Shady Lane

Tact Audio Nightmare

24.85.235.235

This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

In chronological order here is an account of my experience after purchasing a Tact 2150 XDM amplifier:
1) Directly out of box the amp is defective. The standby function didn't work and, when I contact Boz (the company owner), he informs me that this is probably a defect in the controller board. He promises to ship to me a replacement board immediately.
2) A month passes and, when I inquire, I find out the board hasn't even been shipped.
3) When the board does arrive it is the WRONG one.
4) I wait another few weeks before the correct board finally arrives (we are now up to six weeks). The replacement turns out to be defective as well (but with a different problem). This time the front panel stops responding to commands a few minutes after each power up (powering down is the only way to reset).
5) While I've been patient up to this point, I'm starting to get concerned about the support and integrity of the company so I request a refund. This is refused by both Tact and the dealer (Jeff Stake).
6) I am forced to pay for shipping back to the company for repair.
7) Despite Boz's promise that this problem will be looked after immediately the amp isn't returned for a month.
8) When the amp does arrive it is COD and I have to shell out another $80 to UPS. While this is beyond outrageous it gets worse... much worse.
9) Upon opening the box I discover that the amp had been dropped or terribly mishandled in some way. ONE CORNER OF THE ALUMINUM FRONT PANEL HAD BEEN BADLY DAMAGED. Even though this kind of damage is completely impossible to do during shipment Boz lies and claims that the amp was received in damaged condition.
*The damage could not have occurred during shipment because each corner of the amp encased in 2" of very thick heavy plastic foam that would be impossible to penetrate even with a hammer.
Click on the attached link for a picture of the damage.
10) When I attempt to take measurements I get bizarre and completely unacceptable readings and am forced to reload the firmware myself before the amp even functions. (I still worry that the screetching that the amp produced may have damaged my high end speakers)
11) To add final insult to injury it turns out that initial defect (where the standby function does not work) has NOT even been corrected.
12) In frustration I posted an account of the above events on the Audio Asylum website at: http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=amp&n=130364&highlight=Tact+nightmare&r=&session=
The resulting outrage stirred up amongst the audiophile community "appeared" to shame Tact into promising to replace the amp. They made the following public pledge on the Audio Asylum site through their Aberdeen Components sales rep (Anthony Padilla):
"I will personally check the (new) amp over and test its many functions, and condition. Then I will send Gerry his new amp. Upon Gerry approval of his New amp, he will send back the damage/broken amp back to TacT audio. All shipping will be on Tact’s tab."
( That post can be found at: http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=amp&n=130378&highlight=Tact+nightmare)
13) They kept me dangling with promises for another month while the furor died down and then reneged on the promise.No replacement amp was ever delivered.
14) I am now stuck with a $3000 defective and damaged amp that I can't resell.

Suffice to say that I will NEVER do business with Tact USA again and I would caution any new buyers that it appears that this company has deteriorated to a point bordering on criminal.

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/235/img9781zw5.jpg (Open in New Window)

Edits: 07/19/08

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