Tekton Double Impacts

@teajay  - Another good review!

I've never understood why anyone would want tubes in a DAC, though. That's what tube pre-amps and amps are for, as having tubes in a DAC hamstrings the DAC to one sub-set. If one wanted to go all SS at a time in the future, their DAC is now worthless. But, if like most DACs, that don't employ tubes, if you want to go tubeless, then just change your pre-amp/amp.

In my mind, at least, it limits the DAC. I used to own a Lampizator Golden Gate at one time, and I couldn't get rid of it fast enough.

LP, I use the Truth line stage with my Coincident Dynamo 34SE MKII and upgraded Tekton Pendragons.  It's hard to describe a line stage that seems nonexistent - it's so transparent that I can't differentiate it between a direct connection.  I have zero complaints and nothing but praise for the Truth, which is woefully underpriced. 

My hope for the future is upgrading to an Aric Audio 300B SET amp and Tekton Double Impact SE's, and the Truth will remain in the chain - I don't know what else could possibly be an improvement, especially at that price. 

***A word of warning before you buy from Tekton***

Well, it seems that I won’t be getting the Encores after all.

Tekton had sold me the DIs under the premise that they would be on loan to me until the “mini ulfs” were ready. This was on 10/02/2017, when I received the DIs.

I didn’t open up the DIs immediately. Soon after I got them I went into the hospital, and have been in and out until 06/04/18, plus losing my job on 10/27/17.

I got to listen to the DIs in March, 2018, for the first time, and again in May, 2018. I had concerns, which I expressed to Tekton when I first purchased them, is if they would be suitable for my 13x13x8 room, due to their size. I was assured by Tekton that they would be fine in my room. I wanted them to be. I even purchased new stands that would suitable for both the DIs and the “mini ulfs.” This was also a concern with my buddy, who is an acoustician, as he claimed that I would need much space for the many drivers of the DIs to coalesce. Moreover, he claimed that the rule of thumb was that the height of speakers should be no more than half of the distance to your ceiling. Now, this is a guy who teaches sound design, primarily for pro studio and mastering rooms, so perhaps he isn’t the last word for home audio use; still, what he said made sense, especially given that what I was hearing from the DIs, even with multiple room placement, as well as acoustic treatment left the mids very thick and muddy.

Nevertheless, I had hopes for the “mini ulfs” as they were a better speaker, so I was told.

In my talks with Tekton, though, I got the impression that the ‘mini ulfs’ would be in the $5,000 range, as Tekton informed that they would be directly competing with the TOTL Golden Ear Tritons, which I looked up, priced at $2,499.99 a piece, so roughly $5k. That’s my fault, however, because I guess we were talking about two different speakers, and I guess there is a higher one up the ladder from Golden Ear that Tekton was referring to. I wish I had gotten that in writing.

What’s more, I wish I had gotten it in writing that these DIs were to be traded in for the “mini ulfs.”

In fact, Tekton never contacted me that the “mini ulf,” now named the “Encores” were in production, 10 months or so later. I sent them an email and inquired about the Encores, because those are the ones I really wanted, even after my poor experience with the DIs. I suppose I just wanted to give myself and Tekton a fair shake with the Encores.

I admit that the sticker shock of the Encores set me back. I was expecting to pay $2,000 more for the Encores, but Tekton showed me a slip of paper where Tekton had written down $7,500. Tekton eventually told me that this slip of paper was buried under a mound of other papers, so they had to fetch it out.

Regardless, I informed Tekton that I was excited again about getting the Encores. I wrote to Tekton, “So, I guess the next steps are for me to ship the DIs back to you, and for me to pay the balance for the Encores and have them shipped to me. My excitement about them is renewed! I certainly hope that they do well in my 13x13 room. The room is acoustically treated, and I would certainly hate to be out all of that acoustic treatment in the room if my wife wants to turn it into a dining room. Haha!”

Tekton then confirmed the color I wanted, letting me know that they were 2 weeks out from shipping to me, and that they could help with the return shipping for the DIs.

Here it gets a little fuzzy, because I was told by Tekton that they could save me about $300 in shipping if I used their FedEx account. The strange thing is, Tekton claimed that they had heard from other customers that shipping would be about $600 to get the DIs back to them. So, if Tekton was to save me an estimated $300, then that means that I would pay Tekton around $300 to ship the DIs back, from the estimated $600 in shipping without Tekton’s help. This sounded odd, because I thought that surly Tekton does not pay $300 to ship each unit out, so if I paid them roughly $300, using their account, where does the rest of the savings go that it cost Tekton to ship their speakers to customers. I would assume it goes in their pockets, because the math just didn’t add up.

Anyway, I used a dealer buddy’s FedEx account and arranged shipping. This shipping thing was becoming a hassle, because I felt that I was getting a little ripped off. If I didn’t care for the Encores, boy I would be out more shipping. I sent Tekton an email to this affect, not getting into my health concerns (and I won’t do that here, either), but I let them know that they would get the speakers “tomorrow.”

