Deciding on Monitor audio or Tekton speakers

M

mltl

Member
I currently use a pair of Pioneer bs22 bookshelves and a Sansui 5500 45watt receiver. I've had the Pioneers since 2013, and am ready for a major improvement.

I'm in the market for a larger and generally better set of efficient speakers (read fuller, more clarity, etc) and had decided on the Tekton m-lore, which I was waiting until next Winter to purchase due to cost (This is the most I'm willing to spend on speakers).

However, on my local CL, a pair of Monitor Audio silver s8 (2001-2005, before the RS series) in nearly perfect shape are available for less than a third the price of the Tektons. If anyone has experience with these speakers, or other iterations of the MA silver 8 (RS, RX etc) I would be really interested in hearing your opinions. I have no doubt that the silver s8's will be a vast improvement over my pioneers, but I will likely pass over them if the Tektons will be substantially better than the nearly two decade old monitor audios.

Everything I read says that the monitor silver series improved with each iteration to present. The silver s8 were the last series to be still made in Britain however, and the few user reviews I've been able to find are favorable. I believe they're 6 ohms and 91db/watt.

I'm really looking for something that I can use long term, so I'm not really looking to buy to try and then sell for further upgrades..

Thanks
Max
 
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No experience with the Monitor, but why not just go give them an audition. If they blow you away, grab them. Otherwise pass. Just my A-hole opinion but that's how I got my favorite speakers.
 
I've been at this since about 1960. Had many systems since. Some great, others nothing to brag about.

I had the Pioneer bs 23's when they were first introduced for a couple of months. Meh, I was never impressed but I really can't say anything more due to their low cost. It would be like picking on someone who was disabled due to no fault of their own.

Followed them up with a pair of Tekton M-Lore's, custom finished in Ferrari Rosso Corso. Loved 'em and kept them around for almost seven years. In fact, still have 'em boxed up in their original packaging in my garage just waiting for me to decide what to do with them.

I replaced them with a pair of JBL 4312G's when they went on sale. I found that I really prefer the JBL gut-punch and slam so that's where I'm at these days. I still really like the Tekton's, and could easily live with them if i had to. Don't have any experience with the Monitor Audio's.
 
Guido57 said:
No experience with the Monitor, but why not just go give them an audition. If they blow you away, grab them. Otherwise pass. Just my A-hole opinion but that's how I got my favorite speakers.
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I am going to try them out before I buy, need to bring my backup crap receiver to test them as the seller has already sold the rest of his equipment. If they blow me away with that receiver then I'll feel pretty good about it once they're hooked up to the Sansui! Only problem is that they may be overkill in my living room. Not sure of the dimensions but its maybe 10' x 15'. There's an open walkway to the kitchen and another to the side of the left speaker that goes to bedrooms, so acoustics are not ideal. Also, I won't be able to get the speakers out more than a foot from the back wall, so I had previously told myself that I wanted a front ported speaker. I've read these back ported floor standing monitor audios enjoy a bit of room to tame the bass.
 
mltl said:
I currently use a pair of Pioneer bs22 bookshelves and a Sansui 5500 45watt receiver. I've had the Pioneers since 2013, and am ready for a major improvement.

I'm in the market for a larger and generally better set of efficient speakers (read fuller, more clarity, etc) and had decided on the Tekton m-lore, which I was waiting until next Winter to purchase due to cost (This is the most I'm willing to spend on speakers).

However, on my local CL, a pair of Monitor Audio silver s8 (2001-2005, before the RS series) in nearly perfect shape are available for less than a third the price of the Tektons. If anyone has experience with these speakers, or other iterations of the MA silver 8 (RS, RX etc) I would be really interested in hearing your opinions. I have no doubt that the silver s8's will be a vast improvement over my pioneers, but I will likely pass over them if the Tektons will be substantially better than the nearly two decade old monitor audios.

Everything I read says that the monitor silver series improved with each iteration to present. The silver s8 were the last series to be still made in Britain however, and the few user reviews I've been able to find are favorable. I believe they're 6 ohms and 91db/watt.

I'm really looking for something that I can use long term, so I'm not really looking to buy to try and then sell for further upgrades..

Thanks
Max
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Very unhappy with my Tekton Double Impacts.
 
