Tekton Pendragon vs Goldenear Triton 2

[dpattillo]

I'm putting together my first hifi system next year and have been doing a lot of online research. My local electronics store sells the Goldenear Triton 2 speakers for $3000/pair and I tried them our yesterday and they sound amazing. I've read some great reviews regarding the Tekton Pendragon speakers at $2500/pair but would like to get more feedback before eliminating the Triton 2 from my list of options. If anyone has had experience with both speakers I'd appreciate your honest option.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Sandy Goss designed the GE and DefTech before that the GE.

From what I've heard, the GE sound exactly like the DT, which is the Sandy Goss signature sound.

I used to own the DefTech BP7000SC & BP7001SC. I liked them a lot.

I've never heard Tekton, but I heard they sound nice also.

The DT & GE frequency responses measure about +/-3.5dB (HTM & S&V).

The Tekton has never been measured by 3rd parties. We can only guess that they probably measure no flatter than the DT, but possibly worse.

Funk Audio is releasing their 8.2P speakers for an introductory $3500 (MSRP $4500). Their FR is supposed to measure +/-3dB.

Then you have the Dennis Murphy crossover designs of Philharmonic & Salk speakers.

Also Ascend Acoustics speakers.

Don't forget KEF & Revel.

Music Direct is selling the Focal Electra 1027S speakers. They retail $5500, asking for $3300, but if you call them you should negotiate a delivered price of $3,000 even.

http://www.musicdirect.com/p-38930-focal-electra-1027-s-tower-speakers-pr.aspx

 

[ImcLoud]

ocal Electra 1027S speakers. They retail $5500, asking for $3300

I have to agree this is the way to go with your budget, I own the tekton lore's and just got a set of lore S's and they are amazing, I have heard the pendragons, but have to say, I think the focals are a better way to go if you are not in it for the efficiency...

What are you powering them with? What is the main use going to be? {type of music}

Welcome to the forum

 

[dpattillo]

I listen to a little bit of everything, but mainly rock, jazz, and classical and my wife loves the top 40 stuff. These speakers will also be part of a 5.1 system for home theatre, but good stereo audio is the top priority. I've been considering A/V receivers from Marantz, Integra, and Anthem. I'm also condidering a Marantz or Integra Preamp/Processor with amp(s) from Outlaw Audio. Maybe even power the center channel and surrounds from an A/V receiver and the two floor speakers with 2 Outlaw Audio 2200 Monoblock power amps.

 

[ImcLoud]

I listen to a little bit of everything, but mainly rock, jazz, and classical and my wife loves the top 40 stuff. These speakers will also be part of a 5.1 system for home theatre, but good stereo audio is the top priority. I've been considering A/V receivers from Marantz, Integra, and Anthem. I'm also condidering a Marantz or Integra Preamp/Processor with amp(s) from Outlaw Audio. Maybe even power the center channel and surrounds from an A/V receiver and the two floor speakers with 2 Outlaw Audio 2200 Monoblock power amps.

OK, this makes it a little different, so you are essentially looking for 2 fronts for your 5.1 theater? So now a quality matching center channel has to be incorporated also...
Heres where I would be, Im not sure of your budget, but...

Ascend sierra towers with the new matching center Sierra Tower Bamboo Loudspeaker just the base models, no fancy tweeters, I have heard them they are amazing..

then an emotiva xpa2 and an xpa3 {or spend a few hundred more and get an xpr5} Emotiva Audio

with a umc200 {just got mine works awesome}

or grab a decent avr and just the xpa2 or xpr2 for the front stereo pair....

depends on your budget...

 

[dpattillo]

The Emotiva stuff looks good and the prices are in my budget. I'm a noob so I thought I could just mix and match the center and surrounds with any towers. My budget started at $3000 for everything but after listening to a Paradigm Special Edition system at my local electronics store that was within my budget ($2200 for 5.1 system with $800 A/V receiver) and comparing it to the Triton Towers I decided I needed to spend more to get the sound I want. The Tritons blew the Paradigms out of the water. Even the Goldenear Aon 2's with a GE sub sounded much better than the Paradigm system and I can get a GE 5.1 Aon system and A/V receiver within the $3000 budget. At low to medium volume the Aon's even sounded as good as the Triton, but when the salesman cranked the system I could tell the difference. I live in Montgomery, Al. and we only have one electronics store with decent components and they have a limited selection. Guess I'll need to take a trip to Atlanta or Nashville to demo some of suggestions I've received. Would love to keep it within $3000, but I'm willing to pay more to get the sound I want.

