Tekton Pendragon - Page 8

^ Dang Vic, still no shipping notice from Tekton? Sorry to hear it. Are you still auditioning the Gallos? What tube amp do you have?

I have the EMP Tek VT-40.2 integrated hybrid tube amp. It's a nice inexpensive integrated tube amp. I decided to start with this one for my home office/2-channel room and if I like it possibly upgrade to a "better" full tube amp and use the VT-40.2 in my office at work. The link to this amp is below. It's been sold out from EMP Tek's website for a while. Not sure when/if they'll be getting any back in.

http://www.emptek.com/amps.php

I believe the VT-40.2 amp is a modified version of the Qinpu A-6000 MKII (only the VT is 40w vs. 16w for the A-6000).

With respect to the M-Lores, if they don't come (or I don't get a date for delivery) this week, then I'll probably cancel them. My wife is likely having our baby sometime this week or next week. My Phil 2s are coming on Wednesday and I don't want to be dealing with the uncertainty of whether the M-Lores will actually ship. I've been kind of frustrated with a furniture store (zGallerie) from which I purchased a sofa set in December that hasn't arrived. So I don't have much patience for manufacturers telling me one thing and doing another. I prefer real expectations as I can manage those as opposed to inaccurate, shifting expectations. I also wish there were some measurements for the Tektons somewhere. I'm surprised no one's yet measured them.

I currently have the Qinpu A-6000 Mk II and trying to decide if I am going to keep it versus using that money and upping the ante just bit by going with Jolida. The Emp amp you have does look very similar and I might be satisfied with that at 40-watts especially when/if I receive the Enzo from Tekton. Have you tried rolling the tubes yet? I tried a set of GE 5670 circa 1985 and not sure I hear a great deal of difference.

I agree one can only take so much of being told one thing and then it never happens. After you get the Phil 2's you may not think about the M-Lores again. Congratulations early on the arrival of that new baby!

I have not tried rolling the tubes. Not sure how much of a difference the sound would make. I think I noticed a slight difference while using my Maverick Audio D2 when switching between the solid-state preamp and the tube preamp. How much of that was placebo, I don't know. I was initially looking at the Jolida too. The 40w of the EMP is definitely more than enough for my office. I rarely go past 9 o'clock on the volume dial. It gets pretty loud. I use my laptop to dac as the input and have the volume on my laptop set at max (as recommended when using the usb dac). I'm excited about the Phils. I know they will be great for music (and believe and hope they will be equally as good for movies). The Enzos are intriguing for a dedicated theater/listening room. I'm glad that they were not available when I was making my decision for my HT because they are enticing: high sensitivity, dynamic and a more reasonable sized center than the Pendragon. Did you go 5.1 with the Enzos?

Thanks for the early congrats. My wife says that she is hoping our baby doesn't come out "late" as that has been our luck lately. For me, whenever he comes, will be just the right time.

For now I just went with Front L/R with the Enzo. I haven't decided what I am going to do permanently but just may set up a small 2-channel listening room with tubes and the Enzo. However I may order the center and put them in the theater room as well but I will not go with Enzos for the rear.

I understand your point but I think I understand where she is coming from a bit more!

<- someone's got a tracking # for a pair of dragon rears

Nice. Those things are beasts. Are you going to put them on stands?

Toys going to be happy

So I've been assured by Eric that my Enzo's are currently getting dressed up in Macassar Ebony veneer, and they will be shipping by the end of this week. I'm hoping to have a pair by sometime next week (Wednesday?!!!) to give some initial impressions. I'm guessing people will have some before then, though, since there had to be at least a couple of people that just ordered plain black cabinets.

I'll keep you posted!

I am going to attempt to put them on some Bell'o stands I picked up on amazon. It's hard finding stands that can handle 50lbs that don't cost more than a couple hundred bucks (my limit on speaker stands). Got the Bell'o stands on sale so.... Worth a shot.

Originally I had bought Sanos wall mounted stands. Then when the pendragon center arrived a couple months back I knew immediately that it was a no-go. The size specs of the system just does not become real until you put it in your living room and then you realize your 55" Bravia just became a midget TV set.

I've got bell'o stands for my surrounds and I plan on getting another set for my office or bedroom. They're nice for the price. Everything about the Pendragon looks excessive. The center, the rears, the fronts. I can only imagine how the 5.1 sounds for movies. If only I had the space, I'd use the Phils for my dedicated 2 channel and the Pens for movies. Can't wait to read the Enzo reviews. Need some figures on those.

Patiently waiting on a set of Lores...Sent the MMGs back way to early I guess. Really hard to go back to a less than mediocre speaker after that.

Shipping to Port Huron going to cross at Sarnia to bring then back into Canada, hopefully save some dosh on duty and brokerage fees.


