Tekton Seas Pendragon with Paramount 300B at 4 ohm

[rbc3]

I spoke with Eric at Tekton and decided to get a pair of Seas Pendragon.  I told him that my goal was to get a pair of Paramount 300B monoblocks that are 8W each and he said the best pairing for that is Lore V2.0.  He didn't try and sell me on the Seas Pendragon, I just wanted a pair of speakers that gave me more flexibility in the future.  At 95db (1W/1m) sensitivity, they're not as efficient as the Lore V2.0 at 98db (1W/1m).  But the Seas Pendragon are a 4 ohm average speaker and the Lore V2.0 is an 8 ohm average.

He wanted me to make sure the Paramount could truly handle the 4 ohm average.  He said they are more like a 6 ohm speaker though.  How easy is it to switch back and forth between the 4 ohm tap and the 8 ohm tap on the Paramount?  Does the watt rating change at the 4 ohm tap?

Eric at Tekton said the Seas Pendragon would sound great even with 8W at relaxed listening levels.  He recommended picking up a 100W solid state amp, even a budget one, for whenever I want to crank up the music and rock the house for parties.

-Robert

[Doc B.]

You shouldn't need a 100W amp for 95dB speakers. 8W should give you 104dB peaks from a Paramount wired for 8 ohms into a 95dB sensitive  8 ohm load - or wired for 4 ohms into a 4 ohm load. Into six ohms you would want to try both settings and see which one floats your boat.  100W would give you about 114dB. That's pretty much total overkill for most listening situations. Changing output impedance in the Paramount is a matter of disconnecting and reconnecting a couple of wires on the output transformer.

[rbc3]

I just noticed that the Stereomour is about to sell out at current pricing.  Is the 3.5W of the Stereomour not enough to power these speakers?  I might get the Stereomour for now and then later upgrade to Paramounts and use the Stereomour for rear speakers or for bookshelf speakers in another room...

-Robert

[Doc B.]

3.5W is enough for most music on 95dB speakers, and should be ample for anything on 98dB speakers. We have parts to put together just three Stereomour kits. They are for 240V AC mains and would require a step up transformer for use with 120VAC.

[dth31]

You may want to consider the Tekton Enzo.  There is a review, along with  detailed measurements.  And the reviewer even described his experience driving them with a 2A3 amp.

Bottom line for measurements:
--estimated sensitivity was less than advertised at 90.6 dB/2.83V/m
--impedance remained above 6 ohms at all freq
--electrical phase angle remained high
--should be well-suited for use with low-powered tube amps

Reviewer seemed to think it worked very well with 2A3 amp.

Dave

[dth31]

Forgot to add that review is in April Stereophile.

Dave

[rusty-jade]

I use the Tekton Lore with the 45 tube Stereomour (1.75 wpc), recently rewired  to give a stronger bass ( see http://bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?topic=7453.0. )The bass is surprisingly strong and tight, and the 45 tube amp drives the Lores without any difficulty whatsoever!