The big talk this week among Home Theater Review readers was Andrew Robinson's review of the Tekton Design Pendragon floorstanding loudspeaker. Andrew made some bold claims about the affordable speakers that had a lot of people talking.
On the Home Theater Review Facebook page, Stuart Brewer seemed impressed commenting: "Hmm. I need to hear these."
To which Andrew responded: "Yes Stuart you do."
But the major conversation took place in the comments section of the article.
Alexis wrote: "In my 39 years of reading hi fi reviews I have never seen a review as complimentary as this. It is clear from reading it, though, that you considered carefully before committing to your comments...I've never seen a speaker compared favourably to models about 25X its price. That's frame breaking in my book."
Mike Clark was supportive of Andrew's findings: "I have a paor of Eric's Tekton Lores and run them with Steve Dekert's Decware SE84C+ 2 watt tube - and I agree with you - they are similar to the Pendragon - 'they're practically transparent to the source.'...bad source = bad sound. BUT when it is RIGHT it is OUT OF BODY! - No compromise."
However, all was not superlative as John Ashman commented: "What a foolish design. I guess these people never heard of comb filtering or dispersion."
Over in the HomeTheaterEquipment.com thread on the Pendragons, Tracy Rainwater was somewhat skeptical: "The finish looks great an the price is right. I am somewhat suspicious of the 200 watts power handling. Not that 200 watts is a bad thing, I'm just used to a bit more power handling."
And of course Steven Stone had people talking with his article "Why No Perfect Preamps?" on AudiophileReview.com, where he explore the problems that plague the different types of preamps.
Peter Lazarus had a bit of a problem with the general premise: "'Perfect' anything is an impossibly high bar. But there are some hi-end digital boxes that are starting to get noticed such as the Datasat RS20i and the ADA Rhapsody. These tend to be specified and integrated into luxury theaters, as opposed to consumed by Audiophiles, but they are, nevertheless, deserving of audiophiles' attention."
Douglas Sedon highlighted the push-pull of the preamp conundrum: "No way I would ever have my main system w/o a quality tube preamp. I firmly believe that, while it may not be most accurate to the playback software/recording, it is the most accurate to the MUSIC."
Audio Perspective found the idea to be a bit futile: "Moot point(s), I think. How many preamplifier do "things" right? Very few of which I know. Digital gain available on many players, even those with a good buffer, sound a bit, well I guess digital."
We at Home Theater Review invite you to add your voice to these conversations and the others taking place on Facebook, Twitter, and HomeTheaterReview.com.