hear both a sound demo and a detailed review on the Electron SE's. I've only found one written review. I'm sure with all of your vast availablity of reviewers that love your products that you should have no problem getting it done .I hope to be calling you in the near future to place an order. Thank you for your passion, vision and inovations in the audio world.

I'm interested in Lore line but they don't have the awesome tweeter arrays. Wonder what I'll be missing compared to the the ones that have? My main goal is percussion has to sound right, and good dynamics.

Eric ....Great speakers that have the natural sound to match its quality! Would like to see a sound bar system with with sorround package for a multi room Tecton sound streaming and wireless HD 5.0 capable..... When you get a chance that is:)) Much appreciated!!!!

My take for all those tweeters is to put realistic body into treble frequencies, like you're listening to a drummer playing instead of a recording of a drummer playing, mixed by someone who doesn't play drums & wants to change how they sound for an effect they think sounds better, typically boosting/hyping the treble.

Wondeful! Real Physics in the service on Music. This is a breath of fresh air, in a Hi-End world full of snake oil .

I'm really interested in a set of your speakers. I keep eyeing the Encore or the Ulfbert's. What would you say would be the difference in the sound and would a Prima Luna Dialogue HP integrated amp be enough to push those bad boys with just quad else's per channel?

Your speakers are very cool and I did listen to them and they sounded great. At that time the sound stage seemed a bit narrow but I watched your video which you seem to have addressed this. I am considering the smaller Impact for a mastering studio I am building.

Is the new 2112 speaker a Rush reference , my favorite things Rush and near future Tekton speakers

Love your videos. I’m planning to fly to Utah and would love to check the Double Impacts. I come from a place where Audio Research, Bel Canto, Wadia, and Magnepan call home.

Wow nice speakers. Done properly, more drivers are going to be better because they don't have to work hard and be driven hard to get great sound. Really like Tekton's approach to speaker manufacturing. Glad I came across this channel. They have speakers that the average guy can afford without breaking the bank all the way up to $20K-25K?

Is it critical that the center driver in a 7 tweeters assembly is exactly the same as the rest 6 of them? May we use some higher quality tweeter for a center position and somewhat lesser drivers for the surrounding "midrange"? Given that lowpass crossover frequency for those drivers is fairly low I guess there shouldn't be any significant delays or phase shifts between different type of tweeters within a range they would play together.

Interesting design philosophy , I like the concept , question is , how do handle resonance of those small drivers if your driving down to 300 hz ?????

Hey Eric. I'm looking to upgrade to some 3-way (full range) monitors for my mastering studio. Was looking mostly at active monitors, but was also considering Amphion and the Double Impacts. However, I don't personally know any mastering engineers using your monitors. Are you aware of any of your speakers being used in this capacity? Is the double impact suitable for mastering? Do you have another monitor that would be more suitable? Thx

I think one of the weakest links is the recording, compression, EQ, limiting, all to make it sound OK on a telephone. This is 95% of the market sadly. People that like music to sound real and natural are the remaining 5%.

These remind me of a lot of the 1970s/1980s Japanese "Kabuki" speakers, ala the Kenwood LS-P7200. For whatever reason most audiophiles hate on them.

Eric - as a former guitarist, I'm looking for speakers to reproduce heavy guitar tones closer to a real tube head on 4x12 cab better than my current traditional speakers. My room is a modest 14x12x10, and I've narrowed down to Enzo 2.7, Lore, or Perfect SET, unless you throw me a curveball to consider. Would love a recommendation for that specific goal.

I would love to hear these speakers! See, back in like 1999 I figured, speakers needed more air pushed from the tweeter section, and maybe the mids. It just made sense to me. So with most of my designs after that I drew the exact same (honeycomb 7 tweeters) configuration for tweeters. But I was (am, lol) broke and could never build a working example. I'm excited that these exist.

Thanks Eric Absolutely love my seas pendragons

Why did you stop producing videos? I want to hear more.

Thank you. This makes sense. Hard to reproduce the harmonics in the correct ratios if the mass is different. Got it. Good idea. Still don't understand the mathematics though, a flat frequency response is a flat frequency response, so however you want to achieve it seems like it would work. Curious: Do you place phase shifts in the driver array to broaden the dispersion?

Hello sir I have not had the opportunity yet to listen to any of the Tekton Subwoofers? If so can you please share the 4 ten inch or the double ten inch subwoofers please? I'm interested in getting a pair of 4 The Ten Inch Subwoofers.

