Tekton Double Impact Be vs. Focal Sopra No.3
A True Contest
There has been a lot of talk about Tekton speakers comparing to brands that cost tens of thousands of dollars, best in the world, blah, blah, blah. The brave talk of founder Eric Alexander doesn’t bother me at all. I think it’s great that an engineer is proud of their work and having spent 25+ years designing speakers I’m a huge fan of multi-driver solutions. I’ve seen a lot of unjustified hate talk from people criticizing his tweeter array as a marketing gimmick. I won’t get into the technical details here, but suffice to say, it is no gimmick. Not too long ago, the tweeter technology that allows Eric to do what he is doing just simply didn’t exist. The question, however, is how will they compare to more expensive highly rated speakers, specifically the Focal Sopra No. 3? I would be more than happy to own less costly speakers that possess equal sound quality!
Upon arrival there were three things that struck me (in no subtle way, either):
Soundstage was the deepest, most forward and overall best I’ve ever heard.
The tonal balance seemed to be completely off, greatly emphasizing the upper mids and highs and making it sound extremely bass shy.
Those beryllium domes were incredibly harsh. I’m talking about outdoor PA speaker kind of harsh. No kidding.
300 hours of break-in later using a combination of music with good dynamic range, the Luminist System Enhancer break-in cd and deep bass warble tones turned up pretty loudly from 20Hz to 40 Hz made a big difference, but it was still pretty bass shy and the initial harshness of those domes was so extreme my overall impressions remained the same. In no way do I mean to offend anyone, but the harshness was so bad it made these far less listenable than the average Sonos speaker and cost over $7,000 (if I remember). These things were really, really, really HARSH.
Puzzled by the lack of bass, I took some measurements. The Focal Sopra No. 3 had about 2 to 5 dB more efficiency across 3 octaves of bass. Either the Focal Sopra No. 3s are not flat or the Tektons are not flat, but this is a major discrepancy in bass output. Padding down the dome array 2 to 3 dB (more?) would restore the overall tonal balance and would make their harshness a bit more tolerable. Eric graciously offered to do it for me. Maybe they could still use a bit of break-in too? Even with all these tweaks, I still felt the gap between where they were and where they needed to be to compete with the Sopras was too great.
There’s just an overall hardness to the mid-range and highs that was unbearable. It’s also worth noting, however, there was an overall sense of dynamics and liveliness that I love (also present in other speakers like the Zu Definition and the Focal Sopra No.3).
While the overall tonal presentation was bass shy, bass was deep and powerful below 40Hz. Measurements confirmed it played lower than the Sopra No. 3, so there was an occasional organ note that I could hear better on the Tekton DI Be, but not so great the other 99.999% of the time. Bass notes sounded relatively fast from what I can discern trying to listen over the far too loud and harsh mids. I played drum solo tracks and even put a towel over the mids and highs trying to assess the bass better. I think though perhaps there was another issue. The perceived center of gravity for bass seemed to be 50 Hz and down. I really prefer speakers that emphasize the mid and upper bass and put a lot of meat into the lower mid-range. So padding down the dome array (and mids?) may have helped, but that wasn’t going to change the center of gravity within the bass range. The mid and upper bass just didn’t have the presence and punch I prefer compared to the low bass. This left the occasional low note seemingly disconnected from the rest of the sound. That’s going to be a problem for someone like me listens predominantly to blues, jazz and rock. Could it be those 10s are crossed pretty low and 6-1/2 inch woofers are left trying to compete with the Sopra’s 8-1/4 inch drivers for the meat of the bass range?
At this point I had over 500 hours of break-in on the speakers. The soundstage was a very solid 2-1/2 to 3 feet in front of the speakers and then extended as far back and wide as any other speaker I’ve heard. The total overall depth of sound stage is the best I’ve heard. Frankly I’ve never heard anything that even comes close. That front row seat feel combined with the three-dimensional density of center stage and bouncy dynamics goes a long way to creating a very fun and near live listening experience in some ways. But the overall hardness and general lack of perceived bass killed the fun before it ever started. I called Eric and we tested to make sure the bass drivers were in phase. Check. That was not the problem.
I tried what was most successful for most Tekton owners, which is Eric‘s recommended equilateral triangle with the speakers towed in so that the centerline just crosses over the inside of my shoulders intersecting a few feet behind my head. I used a laser alignment device to make sure this was set up properly. As expected, this changed the soundstage not to my liking and of course does nothing to change the overall tonal balance between the bass and mid-range/highs. I tried placing them against the wall to reinforce bass, moving them further away, changing listening position, changing toe-in and just about every trick in the book I knew to try. Pathetically weak bass, no matter what. Very frustrating. Bear in mind, this was in a room with near golden ratio dimensions that was giving me the best sound out of my Focal Sopra No. 3s I have ever heard.
I have a long history of buying and loving beryllium domes, so this is the first time it did not work out for me. In hindsight I think I would’ve been much happier with the SE version with more powerful bass drivers and improved tweeters but not the Be version. I’ve also noted Eric has CHANGED the beryllium domes he is using in the Be version since I purchased these. Maybe others had the same experience with the harshness?
Putting the Sopra No.3s back in the system I immediately missed the front row super deep soundstage, but it was a small price to pay for sound that didn’t make my ears bleed along with some bass. Every time I put the Tektons back they just continued to sound too hard with no richness of color and again a total lack of overall bass that I feel gives music it’s rhythm and pace.
It’s not totally shocking a pair of speakers that costs three times the money sounds better, but I have to admit the areas where I was both disappointed and pleased with the Tekton DI Be were not where I thought they would be. If you’re looking for a pair of speakers in the $3,000 range, from what I’ve read, the original versions just don’t have these problems. You still might not get punchy mid bass that rocks (disappointing for a speaker of that size and weight). I am beginning to see why people who use electrostatic speakers might go for them, though.
Maybe some slightly different crossover points and/or different drivers utilizing Eric’s methodology has the potential of creating a sound that truly exceeds what is available today at any price. This particular pair of Tekton DI BE just were not it. It’s also possible this particular pair just received the wrong L-pads for the dome array. Faulty crossover? Whatever the reason causing the problems, these just were not for me. I returned them, a disappointed man.
