Ken Fritz - Audiophile Documentary

[ahofer]

Seems I’ve been sub-replied here for wondering whether he measured. Not from jealousy, as averred, but because I can’t quite fathom an engineer making this kind of investment and judging everything by ear.

It was his money, to do with as he liked, of course. But I’m also free to marvel at his choices.

 

[beefkabob]

Mostly far left these days.

 

[DavidShe]

Why do you think it 'probably sounded terrible'? It's an acoustically designed room based on the design of a concert hall in Osaka Japan, with biamped three way speakers and more than enough amplification to handle any peaks.

I suspect there was considerable comb filtering due to the interference from so many drivers.

What is Comb Filtering and how to avoid it - Blog | Resources

Comb filtering occurs when certain frequencies are either amplified or attenuated by the superposition of a delayed version of the original audio signal onto itself.

blogs.qsc.com

 

[Deleted member 21114]

Ah yes the WaPo comments section, I'm sure they're filled with the enlightened musings of some millennials living in their parent's basement breaking down a man that worked nearly his entire life while they suck on someone else's teet.

The commenters write like callow 20-something year olds. Millennials are too busy paying their landlord's mortgage and raising their kids to bother with that cesspit of a comment section.

 

[Gringoaudio1]

From that article he certainly wasn’t a saint.

 

[temujin44]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/interactive/2024/ken-fritz-greatest-stereo-auction-cost/

 

[Chrispy]

Man this is really making the rounds again.....altho I think I gleaned from some is the poor resale value by the heirs? Not sure, don't buy into wp.

 

[beeface]

For anyone else who hit a paywall, try https://12ft.io/

 

[Beave]

There are already two THREE other threads about this.

A recent one: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...on-stereo-washington-post.51326/#post-1848661

Another recent one: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/the-additional-costs-of-a-1m-system.51327/

And an older one: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/ken-fritz-audiophile-documentary.22806/

I have requested that the moderators merge this with one of the others.

 

[Mart68]

My boss is a millennial. I had to explain the concept of hi-fi to him. He'd never heard of it.

He likes music but he listens to spotify on his telephone. It's so sad. At least he does have a mortgage.

Who would have children when they can't yet afford to buy a house? Makes no sense to me.

 

[Esprit]

The additional costs of a $1M system

This is obviously a Washington Post article and you may hit a pay wall or other speed bump to read it. It may get a bit existential, but if there's a group of people in the world that I'd like to hear their take... it's this group...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[TheWalkman]

Several years ago, I learned about Ken and his system on a local TV news cast.

The world's greatest stereo system is inside a Virginia home

From classic rock to classical music, the sound is so pure and so perfect, listeners are moved to tears.

www.wtvr.com

I then watched the youtube video and was simply awed.

This man, who lived less than 10 miles from me, had built the audio version of the Great Pyramid.

Learning of the estate sale, I made it a point to attend. Though I didn't buy a thing, I did have a wonderful conversation with his daughter Betsy and several of Ken's audio friends who I believe were mentioned in the article. It felt as if I were attending more of a memorial service rather than an auction.

Reading the article in the Post today was very sad. I had no idea about the darker side of his story.

https://wapo.st/47ErwZI

What Ken built was truly amazing, but as is often the case, there is often a high price to pay - literally and figuratively - to build something so truly unique and iconic.

Though saddened by the story today, I really feel fortunate to have seen and in a limited way, hear this once in a lifetime audio system.

Despite his issues with friends and family, may Ken rest in peace.

I had forgotten about this article from 2021, written by Ken Fritz, himself, over at PS Audio, “5400 Hours of Fun.” Worth a read.

5400 Hours of Fun

[Ken Fritz has abilities and ambition that put most of us to shame. Ken decided to build his own speakers—and the listening room for them. As you’ll see, he did everything in a big way. Having produced tooling for the cast polymer baffle for the Thiel CS5, Ken says, ” I thought I’d cast baffles...

www.psaudio.com

 

[BDWoody]

Several threads merged.

 

[BobbyTimmons]

My boss is a millennial. I had to explain the concept of hi-fi to him. He'd never heard of it.

He likes music but he listens to spotify on his telephone. It's so sad. At least he does have a mortgage.

Who would have children when they can't yet afford to buy a house? Makes no sense to me.

I wouldn't be surprised most millennials have never heard a separates system in a home.

 

[Short38]

Post #103 contains a photo showing 5 speaker systems. The two between the 3 large arrays look like they include JBL horn lens/360 assembly and a ring radiator. Does anyone have insight into the purpose of the two “small” speaker systems?

Looks like the system went through many iterations over the years.

For interesting comparison and perspective check out the ASR members thread listing equipment owned over their to date hobby purchases.

 

[Axo1989]

WaPo comments are always pretty bad. Usually very far left or right initial comments, often peppered with rebuttals from the extreme other side. 'Regular' people rarely seem to post comments.

Far left comments exist in the USA? What are they doing, calling for abolition of private property? I guess that would obviate Fritz's quest.

 

[Ron Texas]

I wonder what that system sounded like in that huge room compared to a good pair of stand mounts with subs in a 200 sf room. Over the years I have auditioned many systems and none of them sounded better than my LS50's with subs and EQ in a 300 sf room. Some $7,000 Golden Ear towers with their built in subs were in that range in a 400 sf room. I listened to $100k Wilsons with another $150k of electronics in a huge room and while high sound pressure levels were there, imaging and detail were not especially good. As room sizes go up filling them with quality sound becomes difficult. Perhaps it's exponentially difficult. That makes me recall Amir's loft listening space which has to full the entire house.

 

[Anton D]

I am dubious regarding the million dollars.

 

[egellings]

I wonder what that system sounded like in that huge room compared to a good pair of stand mounts with subs in a 200 sf room. Over the years I have auditioned many systems and none of them sounded better than my LS50's with subs and EQ in a 300 sf room. Some $7,000 Golden Ear towers with their built in subs were in that range in a 400 sf room. I listened to $100k Wilsons with another $150k of electronics in a huge room and while high sound pressure levels were there, imaging and detail were not especially good. As room sizes go up filling them with quality sound becomes difficult. Perhaps it's exponentially difficult. That makes me recall Amir's loft listening space which has to full the entire house.

Too-late arrival of reflections in the large rooms muddy everything up.

 

[Axo1989]

Too-late arrival of reflections in the large rooms muddy everything up.

Isn't that what he was after—concert hall acoustics and live orchestra dynamics?