Well, first, I was a dope and listened to the reviews on YouTube touting them to be as good or better than speakers costing 30K. Which, I find hard to believe. Secondly, they didn't project, had no definition or clarity and lacked bass and to top it off the owner of Tekton was rude to me. Maybe it's a bad match, I don't know. My amp is a PrimaLuna EVO300 and I'm a musician of many decades (Local 802) and made hand-made mouthpieces for top sax players and I have my own line of saxophones I designed so I must know something about tone but maybe they're great in your space with your amp. I don't know anything. Phil
 
botrytis said:
You know what you like. Nothing wrong with that. They were just not the sound for you. The PrimaLuna should have been plenty for the Tektons.

If people find it incredible you didn't like them, share your ears with them, they might hear what you hear.
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Ya know what the great jazz pianist Bill Evans said? "I trust an inexperienced listener more than a professional musician's ear".
 
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Phil Barone said:
Unfortunately, I'm also a legend in my own mind.
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Ha well, as a saxophone player myself, although significantly less competent than yourself, I'm inclined to give a lot of respect to your opinions on tone and clarity. Unfortunately, I've never had the pleasure of trying one of your mouthpieces or horns. What speakers do you like versus the Tektons?
 
Don't believe everything you think, you're probably better than you give yourself credit for. Oddly, and this is where I'll get beat up, I don't care about tone as much as you might imagine because I listen to the content of the music more than the fidelity. I studied with those Lennie Tristano guys and it's more about the line, the notes and the way they're played than the sound not that sound isn't important so I manage to block things like poor recording out. I'm not going to stop listening to Bird or Caruso because there's some scratches or poor recording but I'm very particular about my piano which is a 1906 Steinway made in Hamburg, not NY. The German ones are richer.

So speakers, yeah, I've been using Yamaha studio monitors and I was happy with them until I went off on this kick and twisted my brain into mush. I'll just say that when I was doing my research, one guy I asked for advice was Roger Rosenberg, bari player with Steely Dan. He said, "I just have a set of airpods". None of my musician friends have great stereos but I made my bed so I'll sleep in it. Phil
 
Phil Barone said:
Don't believe everything you think, you're probably better than you give yourself credit for. Oddly, and this is where I'll get beat up, I don't care about tone as much as you might imagine because I listen to the content of the music more than the fidelity. I studied with those Lennie Tristano guys and it's more about the line, the notes and the way they're played than the sound not that sound isn't important so I manage to block things like poor recording out. I'm not going to stop listening to Bird or Caruso because there's some scratches or poor recording but I'm very particular about my piano which is a 1906 Steinway made in Hamburg, not NY. The German ones are richer.

So speakers, yeah, I've been using Yamaha studio monitors and I was happy with them until I went off on this kick and twisted my brain into mush. I'll just say that when I was doing my research, one guy I asked for advice was Roger Rosenberg, bari player with Steely Dan. He said, "I just have a set of airpods". None of my musician friends have great stereos but I made my bed so I'll sleep in it. Phil
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A family friend is Jed Levy, an accomplished sax player in your area. When I was a kid we went to his place and he showed me his collection of vintage Rico reeds (all he used) and played Duke Ellington on his stereo, which was an incredible system. Inspired me to seek out those vintage reeds and sure enough, a woodgrain box was the best box of reeds I ever used. I'm pretty sure he considers himself an audiophile of sorts, my dad always talked about him as such.

I am hard on my playing these days because I let myself get out of practice living in a thin walled apartment for a few years and focusing on grad school. I was always focused on tone but I never took studying music theory itself seriously enough to get really good. I play bari mainly and use an old conn 12m and woodwind co. fatty mouthpiece. Really like the richness of that stuff, will never change it.
 
Would make sense but I'm not sure. I've only heard his albums as a leader and when he was playing with the drummer Mike Clark. I wasn't alive in the 80's, but my dad would know, they're childhood pals.
 
mltl said:
I am going to try them out before I buy, need to bring my backup crap receiver to test them as the seller has already sold the rest of his equipment. If they blow me away with that receiver then I'll feel pretty good about it once they're hooked up to the Sansui! Only problem is that they may be overkill in my living room. Not sure of the dimensions but its maybe 10' x 15'. There's an open walkway to the kitchen and another to the side of the left speaker that goes to bedrooms, so acoustics are not ideal. Also, I won't be able to get the speakers out more than a foot from the back wall, so I had previously told myself that I wanted a front ported speaker. I've read these back ported floor standing monitor audios enjoy a bit of room to tame the bass.
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My favorite speakers were found under the same conditions. Brought my second rate amp, a passive volume control, i.e. a stereo pot mounted in a plastic electrical box, and thrift store dvd player. They still impressed. I'd prefer to have them in a larger room but they're relegated to "my" room. There are many speakers besides rear ported ones that like room behind to sound their best but proper room treatments can mitigate this.
 
mltl said:
I currently use a pair of Pioneer bs22 bookshelves and a Sansui 5500 45watt receiver. I've had the Pioneers since 2013, and am ready for a major improvement.