I get the concept and have heard them at shows but plasma tweeters really seemed to nail it for me. These Tektons sounded very colored to me towards the higher registers but the rooms I heard them in may have been too small and the ceilings may have been too low. Live music is usually not listened to in a tiny hotel room. :/

MAYBE YOU PLAY DRUMS AND LET SPEAKER MANUFACTORY FOR THE ENGINEER ...ha , ha , ha.....

Comparative tests???

thanks for explaining. I wonder why so many speakers in a MTM layout.

We need more videos !!!

Im so excited about my Pendragon order!! I

I am right on the cusp of ordering a set of your speakers. I just have one question. There are upgrades offered when ordering. Are the specifications a reflection of the upgraded model or the base model speaker??

I just discovered and I'm enjoying your videos. We agree on several important points. As a drummer do you have your hearing tested? Thanks!

Too bad you can't buy them in Europe, seem they are great products. I tried to understand how they work but the patent was too complicated for me. How are they different from McIntosh XR100 speakers?

Eric - Please make or let me how to find a video or review of your Mini Lore Monitor. It seems like it would fit my needs, but without any reviews or introductions it is still an unknown gamble (other than being a Tekton) Thanks

Go tell GR Research about your accolades. He thinks you need his help on the crossovers. LMAO!

Why not use tweeters like airmotion transformer or ribbon or planar ?

So on the singular 7 tweeter array, they cross at 4000 to the center tweeter roughly? What about the ‘mtm’ version with the singular tweeter... all 7 play the same frequencies?

Do you have any distributors in the Philippines?

These speakers probably sound excellent. The explanation is embarrassing garbage. A 3" Scanspeak dome midrange has the same low mass and more area than seven 1" dome tweeters. The patent is a gimmick. The string on a violin makes very little sound. It's the body of the violin interacting with the string that makes the sound. Mount a violin string on a carbon arrow shaft and it will make little or no sound. Gimmick. Go put the body of the violin on a scale. Who cares? You can patent anything novel, whether it's useful or enforceable or not. Just money down the drain. The speakers are fine. It's having all those drivers that produces very low distortion and huge max SPL at high frequencies that's important. That speaker will be able to reproduce a wide band drum shot, which happens to have energy that's flat out to 20,000 Hz. Having drivers that far apart can lead to some weird interference and lobing at the upper crossover point, is it 3 kHz? Don't know. It would be most interesting to see the radiation pattern plots. That's all that matters. The cone mass is hyped for no reason. The mass of all those tweeters combine, including the voice coils, is likely the same as the midrange. Mass has nothing to do with frequency response, but high mass will result in low efficiency. Lots of drivers overcomes that.

Do you sell them in UK please.?

Make more videos

I’m so glad I dodged this bullet.

Whoever edited this audio went way too hard on the noise reduction. If you need a decent video editor that knows what they're doing, I'm looking for work :) (and I'll work for speakers)

What about phase cancellation there will be that, why don't you separate the drivers from each other so they can't interact with each other or use the phase cancellation as a benefit from wall reflections. have you thought about using instead of the centre tweeter driver and use plasma driver, better way to go for accuracy speed lightness as you're talking about. they can cover from 5 to 50 kHz at 110 DB, And it has been found out in Japan that the Frequency response between 20 and 20 is not accurate, you need to reproduce the higher frequencies up to 50 kilohertz if possible it gives presents to the lower frequencies, by interacting with the body can feel it at those high frequencies, that's what you're feeling with natural instruments. They have shown that the brain is responding to these highest frequencies even if you can't hear it, they interact with the lower frequencies. Best way to put is I suppose is, if you're listening to low frequencies and the trouble is introduced into the mix the bass sounds more bassy coherent not muddy I think that's how it works. You get yourself an active EQ that can go up to these high-frequency 30 of 40kHz is some on the market and tweak these frequencies up. You should be making them active your speakers With room cancellation calibration. Just designed the crossover as an active crossover you can still use amplification from any amp, there's plenty on the market if you tune it to how you want it for your speakers would be even better and just relying on the set parameters. They're not expensive you can pick them up for $150 Grant you they're not that versatile you want to play about 5 of 600$. Have you thought about controlling the bass drivers with servo assisted and using a realistic EQ they're cheap.

Well designed horns can get you there as well. But…. The price of admission is disheartening. Love your enthusiasm. Keep it up.

Can I get your designs in the U.K.?

Hi Eric , excuse me but Do you have any trouble reading and replying to your emails so that I can finalize my purchase project ?

they need more tweeters

Is there any published distortion data on these speakers?

Do you have a video that you could actually hear how it sounds? Thanks

Why don,t you sell in Europe

If you think you can simply stuff a bunch of tweeters in a box to attract uneducated buyers, this audio experienced 60 year old is not buying it,but good luck as long as you can milk it

your microphone has way too much sibilance.