Ken Fritz - Audiophile Documentary

[Deleted member 21114]

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

I think it was. Pity he didn't spend $100K on an audio engineer and the rest on a spectacular surround system and treated room. Getting ambience from your room and not the recording is an odd idea.

 

[Ron Texas]

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

That increases the irony of the story.

 

[Ron Texas]

I think it was. Pity he didn't spend $100K on an audio engineer and the rest on a spectacular surround system and treated room. Getting ambience from your room and not the recording is an odd idea.

The room was treated with custom Owens Corning absorbent panels. Still, there was a lot of DIY design in the project which adds to the uncertainty.

 

[MAB]

I ask Americans, because maybe they can read something into I can't, as it was written by an American. This is what I got from the article:

Successful man is obsessed with hi-fi, spends $1 million, puts children to work, falls out with one son and doesn't speak to him.

I'm not sure what the message is here? That spending this amount of money will turn you into a person who behaves like this, that spending this much on hi-fi is what turns your mind (nobody would care if it was cars or motorbikes, no article there!) and this is a cautionary tale for families/wives to look out for; is it saying something about men getting too obsessed with their hobbies generally...

I have seen plenty of articles on unusual people and hobbies, the articles either celebrate or comment on how odd the person is, occasionally a pretty neutral approach, but there does seem to be some insinuation that 'the hi-fi' made him this way (the way they suggest he is in the article).

Watching the video he seems a pretty nice guy. I don't know anything about him or his family, but if you throw as much attention into one thing, then it is likely you will neglect other things, but is the article more about hi-fi being something dangerous, than just a general warning about obsessive behaviour....? Like I said, I can't fully make it out.

I can’t figure out these color pieces no matter what the country of origin. I don’t know what to make of him either. The article doesn’t exactly paint him warmly, but that may have nothing to do with reality. It’s probably easier to make negative article about audiophile obsessions than positive. That being said, I have seen him in the news in the past, and the article was over the top positive.
I have my own opinion, mostly based on the furnishings and the HiFi.

 

[Ron Texas]

I ask Americans, because maybe they can read something into I can't, as it was written by an American. This is what I got from the article:

Successful man is obsessed with hi-fi, spends $1 million, puts children to work, falls out with one son and doesn't speak to him.

I'm not sure what the message is here? That spending this amount of money will turn you into a person who behaves like this, that spending this much on hi-fi is what turns your mind (nobody would care if it was cars or motorbikes, no article there!) and this is a cautionary tale for families/wives to look out for; is it saying something about men getting too obsessed with their hobbies generally...

I have seen plenty of articles on unusual people and hobbies, the articles either celebrate or comment on how odd the person is, occasionally a pretty neutral approach, but there does seem to be some insinuation that 'the hi-fi' made him this way (the way they suggest he is in the article).

Watching the video he seems a pretty nice guy. I don't know anything about him or his family, but if you throw as much attention into one thing, then it is likely you will neglect other things, but is the article more about hi-fi being something dangerous, than just a general warning about obsessive behaviour....? Like I said, I can't fully make it out.

I don't think there was anything about Fritz which was American as opposed to human. He was a man with an obsession. It just happened the obsession turned out to be hi-fi. It could have been something else. There are obsessed people everywhere.

 

[MAB]

He was a loudspeaker manufacturer

Yes. And end times prophet too I think.

 

[amirm]

I don't know how a mainstream paper could have ever written a positive story about Fritz. What he has done make little sense to many of us let alone someone in general public.

For me, the article caused me to reflect on my own life, and hobbies. Is ASR my "$1M" hobby? What if I got ALS tomorrow? What would happen to Klippel NFS? How would my wife or children know what to do with it and rest of the instrumentation? Sell them for pennies on the dollar? Heaven knows I spend an incredible amount of time on this site. How would someone react reading my story?

Fortunately I don't have the family issues he suffered from. I started this site in retirement and my wife is quite fine with what I am doing. And I have not spent huge amount of sums on ASR while starving the rest of the family needs.

To that end, Fritz's house seems quite modest. I would never think someone with those kind of means spending so much on a home stereo. Did he have a lot of money and just spent it on his stereo/room or didn't have it and still sunk all that money?

