Tekton M-Lore Speaker Review

[kemmler3D]

Something very similar to this whole Tekton drama is happening with the most famous reviewer of them all - Marques Brownlee.
He just reviewed the Humane AI Pin - they're not happy...

MKBHDs For Everything

Marques Brownlee has tremendous power because he can go direct to consumers; that is possible in media, and AI will make it possible everywhere.

stratechery.com

But the review has more than 4 million views now. I think there's some kind of momentum now in how reviewing is being regarded.
MKBHD's view on the subject:

Wow, from the Stratechery article, I can't believe the Vassallo guy's take on this. He actually seems to believe that the government should prevent reviewers like Brownlee from reviewing things becuase they might affect business outcomes for certain companies. Leaving aside the fact that this is anti-free-market and arguably fascist in the technical sense, the whole point is for people like Brownlee to affect business outcomes.

I guess he thinks consumers should just be forced to buy defective products? WTF? It's hard for someone to be wrong in so many ways in so few words.

People are only restrained from speaking in ways that affect the share price when they work for the firm in question. Good lord... this is why I only post here and not on twitter. My blood pressure would hit 4 digits.

 

[tmtomh]

Wow, from the Stratechery article, I can't believe the Vassallo guy's take on this. He actually seems to believe that the government should prevent reviewers like Brownlee from reviewing things becuase they might affect business outcomes for certain companies. Leaving aside the fact that this is anti-free-market and arguably fascist in the technical sense, the whole point is for people like Brownlee to affect business outcomes.

View attachment 364387

I guess he thinks consumers should just be forced to buy defective products? WTF? It's hard for someone to be wrong in so many ways in so few words.

People are only restrained from speaking in ways that affect the share price when they work for the firm in question. Good lord... this is why I only post here and not on twitter. My blood pressure would hit 4 digits.

What a dreadfully poor argument Vassallo makes. If Brownlee is not associated with the company, has no illegally obtained insider information, and is not moving his own money around to try to profit from potentially market-moving statements he might make, then No, actually, there's zero precedent or law to prevent him from saying whatever he wants in his reviews. And ethically the only problem would be if he used the product, thought it was terrible, but didn't say so in his review.

The tough part with arguments like Vassallo's is making an educated guess as to whether the argument comes from honest stupidity or knowing distortion of the facts.

 

[Inertiaman]

Something very similar to this whole Tekton drama is happening with the most famous reviewer of them all - Marques Brownlee.
He just reviewed the Humane AI Pin - they're not happy...

Actually, to be fair to Humane regarding their response, I think "they're not happy" potentially misrepresents their reaction. This is the one direct response they've publicly made as far as I know:

Sam Sheffer, Head of New Media at Humane and fellow Tech content creator, replied to MKBHD’s review clip on X, stating, “An honest, solid review Marques — all fair and valid critiques, both the good and the bad feedback is a gift. We reflect, we listen, we learn, and we continue building.”

The bolding above is mine. Contrast that with the responses from Tekton to Amir, Erin or anyone else saying anything other than "go buy this, now!".

 

[kemmler3D]

Actually, to be fair to Humane regarding their response, I think "they're not happy" potentially misrepresents their reaction. This is the one direct response they've publicly made as far as I know:

Sam Sheffer, Head of New Media at Humane and fellow Tech content creator, replied to MKBHD’s review clip on X, stating, “An honest, solid review Marques — all fair and valid critiques, both the good and the bad feedback is a gift. We reflect, we listen, we learn, and we continue building.”

The bolding above is mine. Contrast that with the responses from Tekton to Amir, Erin or anyone else saying anything other than "go buy this, now!".

See - this is what happens when you let professionals speak to the public, instead of shooting your mouth off every time you get a little hot under the collar.

Were the executives at Humane "happy" about being called the worst product he's ever reviewed? Obviously not. If the CEO didn't use a little adult language when it came out, they're tougher than I am. But at least they were smart enough to take the opportunity to burnish their reputation a little. EA seems to have done the opposite - take an okay review and use the opportunity to trash his reputation.

 

[kemmler3D]

The tough part with arguments like this is making an educated guess as to whether the argument comes from honest stupidity or knowing distortion of the facts.

Looking through his actual posts on his feed, he's made a lot of stupid commentary on a lot of topics, so I think he's just stupid. e.g. One is "Actually, housing prices per square foot haven't gone up that much over the past 40 years" - this is his comment on a graph that shows them rising 50% since their most recent low in the 2010s. Then he blames people for wanting big houses.

Big dunning-kruger type, I think. The sort of guy who wants to talk down to everyone, but lacks any actual insight with which he could do so successfully. You know, the guy who is moderately successful in business, which leads him to the conclusion that everyone is stupid except for him.

 

[tmtomh]

Looking through his actual posts on his feed, he's made a lot of stupid commentary on a lot of topics, so I think he's just stupid. e.g. One is "Actually, housing prices per square foot haven't gone up that much over the past 40 years" - this is his comment on a graph that shows them rising 50% since their most recent low in the 2010s. Then he blames people for wanting big houses.

Big dunning-kruger type, I think. The sort of guy who wants to talk down to everyone, but lacks any actual insight with which he could do so successfully.

Since posting my comment I have come across a few of his other online posts/comments, and based on that I would agree with your assessment.

 

[Dialectic]

Yes, I get the principles, but I just think in this case it would waste too much of Amir's time, on top of the amount he's already wasted (or spent, if you think the outcome will eventually make it worthwhile).

It will be worthwhile if I never again have to lay eyes on one of those tweeter "arrays"!