Speakers: Lore (standard black satin)
Order Date: February 18 2013
Estimated Delivery Date: 3-4 weeks from order date
Delivery Date: Not yet delivered

So after calling Eric about once a week, I finally got a shipping date, credit card charge and tracking number. The info is listed below.

Speakers: M-Lore (Satin White)
Order Date: February 12, 2013
Estimated Delivery Date: 3 weeks from order date
Delivery Date: March 19, 2013

Glad to hear it! That was pretty fast delivery. I had ordered my surrounds back in November lol

I think he's picking up speed on all these speakers, which is good to know. It's also good to make sure you keep in touch with him. I think that made a difference. Perhaps he simply wanted me to quit calling him.

Its good to see. Lets hear some reviews when your fedex guy shows up.

Eric just sent me an email saying my enzos will ship tomorrow!!!!

Congrats. Are you doing a 5.1+ setup or are you only going two channel.

I think a lot of us will be awaiting your impressions of the Enzo's...please let us know.

I was thinking about the pendragons, but they may be too big for my room, so now considering the Enzo's...

I'm going 2-channel. I've got a dedicated listening room. I started out as a 5.1 guy, but have since figured I'd rather spend all that money on 2 awesome speakers instead of 5 ok speakers, lol.


I will certainly get on here with photos and first impressions. I just sold my Maggie MMG's and 1.7's (I'm trying to convince myself I'm not an idiot), replacing them with the enzo's without ever hearing them!!! I'm in this stage where I just want to hear as much gear as I can. I feel like I've given the panel speaker a good go, so now I'm seeing what a high-sensitivty speaker can do. Should be fun.

Vic, what is your plan now for m-lore? You have the phils and are in nirvana correct? can't wait to hear your thoughts on these after hearing the phils in your own home!

I can't say enough about these Phil 2s. They just sound awesome. The wife asked me why I auditioned all those other speakers. Why didn't I just buy these from the beginning. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have found them without the audition process. They're great for music and movies.

Nonetheless, I'm really interested in these new high sensitivity designs. I plan on placing the M-Lores in my 2 channel room. I'm hoping for a different sound then the Phils just to vary my listening options. I can't wait until Tuesday. I wonder if the speakers or baby will get here first.
Edited by VicTorious1 - 3/17/13 at 10:16pm

Good luck on the new addition . Be interesting to hear your differences between the Phil's and the tektons even though their at different ends of their product lines. What will you be using to power the m-lore ?

Thanks. We are excited for him to come. To power the M-Lores, I will be using a 40 watt integrated tube amp. While speaking with Eric, he said the M-Lores would sound great with my tube amp. We'll see. If not, I'll be using a solid state amp.

Yeah, I've already talked to him, as he's delayed my order before, and I nearly cancelled. He knows he loses my order if he doesn't come through today, lol.

I decided to hang around and wait for the FedEx guy, and look what came in the mail for me today. Finally, my M-Lores have arrived.



I figured I may as well open them up and try them out before heading into work for a closing lunch. They came packed with a good amount of Styrofoam. They were packed so tightly that there were impressions of the top driver/transducer and the binding posts left on the Styrofoam. I unpacked them and hooked them up to my VT40.2 integrated tube amp using the MOG desktop app on my PC and the Maverick Audio D2 dac as my source. The build quality of these speakers is nice. I also am partial to the satin white.

One thing I noticed was that, despite not ordering speaker grills, I requested that grill holes be drilled so I can order speaker grills in the future when my kid(s) get a little older. Conspicuously, no grill holes are present. When I powered on my amp, I noticed a low buzzing from the drivers. I'm not sure if it is due to the integrated tube amp or the high sensitivity of the speakers or both. I plan to hook them up to my Marantz SR6007 this evening or tomorrow to see whether it is the amp. When I had the EMP Tek E41s hooked up to this amp, I did not notice the same buzzing.

Next, I decided to try some music. I went for the trusty Norah Jones, which is my go to reference CD. Immediately upon pressing play, I was surprised with the volume of these little speakers. I had the dial on my amp set at just under 7 o'clock and these speakers were quite loud. Good thing my volume dial is granular so I was able to finely adjust the volume. My first impressions of these speakers are positive. The sound is powerful, dynamic and clear. I listened to some Nora Jones, Hugh Masekela, Mumford & Sons and Diana Krall. It handled it all pretty well. I was also surprised by the amount of bass these little guys are putting out. I plan to have a more detailed listening session sometime this week and I will be comparing them (not for head-to-head purposes) to my Philharmonic 2s, which I've yet to hear anything in my space eclipse, and some EMP Tek E41 bookshelf speakers.

I've included a few pictures below:

^ congrats Vic... they look awesome... anxiously await more detail about what you think about them and your comparison to your Phils. I really like the white!

Yes Vic...they look very nice! How long did you say they took to arrive, from time order was placed?

Can't wait to hear more of your thoughts!