Actual Lead Time on Tekton Speakers

No clue on Tekton, but if a manufacturer tells you 6-12 weeks, double the time.  

Ha! You're probably right. I could NEVER get away with that with my company...

Well it's 10 weeks have you asked them about the status?

First rule of sales and customer service.

under promise and over deliver. 

Facten-  Yes. Emailed 2 weeks ago to get an update, and then a few days ago. They said they are waiting for components but they were due any day. While everyone there is very nice, there's not even a hint of an estimated ship date. They said they'd let me know when they are ready to ship.

I'm not wound up about it. In fact, I think this comes with the built-to-order, semi-custom thing. I'm just excited to get them...

@spacecadet65,

I was the same when I custom ordered an amp from Odyssey. I called every week as I knew they were back logged. After a few months I got a call saying they had built the exact same amp as mine, only in 220 volt for a European customer who cancelled. He put in the proper transformers and made it to US specs and I received it a week later.

When I ordered my GE Triton Refs, I ordered them in January 2017 with a 4 K deposit and received them July 17th in 2017. Looking back, I am surprised I had enough patience to wait that long.

The patience of Job, I'd say.

@spacecadet65,

props on the Garfield avatar ;)

If I’m right you will get my avatar if you enlarge it.

X-men 81-85 lead sop

@bryhifi 

Double high C. You and Maynard! I actually have CADETS on my vanity plates in MA. The crazy thing is that I never marched DCI. Didn't have the talent. So I've been  hopeless romantic fan since the early 80's. 81-85! Damn those were the golden years. Too bad about George and the mess that has followed. But they are re-grouping. 

But hell, the DCI audio/video products sure have improved. I'm hoping that these Tektons will provide the scale of the "first hit." 

@stereo5 

Wow, those are long lead times. 6 months seems excessive, especially with a $4k deposit. That must have been tough. Were the Tritons worth the wait?

@spacecadet65,

Absolutely worth the wait!  The problem was I bought them before they were on the market as they were still being manufactured.  The original date was April but it streatched into July.  My speakers were made in the first production run.  I got so antsy that I contacted Sandy Gross at GE and he looked up my order and said the dealer would get it the second week of july.  He was correct.  I am esctatic with the speakers, the best I have ever owned.  I am glad I bought them when I did.  Retail was $8.5K and six months later, price went up to$10K.  That makes me even happier.  Good luck on the long wait.  My Engineering Professor in college told me that "patience is a virtue".

Moabs are totally worth the wait. You will know within minutes of firing them up. Then over the next days/weeks/months they will only grow on you more and more. If ever you are thinking they are bright, or forward, or that you know what kind of sound stage they throw, put on some different music or change a component and then you will learn it never was the speakers after all. The friend who was over most recently said the midrange was perfect, the best he ever heard. Everything can of course always be made better, and I am working on that. But for $5k? Holy cow! You will see. Er, hear.  

Meantime, enjoy a little Tekton humor. What does Tekton have in common with Patek-Phillipe? You never really own one. You just order it for the next generation. 

Even big companies like McIntosh and Revel have long lead times right now. 

MC: That’s funny as hell!

MC...The joke actually goes like this...What does  Tekton and Patek have in common?...You buy a Patek and you own a fine time piece,you buy Tekton the jokes on you ,

When I first asked for the shipping date of my moabs they told me mid-May. I have not received them yet.

I write every week and every week I get replies like: we’re shipping them next week, we’re waiting on some components, the woofers are downstairs, we expect them to ship soon.... I don’t want to say that this says anything about the quality of the speakers I’ll receive (I’m not a big believer in the inductive approach)... I know a lot of people who do an outstanding job but are a disaster at communicating with customers. But at some point and age I would put a "character" like this prominently displayed on the company homepage. Something like "We make the best speakers but deliver when we want to. Don’t bother us via email or phone, you won’t get anything out of it." Simply out of respect for others.