Now, anyone with a FedEx account (at least everyone I know, including many dealers) has their account set up to get notifications from FedEx when an item is shipped to them. So, Tekton must have known the speakers were coming. I was in the middle of doing a charity thing when I decided to look at my FedEx account to make sure that the speakers had made it to Tekton okay. When I checked, much to my surprise, Tekton had refused the shipment at the dock! How can anybody in good conscious do such a thing?

I immediately phoned Tekton, asking them why they refused shipment, as we had a deal to return the loaner DIs, I would pay the balance of the Encores, and they would ship me the Encores. The gentleman on the phone informed me that he decided against that, that Tekton would not be honoring their deal with me, and not taking the DIs back, thus costing me the shipping.

After a whirlwind conversation, in which the gentleman berated me over the phone, I was informed that Tekton would take the DIs back, but that I would not be eligible to send the Encores back should I not like them. My estate attorney called up FedEx and arranged shipment back to them, whereupon I informed Tekton that they would be coming back to them, once more. Equally as shocking, at one point Tekton suggested that if I was concerned about the Encores that I could just receive the shipment, not open the Encores and sell them as new.

In other words, Tekton wasn’t concerned about me enough as a customer to contact me when the Encores were ready, yet when they found out that I had more money to spend, they were more than willing to take that cash, as long as they didn’t have to deal with me any longer.

To make matters worse, I should never have told them my health problems, but the only reason that I did was to explain to them that not only had I been ill for 9 months, but also that the “60-day risk-free trial period” that they kept throwing at me, was not applicable since I was waiting on the Encores, anyway. Yet the irony is, they kept hitting me with the 60-day “risk-free” trial period, yet Tekton changed their policy on me in the middle of the deal, where I wouldn’t be able to use the 60-day risk-free trial period for the Encores. That is, if the 60-day risk-free trial period is so sacred then how can it be altered on a whim? What’s more, before I sent the DIs back, it was sent to me in writing that I could return the Encores, only I would have to pay return shipping on my own. That’s understandable , and I was hoping like Hell that the Encores were all they were cracked up to be, because I certainly didn’t want to go through this shipping merry-go-round again.

I then told Tekton that there’s no way that I could take the Encores, paying them $4105 for the balance without having recourse. I mean, it’s pretty much every manufacturer’s  policy, these days, in this price range (and many above) to try them out in your home, so it’s not like Tekton is unique in this respect. Tekton kept saying that they cannot take a “total loss” on the loaner DIs, but I’m not sure how they could take a loss on the DIs, because even if I had sent them back under the “60-day risk-free trial period,” would they have honored that agreement and taken them back? I’m not so sure. If they don’t have a model for selling B-stock, then why advertise the 60-day risk-free trial period? Of course we know they have a model for B-stock, because they have some for sale on their website.

Those stands that I purchased for the DIs and the Encores? The manufacturer took them back, 9 moths later, no questions asked.

Anyway, from there, since I couldn’t take that big of a risk with the Encores, Tekton responded back, asking me what sort of “win-win” situation I had in mind.

I informed them that since they reneged on their deal to take the DIs back and reneged on their return policy, I couldn’t think of a win-win situation, that I felt that my back was against the wall, and that I was already out extra shipping. I suggested that they charge me a 15% restocking fee, or that we work a consignment deal.

Tekton then responded back with their version of a “win-win” situation. That they keep the DIs, which I paid $3395 for, and they give me $2,800 credit for more Tekton speakers. In other words, they make an immediate $595 by shaving off the list on me, and on top of that my money is held at Tekton for more speakers. This is all on top of me paying double-shipping, because they refused our original deal at the dock. To top that off, I had to remind Tekton that I had paid $3395 for the DIs, as Tekton admitted that they didn’t even know that I had purchased “upgraded DI.” As a slight additional insult, I never got my grills, and the DIs never shipped with floor spikes (and yes, all of the boxes and foam was checked). So, really, I never received the whole order of the $3395 that I paid.

When I asked how this was a “win-win” situation for me, I was greeted with an email saying to never contact Tekton again.

I know some of your guys have traded up to other speakers with Tekton. I’m sure it was done without a hitch, right? Of course these deals were all done under the umbrella of Tekton taking more money, as it suits them, and as it suits you.

But, I say this, if it can happen once with a customer, it can happen again. Additionally, every business is a human business, first and foremost. If a company eliminates the human factor, they have lost themselves. Of course businesses wants to make money, but one can’t put the cart before the horse. A sense of human kindness and customer service is tantamount to good business practice. Tekton knew they weren’t going to lose money on me, but because there was a risk that they couldn’t make more money off of me, they decided to be done with me.

Guess what happened next. After I got the email to not contact Tekton again, I had to call FedEx and have the DIs shipped back to me. That’s triple-shipping now. Dummy, me, right?

Now I’m stuck with these DIs. I will have to sell them, but only after I’m out nearly $800+ shipping, all because Tekton would not honor their deal with me.

There are two-sides to every story, yes? As this is a house of Tekton worship, I’m sure that I will be told to go take a powder. No matter. This is a warning to the discerning purchaser, that it could happen to you, too. Just beware. Think twice.