 

[dpattillo]

Another options I have for the towers is DIY. If the guys at Tekton can put together great sounding speakers with $100 Eminence speakers and $50 tweeters from Parts Express/Madisound and some MDF I could fabricate my own assuming I can get a company like Madisound to put together the crossover. Anyone out there have good luck with DIY?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

What is your total budget for speakers, subs, AVR, amps?

What is your room dimensions?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Also look at the Funk Audio Monitors & Subs.

For AVR, I recommend an open box Denon 3312 from Amazon direct & get the full 3 yr warranty. The price goes up & down. Last week it was under $500. Now it's $670. Buy when it's under $500.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B004Z50L6E/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1356836958&sr=8-1&keywords=Denon+3312&condition=used

Emotiva is fine for amps if you must have amps. But if you get high efficiency & accurate speakers like Funk Monitors & Subs, I would rather put the $800 amp budget into the speakers & amps.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Have you heard of TAD speakers?

TAD is a very high end company. They make high end speakers, amps, preamps, disc player that most people can't afford

They make a $80K tower, $30K tower, $30K monitor.

http://tad-labs.com/en/professional/tsm_2201_lr/catalog.pdf

http://www.pioneer.my/data/my/imgCont/Cnt_907/TAD2011.pdf

Well, their TAD 2201 monitor originally retailed $3K. Music Direct sells them for $1900, but I paid $1691 delivered.

http://www.musicdirect.com/p-104628-tad-tsm-2201-lr-studio-monitor-pr.aspx

Pair them with some great subs from Funk or SVS and you got yourself a great system too.

 

[ImcLoud]

Another options I have for the towers is DIY. If the guys at Tekton can put together great sounding speakers with $100 Eminence speakers and $50 tweeters from Parts Express/Madisound and some MDF I could fabricate my own assuming I can get a company like Madisound to put together the crossover. Anyone out there have good luck with DIY?

I dont know, the regular lores I bought were $900, the drivers are $100 each the tweets are $110 each so thats over $420 rite there {say another $50 for wire feet and connectors that puts you almost to $500}, now you need to make a pair of enclosures, paint them, then you still need crossovers, and I couldn't do as good a job as Eric did with this paint job and cabinet making... Well worth the additional $300 to have it all done and shipped to my door... plus he "tweeks" the eminence drivers somehow {its a mystery lol}...

But anyway, I made some tritrix and auto painted them and they sounded awesome, but I dont think they have a center for them yet...

I spent about $3000 on my HT system and I have compared it to a lot of systems and wont change it....
Ascend 340 front stage, 200 surrounds, with hsu vtf 3 sub, emo umc200, xpa2, and xpa3, harmony remote and call it a day..... Not the prettiest speakers but they sound the best, I think the reason the 340s sound better than most of the others I tested is because of the smaller cabinet, the larger towers seem to have a different sound, that I dont like when you are crossing the fronts at 80 anyway...

Is $3000 your total budget?

 

[dpattillo]

The TAD's are a little out of my range, but I like the idea of using studio monitors in my setup. I'm a musician and do a little recording with my Macbook Pro and Logic 9. I could "knock out two birds with one stone" with studio monitors by using them for mixing and recording when not using them for my 5.1 system. My budget is currently $3000 but I might be able to stretch it another $1000 as soon as I pay off my new Samsung 64" plasma.

 

[dpattillo]

ImcLound thanks for the info on the Tekton's. I'm sure Eric does some great carpentry work and has put a lot into the design of these speakers. I'm just trying to maximize my bang for the buck and the Pendragons would be about $2700 after shipping and I would be taking a gamble without hearing them first. I could take him up on the trial period but if I don't like them I would probably loose $400-500 in shipping alone.