Or you could read my Moab review, in which case you would have known to expect this.

The reality of it is, you have whether you know it or not entered the world of high end audio. Yes you can click on a web page. Yes you can email. You can be forgiven for confusing this with Amazon. In spite of appearances however this is about as far from Amazon as you can get.

High end audio has some pretty big corporate entities. The heart of high end audio however is people. A lot of the very best stuff is made by people so crazy creatively genius they are way out on the fringe of creative genius.

They are not out on the creative fringe of creative genius like Sam Walton, using satellite communications to save billions with just in time inventory. They are not out on the creative fringe of creative genius like Jeff Bezos, another one putting millions of people out of work. They are creative geniuses mostly at designing insanely good sounding gear.

I just ordered a Raven Blackhawk. Didn’t want a Raven Blackhawk. Wanted a Reflection. But thanks to the reality of our messed up world who knows how long a wait that will be? Even a Blackhawk is a month out. Oldhvymec waited something like 5 or 6 months for his Decware ZP3. You don’t see us whining about it.

Because we understand the reality of the world we live in, and in particular the reality of being in a niche market so micro you could ask a hundred people no one will even know what you’re talking about. Amazon, everyone knows.

You want to say this sucks, fine. Technically you are right. We are all entitled to have everything right now. If not sooner. Either that or: Embrace the suck.

Choose wisely.

No thanks. 

Who are you talking to? Me? But if I never asked for anything right away! I only asked for strightforwardness. Save the sermons with me, thanks.

Many high end companies are dealing with unprecedented demand coupled with component and logistic nightmares. For some it's getting critical parts, for others it's labor. One well known US company has plenty of product but is having trouble sourcing boxes.

I believe this will peak and start moving back towards normal soon. But as far as I can tell, the peak hasn't arrived yet.

I think with Tekton it's mostly the massive popularity that they are currently enjoying which actually may kill them if they don't learn to manage it properly. I've seen it before in this industry.

You are not wrong to have grievances, but the state of the world today is a massive challenge for production.  Manufacturers are struggling to meet deadlines because their suppliers are also failing to meat deadlines.  During the post-COVID adjustment period, I would give any manufacturer the benefit of the doubt that they are doing everything they can to get the product out in a timely fashion.  With as many moving parts as manufacturers have in this industry, all it takes is a single company to have production issues or extremely high demand to cause major delays.

If you are able to formulate such a convincing explanation, why aren’t they at Tekton?

I never understood the practice of over promising. Many moons ago I worked retail sales. Appliances,and then furniture. If I sold a special order, and the manufacturer said 4-6 weeks, I would tell the customer 8-10 weeks. 99% of the time I looked like a hero. 

I can understand if you miss a promise once or twice, nobody complains. But if you put a person to write e-mails that are systematically broken promises, then it seems to me that there is a vision of the world that we are used to recognise in large companies, those that are at the mercy of their own inscrutable rhythms and are excluded from a human relationship. Tekton, on the other hand, could still play the card of a decent human relationship. In this sense sincerity would certainly be a winner, for them and for their customers. In any case, it’s a question of taste and priorities.

Exactly. I used to do the same thing when I was an engineer; add 20% - 30% to a project completion estimate. The other engineers would be aggressive with their estimates, at the actual time estimated or even less, in a misguided attempt to impress their managers. Of course, they would come in late and I'd alway come in early. I retired 15 years ago. Most of the others are still working.

It always comes down to is a company operating in the best interests of you the customer or not. If they are, at minimum apologies will be offered for broken promises and they will always strive to provide timely accurate information when asked.  It’s all in how you treat people especially when things are not going well. 

Mapman, 100% correct.

I don't think anyone has said anything out of line, but the reality is that the world has changed and is completely unpredictable right now.  I have no vested interest in Tekton - in fact, they are a competitor - but I do hope clients can understand that these manufacturers are clients as well and when their suppliers break promises or expected delivery, it creates a chain reaction that cannot be avoided.  Nobody wants an ETA of TBA so expected deliveries are still suggested.  