 

[Sal1950]

Good lord... this is why I only post here and not on twitter. My blood pressure would hit 4 digits.

Amen

 

[DLS79]

I can't believe the Vassallo guy's take on this. He actually seems to believe that the government should prevent reviewers like Brownlee from reviewing things becuase they might affect business outcomes for certain companies.

You only need to words to describe him, Ego, & Arrogance!

 

[cavedriver]

I don't believe bad reviews have hurt HiFi gear sales near as much as rave reviews in the subjective media have made
big winners out of so-so or even lousy gear. How about their subjective comments on certain cables raising a thousand
veils on the soundstage and turning a BS market into a multi-milliondollar industry.

but, but, but,

 

[voodooless]

I guess he thinks consumers should just be forced to buy defective products? WTF? It's hard for someone to be wrong in so many ways in so few words.

The argument is actually way more silly: because it’s apparently fine to positively influence something to boost sales or stock price, but not negatively. That doesn’t make any sense . If this were hypothetically an illegal activity, the direction of the influence would be inconsequential.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

So he provided you with Eminences raw driver measurements?

FFS, if I was Eminence I'd sue this guy, imagine having your company getting dragged into this whole mess.

Years ago, I bought a pair of used Vandersteens off of Craigslist, mostly based on many glowing reviews in Stereophile.

As soon as I plugged them in, I could tell something was 'off.'

Eventually I measured them, and it confirmed my suspicions. Their measurements aren't atrocious but the Vandersteens are easily bested by speakers from Behringer and Infinity that you can routinely find on Craigslist and eBay for around $100 each. In particular, I bought a set of Infinity IL10s based on the measurement from Amir. They sound good for a $500 speaker, and for $100 they sound great. My opinion of the IL10 is consistent with what Amir wrote, and I've also considered 'stepping up' to a set of Revels, based on the generally good "bang for the buck" of Harman products.

I've met with Vandersteen a few times at audio shows, and eventually I decided to have a discussion with him about loudspeaker design. As we talked more and more... I realized that his knowledge of loudspeaker design was quite limited.

It kinda bummed me out, because the man and his speakers are iconic... But I just got the impression that his level of technical expertise was quite a bit lower than a lot of the folks you see at sites like diyaudio.

If I had to speculate on why this is, my hunch is that a lot of guys who sell loudspeakers for a living are 50+, often 60+, sometimes 70+, and it's just NO FUN to have to go and learn new software, new measurement techniques, etc. So I have a hunch that these guys are designing a lot by ear, even thought it's never been easier or cheaper to design and measure loudspeakers using software.

IIRC, Erin works in aerospace, so does William Cowan, Tom Danley used to do NASA contracts, Amir used to work in software. In these types of fields, learning new software is basically your job, you have to do it constantly.

 

[markus]

...and on and on he goes:

First statement is factually false. I leave interpretation of the second statement to you.

 

[ahofer]

I have a lot more experience with him now. So next time will be easier.

Two short sentences with a full paragraph of meaning. Good to hear.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

I even voted "fine" on the speaker, because the "whole package" (decent efficiency, decent SPL capability, no flaws I would deem too offensive, made in USA, floorstander, 750$/pr) seems fine to me and I can see a target audience for it (and maybe because my expectations are generally on the lower end). What put me off was not the review, but the owners response.

(btw the intro to his 1812 model introduction video on YouTube is... really something......)

I WISH I COULD UPVOTE THIS 1000x

This is the most ridiculous part of this entire saga: at this price point, this isn't a bad speaker.

To me, it seems like Tekton could have earned a TON of business if they posted Erin's interview, thanked him for his service, and basically said "check out the performance of our $750 which has some neat features that you don't typically see in speakers."

As someone who's built a lot of weird speakers, I think that music lovers are often interested in speakers that are offbeat. Look at the Polk SDAs; the original ones have some serious flaws, but they STILL have people talking about them 30+ years after their release, because they're so quirky.

And usually, "quirky speaker" means "big ugly speaker that my wife is going to hate." The Tektons are hardly gorgeous, but you could do a lot worse.

 

[amirm]

First statement is factually false.

For sure. His specs have no relationship to reality. I just post that on his page.

 

[AudioSceptic]

This person purchased Tekton and didn't like them. (att copied from another forum)!
He spoke with Eric on the phone(last paragraph). I have zero sympathy for what Eric is going through right now.

I'm surprised that anyone making musical instruments would trust any subjective review instead of buying pro monitors as used in recording studios.

 

[AudioSceptic]

...and on and on he goes:

View attachment 364415

First statement is factually false. I leave interpretation of the second statement to you.

Does he even know the difference between slander and libel?

 

[DSJR]

This person purchased Tekton and didn't like them. (att copied from another forum)!
He spoke with Eric on the phone(last paragraph). I have zero sympathy for what Eric is going through right now.

That guy's PrimaLuna amp almost certainly has a LOT to answer for as well, but in this thread, that's a distraction...

 

[FrantzM]

Hi
The thing has hit the proverbial fan... It spilled hard on YouTube with some seriously watched ( >2.5 Millions views) Youtubers...
Unintended consequences of Mr. EA stunts: We may see a decrease in fluff reviews, aka "infomercials". Some YouTubers will see a negative review as a way to boost, credibility and viewership. They may have to back up their assertions however, lest the companies, some of these, with deeeeeep pockets, put them to task... Their best parade remains that of Science, of objectivity.
Interesting turn of events.

I am off the TekTon debate... for now

Have better things to do.


Peace.