Apollon Audio complaints

[elmoe420]

I placed an order a month ago and haven’t heard back. Tried to contact the company twice with no luck. Crickets. Ordered a stereo amp with basic configuration, nothing special. Just wanted to bring this up for future buyers who are considering Apollon. Not even sure if I should just contact the credit card company at this point or wait longer.

There has never been a report I've read of anyone not getting their amp and being completely satisfied with the actual product. However, the company is known for long, variable build times and spotty communication. If they quote you a build time also keep in mind it is in their business days accounting for local holidays not calendar time.e.g. 30 day estimate is at minimum 6 weeks calendar time.

Both my amps were delivered by the quote time but I did regularly communicate with the owner to check in on my build progress.

Personally I think the casework is worth the wait and I'd buy from them again. There are lots of quicker options though if you don't want the fancy casework e.g. Buckeye.

 

[TemploAztlan]

I ordered the amp model that Amir reviewed and it arrived within the quoted time without my having to bug them. Not trying to discount others' experience, just adding a data point.

 

[Apollon Audio]

Depending on what type of amp you ordered you may be able to cancel the order.

I ordered one of their “premiere” builds which means they consider it a custom build so no returns and no cancels.

They have zero sense of empathy and zero zero sense of urgency. They will tell you what you want to hear and then ignore that deadline too. AND they get your money up front—all of it.

This forum has been the only defense against their detached arrogance.

Tibor’s reply will say all the right things in response to your forum complaint. But it is his unwavering belief that if he just build good amps real timelines and customer communication will be unnecessary.

March Audio and Nord Acoustics have been great to me. Always deliver early and send tracking.

You’re right about one thing: you had a bad experience with us, and it happened during a period when the number of incoming orders simply surpassed our production capacity. We were growing fast, demand spiked, and we did not scale production quickly enough at that time. Add the post-Covid component shortages and unstable lead times, and yes, some customers (including you) got hit with delays that shouldn’t have happened. I’ve said that publicly before, and I’ll say it again: I’m sorry you went through that.

Where I’m going to push back is the “zero empathy” and “zero sense of urgency” part. That’s not a description of a timeline issue, it’s a sweeping character judgment about me and my team. And it’s not fair, and it’s not accurate.

What also bothers me is the pattern here. This complaint thread was basically silent for close to half a year. We delivered hundreds of amps in that time with no drama and no waves. The moment one customer posts a complaint, you immediately show up and present it as proof that we’re still the same company we were during that difficult period, and you go straight to the harshest accusations possible, aimed at people, not processes.

I’m not claiming we’re perfect. Sometimes, even today, we can still experience delays, and the reason is exactly what I said above: demand can spike and temporarily exceed production capacity. The difference is that we’ve built systems to prevent it from becoming the norm, and we’ve improved a lot:

• We increased production capacity and tightened workflow
• Support is stronger, and we’re much easier to reach
• Live chat is available every day, and customers get answers fast
• Around 95% of orders are now delivered within the stated timeframe

If we were still in the “old days” of constant delays, this thread would be full of fresh complaints week after week. It simply isn’t.

As for the “Premium” builds: those are custom configurations and this is stated clearly at the time of purchase. Custom builds are not the same as buying something off a shelf, and the policy is not hidden.

And yes I get it. You’ve had a great experience with March Audio and Nord Acoustics. That’s fine. Customers should buy from whoever they trust and whoever fits their expectations. But recommending competitors is one thing. Repeatedly using every new complaint as a chance to paint Apollon as detached, arrogant, or “without empathy” is another.

We work hard here. We care. We’re not perfect, but we’re also not what you’re describing, and I’m not going to let that become the “accepted story” when it doesn’t match our current reality.

 

[Apollon Audio]

I placed an order a month ago and haven’t heard back. Tried to contact the company twice with no luck. Crickets. Ordered a stereo amp with basic configuration, nothing special. Just wanted to bring this up for future buyers who are considering Apollon. Not even sure if I should just contact the credit card company at this point or wait longer.