Every company I've worked with has hit major speedbumps somewhere that have caused delays and in some cases a paradigm shift in how the business operates in the here and now.  Even the current state of international shipping has caused delays for me as we try to navigate logical delivery times with massively increased costs that are being completely absorbed by distributors and dealers.

It's a tough world and everyone I know is simply trying to find their way through and retain some sense of normalcy with operations.

@audiothesis  Good points and perspective. 

With supply chains in such an unpredictable state, manufacturers don’t know when the will receive parts or sub assemblies and so the “guess,” sometimes optimistically.  A dealer said that some gear that normally arrived in a week or two after ordering is now taking three to six months.

There are some manufacturers that were notorious for delays even before the pandemic, and Teton happened to be one such company.  It was something one had to accept in order to get such a bargain product (no dealer or distributor inventory means lower cost, but a wait because the product is built after an order is placed and there could be a backlog of orders).  
I own a headphone amp that took 18 months to arrive after I paid the full amount.  It was a hot product at that time and the backlog of orders was enormous.  I did not worry that much because other buyers were getting their amps; it was just taking an extremely long time.  The only good source of information on delays came from a headphone forum, the manufacturer’s communications meant nothing.  It was a good thing that the amp was worth the wait.

Hello @spacecadet65... I ordered my Double Impacts with standard $300 upgrade on Jan 1st and received them on May 27th. I assumed the wait would be long given the state of the world so was patient. I must add that the few communications I had with Tammy at Tekton were pleasant, professional, and I believe totally straight-up. My speakers arrived packaged well and have more than exceeded my expectations since. Be patient, you will not be disappointed.

My experience with Tammy has been the same. And I expected a long wait. I ordered the same speakers as you but in a custom color. What are you driving you IMs with? How long have they taken to break in? I also ordered the 2-10 sub and I'm wondering how hard it will be to get them to integrate. I', in a small room.. about 13x10x8.

Hey @spacecadet65... I am driving them with a Heaven 11 Billie Amp using upgraded gaine matched tubes (ordered with the amp). My room is slightly larger than yours and mildly treated. This is my first foray into "better than run of the mill" audio equipment for a dedicated space and I love it. Much of my money and listening enjoyment has been using IEMs and headphones through a high quality amp and DAP. I wanted to untether a little with a set of speakers and amp that I’d enjoy and I’ve not been disappointed.

Edit: Forgot to mention break-in. I believe Tekton recommends at least 20hrs??? I played some good full range hi-rez Tool at moderate volume for a few days (4) while at work. I  noticed the bass loosen up a little and as I've mentioned, I am more than happy them. As with my IEMs, I appreciate the DIs neutrality and speed. Please keep us updated when you receive them. I'll be curious about your experience with the subs... I am excited for you!

Will do! Thanks.

So the actual lead time for my Impact Monitor order ended up being 18 weeks. The clock is still running on the powered sub - which I'm told they are still waiting for the plate amps. 

Within the context of the pandemic and the interruption of supply chains I can understand shipping delays. But by more than a factor of 2x? It strains credulity. AT this point I feel like Tekton is using their customers as a bank. A little like a Go Fund Me project. But with a Go Fund Me project they only take a deposit... not the whole amount.

On the other hand, Schiit Audio, a company that also builds to order and sometimes has lead times, holds the order but doesn't actually take your money until the product is in stock and ready to ship. That seems more reasonable and fair.  

I run 3 small companies with payrolls that fluctuate wildly. I use a line of credit to smooth out the peaks and dips so there is no disruption to my customers. It's not rocket science. However, if I could get 18+ weeks of no interest loans from my customers, that would be something. 

