Tekton Design Speakers

[petercintn]

I am thinking of buying either the Model 81en or the OB45en.  One is a single Fostex 206en and the OB45 is an open baffle with two identical 4.5" drivers.  You can buy matching subs for the OB45 for 600 dollars.  Eric Alexander recommended the 81en for me as he thinks my 100 watt Yamaha will bring out the magic smoke of the OB45, but I forgot that I can limit the Yamaha's volume in the 'software.'

Therefore my question.  I have no idea how to turn the volume into watts.  The volume runs from -89.5db to +16db. Before the -89.5db setting is Mute and the setting after +16db is Max.  What formula do I use to turn this into wattage used?  I think its a log function but I've never cut down a tree.  ;>

Edit:  If I were to get Dr. Hsu's horn speakers with a 92db sensitivety, would the Sex drive it in a 12 x 12 room.  Don't need to blast out the neighbors in the apartment though.

 

[Grainger49]

Peter,

The numbers displayed by your Yamaha is the Attenuation (negatives) or Gain of the preamp section.  It is applied to the incoming signal.  But your ears are what should control the volume.  I would guess that the Yamaha has enough power to make your ears bleed, but to do that you have to turn it up too loud.  Common sense will control that. 

The realistic problem would be that you didn't get much control of teh volume with the Yamaha before getting too loud.  The steps might be too large for your listening preferences.

I once had a system with 1.5 Hp in a 12' X 12' bedroom.  I found that the preamp I had was inappropriate, it didn't give me much control before getting too loud.

 

[Paul Joppa]

I think Grainger pretty much nailed it. Gain is not power, and unfortunately there are only gain controls, no power controls. For a given input voltage (from the CD player for instance) more gain results in more power, of course, but then more signal from the CD player also makes more power.

In fact, the audio signal has a very high peak-to-average ratio, and you can easily find recordings where the instantaneous power - let's say, averaged over 0.0001 seconds, right when the stick strikes the cymbal, is 25 watts yet the moving average power (over say 0.2 seconds, which is more like what we hear, and what the speaker can be damaged by) is only one watt. In contrast, other recordings (a certain Nine Inch Nails album comes to mind) can have 25 watt instantaneous peaks with 24.5 watt moving average.

The only reasonable answer is, as Grainger has suggested, to trust your own ears, and after the first two martinis don't let your friends adjust the knobs!  :^)

 

[4krow]

I put myself in a situation with an 'integrated amp', where the amp could also be used as a power amp. The preamp that I used had variable output(voltage/gain 0-36 volts output!, not volume as such), and the 'integrated had adjustable input sensitivity. WHAT A MESS! I never did get it right. One source was great and the next wasn't. Same with recordings. Sold both of those units before I was driven mad. Since then, the guy that bought them sold them too and uses only BH. So far, he loves it, and I am tempted, but as always, hesitant to jump in.

 

[tuffy_puppy]

greg,  don't be hesitant!  you know i have been where you have been.  best move i have ever made was to get a used sex 2.1 from audiogon and to have shawn at bh refurb it.  then i added  a new extended foreplay, also assembled by shawn, and friend i am ecstatic!!  you also know i have no skills in this area.  however, you do!  go for it!!  the sex amp has more power than you will need.  no fear!!  don

 

[4krow]

Uh Don, ya wanna buy a really nice amp? I just happen to know of one....

 

[petercintn]

Thanks guys, I have been reading quite a bit to school myself in these matters, and Grainger you have said an earfull.

It seems that a lot of manufacturers numbers are quite arbitrary.  Like the music power rating that Fostex uses.  The Fostex 206en specs say 30 watts max and music power is 90 watts. This music power seems to be an arbitrary number formulated differently by each manufacturer. Now that I think about it, the Pioneer before the Yamaha had negative db numbers for volume, but on a completely different scale.

Well, I have decided on the Model 81en from Tekton and here's hoping I like the Fostex sound, I have never heard a full range speaker, (other than a radio, or alarm clock.)  Nor a whizzer cone, but I've read the Fostex can be harsh.  Hope Mr. Alexander has these speakers as fine tuned as I hear the Lores are.  Least I can send them back for a small fee if I don't like them.

 

[saildoctor]

Hi Peter - I bought a pair of Tekton 8.1's about 2 years ago.  They're not quite the same animal as the current model as mine have Fostex 207e drivers - and I also had Fostex T-90a supertweeters included.  They came with a crossover mounted on the inside and I've upgraded most of its' components, but I'm thinking of tinkering with it again soon.  I really like their sound!  The drivers do need breaking in before a fair judgement can be made.

 

[Grainger49]

Peter,

To break the speakers in I always suggest placing them together front to front, as close as possible.  Then swap the phase on one speaker so they play out of phase and cancel a lot of the sound.  Play them loud, toss a couple of blankets to muffle most of the sound that escapes.

Break in for 24/7 at least a week.

 

[tuffy_puppy]

maybe three years ago i bought the 1.3 cubic foot tekton floor standers from eric.  they had fostex 8" speakers.  don't remember the number.  just fine.  but did replace them with audio nirvana 8" cast frame after about a year.  better, quite a bit better.  just fyi.  don

 

[petercintn]

Update:

Here's the Tekton 81en.  Eric advised me that I would blow the open baffles with the Yamaha.  Got just over 50 hrs on them and their coming along quite nicely.  Nice bass for the smallish box.  I'm enjoying the single driver concept here, it's got quite a bit better sound than the Polk RTi4's they replaced.  I got them in gray and my daughter thinks their ugly, but she said she wants a couple of pretty speakers and a wall of subs.  She likes her dubstep.  Here's pics of the 'ugly' Tektons.

 

[HF9]

Very nice! I have a pair of the smaller 4.1s (which were only $250 when I got them a couple years ago).

A few things have changed since I took the photo and the Tektons are now being powered with an ST35. I'm still very happy with them and think they are one of the best values in audio.