Stereo refresh ... was Tekton Lore speakers

[rs911t]

Anyone have experience with these? Very good reviews out there. Musing with the idea of replacing my ancient BA A150 speakers for strictly music listening.

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

[Dandelion]

Not heard of them. What kind of music do you typically listen to?

I picked up a pair of PSB Synchrony One B's a couple of weeks ago, and it's a great speaker for acoustic jazz, classical, etc. Serviceable (but not the best) on heavy layered hard rock guitar.

ed

[savowood]

****WARNING - HIGHLY OPINIONATED AUDIO ENGINEER POSTING****

Personally, I stay away from "audiophile quality" stuff. Nothing will be as crisp, clean, and generally awesome as a nice set of studio monitors. My preference is the Meyer HD-1. I also like Tannoy's Reveal series, specifically the 601a, but you'd probably need a sub for them. If you don't want active, they have a passive model, too. But my overall favorite for price/performance is definitely Dynaudio. Their BM12a is every bit as good as the Meyer HD-1, but the price is much less. It's an active monitor, but IIRC they have a passive version. The BM12a looks to be in the same price range as the Tekton Lore.

Audiophile speakers tend to lean towards the appearance which sometimes compromises the sound quality. They try to give you some hokum about how their decision makes for a better sound field, or maybe it improves clarity. Sticking with a high quality professional studio monitor is the best choice you can make when looking for something for serious listening.

The (reviewers in) magazines don't like them because they don't pay the bills, and they come up with some excuse about how they're too clinical or some other crap like that. A pair of audiophile speakers can be insanely expensive. The three studio monitors I listed above have either won or been nominated for TEC Awards. The TEC Award is basically the Grammy/Oscar/Tony award equivalent for the professional audio world. To me, that speaks volumes about the quality over what an audiophile magazine thinks.

I noticed Tekton offers a 30 day trial. I'd say check them out, and A-B them with a set of the Dynaudio. Send back the ones you don't like. The only reason I think you might not like the studio monitors is they're likely going to highlight bad recordings, mixes, or masterings. You may not like some of your favorite music any more. =-)

[}{arlequin]

seems like every major speaker company has a 'studio monitor' in their lineup...

[Dr K]

2nd Savowood above. I've heard Tannoys and they sound very good (interesting coaxial setup--but these are NOT like auto coax speakers). Went with NHTs (2 different types) which I like, but they're not really studio monitors. But a 10" woofer and a tweeter as a 2-way is unlikely to have a great midrange, as the woofer is probably too big to move that quickly (unless it's really light, in which case it might not reproduce bass well enough - it certainly doesn't look like carbon fiber), and the tweeter too small. But I haven't seen a review, frequency-response curve, or listened to them.

[}{arlequin]

fyi, abbey road uses b&w's as their monitors.

I'd like to think that studio knows a thing or two ab sound

[Dr K]

^I had circa 1995 B&W 805s and the mid-sized (12") B&W sub, and was never really happy with them. I took them out of service and replaced them with less-expensive NHTs which were better suited to the room. A couple of years later went to sell the B&Ws and set them up in the (quite live) living room with just an amp and CD player for an interested guy to listen, and WOW! They were magical. My wife agreed and said if the guy didn't buy them, I could leave them in the living room. Unfortunately, the guy was no idiot and took the speakers.

My point - the room makes as much or more of a difference than the speakers. There are companies and consultants who do mostly room acoustics and it matters.

[MatP]

I am still rocking my B&W Matrix 805s.

[savowood]

B&W are quite good. I know there's a mastering studio out there somewhere using them. I don't recall which one. Maybe Sterling, but I'm not positive.

IIRC, Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering, probably the best mastering engineer and studio in the world, uses Duntech Sovereign. I read a paper about why they use the instead of studio monitors, but I don't recall exactly the reasoning. It wasn't enough to convince me to switch. He compared his experiences with various monitors, studio and audiophile, and said basically that these did a great job if filling the gap between what the recording engineer and mixer heard, and what the consumer will hear.

Michael Jackson's engineer, Bruce Swedien, uses JBL 4310 monitors. He said the 4311 is crap, but the 4310 was the best he had ever heard and it was his comfort monitor. It was after the 4310 that JBL started meaning "junky but loud."

Back to the B&W, they're really good. I don't think I'd refuse a pair for listening to my favorite tunes.

[B r i a n]

+1 for B&W.

[rs911t]

As a wrap, my speaker search turned into a junior audiophile level system refresh. Definitive BP-8040ST towers and a NAD C356 integrated amp with plug-in phono module. The Stanton 881S cartridge in the Thorens got a new stylus (long overdue after 30 years). Listening to vinyl is enjoyable again! Final piece is a Halide DAC for the computer.

[jbailey930]

Need to get a listen, Greg. Where did you source the equipment from - Crutchfield?

[rs911t]

The NAD from Crutchfield, the Defs from Best Buy

[APKhaos]

I've had various NAD models since the 70's. Love 'em, so good get!

[rs911t]

My original junior audiophile purchase in 1981 consisted of a NAD 3140 (still have it, one bad channel), the Boston A150s and the Thorens turntable. NAD seems to have maintained its reputation, so time for another. So far, so good.