Aside from the main point - the speakers sounded good right out of the box and they are still breaking in. However, the whole experience has been tainted by the feeling that I've been taken advantage of by the business process. Just my $.02 

Sounds like all you need to do then is start a fourth company, this one building speakers so good the demand is so great you cannot keep up. Heck it is so easy you probably could have done it in the five months you wasted waiting. 

I have to call BS on that Miller. I spent 20 years in the loudspeaker business from manufacturing to advertising and PR. Fact is that Tekton  are getting away with what they can. This is not a problem of manufacturing capacity. It's about cash flow and supply chain management. They are pushing their cash flow issues out to the customer so as not to pay for the financing of operating expenses. If not, they would be holding off on credit card charges until shipping, or at most just taking a 20% non-refundable deposit on each order. Either would be fair play in my book. 

BTW, I currently oversee over 1200 workers in 7 vertical industries across the country today. I don't need a lecture from an armchair audio enthusiast about optimizing business practices. 

I say that with love in my heart.  ;-) 

Tekton are not getting away with anything. Nobody forced you, not to place the order, not to wait week after week. And of all your wonderful business experience nobody saw you claim to be a psychoanalyst who knows why Tekton is run the way it is run.   

Nobody needs a lecture from a rear view driver pretending to know how another guy runs his business, let alone why. That would be, what is the word for it? Oh yeah, pretty sure the word for that is BS. I have to call BS on that, spacecadet65. 

One thing for sure, if ever I want an authority who knows the inner workings of the mind of someone they never met, I know who to ask: The spacecadet. 

I ordered a pair of 4-10 subs this year & Tekton did not take the money out of my account until the subs actually shipped. Love the subs BTW, & suspect you'll love the 2-10 as well.  

A 20% deposit seems fair. I know that many of their speakers are custom orders, but since the demand is there, any speaker that is refused after 18 weeks gets sold to the next guy in line and Eric gets to keep the deposit. Seems like a win for Tekton. I would not be happy with giving up my $$ for months on end while playing the waiting game.

Boxer: I am growing more enamored with the Impact Monitors the more I listen and the more they break in. I'll give a more detailed report when they have more hours on them and I have time to play with placement, etc. I fully expect to LOVE the 2-10 Sub when it comes in. 

Want to know a company that has reasonable lead times and does customer service the right way? Check out Legacy Audio. They've been doing it for 38 years. They make Tekton look like nothing more than pallet manufacturers.

Takes a long long time to get those $1.00 tweeters from China.

It was not my intention to start a hate thread on Tekton. As far as the product goes, I've received great value for money. It's just a little frustrating... 

earlflynn295 posts07-09-2021 3:05pmTakes a long long time to get those $1.00 tweeters from China.

HAHA...exactly!

It was not my intention to start a hate thread on Tekton.

In that case then you should not have written the post you did.

As far as the product goes, I've received great value for money.

Indeed. They are. Huge value. Greatest value. 

It's just a little frustrating...

I'll say. It would have been so easy for you to have said something like-    

Eric Alexander seems to be an extraordinarily creative genius with a drive to bring high end audio to a level normal people can afford. He has succeeded to such an extent the demand far exceeds supply. He could take the easy way out and raise prices. But instead he does all he can to keep them low. This means we have to wait longer than we would like. But it is so totally worth it I cannot find it within myself to complain. 

That is what you could have done. If you really did not want to turn it into a hate thread. Live and learn. 

Seriously Miller? I continue to be amused how folks whose ideas are the most banal can’t help but condescend to others. 
Make no mistake, I live and learn. This is just is not one of those times.

He does that. A lot.

What did you learn? You pretty much accused the guy of stealing your money to use interest free, knocked his whole business model, holding yourself up as a paragon of business virtue while really doing nothing more than whining about a situation you put yourself in and willingly participated in. Then act surprised when others see this, quite correctly, as attacking the guy. Well, that is what you did.  

I continue to be amused by people who have one standard for themselves, indeed a whole set of definitions of words held just for their own use, and another quite different set for everyone else.  

Not. Amused, I mean. That was mockery.