Thin Line Between Critique and Courtrooms: A Dialogue on the Recent Audiophile Drama

Unfortunately I didn’t get to read the review in question before it went down, but from what I gather the review itself wasn’t all that negative and the measurements were the main source of the problem. Is that about right?

I only received two products for review over 17 years that didn’t sound at least mostly good, and as I’ve mentioned before if a product has risen to the level of getting a review it’s pretty much already been vetted as being a very promising performer, which is mostly why you don’t read many outright negative reviews. One of the subpar products did some good things but were over overshadowed by a significant limitation elsewhere, so I simply pointed out the good and less good without outright trashing the product, but the point was made (and thankfully I wasn’t sued). In the other case it was an otherwise well-reviewed speaker from a well-known manufacturer that was likewise significantly flawed IMO, and I even had an audiophile buddy come over and he felt the exact same way. I contacted the company thinking maybe they were out of spec or damaged, and the company responded that they’d redesigned the driver and had me send the review pair back. I never received the redesigned speaker back for review and still don’t know if the review pair was defective or what, but I’m glad I never had to write that review. Point is, there are ways to handle these things with some simple and respectful communication both ways without either possibly wrongly trashing a product or threatening a reviewer with legal action. This situation with Tekton seems to have been mishandled on multiple levels, and as someone mentioned earlier this kind of thing is rare I think because most people in the industry are thankfully respectful and reasonable despite perhaps a few bad apples. That’s been my experience anyway and FWIW.

Interesting how the majority of folks have focused upon the lawsuit and the review details. What stands out to me is Tekton Man’s improper responses to handling the review and any criticism.  We’ve seen on forums as well.   If you can’t put your big boy pants on and accept criticism professionally don’t engage or be in this profession.  Audiophiles are harsh critics.

The idea that a product, if it receives a poor review, should be sent back to the manufacturer and the negative review erased, is profoundly troubling. It raises the question: what kind of environment are we creating when we’re only exposed to endorsements that persuade us to make a purchase, while critiques that could save us from an expensive mistake are concealed? All this, seemingly to protect (whitewash?) a company’s image? What about the public, the customers? Don’t we matter? And what about the reputation of the rag publishing the reviews?

It’s baffling and strikes me as eerily Orwellian.

@rooze Exactly. It seems some want it only their way.

This especially true since prices in the audio world are going up faster than Elon Musk's rockets. 

Your reply is part of the issue. A good reviewer is there to give information to their audience, not stroke the egos of the manufacturers. That was the way IT USED to be. 

I will use a car review as an example. How would you deal with a review like this?

Her Name Is Rio… And She’s Crap | The Truth About Cars

I remember reading this after I had a Rio as a rental - I totally agreed with it.

How can products improve if no one is there to give honest opinions about them?

@botrytis My reply is simply borne out of experience. I agree with the sentence after that comment; its exactly what I said in my post prior.

Reviewers can get away with things like that in the car industry. Its not likely to bring down the company. A sour review in high end audio can and has. Now the issue isn't whether products will improve or not, its whether the negative review is honest. I listed a number of reasons that I've seen and/or experienced why they may not be.

So if a negative review that is not honest takes out a company that didn't deserve it, is that fair? Its an easy thing for a reviewer to avoid by simply never talking about that product. That way the public doesn't find out about it; problem solved.