What's up with Talon?


Has anyone here heard if Talon Audio is in trouble? Some
posts on audioasylum indicate possible problems.
hietalaalsuza603

Showing 6 responses by nvlashi

I am a fellow Talon owner and a word of note/caution to prospective buyers. I don't know that the status of Talon is at the moment but if I was looking to purchase their product, I would be wary. I spoke with Mike Farnsworth 2 weeks ago because I had a bad tweeter in one of my Khorus X. At that time I also asked him about what center channel speaker and he said that he had a Peregrine X center channel that was just traded in. He offered it to me at a pretty good price and I agreed to purchase it. Well I sent them a check that they cashed back on Nov. 2 and still no speaker. However, what is more disturbing is that all my emails and phone calls have gone unanswered. I have been unable to contact anyone at Talon for over two weeks. When you call their main number you are presented with two options (1 Sales, 2 Support). Option 1 brings you to basically a distributer that is located in Ohio. They just take the orders and forward them along to Talon. At least that's what the person who answered the call told me. I've been leaving messages and send emails to [email protected] all with no response.

This is pretty surprising because in past conversations Mike was very helpful and courteous on the phone. I'm not sure what to make of it all. I'm at the point now where I'm drafting a formal letter of complaint that I will send via certified mail. I will give Mike and Talon 10 days to respond and remedy this situation, after which I will file complaints with the Better Business Bureau, the Consumer Protection Agency, and the FTC under the 'Little Acts' guidelines. Finally, if it comes down to it, I will seek legal action.

I still have hope that this is all just some mixup and that perhaps Mike has been travelling the past few weeks. However, if they have time to cash a check they should be able to also have the time to ship the product.

Just one consumer's story.
Well, it figures that just after I write this, I finally get a call from Mike telling me that he will have the speaker shipped on Monday. He mentioned some sort of emergency and that he had to be out of town. I'm glad to finally hear back from him. I wasn't worried about having to wait to get the speaker but rather the lack of communication. I just didn't know what was going on. Plus, I'm not sure what their corporate structure is like there but it's strange to not be able to contact anyone. If someone could just have sent me a quick email saying something to the effect of "We have received your emails and messages and we are currently experiencing delays. Your speaker will ship in n days. Thank you for your patience". Well then everything would have been fine.

So now I eagerly await my new center channel. I can't wait. Well I guess I can since I have been.

Regards,
Nisi
My post was neithed knee jerk not was it impulsive. I beleive that I was more than patient given the circumstances. It is my opinion that if they had the time to deposit and cash my check then they should have been able to take appropriate steps to have the speaker shipped. At the very least, an email or phone call notifying me that they received payment and that the speaker would be shipped soon thereafter. I can understand that a small company faces many challenges in doing business and that shipping delays are to be expected. However, the lack of communication was of more concern to me.

Also, it seems I may be back in the same situation. After receiving a message on Friday, I have attempted to call Mike several times. I even sent him an email thanking him for his message. As of today, Tuesday, I still have not heard from him. Is the speaker shipped like he said he would in the message? I don't know because it seems near impossible to get a hold of anyone. That was my point.

I'm curious if the same would hold true if I called and specified I wanted to spend $50,000 on some speakers and that I needed them ASAP. I don't know.

Regards,
Nisi
One last thing and then I would like to consider this topic closed. Most of the equipment that I own is from small companies. One of the reasons that I prefer small companies is that I've found their service to be top notch. I am very, very happy with my Talon speakers. They sound amazing and I hope to be a part of the Talon family for a long time to come. I'm hoping that this incident is an isolated one and I'll leave it at that. Even great companies have problems every now and then and perhaps that was the case here. If there are other small companies that are reading this, I respectfully suggest that you do your best to respond to your customer's correspondance.

I will post a follow up once I get my speaker.

Regards,

Nisi
It was not my intent to cause harm to Mike or his company. Nor was I ripping him here on this forum. As I stated in my original post, he has always been courteous, patient, and forth right with me when I have spoken to him. The whole situation with me was caused by a lack of communication. As I have stated, it doesn't matter to me if something is delayed and takes even 6 weeks to arrive. But what does matter is to have someone answer and respond to phone calls and/or emails. I work at a small company myself and if I'm away on vacation, I have an auto response stating that I am away and will respond when I get back. Also, if the person seeking help needs immediate attention, they can always be forwarded to someone who can help them. It has been my experience that effective communication is vital to any business, small or large.

Having said all this, I just spoke with him at length this evening and learned that he has indeed been away that past couple of weeks and has been taking care of some personal issues. I do feel a little remorse posting what I did because Mike is a really nice guy and Talon makes amazing products. I may just have really bad timing and caught him during a bad time frame. I respectively suggest that he look at providing another means of communication whereby when he's away tending to buiness matters or on vacation, another person can respond to phone calls and email. A company that makes a product as good as Talon deserves to have support that equals that product.

So the update to my speaker is that it is on the way (was shipped today) along with the replacement tweeter. Mike also very generously lent me his WBT crimp tool to use.

I'm thinking of purchasing a pair of Ravens to use as surrounds. Now that would be a great 5 channel system (Khorus X II Front, Peregrine X Center, and Talon Rears).
Matt,

After speaking with Mike and some other speaker designers/manufacturers at length about the pros/cons of bipole/dipole vs. direct radiating surrounds, I'm leaning towards buying some full range surrounds like the Raven. I've been looking at some high end surrounds like Revel, Wilson, and the Aerial SS3. I spoke with Klaus over at Odyssey Audio and they've got a very interesting product which has received little to no press. It's a 2'x3' speaker that is 3 inches thick and has a frame around it. You supply them with whatever artwork you want and they laser scan and print the same art work onto an acoustically transparent canvas. So basically you've got art work that are your speakers. The use all ScanSpeak drivers and frequency response is excellent, down to 45Hz at -1.5db. The idea of having some Picasso prints hanging on the walls as surrounds is pretty cool. Plus the price is $2000 which given the quality of the drivers and the ingenuity of the product, isn't bad at all.

So now it's a decision of whether to go with the Ravens or try the Odyssey product. The only hindrance I have with the Odyssey speakers is that because of the strange and irregular dimensions of my room, there really are no side walls which have the necessary space to mount them. One sidewall is 15 from the listening position, the other is 6 ft away and slightly ahead of the listening position. Not ideal to say the least. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of options with rearranging the room layout. Perhaps my next apartment. In this particular configuration, the Ravens may work out better. However, it would be nice to have the rears be located above the listening position and with the Ravens that won't be possible. Decisions, decisions.

...Nisi