I actually sent you a DM yesterday but haven’t received a reply yet.

Could you please send me your order number or the email address used for the purchase via private message so I can look into this immediately?

We receive a very large volume of emails every day, and on rare occasions messages can end up in spam folders or be unintentionally overlooked. It’s not common, but it can happen, which is why we always recommend using our live chat on our website for order updates. It’s active every day almost 24/7 and allows us to respond instantly.

Please send me your details and I’ll personally check what’s going on.

 

[ChrisJJ]

EDIT: MY ORDER IS NOT DOUBLE THE PRODUCTIONTIME AS I WRONGLY STATED.

Still, Apollon Audio needs to be much more proactiv in regards to informing buyre about delays in production. As soon as you are overdue regarding your own defined production times then you write to the buyer. I'm looking forward to see if your mail from manday and the timeframe you told me will hold. I really hope so. We are on double the productiontime by tomorrow. And I get your busy but then you have to upscale and hier more staff. Your succes could be your death if you get a reputation of not delivering on time and not infoming buyser.

I mean this well. I like to support small European businesses but it also has to be fair from my side. And the only thing I'm asking is information and transparency regarding my order.

 

[Apollon Audio]

Still, Apollon Audio needs to be much more proactiv in regards to informing buyre about delays in production. As soon as you are overdue regarding your own defined production times then you write to the buyer. I'm looking forward to see if your mail from manday and the timeframe you told me will hold. I really hope so. We are on double the productiontime by tomorrow. And I get your busy but then you have to upscale and hier more staff. Your succes could be your death if you get a reputation of not delivering on time and not infoming buyser.

I mean this well. I like to support small European businesses but it also has to be fair from my side. And the only thing I'm asking is information and transparency regarding my order.

Thanks for the feedback, and I agree with the general principle: if we foresee a delay, proactive updates are the right thing to do, and we’re continuously improving that.

That said, I need to correct an important factual point in your post, because it creates a significantly more negative impression than the timeline supports.

You placed the order on 4. February. As of today, it is the 19th business day since your order. (estimated lead time of 14 business days is advertised). That is not “double the production time by tomorrow.” I understand that waiting is frustrating, but describing it as “double” is simply not accurate.

I also want to clarify the cause, because this was communicated to you directly: we experienced an unusually large spike in demand for Purifi 6525-based amplifiers. We did have a quite large stock, but that surge sold through the batch faster than expected, and we had to wait for the next delivery from Purifi. I replied to your emails, explained this, and gave you an updated timeframe.

So I’m genuinely asking, what exactly do you feel we did wrong here in terms of transparency, given that you were informed, the reason was explained, and an updated timeline was provided?

And more broadly, I’d like to understand the intent behind wording such as:

“I’m looking forward to see if your mail from Monday and the timeframe you told me will hold… We are on double the production time by tomorrow.”

If the factual timeline isn’t “double,” and you already had the explanation for the short delay, why choose language that presents it that way to the public? On a forum like this, phrasing matters, because readers don’t experience the private communication, they only see what’s written here. And there is a difference between constructive criticism and framing that implies persistent misconduct.

I’m not saying feedback isn’t welcome, it is. If your point is that you’d like automatic proactive updates the moment a parts bottleneck is detected, that is fair, and we can take that onboard. But I do ask that the public summary reflects the timeline and context accurately.

 

[Apollon Audio]

I placed an order a month ago and haven’t heard back. Tried to contact the company twice with no luck. Crickets. Ordered a stereo amp with basic configuration, nothing special. Just wanted to bring this up for future buyers who are considering Apollon. Not even sure if I should just contact the credit card company at this point or wait longer.

I’m still waiting for your reply to the DM I sent three days ago.

In the meantime, my team and I have gone through all recent emails and support requests, and we cannot find any unanswered messages that match your description.