 

[dpattillo]

My living room is 16'x17' with a 10' ceiling. $3000-4000 is my total budget, but I could spend that budget on 2 great speakers and receiver/amps/pre in 2013 and add the center, sub, and surrounds in 2014 in another budget, or I could spend it all on a 5.1 speaker system and receiver/amp/processor in 2013. I really want great stereo audio above all else.

 

[ImcLoud]

ImcLound thanks for the info on the Tekton's. I'm sure Eric does some great carpentry work and has put a lot into the design of these speakers. I'm just trying to maximize my bang for the buck and the Pendragons would be about $2700 after shipping and I would be taking a gamble without hearing them first. I could take him up on the trial period but if I don't like them I would probably loose $400-500 in shipping alone.

I don't think the pendragons would be my choice even if they were only $2000, I was simply stating that building your own speakers isnt always the best way out...

Now I know you state that you want a good sounding stereo overall else, this is where I have a little problem, since I have played with many Towers recently and not many of them can stand alone without a subwoofer, so are you will ing to play 2.1 for music or do you want fronts that will stand alone and produce good sound from 25hz and up? The only speakers I have heard that can do this {and still not as well as systems with subs} are my tekton lores and the Opus 2-3's niether of which would be great for you considering budget and HT needs....

How about something like this...

$457 Amazon.com: Onkyo TX-NR809 THX Certified 7.2-Channel Network A/V Receiver (Black): Home Audio & Theater

$2850 for 2 towers, center and surrounds Ultra Tower - SVS
Ultra Center - SVS
http://www.svsound.com/view-all-outlet?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=20&category_id=5#.UOA-0W_m4uY

then $613 sub VTF-2 MK4 Subwoofer


That would probably be a really good system for the money and them towers have 8" drivers for the lows making you stereo sound possible....


I think if you are really going for studio sound, maybe you could get a decent HT 5.1 setup and then a pair of decent studio monitors and an XLS amp and run them separate from the HT on zone 2.... Then you can get just a decent HT set of speakers like the CMT340s with dayton books for surrounds and an Onkyo 809, then on zone 2 run a crown xls 1500 and a pair of monitors you like for music....

 

[cpp]

Got the GE 2's for HT after a demo of way two many speakers (Focal's (826's), B&W CM5's, Kef's (q700) but of course I demo's speakers in my home from a local dealer using my equipment. I would recommend them with a sub, I use the Rythmik D15se.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Another option is to do the 18-months 0% financing on the Focal Solo6 Be (beryllium tweeters).

Focal Solo6 Be | Sweetwater.com

They are pro studio monitors also, but they are active powered speakers, so you CANNOT use external amps even if you wanted to.

Each is $1350. So 2 would be $2700/ 18 months if you need.

Just get an open box Denon 3312 for around $500 from Amazon/ 3 yr warranty.

Now add a great SVS subwoofer for $769.
PB12-NSD - SVS

Then add another Solo6 for center when the budget permits. Then add 2 more Solo6 for surrounds later when budget permits.

It would be 5 identical Solo6 speakers.

Just throwing out more ideas.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I also like the NHT Classic Three Minitors @ $400 each.

Amazon.com: NHT Classic Three Bookshelf Loudspeaker (Piano-Gloss Black, Single): Electronics

X 5 = $2000.

SVS sub $769, Denon 3312 $500, total 5.1 system = $3269.

I don't think you need an amp, but you can add one later if you must.

 

[slipperybidness]

Got the GE 2's for HT after a demo of way two many speakers (Focal's (826's), B&W CM5's, Kef's (q700) but of course I demo's speakers in my home from a local dealer using my equipment. I would recommend them with a sub, I use the Rythmik D15se.

The GEs are nice speakers (with built in subs).

For 2 channel music, I don't think a sub is really needed. For home theater, chest pounding bass, you need the external sub.

 

[dpattillo]

I read the reviews for the NHT classic 3 on Amazon. Wonder how these compare to the GE Aon's? The NHT's have some great reviews and look like a great deal for $400 a speaker. This raises another question, bookshelf or towers? When and why should you choose one over the other?