Perhaps a measured response could have avoided this controversy.
Tekton Audio is facing controversy for allegedly threatening legal action against two prominent reviewers over negative reviews of their products. This happened after Erin’s Audio Corner and Audio Science Review published negative reviews on the Tekton Audio Troubadour and M-Lore speakers. In their review, they cited technical flaws in Tekton speakers based on frequency response measurements and other objective tests.
This ignited heated discussions around the appropriateness of Tekton’s response to critical measurements and reviews.
Tekton Audio vs. Erin’s Audio Corner
The controversy first started after Erin Hardison of Erin’s Audio Corner published a review of Tekton Audio’s Troubadour speaker. The video focused particularly on its frequency response, which was measured using a Klippel system, a tool used for speaker analysis.
Before testing, Hardison said he contacted Eric Alexander of Tekton Audio for setup advice and followed the instructions. However, after publishing his review, Alexander said he would have offered more specific guidelines had he known Hardison would be measuring the speakers.
Despite Hardison’s relatively mild critique, Alexander reacted negatively.
Hardison then sought advice and support from his Facebook group, revealing a threat of litigation from Tekton. He explained in a follow-up post that a “designer at Tekton” had issues about his review methods for the Troubadour speaker.
While Hardison never made a direct correlation between Tekton and the litigation threat in his posts, the sequence of events pointed to such a scenario. The company also removed the Troubadour model from their website, which was seen as a direct reaction to the review.
For transparency’s sake, Hardison posted a follow-up review of the Tekton Troubadour, testing the speaker with and without the feet. He said he only heard “some difference” in sound either way.
The ordeal evidently took a toll on him and he ended his review.
Tekton vs. Audio Science Review
Just like Hardosin, Amir Majidimehr, founder of Audio Science Review, also published a negative critique of the Tekton M-Lore speaker. In it, he noted its “unpleasant, boosted upper bass and lower treble” and said the speaker had significant flaws.
This review, too, was met with strong rebuttals from Tekton Audio.
Tekton Audio’s Public Responses
In response to the dispute with Erin’s Audio Corner, Alexander explained that in “professional reviews” measurements and reviews are often sent to manufacturers like him for fact-checking before publication. He says this ensures accuracy and prevents misunderstandings.
In this case, he says he was denied this opportunity.
“I’ve looked at impedance curves that have been…published by reviewers that have contained what I’ve discerned as an instantaneous flaw. So I’ve reached out to them, I’ve asked them to fix it, and the pushback that I’ve gotten in return is that no, I don’t want to fix it.” sais Alexander.
“And it was only at that point that I brought in the word litigation.”
The Tekton CEO clarified that his mention of litigation was not an intent to sue but rather a call for a lawyer-to-lawyer discussion to resolve misunderstandings quickly.
Towards the end of his video response, Alexander announced some changes. Though he supports independent reviews and measurements of Tekton products, he has decided that all future models will now come with complete measurement data.
Alexander also responded to Majidimehr’s criticisms in a now deleted video.
He claimed that Majidimehr misinterpreted the data, resulting in an unfair depiction of the M-Lore speaker that missed its true quality. He also noted that the review had affected sales, with no M-Lore speakers sold in two months.
“Amir measured our loudspeaker from the wrong angle, and he published a flawed frequency response and step response. Amir’s impedance measurement is also flawed and reflects the supplied feet that come with this speaker in the box were not used, and with no provisions to plug the quarter-inch threaded inserts.” said Alexander.
“I feel blindsided by Amir. I believe he owes me a personal and a public apology. I believe Amir should be doing everything in his power to rectify this problem.”.
Reactions and Opinions
Audiophiles have weighed in with mostly negative reactions to Alexander and Tekton’s response.
One commenter said, “The facts are you have not posted your measurements and a tutorial on how they were done and what Amir or Erin has done wrong. Show us your science?
You should be ashamed of the threat of legal action against an honest review. No one has an agenda against Tekton, a simple posting of the results by the reviewer and Tekton would be sufficient to support your position.”
In another discussion, Ryan Charpentier of Ascend Audio Video raised an important contradiction.
He noted that in some positive reviews, including one posted on Tekton’s own website, the speakers appeared without the feet installed, yet no issue was raised about their performance. This inconsistency questions the necessity of the feet when measuring the speaker.
“If you go look at this YouTube video, there’s no feet on these speakers. So, why are we saying that the feet need to be on for a review that may or may not have things said about the speaker. But if it’s all positive, then there doesn’t need to be any feet.
He’s saying that the speaker supposedly was measured incorrectly. But Steve doesn’t have any feet on his speaker, and somehow it doesn’t measure incorrectly,” Charpentier says.
Faced with the backlash and lost sales, Tekton Audio ultimately pulled the Troubadour and M-Lore models from their website. Alexander said all future Tekton speakers will now be published with full measurement data, a change from the company’s past approach.
the knee-jerk reaction of Tekton lowers my respect for the owner. i see no reason to have attorney-level discussions. phone calls are a much less aggressive (or should be) method of communication. the fact that the speakers were provided without the feet, or at least the caveat of measurements to be carried out WITH them, is the flaw of the provider (Tekton) not the reviewer.
the trouble with acting as if you’re on a high horse is that you CAN fall off.