[hobbyhands]

Hi,  I went and heard Eric's new mini lore speaker about 3 weeks ago. It was fun and a good listen.  I've been hoping that eric would send the speakers to a reviewer. I heard there was going to be a review, but nothing as surfaced yet. I would love to hear a professionals reviewers thoughts. Anyways I thought that if there are any tekton design fans out there maybe you could drop him an email also. If he gets enough emails maybe we could get him to rush the review.

I've heard several of eric's speakers as he lives only a few hours from my house and am a fan(possibly a little biased). Hence wanting to hear a professional reviewers thoughts on this design. Or has any one bought the lore or mini and have personal experience.

I'm leaning toward the mini lores as they are more in my price range. 

Although I am also considering building a new pair using the full range dayton audio 6.5 ps 180 drivers as well when it get warmer. Still mulling that over. It is still to cold here to do a build. No garage.

[knut_the_viking]

I am very close to get a pair of Lores.
I have a pair of the 4.5 monitors already, but the Lores will be replacing my main Dynaudio Audience 72.

The main problem is picking a perfect amp for the Lore. I have a small Tecon 55 (2x 4.5W EL84) that I use with the 4.5's that will have to do initially.
The next amp is going to have to be some low power tube. I was looking at the affordable 300b integrated from Grant Fidelity (the A-534B: http://grantfidelity.com/site/A-534+300B+SET+Tube+Amplifier)

Comments, suggestions? Anyone try the GF amp with any speakers reasonably similar to the Lore?

K

[JLM]

I believe WindChaser is using that amp with Zu speakers.

I haven't shopped for small amps in a while, but Decware and Wright come to mind that are good and priced in line with the Lore speakers.

[chrisby]

To be honest, I was more a fan of the sound of the Bottlehead Paramount 300Bs than the Grant  A534, but after prolonged exposure to them and a couple of other 300B SE types (including Wright Mono7), I'd suggest you consider other types as well.

If you think you could be happy with the sensitivity of the Lores on less power, I'd heartily second JLMs suggestion of the Decware ZenC or Taboo, 0r if you're not averse to a kit, the ZenKit or Bottlehead 2A3 Stereomour. 

The new models of Shuguang amps carried by Grant look very interesting indeed.   If you're really interested in taste testing a 300B design, the S300MK SE  is $500 higher retail than the A534, but if consistent with the rest of the new models, looks to have much better internal parts layout and build quality than earlier offerings, and comes with Shuguang Treasure and "Export Grade" tubes. 

If you wouldn't mind more power or aren't averse to the idea of lower price in a well executed and eminently tweakable P/P amp, the S8MK( KT88)  and I-25 ( 6CA7) might also be worth a look.

FWIW, I recently acquired a set of the noval series Psvanne EL84 and 12AT7 for a Tubelab SimplePP amp, and it's too early for the "price justification" phase to have worn off, but I do think they're the best sounding set I've yet heard in this amp.

 

[knut_the_viking]

I am very close to get a pair of Lores.
I have a pair of the 4.5 monitors already, but the Lores will be replacing my main Dynaudio Audience 72.

<snip>

OK, placed an order! 5-6 weeks for delivery. Eric A is super busy these days. That makes me happy, all things considered.
Still debating amplifiers. Talked to Decware, and their Zen Triode SE34 now seems very interesting.
How much of a hassle is the dual volume control?

[chrisby]

OK, placed an order! 5-6 weeks for delivery. Eric A is super busy these days. That makes me happy, all things considered.
Still debating amplifiers. Talked to Decware, and their Zen Triode SE34 now seems very interesting.
How much of a hassle is the dual volume control?

I never was a big fan of dual volume controls myself - had them on a couple of Bottlehead pre-amps.  I'd be inclined to ask Steve if he can offer with a decent stereo pot and balance control.  The other option would be stepped attenuators - great for accuracy of channel balance and sonics, but I've never found one that had exactly the right calibrations between each step.

You also might want to look at the 6V6 mini-Torii - slightly higher initial cost and greater number of tubes, but also very high degree of "custom voicing" options.   Same situation with dual volume controls   

[knut_the_viking]

Sent an email asking about a stereo pot instead of duals.
Never know, he might be open to it.

[JLM]

I used dual stepped attenuators for a while.  The steps take out the worry about matching volume between channels.  See if Steve could install some.  I see that he is now moving towards stereo volume pots (channel separation suffers, but most prefer them).

[knut_the_viking]

Heard back, and he definitely can make one with a stereo volume pot.
How badly could channel separation suffer? And why?