So I’m asking again, please send me your order number or the email address used for the purchase via private message, so I can locate your order and clarify the situation immediately.

If there has been a communication issue, we will resolve it. But at this point, without any identifying details, there is nothing concrete for us to investigate.

I’m here and ready to help, I just need the information to do so.

 

[ChrisJJ]

Thanks for the feedback, and I do agree with the general principle: when there’s a delay, proactive updates are the right thing to do. Transparency matters.

That said, I need to correct a few factual points in your post, because right now it gives readers a misleading picture.

You placed your order on 4 February. Today is the 19th business day since the order date. That is not “double the production time by tomorrow.” So the timeline part of your comment is simply not accurate.

Also, I have been transparent with you. I replied to your emails and explained exactly what happened: we temporarily ran out of Purifi 6525 modules because we had an unusually large spike in 6525-based orders. We did have modules in stock, but they sold through faster than expected due to that sudden demand, and we had to wait for the next batch from Purifi.

That’s not me trying to hide anything or avoid responsibility, it’s the actual reason for the delay, and I communicated it to you directly.

So I’m honestly asking: what exactly do you feel we did wrong in terms of transparency and information, given that we answered you, explained the cause, and gave you an updated timeframe?

I stand corrected in regards to the double business days. Posted an edit in my former post. Sorry about that.

Our mailcorrosponding about my order has been as following:
4. Febuary I place an order and recieve an email with orderdetails (as expected) .
5. Febuary I write an email asking for an estimate in regards to buildtime.
5. Febuary you reply that the lead time is 14 business days and that my order is in production (as I can see on my account page on your webshop)
23. Febuary I write to you again asking about my order and lead time as it should be produces and ready by the 24. February
1. March you reply that my order will be ready and tested this week - in the same email you write about many orders after a good ASR review and something about a bottleneck. You didn't directly tell me that you had encountered problems and ran out of 6525 modules.

You have not once sent me an email about my order proactivly - yes you have replied but thats not being proactiv in my world. When you as a company get into probelms in regards to your production you proactivly send an email to the customers that are affected by your production issues.

And I must admit that reading these posts on ASR made me nervous. You have deducted quite a large amount of money from my account for my order. Im not custom to that in Denmark. Here webshops can't deduct any amount befor the customer has recieved his order. It was my understanding that the amps I ordered are not what you would call custom/special amps. But that's my problem and I could be wrong

And to answer your question. Yes I would like to recieve automated updates regarding my order when the production is delayes, VERY MUCH!

Kind regards
Chris

 

[Apollon Audio]

I stand corrected in regards to the double business days. Posted an edit in my former post. Sorry about that.

Our mailcorrosponding about my order has been as following:
4. Febuary I place an order and recieve an email with orderdetails (as expected) .
5. Febuary I write an email asking for an estimate in regards to buildtime.
5. Febuary you reply that the lead time is 14 business days and that my order is in production (as I can see on my account page on your webshop)
23. Febuary I write to you again asking about my order and lead time as it should be produces and ready by the 24. February
1. March you reply that my order will be ready and tested this week - in the same email you write about many orders after a good ASR review and something about a bottleneck. You didn't directly tell me that you had encountered problems and ran out of 6525 modules.

You have not once sent me an email about my order proactivly - yes you have replied but thats not being proactiv in my world. When you as a company get into probelms in regards to your production you proactivly send an email to the customers that are affected by your production issues.

And I must admit that reading these posts on ASR made me nervous. You have deducted quite a large amount of money from my account for my order. Im not custom to that in Denmark. Here webshops can't deduct any amount befor the customer has recieved his order. It was my understanding that the amps I ordered are not what you would call custom/special amps. But that's my problem and I could be wrong

And to answer your question. Yes I would like to recieve automated updates regarding my order when the production is delayes, VERY MUCH!

