I wrote that last October, after hearing Tekton Design's new Impact Monitor speakers at the 2017 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. I repeat it here because, as I listened to the Impact Monitors, I thought, Yeah, these speakers sound pretty damn good, but those seven…
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"It was not subtle. The [$2000/pair] Tekton Impact Monitors were doing it all: singing, drumming, shaking the air, drawing me in, and making every CD or LP pure pleasure to listen to. A little soft . . . but not too soft. Imagine a gentle but guiding touch with a most perfect sparkle—and then firm and impactful when necessary."
I was stuck: Move the Impacts back and they boomed, move them forward and they blurred. Seeking an enjoyable compromise, I kept moving them—forward and back, closer and farther apart. With each pair of speaker positions, the quantity and quality of bass were dramatically different from what they were in all other positions. A score of radical, floor-gouging adjustments and much lamenting later, I remembered the ol' sock mod. I stuffed the Tektons' ports with Wigwam Outlast Weather Shield socks. Voilà! It reduced the overloading of the room, which I'd determined was happening in the 50–70Hz…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, stand-mounted, ported loudspeaker. Drive-units: seven 1" (25mm) soft-dome tweeters, two 6.5"-cone (165mm) bass/midrange units. Frequency range: 40Hz–30kHz. Sensitivity: 94dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Power handling: 120W. Recommended amplification: >25W.
Dimensions: 24.5" (620mm) H by 10.125" (255mm) W by 13" (330mm) D. Weight 40 lb (18.1kg).
Finishes: Black standard; Red or White, add $100/pair; all finishes listed are Soft Gloss; High-Gloss Black (as reviewed), add $250/pair.
Serial numbers of units reviewed:…
Record players and the average consumer enjoy an on-again/off-again relationship—happily, at this moment in time, it is very much on—but to high-end audio enthusiasts, the turntable has endured as an object of near-talismanic importance. I think that's not only because the turntable continues to give us so much pleasure, but also because it seems so understandable—at its simplest, it's just a motor and a rotatable platter, attached to a board that also has some provisions for fastening a tonearm. End of story. Who among us has not, at one time or another, considered the lot of the turntable…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: AMG Giro G9 record player; EMT TSD 75SFL, Koetsu Rosewood Standard & Signature Platinum, My Sonic Lab Ultra Eminent EX cartridges.
Digital Sources: HoloAudio Spring "Kitsuné Tuned Edition" Level 3, Mytek HiFi Manhattan II, Schiit Audio Yggdrasil Analog 2 DACs; Integra DPS-7.2 DVD player (as CD transport), Mac mini computer running Audirvana Plus 3.2.
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 (for EMT cartridge), Dynavector SUP-200, My Sonic Lab Stage 1030 step-up transformers; Musical Surroundings Phonomena II (with Linear Charging power…
The 'table's two-piece tonearm board, made from acrylic and Delrin, attaches to the plinth's rubber substrate from below with three bolts whose machined-alloy thumbscrews were easy to tighten by hand. An armboard suitable for tonearms of average effective length (ca 9") is included; boards for 12" arms are available for $300 each. In either case, a board for the arm of one's choice can be machined at the factory, and for this review I decided to rely exclusively on my longtime reference, the EMT 997. I sent a couple of spare EMT collets to George Merrill with a request for a board that would…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Tekton Design Impact Monitor's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield responses. My estimate of the Impact's sensitivity was 87.5dB(B)/2.83V/m, considerably lower than the specified 94dB. (Speakers with true sensitivities greater than 90dB tend to be rare and expensive.) The impedance is specified as 4 ohms. My measurement of the impedance magnitude (fig.1, solid trace) reveals that while the impedance does drop to 4 ohms in the lower midrange…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-speed, belt-driven turntable with outboard power supply. Speeds: 331/3 and 45rpm. Wow & flutter: <0.02%. Speed accuracy: 2 parts per million.
Dimensions: 17.25" (438mm) W by 8.25" (210mm) H (with clamp) by 13.75" (350mm) D. Weight: 40 lb 18.2kg).
Serial number of unit reviewed: 3010.
Price: $7995 ($8295 as reviewed). Approximate number of dealers: 6. Warranty: 3 years.
Manufacturer: Merrill-Williams Audio LLC, 820 Herbert Road, Suite 109, Cordova, TN 38019. Tel: (901) 751-3337. Web: www.realturntable.com.
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 turntables; Audio-Creative GrooveMaster II, EMT 997 tonearms; EMT TSD 15, Shindo Laboratory SPU pickup heads; Miyajima Laboratory Saboten L cartridge.
Digital Sources: Sony SCD-777 SACD/CD player; HoloAudio Spring "Kitsuné Tuned Edition" Level 3 DAC.
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 Hommage T1 & T2 step-up transformers; Sentec EQ11 phono preamplifier; Shindo Laboratory Monbrison (2017) preamplifier.
Integrated Amplifier: ASR Emitter II Exclusive.
Power Amplifier: Shindo Laboratory Haut-Brion.…
Duo Noire's debut recording for New Focus Recordings, Night Triptych, covers so many bases, and speaks so clearly to contemporary realities, that it immediately qualifies for several gold stars. But once you hear the sheer musicality of its premiere recordings of six new works for duo guitar, and how wonderfully they are played, you may be tempted to award the album several more.
For starters, Duo Noire is composed of two African-American men, both graduates of the Yale School of Music. Transcending the old New Music polarities of East Coast/West Coast, Christopher Mallett teaches at the…