Tekon lore review

[goraman]

http://www.tektondesign.com/lore.html

I'm not big on reviews,but there is not alot out there on this little known pair of floor standing speakers.

The company name is Teckon the designer and audio engineer is Eric Alexander.
A man who went from building some of the fastest drag racing engines to building some of the most efficient loud speakers offered in todays market.

A small company located in Utah U.S.A.
I first noticed them making small Fostex based book shelf speakers a few years back on both Audiogon and Ebay.

They always got fantastic reviews from users on several audio forums so when a good friend told me about the Lore and it's 98db. 30hz. to 30 khz. I had to check them out.

I really honestly didn't know what to expect, but I felt pretty good about the whole idea after talking with Eric about them on the phone,he really knows what he is doing,not just slapping drivers in a big wooden box.

I ordered my pair in Apple white/Ferrari white in a satin finish.
I did add some gold Daton speaker spikes,Eric was kind enough to to put some metric threaded inserts in the bottoms for me instead of his usual 1/4-20 threads. BTW he includes black spikes as standard.

The Lore is a dual ported direct radiating floor stander mainly composed of a very special Eminence 10 inch driver with a Wizzer cone and no phase plug and an Audax gold dome tweeter, not to mention a patented crossover using high quality parts.

They came in a small Fed Ex van and each where over 60lbs. in a 2 piece heavy card board box with a huge amount of 2 inch sheet foam so be prepared to rent a small dumpster to dispose of the packing foam.
To say they where well packed would be an under statement.

Eric emailed unpacking instructions explaining the safest way to unpack them.

After carefully cutting the tape and separating the two halves of the box I carefully removed the protective foam from the drivers, then the rest of the speaker.
Then I lifted them out from there box and turned it upside down on a large soft Indian rug and peeled the plastic from the bottom to install the spikes.

After I screwed in the spikes,while leaving the large plastic bag covering them I put them in place and lastly removed the plastic and inserted my speaker cables.

Now with them in place and hooked up I switched on my APC H110 power conditioner,my Manley Labs Stingray and checked to be sure it was in triode not UL.
I let the tubes warm up while I carried out all the packing and opened a cold bottle of beer.

My equipment is as follows :
Very modified Apple TV GEN 1 500gig. converted to a music server sporting apple lossless files through a glass 1 meter tolsink cable into a Little Dot DAC 1 in 24 bit.
1 meter White Zombie La Cacanya silver/teflon interconnects.
Manly Labs Stingray integrated amp. Mullard 12AT7's,GE 6414's and TAD EL84's in triode 20 watts and in UL 40 watts.
All power cords are 10 gauge PS Audio Prelude.
Speaker cables are silver in teflon 6 AWG . terminated into silver plated copper banana plugs.

1st album was Guy Davis ( Legacy ).
TO BE CONT...

[Darren]

Those are handsome speakers, no doubt about it. There's something of the Zu Druid about them both in looks and design I think.
I do struggle to believe the bandwidth and efficiency figures ( together) from those drivers in that sized box. But they look fab - hope you enjoy them.
Ps. It's not a dumpster.... It's a skip. OK? :)

[goraman]

Those are handsome speakers, no doubt about it. There's something of the Zu Druid about them both in looks and design I think.
I do struggle to believe the bandwidth and efficiency figures ( together) from those drivers in that sized box. But they look fab - hope you enjoy them.
Ps. It's not a dumpster.... It's a skip. OK? :)

I also didn't belive it but my last pair where 92 db. @1watt and I don't ever have to turn the volume past 9:00 now as before I ran at 12:00. They do 30 hz. very very well using a stereophile test sweep and do 20 hz. well enough for me,so much so that my EPOS sub can't keep up with them so it has been unplugged!

This is the engineering web site by Eric Alexander of Tekton. http://www.lodestonequarry.com/ a link to his blog and philosophy. http://tektondesign.wordpress.com/

[goraman]

I scrolled the remote to song 4 Come back baby.
Then I slightly reclined my big leather theater chair and took a sip of beer and pressed PLAY.
I closed my eyes and carefully listened as Guy D. began to pick and pull strings from an old acoustic guitar,his fingers sliding from fret to fret, then his voice,drums and bass all broke in at exactly the same time filling the room with an amazing sound stage and enough low end to vibrate the beer can in my hand just a little.
The volume knob was at 9:00. My guess is I was around a watt or under per channel.
I was sure my Epos sub woofer was on so I got up and checked it.
It was off, Wow!
I sat back down and just listened through a couple more songs in the album and couldn't believe the amount of bass and how controlled and tight it is from a bass reflex cabinet with two front ports.
This is the kind of bass you would expect from a very large sealed acoustic suspension design.
Next album:Jack Johnson Sleep through the static
This is a well recorded album with loads of bass and these speakers are giving every bit of it to me with no help from a dedicated sub woofer.
Time for another beer and album change.
Tom Waits: Mule Variations Chocolate Jesus
Man listen to that blues harp and banjo. his voice sounds just as it should and the tambourine is beautifully articulate and real.
Next: Amber Rubarth New green lines You will love this song

Silky smooth femail vocals,even her some what different delivery sounds utterly sweet and easy on the ears.Once again the guitars and bass are so well integrated,clearly there but not over powering vocals or making it difficult to hear very small details and softly played notes from other instruments.
To be continued.