Kind regards
Chris

First of all, thank you for correcting the “double production time” statement. I appreciate that.

I also understand your point about proactive communication. From a customer perspective, when a delay happens, you expect to be informed without having to ask. That’s reasonable.

Where I want to add context is this:

We are not a mass-retail webshop shipping items from shelves. Every amplifier is built, assembled, tested and measured individually. When we experience a component bottleneck, like the temporary shortage of 6525 modules after the ASR review spike, it affects multiple orders at once.

In an ideal world, every affected customer would receive an automatic delay notification immediately. In reality, when demand spikes and production is under pressure, our priority becomes solving the bottleneck and fulfilling orders. Communication improvements are something we are actively working on, but we are still a relatively small manufacturing operation, not a large automated e-commerce infrastructure.

Regarding the payment structure: in Denmark, consumer protection law works differently than in many other EU countries. In most of Europe, including where we operate, full payment at the time of order for built-to-order products is standard practice. It is not intended to create discomfort, it reflects the fact that components are allocated and production starts specifically for that order.

Your amplifier is not a “special custom one-off,” but it is still assembled to order. We don’t hold finished units in stock.

I also understand how reading older forum threads can create anxiety. Large purchases always carry trust. But I hope the fact that I am here, replying openly and directly, shows that we are not avoiding responsibility.

Your order is in progress, and the updated timeframe I gave you still stands. If anything changes, I will inform you.

And again, I appreciate the constructive tone.

 

[PristineSound]

Let me share my story. I ordered the dual mono NCx500 lux maybe two years ago? If I remember correctly, it took close to 60 days? Similar story, few follow ups and such. Yes, I was getting frustrated as well, I even thought maybe I got swindled and had to call my credit card company and ask them how long do I have to file a dispute.

But when I got my amp, damn, it was a sight of beauty, it was a work of art. Then I put it on the top shelf of my rack, it was slightly uneven!!!! I lost my sh!t and was about send Tibor an email to curse him out. Then I calmed myself down, to put it on another surface, it was even this time. Hmmm, took a leveler and measured my shelf, the shelf was actually slightly uneven that I never noticed. The Apollon amp was so symmetrical that it brought to my attention the shelf was uneven. . .haha

The lux version is built like a tank, its craftsmanship is impeccable, the material is luxurious, and the attention to detail is top notch. Was it worth the wait? In my opinion, absolutely yes, although I just wish proper expectations was set from the start.

Look, everyone has different priorities and everyone have a different budget, and we are at different stages of our lives. I personally am at a stage in my life now where I am not looking to buy the most affordable; I want to buy something of high end and not have to upgrade later; I want to buy something of high quality, so I *hopefully* don't have to deal with reliability issues later, I want to buy something that is satisfying visually and tactilely, because looks matter to me as much as the sound. And because dammit, I am bougie . This is the space of the market that Apollon plays in. So, if you want an Apollon, just expect a longer built time to set your own expectations.

Sure there other manufacturers and some of them may get you your order much faster, and some manufacturers target the more price conscious consumers. There are plenty of customers, the market is big enough. So take your pick if Apollon isn't right for you.

 

[Waxx]

People in Europe did order quiet a few Apollon amps on my recommendation. But i always warned them that this is custom build with long leadtimes, and so they were prepared. But in the 7 years that i recommend Apollon amps, i never had a bad comment from those who bought them (and that are probally a few dozen) but that it takes time to get them (but they knew in advance). My girlfriend has 2 stereo amps from him for a few years now without any issues, and it took 72 days between order and delivery (in Belgium) for the first and 67 for the second amp. I myself are less prone to pay for visual design and use other cheaper amps (also hypex) in my personal setups.

But in custom builds (of whatever), long leadtimes are quiet standard, and you need to take initiative to talk to the builders to get info on status. That is standard here in Europe and on that Apollon is by far not the worst i know. Try to order custom build furniture or jewelery.... And that things can go wrong is also not only here. My last laptop was not even booting (custom config) when it arrived and had a faulty motherboard. So i had to wait another 5 weeks to get the config i wanted (on cost of the manufacturor, but still) and that is quiet standard for custom designs or configs.

