Tekton Pendragon - Page 2

Just got my center today. Yes , it's big and quite interestingly it is sealed, not ported like the main floor standers.

I was wondering about the center not being ported also but to this day have read NO comments or reviews on it. Maybe you could be the first to give the center a test run......that would be great. Let us know!

Yeah nb can you give us an idea of how the new pendragon centre compares to other centre channels you have had.
Thanks

Sure guys, I'll give it a twirl this weekend. I just need to re-run audyssey and give it a day or two to break in. I actually have 2 guys from the forum coming around this weekend so I'll ask their honest opinion as well.

You're the Man, I mean, the very first written assessment! Of course.........we're all expecting something great. I hope to have everything done in 3 weeks.

Thanks nb . Mine should be here in a few weeks. Let me know what crossover setting you like best. Is it full range or crossed over at 60 Hz ? Have fun !

Uh- oh Chaluga..........no report from nb........

Well wait a few more weeks and I will give you a detailed report

Same here, I'll be all hooked up and ready on Feb 4th!

Hey guys, sorry for the delay but my job requires me to travel (a lot and for long periods ) so I did not have time to do some serious listening. I got to tell you I was not blown away by the center speaker like I was by the mains. When I hooked it up it had that nasal sound to my ears. I'm coming from a ED 8.3c which is actually bigger than this center but has a 3 way front ported design (2 x 8" drivers, dome mid and silk tweeter). I decided to re-run audyssey and leave the center on during the day at fairly loud volumes to get it to "break in" a little. After about 4 days I noticed a slight change in the overall sound. Not as nasally and boxy as before and the scenes in HT where speech was predominant it was more coherent. I have not messed around with treble or bass. I did notice when running 5 channel stereo it did some odd things when really pushed, sounded like is was starting to distort a little??? As for the mains I'm still really enjoying them and found one track in particular by the red hot chilli peppers that opens up with a bass guitar that really rattles my rooms doors and cabinet in 2 channel mode Unfortunately the AVS members did not make it around a few weeks ago to give me their honest assessment but in hind sight maybe that is better because I want them to hear it when I think I have everything dialed in.
I think I'll do some A and B testing between the 2 centers I have. I'll keep you posted. Oh btw audyssey crossed it at 40hz, just like the mains. That is something I'm going to play with a little as well, maybe try crossing it at 80hz, see if I hear a difference.

Hopefully it sounds better after its fully broken in. I just got my new hsu vtf15 last night and will be tweaking t for the next few days. Thanks for the update

IMO there's a bit of bull mixed in with the truth there. Truth, speakers do break in. Truth, most of the break in is accomplished within the first 40 hours of use, if that. Truth, break in continues over the life of the speaker. But where break in is mainly heard is in the lows, because woofers break in a lot, while tweeters and midranges break in very little. Some amount of midrange and high frequency brittleness will subside, but not a huge amount. In short, break in does not accomplish miracles, and a speaker that's harsh after 40 hours will still be harsh after 400 or 4000 hours. But after 400 hours you just don't notice it as much.
There are those who deny that break in occurs at all, and say that any changes you hear are the consequence of you getting used to the speakers. That's not true, but neither is the other extreme.

Just an update with my centre channel. Despite Audyssey crossing it at 40 Hz I decided to try it at 80 Hz. To make sure I wasn’t hearing things I asked my wife to participate in a blind test. I found some spoken audio on a DVD and played about a 20-30 second snippet. To make sure there was no fluke I ran the same audio with different combinations of 40 Hz and 80 Hz. I did this 4 times and each time my wife nailed the 80 Hz as the clearer sounding audio. So we have a winner at 80 Hz then. Even though the centre is capable down low (should be with 2 x10” drivers) it sounds clearer and more balanced at 80 Hz in my system.

My wife will determine the crossover setting as well. She wears hearing aids and often has trouble hearing , even when its loud. Current centre channel is good nit I'm hoping pen will be Better
Between the lores as fronts and my hsu sub I am not worried about bass from my center. Will let you know what work's best for me when I get mine.

I tried 10 Hz steps and only started to notice a discernable difference at about 70 Hz. At 80 Hz it's really obvious. I did some reserearch and found that the human voice's range to be from about 80 Hz - 1-3 kHz region after which it starts to drop off. (this was after I made adjustments). So I'll let my mains deal with everything else below 80 Hz to their cross-over and have my centre dialled in more for clarity of speech.

As soon as I get them I will. Ordered two weeks ago and will probably be another 2-3. Only big downside to tekton , the waiting.. but I know it will be worth it

Hmmm, having some issues posting pics today, maybe the crappy hotel connection I have.

Ken

The centre is big and surprisingly heavy too. My TV is a 60" and it kind of looks like a 40". Yes, the wait is painful, I'd add another 2-3 weeks on that delivery date. Oh and get some placement disks if you are on a hard floor or wood as none are supplied. I bought some Viablue spikes to replace the originals.

Chayne.

The pics are looking good. Wanted to comment on the spikes. I also have HW floors and had some serious "wobble" issues with the recommended rubber spikes or "conicle" shaped ones. Got some of Herbies Audio Lab giant sliders and they solved the problem.

Still waiting on mlores ordered first of december.

Since the return policy isn't very liberal on the Pendragons (or any Tekton to be honest) I am hesitating on ordering these despite the reviews. Anyone that has the Pendragons now owned Aperion, Ascend (with or without Ribbon) or Axiom previously? They are three of my front runners right now. I will probably try out Aperion with the liberal return policy. The Tekton and the Ascend have me very very intrigued though...

Did everyone buy these "blind"? Also, the center looks like the same driver configuration as the Pendragons... Do the surrounds also have the same drivers since they are all $800... If so...anyone try running 4 surrounds and one center? at 1600 vs. 2500 the savings is considerable.
Edited by Newbie01 - 2/3/13 at 12:32pm

I did. I have read enough great reviews by people I respect . My lores should be here soon with my pendragon centre.

I still worry about HF diffraction issues on every design I see. Would be interested to listen sometime.