Quality issues with Tekton speakers....


I was reading all the buzz about these Tekton speakers and after sorting through all the reviews, decided to order a pair of the Pendragon (the big ones... $2,500 a pair).

When they arrived, I found them to be boxed well and in perfect shape, although one thing was very noticeable once I looked at the speakers. The woofers had a slightly different tone (color). The upper woofer in each tower was basically dark gray or black (like most paper woofers you might come across) and the lower woofers were slightly blue in color. After looking on the web some, I could not find a Pendragon speaker photo ANYWHERE that had this color difference. Since they did not come with speaker grilles, I knew the color difference would bother me as long as I owned the speakers.

I contacted Tekton (Eric Alexander) via e-mail and explained the issue. After almost a week of not hearing back, I sent another e-mail and his response was...

(copy and pasted right from my e-mail)... " I'm sorry. Please refresh my memory. What seems to be the problem? Thanks, Eric"

I described the issue again and he offered to exchange the speakers. I said there was no need to ship back a huge pair of 85 pound speakers and have him send me another pair and suggested maybe he just send me grilles at no charge to cover the speakers and I could live with the slight color difference in the woofers. I really feel that grilles should be included in a $2,500 price tag however.

All of these e-mails took several days to answer by the way.

He agreed and said he would get the grilles out right away... they were sent a few days later and upon arrival, I realized there was a pretty big problem. I had a normal type speaker grill with 4 pegs on the back and a speaker with no peg holes. After all the time, e-mails, no answers, etc., I was not interested in wasting any more time with the matter and asked for a partial refund through PayPal and asked a simple question... why send me grilles for a speaker that he just shipped to me with no holes to put them in? His reply was to offer to make new grilles and send "velcro dots" to affix them to the speakers with.... WOW.

The WORST part about all this: Within 30 minutes of making a PayPal claim about the issue and asking for a partial refund from him, Eric tried to call me right away... now that there was money at stake.

The really sad part of all this is that the speakers actually sound pretty damn good now that they are broken in... I just hope the quality and communication come up to the same level for the sake of Tekton as a company.
128x128audiofreak32

Showing 14 responses by audiofreak32

Hmmm... so now you see the photo. Any else to say? Don't you think you would want the drivers replaced or have a grill over them?
That was another option.... if I could get a response from the guy. I really wanted to have grilles and I asked more than twice about the grilles with no answer. Now I have to modify the grilles to get them to work.
Grilles should absolutely be included for $2,500 as almost EVERY manufacturer includes a grill with their speakers. You are also missing the issue of the driver color not matching - this is an easy quality issue that should have been caught before they shipped.
Well said Bcgator...

The speakers should have been correct BEFORE LEAVING his shop.... it's called QUALITY CONTROL. Do you want to pay $2,500 for a pair of speakers, then they arrive and have a NOTICEABLY different color between the woofers ON THE SAME SPEAKER?

Ship back? The boxes ARE HUGE!!! And weigh almost 90 pounds each. Even if he were to offer to to that, the cost would be in the hundreds of dollars. He agreed to send a pair of grilles at no charge, fine. BUT HOW THE HELL DO THE ATTACH TO THE SPEAKERS???

The WORST part is the lack of communication... it is next to impossible to get an answer from him on anything for a week, then when I start a PayPal claim, he calls me personally on my cell phone with 20 minutes!!!!
You are all out of your minds... a person pays $2,500 for a pair of speakers from a guy trying to prove he can make a good pair of speakers for a decent price that sound good.

Then he will not answer questions about how the grilles attach or answer e-mails, sends a pair of speakers with woofers that have a noticeably different color and then sends grilles WITH PEGS ATTACHED TO THEM for a speaker WITHOUT PEG HOLES. Now, I have to cut those off and use velcro dots.

This is the normal that you clowns are used to accepting?
Not sure how to upload photos... if you let me know how, I will do so. I am assuming there is no sound difference between them. He said that he buys the drivers 250 per order and "his guys" usually do a pretty good job of matching up the drivers. There is actually a review online where they talk about the different color in the paper woofers.
I am merely letting people know that the communication from Tekton is a joke. I did pull the pegs out and it also tore up the wood some. And I will install velcro dots. I was not "severely wronged", but I think $2,500 is a lot of my money to have an issue like this with the woofer color. I figured that it would be easier for Tekton to make grilles and I could cover the problem, rather than sending out new drivers (that may still not even match). Are you dumb or something?
Roxy... I DID DO THAT. I asked like three times about how the grilles attached to the speakers - NEVER GOT AN ANSWER. There are many small outfits making speakers out there that are usiong magnetic grilles.

Let's talk about the fact that the speakers even left his shop like that!!!
Charlesldad... you have no idea. The shit is UNREAL. I feel like I have wasted so much time on all kinds of amps, cables, speakers, subwoofers, etc., only to be completely blown away by a 15-watt amp with effecient speakers.
Follow up...

I was pretty upset about the experience with my Tekton Pendragon speakers.  I got over and have since bought two more pairs of Tekton speakers.  I think they are superb for the money and easily the most fun speaker I have owned - and I have owned maybe 40 pairs of speakers over the last 20 years, some of which were over $10,000 a pair.

They play so well and non-fatiguing with both big power SS amplification and little baby tube amps.... check out my virtual system.