If you expect Amazon delivery times and customer service, you won't find that here, that is true. That is because they are mainly an engineering company, not a sales company that sells whatever earns money like Amazon. Things go slower, and communication is not always as fast as US citizen are used to. But they deliver quality, that is their focus.

And that things can be done better is always true, for any company in the world... But be reasonable.

 

[Matias]

If they add big red disclaimer on the website stating "Custom built: will take 60 days or more to ship" the expectations would be set, issues would be solved.
Counting business days is not really feasible for customers as we have no idea about their holidays etc.

 

[Golfx]

If they add big red disclaimer on the website stating "Custom built: will take 60 days or more to ship" the expectations would be set, issues would be solved.
Counting business days is not really feasible for customers as we have no idea about their holidays etc.

He stubbornly refuses to apply that logic to his website. Perhaps it is a cultural thing where we are now used to Amazon quickly satisfying our anticipatory needs. Maybe he sees it as unnecessary given his backlog? My earlier comments about lack of empaty=we give him all the money up front. Then patiently wait until they miss a presented timeline. The we worry we have been scammed or forgotten.

 

[Matias]

Then we worry we have been scammed or forgotten.

This is the part where customers should also chill and endure the pain until it is finally shipped. As everyone says, after receiving and living with these amps, it is all worth it.

 

[Golfx]

This is the part where customers should also chill and endure the pain until it is finally shipped. As everyone says, after receiving and living with these amps, it is all worth it.

Or they should adapt and prevent it from happening.

 

[PristineSound]

Or they should adapt and prevent it from happening.

That's not how real-world works. If you read the numerous posts from Tibor, you will read the inherent limitations his business has. All of his boards are PCB in house, all of his cases are CNC in house, which other Hypex and Purifi integrator does this?

I rather wait 60 days for a high-quality product with superb craftsmanship than get something with poor quality and poor QC in two weeks.

 

[Golfx]

That's not how real-world works. If you read the numerous posts from Tibor, you will read the inherent limitations his business has. All of his boards are PCB in house, all of his cases are CNC in house, which other Hypex and Purifi integrator does this?

I rather wait 60 days for a high-quality product with superb craftsmanship than get something with poor quality and poor QC in two weeks.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I meant he could just put a statement on his website changing/lengthening his delivery times for custom orders. As matias mentioned above.

 

[SKNG]

The only "complain" I've is the leadtime of custom made amp be it premium or lux version but I respect the owner has the right to choose what's best for his business. When my Crowson motion actuator amp spoiled although still repairable but I decided to give up after seeing the internal of it n switched the Hypex NC500 stereo amp to power the motion actuators order a lux version Purifi 1ET7040SA dual mono stereo amp,after experiencing the long wait on the premium monoblocks I ordered last yr I knew this 1 probably will be same so didn't do anything to "chase" after it,it arrived just over 2 months.
Now the fun part, some pics of it.

 

[PristineSound]

The only "complain" I've is the leadtime of custom made amp be it premium or lux version but I respect the owner has the right to choose what's best for his business. When my Crowson motion actuator amp spoiled although still repairable but I decided to give up after seeing the internal of it n switched the Hypex NC500 stereo amp to power the motion actuators order a lux version Purifi 1ET7040SA dual mono stereo amp,after experiencing the long wait on the premium monoblocks I ordered last yr I knew this 1 probably will be same so didn't do anything to "chase" after it,it arrived just over 2 months.
Now the fun part, some pics of it.View attachment 522002View attachment 522003View attachment 522004View attachment 522005View attachment 522006View attachment 522007

Just look at that work of art. The craftsmanship is second to none, the luxury is fitting for a king. . .period. . .full stop.