[hoopsontoast]

I believe that the woofer is an Eminence Legend B102-
http://www.eminence.com/speakers/speaker-detail/?model=Legend_B102
Around 93dB.
Tweeter is a Audax TW025A28-
http://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/hard-dome-tweeter/audax-tw025a28-gold-dome-tweeter/
Around 94dB-95dB

Frequency range of 30Hz-30kHz i would guess is around +-10dB then :)

iirc, the Zu speakers (and the Druid orginally) use Eminence OEM's, and i would guess that the Druid Mk1 used a modified B102 (with phase plug), plenty on the net about them.

What were your previous speakers, and were they specified 92dB/2.83v or 92db/1w and 8Ohms or 4Ohms?
Not picking a fight, but i would guess that the Tekon's are around 93dB/1w/1m at the most.

Nice speakers none the less, seem very good value and even at 93dB decent sensitivity for low power amps, I would assume they are easy to drive as well!

[goraman]

Rob,
My last speakers where Mission 762i 92 db. @ 1 watt 8 ohms., The driver is not a stock Eminence but a very modified
version from the Legend series.
The Audax is how ever stock to my knowledge.
These speakers are much louder than the missions but the tweeters are not as forward.
The missions where a little bright and thin sounding compared to these.
You can call Eric and ask him about what he has done and how he achieved 98 db. @ 1 watt.
Or you can email him, he will answer you and I linked his web site above.

[hoopsontoast]

Found a pic of the Omen Vs Lore -

http://usr.audioasylum.com/images/1/13609/P1050663.JPG

:)

[hoopsontoast]

Not knocking the speakers, most manufacturers are economical with the truth when it comes to specifications. I will email him to see what modifications he has done to the Eminence B102. The Audax tweeter in stock form could well hit 98dB, but that's with a heavy rising response towards the top end.

[goraman]

http://www.zuaudio.com/#omen-standard-loudspeaker.php

[goraman]

Not knocking the speakers, most manufacturers are economical with the truth when it comes to specifications. I will email him to see what modifications he has done to the Eminence B102. The Audax tweeter in stock form could well hit 98dB, but that's with a heavy rising response towards the top end.

If a speaker is 93db. 1 watt ect... @100hz.
It can be 97db. at 300hz. and climb to 98 by 800hz. to 1 khz.
A good lesson for me was reading about the Peter Snell model E III and Audio Note SP E by Peter Q. built using the Snell design.

A tuned cabinet has the ability to raise the efficiency in the lower ranges,that's how the little 8 inch driver in the Audio Note E go's to 18hz. And is also 98db.

But no speaker is totally flat at it's rated efficiency, almost all speaker company's are forced to fudge there numbers to compete with out right lying cheats that advertise hype and B.S.
If the finest speaker manufacture where compleatly honest he'd be broke in a week because people don't take the time to sort out the truth.
WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD.

The fact is the Lores get loud with very little power, are they closer to 96,97 than 98db. I really couldn't tell you with out a way to measure 1 watt exactly.

I'm really not trying to pick fly poop out of a pile of pepper.
They sound better and get louder with less power than any speaker I have ever owned and they are 8 ohms perfect match for my amp.

If any thing I have said here is wrong ,any member is welcome to weigh in.
I don't know as much about speakers or measuring as some of our members, I'm sure one of them will set things straight.

[The Grand Wazoo]

A tuned cabinet has the ability to raise the efficiency in the lower ranges,that's how the little 8 inch driver in the Audio Note E go's to 18hz.

It's funny that you should mention tuned cabinets - I was interested in the views of people on the Bosendorfer speakers in this thread (http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=14103).

[goraman]

It's funny that you should mention tuned cabinets - I was interested in the views of people on the Bosendorfer speakers in this thread (http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=14103).

Tuned cabinets have been around since Peter Snell designed the first thin wall model J back in the 40's.

But cabinets don't have to have thin walls to be tuned, they just have to resonate at lower octaves,porting and venting plays some roll in this to my understanding.

[hoopsontoast]

Well most cabinets are 'tuned', be that with the enclosure size Vs QTS, ported, Sealed, 1/4 wave Transmission line etc etc.

Regarding efficiency, Audionote is not the best example, to get near their 98dB rating, they have to be very economical with the truth, some reading here-
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/HES.htm
http://www.stereophile.com/content/audio-note-e-lexus-signature-loudspeaker-measurements

I had a chat with Eric, pretty vague on the modifications to the B102, but to be honest, I would not expect him to say what he had modified to the driver to get such efficiency out of it. Nice chap though :)

[goraman]

Well most cabinets are 'tuned', be that with the enclosure size Vs QTS, ported, Sealed, 1/4 wave Transmission line etc etc.

Regarding efficiency, Audionote is not the best example, to get near their 98dB rating, they have to be very economical with the truth, some reading here-
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/HES.htm
http://www.stereophile.com/content/audio-note-e-lexus-signature-loudspeaker-measurements

I had a chat with Eric, pretty vague on the modifications to the B102, but to be honest, I would not expect him to say what he had modified to the driver to get such efficiency out of it. Nice chap though :)

Both are great articles are good examples of the problems that come with trying to run a low power system. It's why I choose to run near the middle with 20 to 25 watts triode the fact is 10 watts is very loud and I never go over that with these new speakers.

I have listened to audio Note E 's and if you put then right up to the wall in corners they do develop some bass but not like the Lores or even a Zu Omen.

I do give credit to Kondo, Peter Q. and David cheesel who through the 1980's struggled against the conventional wisdom of the days of Mo Power is king to bring us something that just sounds good and uses only a few watts to do it.:cool:

I don't know of another speaker that can do what the Lores do the Omen is the closest but at $1,000.00 a pair U.S. dollars I don't expect to be upgrading my speakers ever!