I'm in the market for a larger and generally better set of efficient speakers (read fuller, more clarity, etc) and had decided on the Tekton m-lore, which I was waiting until next Winter to purchase due to cost (This is the most I'm willing to spend on speakers).

However, on my local CL, a pair of Monitor Audio silver s8 (2001-2005, before the RS series) in nearly perfect shape are available for less than a third the price of the Tektons. If anyone has experience with these speakers, or other iterations of the MA silver 8 (RS, RX etc) I would be really interested in hearing your opinions. I have no doubt that the silver s8's will be a vast improvement over my pioneers, but I will likely pass over them if the Tektons will be substantially better than the nearly two decade old monitor audios.

Everything I read says that the monitor silver series improved with each iteration to present. The silver s8 were the last series to be still made in Britain however, and the few user reviews I've been able to find are favorable. I believe they're 6 ohms and 91db/watt.

I'm really looking for something that I can use long term, so I'm not really looking to buy to try and then sell for further upgrades..

Thanks
Max
Click to expand...

I have the Monitor Audio Silver S8's and like them. If you like the sound after you demo, I'd just get them. Since you don't have a large room, they should be more than enough for your room and are reasonably efficient, so that's another plus to give you options to run with a wide variety of amplification if you progress through amps/receivers as time goes on.

In my case, they're not my main audio-only system speakers. I run Aerial Acoustics Model 7B's (see my avatar) in my audio-only system. But the friend I got them from used them in his audio only system and I've heard them at his place with everything from vintage Kenwood solid state, to vintage tube gear (Eico HF-12 x 2) and they sound really nice on everything I've heard them with. In his larger (than your 10 x 15) room, they could go as loud as I'd ever want.

Given they're less than 1/3 of the price of the Tektons, I think it's kind of a no-brainer. My friend who I got the Silver S8's from used Tektons before he got them and preferred the S8's. I heard the Tektons and thought they sounded fine, but they never overly impressed me. So purely comparing them for sound (ignoring price), I think you could find some people that preferred one over the other - likely there wouldn't be a consensus there. But if the S8's are <1/3 of the price, there's no question you'll get better value there.

You can use the savings down the road for gear upgrades or other things. The fact is, as soon as you get the Tektons, they'll start depreciating quickly.
 
captouch said:
I have the Monitor Audio Silver S8's and like them. If you like the sound after you demo, I'd just get them. Since you don't have a large room, they should be more than enough for your room and are reasonably efficient, so that's another plus to give you options to run with a wide variety of amplification if you progress through amps/receivers as time goes on.

In my case, they're not my main audio-only system speakers. I run Aerial Acoustics Model 7B's (see my avatar) in my audio-only system. But the friend I got them from used them in his audio only system and I've heard them at his place with everything from vintage Kenwood solid state, to vintage tube gear (Eico HF-12 x 2) and they sound really nice on everything I've heard them with. In his larger (than your 10 x 15) room, they could go as loud as I'd ever want.

Given they're less than 1/3 of the price of the Tektons, I think it's kind of a no-brainer. My friend who I got the Silver S8's from used Tektons before he got them and preferred the S8's. I heard the Tektons and thought they sounded fine, but they never overly impressed me. So purely comparing them for sound (ignoring price), I think you could find some people that preferred one over the other - likely there wouldn't be a consensus there. But if the S8's are <1/3 of the price, there's no question you'll get better value there.

You can use the savings down the road for gear upgrades or other things. The fact is, as soon as you get the Tektons, they'll start depreciating quickly.
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How picky about placement are the s8 in your experience? I only have one option for where they’ll go.
 
Check some of the posts in the Listening Spaces forum. While one might not always get the best out of a pair of speakers it is easier to get the most when starting with the best speakers one can afford. There is no guarantee the M-Lore is a good fit for your situation either.
 
mltl said:
How picky about placement are the s8 in your experience? I only have one option for where they’ll go.
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Not picky in my experience. It is rear ported, so right against the wall is probably not good, mine are only about 18” or so from the wall and no issues.
 
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