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For Christmas in 2020, a friend sent me a gift: a coffee mug decorated with a one-out-of-five-stars rating for the annus horribilis the world had just been through. The caption on the ceramic read, "VERY BAD WOULD NOT RECOMMEND."

True, the pandemic year and the lockdowns had been no fun, to put it mildly, but that doesn't mean there were no positives. Every day, rain or shine, my 10-year-old daughter and I played soccer on the field behind our house. We—pointlessly, I concede—trained our shepherd to walk backward on…

But…

One measure of Eric Alexander's drive and versatility is that, by his own count, 19-year-old Tekton Design has engineered and built roughly 250 different models of loudspeakers, one at a time, made to order, with a team that currently numbers eight people.

Rogier van Bakel: Your speaker designs vary quite a bit. Sometimes the ports are in the front, sometimes in the back. You make speakers that are intended to be coupled with SET amps, and others that do well when driven with considerable…

Description: 3-way bass-reflex floorstanding loudspeaker with dual rear ports, two 12" woofers, patented dual polycell all-beryllium midrange arrays, and a single beryllium tweeter for high-frequency reproduction. Crossover frequencies: 772Hz and 3.41kHz. Frequency response 27Hz–40kHz ±3dB. Sensitivity 93.0dB/2.83V/m. Recommended power 8–900W.
Dimensions: 69.2" (1758mm) H × 14" (356mm) W × 17" (432mm) D. Weight: 157lb.
Finishes: piano lacquer black, white, obsidian schwarz, bianco Italia, rosso folgore, grigio lynx, grigio titanio, infrared, rosso corsa,…

Digital sources: 16" MacBook Pro M1 Max running Roon 2.0. Lenovo ThinkCentre running Roon ROCK. Aurender A20. HiFi Rose RS520.
Preamplifiers: Audio Research LS16 MkII, Balanced Audio Technology VK-90, Benchmark HPA4 line stage.
Power amplifiers: Krell FPB 200c, two Margules U280sc (used as monoblocks), PrimaLuna Evo 400 integrated with Tung-Sol KT150 and Gold Lion platinum-grade 12AU7 tubes, Balanced Audio Technology REX 500.
Loudspeakers: Focal Utopia Scala Evo, Tekton Moab (original version).
Cables: Clarus Crimson pure copper OCC…

I measured one of the Tekton Moab Be loudspeaker, serial number 0001L, in RvB's listening room, driving it with his Krell FPB 200c amplifier. I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system with a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to examine the speaker's behavior in the farfield and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses. It wasn't possible to raise the 157lb loudspeaker off the floor for the measurements, so the first reflection from the ground occurs earlier than is usually the case with my testing. I therefore measured the response and dispersion with the microphone…

I mounted the Ethos in an LP Gear H4 headshell and attached it to my Sorane SA-1.2 tonearm, which was mounted on my Dr.…

Though I'm writing this in early March, this As We See It column will be published in the May issue, which is the issue that will go to AXPONA, America's largest audio show, held each non-pandemic year at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center near Chicago. This year's show takes place Friday–Sunday, April 12–14. The show opens each day at 10am and closes at 6pm Friday and Saturday; Sunday's closing time is 4pm. If you're going to the show, don't forget to stop by the Stereophile booth, Location 9213 in the exhibit hall.

According to…

I'm finding it interesting to notice how a device previously unseen and unheard declares itself one small step at a time as I open its box, feel its heft, observe its form, study its manual, and, finally, wire it into my system. Those start-up experiences, plus my gut feelings during my first moments of music listening, establish a tone…