[rlkeel0]

Very nice, please share impressions when you get a chance. What's your room size?

Just set everything up to test. Sending lossless ALAC through microRendu to Bifrost Multibit from Roon. Used both Asgard 2 and Jotunheim as preamps for Vidar. So far, midrange seems a bit bright and bass seems a bit lacking. Seems a bit better with Asgard 2 rather than the Jot. I've not experimented with speaker placement, and all of the furniture is not in the room yet. I've ordered a Schiit Saga preamp to play with. I expect things with improve with time and the proper preamp. I've got less than 20 hours on the speakers and amp so far. And I still don't have my grills.

 

[Khragon]

Just set everything up to test. Sending lossless ALAC through microRendu to Bifrost Multibit from Roon. Used both Asgard 2 and Jotunheim as preamps for Vidar. So far, midrange seems a bit bright and bass seems a bit lacking. Seems a bit better with Asgard 2 rather than the Jot. I've not experimented with speaker placement, and all of the furniture is not in the room yet. I've ordered a Schiit Saga preamp to play with. I expect things with improve with time and the proper preamp. I've got less than 20 hours on the speakers and amp so far. And I still don't have my grills.

Thanks for the update, usually things do improve, so hopefully with some burn in things will turn for the better. Saga should help too as it's very transparent.
Good luck on those grills

 

[333jeffery]

I uploaded some videos of the Ulberhts on Youtube:

Keep in mind this is with a crappy camcorder. I will post some new vids with the Allnic preamp and BHK amps I just installed.

 

[Benny-x]

Thanks a lot for sharing that. Did you take any install pictures or any other ones before the speakers found their homes in the corners/straddling the shelf?

These are like the only pictures of Ulfberts in the wild and I'd love to see some other pictures with a bit better lighting or beside something for scale.

Congrats again, they must be amazing to have and listen to.

 

[333jeffery]

I didn't take any pictures before setup. I will try to shoot more video of them up close next time I post to Youtube. For scale, that cabinet in the videos is 7 feet tall and 13 feet wide.

 

[rlkeel0]

I didn't take any pictures before setup. I will try to shoot more video of them up close next time I post to Youtube. For scale, that cabinet in the videos is 7 feet tall and 13 feet wide.

How did you actually get grills??

 

[333jeffery]

It's a miracle that I got grills, as Tekton hates to make them. I was talking to Eric at Tekton several months back about my Double Impacts when he mentioned that he was working on something awesome and wondered if I would be interested. I said hell yes and placed my order, but I was firm in demanding grills ship with the speakers. The result is what you see in the videos, the world's first pair of Ulfberht speakers. I think Terry London the reviewer got the second pair.

 

[333jeffery]

Here is my latest video of the Ulfs:

Features the Allnic L-7000 preamp and BHK 300 amps.

 

[uncola]

doh "This video contains content from Warner Chappell, who has blocked it on copyright grounds."

 

[333jeffery]

I wonder if there is a way to reupload the video without the copyright police taking it down? It was barely up an hour.

 

[333jeffery]

This video has some close-ups of the speakers:

The Allnic preamp sounds awesome with the Ulfs.

 

[Music Alchemist]

I sent an email to Eric Alexander a week ago, but got no response, so I'm pasting it here in case anyone has answers:

I noticed that the Pendragon PMD Monitor costs ten times as much as the basic Pendragon. What are the differences between them?

I also noticed that although it's $20K, your site says the $12K Ulfberht is your best model. Can you explain the reasoning for the $20K price if this is the case?

Is the Ulfberht better in every way or does the Pendragon PMD Monitor outperform it in certain areas?

 

[rlkeel0]

I spoke with Eric via telephone a few days ago. Sounds like he is swamped with orders and will likely be raising prices across the board soon if he hasn't already.

And still no grills.

 

[Music Alchemist]

The Double Impacts are a big step up from the Pendragons and would be my recommendation for anyone looking to upgrade their system.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could elaborate on the differences you've heard between the Pendragon, Double Impact, and Ulfberht.

I did some research last night and it would appear that the Pendragon could still be suitable for a smaller room whereas the DI would require a larger one. I'm actually using floorstanding speakers (Klipsch RP-250F) in a bedroom at the moment with surprisingly good results. It would be ideal if whatever I get could be used in many different rooms.

Either of them are affordable enough that I could give it priority in terms of upgrades. (I previously owned five figures worth of headphones and transitioned to speakers this year.) It's too bad I didn't know about Tekton months ago; I could have bought them already.

Even if the Pendragon isn't as good as the DI, its room versatility and lower price make it more appealing for me. I'm not too worried about not having the best sound immediately since I'm hoping that flagship Tekton speakers could be endgame for me.

What I'm most curious about is how the $20K Pendragon PMD Monitor compares to the Ulfberht. Going from info on forums, it would appear that the Ulfberht was originally going to sell for $40K, but the price was lowered to $12K. (Thank goodness.) But if that price was lowered and the other PMD models remain at their original prices, it seemingly makes an inferior model $8K more expensive. There are barely any impressions out there so far. Perhaps I should just call Eric and ask about this in detail.

Update: He replied via email and at least told me that the Ulfberht is far superior to the Pendragon PMD.

 

[333jeffery]

Some footage with the grills off:

The Ulfberhts are Tekton's flagship speakers, I wouldn't put too much stock in those prices. The DI's and the Ulfberhts are much better sounding than the Pendragons, the tweeter arrays on them are the secret to their sound quality. If you want a more compact speaker with much of the sound of the DI's, try the Electrons. They replicate the DI's sound very nicely, just in a smaller package. A miniature version of the Ulfberhts will be coming out in a few months, for about $7500. Eric is testing them now, and making improvements. On the Audiogon forums you will find a lot of information about the Tekton speakers from current owners and reviewers. Hope this helps!