[chrisby]

Heard back, and he definitely can make one with a stereo volume pot.
How badly could channel separation suffer? And why?

The biggest issue I ever had with cheaper stereo volume pots (such as the $5 Alps that I think Steve previously used in the Zens - which actually sound quite decent and can cost over $40 to beat) was tracking at the first quarter turn or so. This is particularly irksome with lower listening levels with high input sensitivity amps or very efficient speakers.   

JLM and others might disagree, but I frankly wouldn't worry too much about separation suffering - sooner or later one needs to stop anal-yzing it. 

[JLM]

No Chris, I'm with you all the way on the worrying.  Just trying to be thorough and present all sides of the argument.

Knut, in theory its best to keep the two channels as separate as possible to maintain each discrete signal (some note improved imaging with monoblocks).  Using a single pot to do both channels violates that idea.  OTOH all sources combine all channels to start with and they recombine in the room (with speakers) or at the very least in your head (headphones), so as Chris says, just enjoy. 

[knut_the_viking]

Meanwhile, my Lore's are being built.
Not super impatient yet, but sure will be fun to find the boxes at my door...

[genjamon]

My Lores arrived late last week, and I'm really enjoying them.  They're a big improvement over my Hornshoppe Horns in almost every way.  Eric's woodwork on the walnut veneers is also really well done.  Very professional finish to them, although I'm no wood work expert for sure.  They sure look nice to my untrained eye, with plenty of color texture depth to the walnut.  The only thing that would take them to the next step would be some beveled edges and some grills to cover up the wideband driver - like what Omega does.  I'm very happy as-is, though.

[roscoeiii]

Genjamon,

Can you describe the differences you hear between the Lores and your Hornshoppes?

[genjamon]

Genjamon,

Can you describe the differences you hear between the Lores and your Hornshoppes?

I gave my initial impressions over on the Audiogon thread, which I know you've been reading.  Other than that, I don't want to add anything more until I'm through the break-in period.  Then I'll probably swap out for the Horns for a comparison.  What I said above is pretty much what I think at this point.  Pick a category of performance, and the Lores beat the Horns as far as I can tell based on memory.  Frequency extension in both directions - check.  Spatial resolution - check.  Imaging - in some ways yes, in some ways they're about equal.  Dynamics - check. Tone - check.  I'm not entirely sure about timbre, Horns may be a bit more accurate there, but this may be the price of the added tone.  This is probably an area where the uber expensive drivers do it all, but an adapted pro driver just can't.  Anyway, you get the drift. 

They're doing the romance thing with the added tone, but not to the extreme that I remember with the Soul Superfly at RMAF, but with what seems to me added high frequency quality and maybe dynamics.  But remember what I said over on the Audiogon thread, RMAF was many months ago, and I only listened to a couple songs, and it was in a foreign listening environment with different electronics than I use.  The differences in my impression could easily be attributable to any of these variables rather than honest differences in the speakers.

Ben

[roscoeiii]

Thanks Ben,

Posted that question when in a rush and realized only later that you were the Hornshoppe owner on the other thread...

[doug s.]

Meanwhile, my Lore's are being built.
Not super impatient yet, but sure will be fun to find the boxes at my door...

if you're still looking for an amp, this one is really nice, and should work well w/your speakers:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=93444.0

doug s.

[knut_the_viking]

I am very close to getting a pair of Lores.
<snip>

Arrived yesterday! 
I am super excited!
They're breaking in now with Nickelback.






(Ignore the mess on the rack)

[Sam-fi]

I am very close to get a pair of Lores.
I have a pair of the 4.5 monitors already, but the Lores will be replacing my main Dynaudio Audience 72.

The main problem is picking a perfect amp for the Lore. I have a small Tecon 55 (2x 4.5W EL84) that I use with the 4.5's that will have to do initially.
The next amp is going to have to be some low power tube. I was looking at the affordable 300b integrated from Grant Fidelity (the A-534B: http://grantfidelity.com/site/A-534+300B+SET+Tube+Amplifier)

Comments, suggestions? Anyone try the GF amp with any speakers reasonably similar to the Lore?

K

I have been using the 534B with some zu omen defs with black treasures. I have been searching but can't find anything at the price to beat it. It is a great match with zu speakers. Wind chaser has a pair of defs too and uses this amp.

Sam

[Sam-fi]

One question to the lore owners? How is the upper midrange? Without the phase plug to help dispersion wouldn't there be some serious shout in the upper midrange? Wouldn't this color the sound more?

Thanks,
Sam