 

[tmtomh]

I am puzzled at the repeated insistence by a couple of folks in this thread, one in particular, that the article is "biased" or following some kind of leftwing cultural agenda.I think the article paints a contradictory, very human picture of what was probably a contradictory, very human man and family. Complexity is not negativity, and including skeptical, sad, angry, or critical comments from people involved in Fritz's life does not equal "hatchet job" - not even close. It's called good reporting.

The article engages in some pop-psychology and pop-sociology when it attributes Fritz's DIY approach to his generation (and his parents' generation), and to the economic opportunities the post-WWII economic boom gave to many Americans, especially white men. But what the article says in that regard is basically true in general, even if the author can't prove that those were the decisive factors for Fritz individually.

And the article's only real thesis or argument is that Fritz's level of obsession - the years and money put in, the lack of vacations, the pulling of the entire family into the labor - had a cost to it. There's nothing controversial about that IMHO. It's a very common phenomenon, especially with entrepreneurial/self-made men like Fritz. And the article makes clear that Fritz himself had regrets about what kind of a husband and father he was. (And the article fairly and scrupulously also notes that he nevertheless had zero regrets about building the room and the system.)

I guess at the end of the day I just don't get why there's such a need for so many (not all, but many) to make absolute or simplistic judgments, whether it be those here declaring that he was simply a lunatic, or those here defending him and transparently bringing their own reactionary anti-"mainstream/leftwing media" politics into it, or those in the WaPo comments section calling him a terrible person.

He was clearly an exceptional, and flawed, and complicated person, and we can draw many lessons from what he did. Which of those lessons we find most important says more about each of us than it does about him.

 

[Chrispy]

Wow leftwing cultural agenda? What, you some sort of white nationalist or something?

I am puzzled at the repeated insistence by a couple of folks in this thread, one in particular, that the article is "biased" or following some kind of leftwing cultural agenda.I think the article paints a contradictory, very human picture of what was probably a contradictory, very human man and family. Complexity is not negativity, and including skeptical, sad, angry, or critical comments from people involved in Fritz's life does not equal "hatchet job" - not even close. It's called good reporting.

The article engages in some pop-psychology and pop-sociology when it attributes Fritz's DIY approach to his generation (and his parents' generation), and to the economic opportunities the post-WWII economic boom gave to many Americans, especially whit men. But what the article says in that regard is basically true in general, even if the author can't prove that those were the decisive factors for Fritz individually.

And the article's only real thesis or argument is that Fritz's level of obsession - the years and money put in, the lack of vacations, the pulling of the entire family into the labor - had a cost to it. There's nothing controversial about that IMHO. It's a very common phenomenon, especially with entrepreneurial/self-made men like Fritz. And the article makes clear that Fritz himself had regrets about what kind of a husband and father he was. (And the article fairly and scrupulously also notes that he nevertheless had zero regrets about building the room and the system.)

I guess at the end of the day I just don't get why there's such a need for so many (not all, but many) to make absolute or simplistic judgments, whether it be those here declaring that he was simply a lunatic, or those here defending him and transparently bringing their own reactionary anti-"mainstream/leftwing media" politics into it, or those in the WaPo comments section calling him a terrible person.

He was clearly an exceptional, and flawed, and complicated person, and we can draw many lessons from what he did. Which of those lessons we find most important says more about each of us than it does about him.

 

[tmtomh]

Wow leftwing cultural agenda? What, you some sort of white nationalist or something?

Apologies if I'm not getting your joke, but I hope it's clear that I was saying the article is not following some kind of "leftwing cultural agenda," and that I am puzzled (to put it politely) that a couple of members here are insisting that it is.

 

[Chrispy]

Apologies if I'm not getting your joke, but I hope it's clear that I was saying the article is not following some kind of "leftwing cultural agenda," and that I am puzzled (to put it politely) that a couple of members here are insisting that it is.

Not a joke, the joke is anyone saying this sort of thing is "leftwign cultural agenda"...... What members promote this? I may have skipped over a lot of posts....

 

[Bugal1998]

I am dubious regarding the million dollars.

I don't doubt he spent that much in aggregate, but the article alludes to nearly constant rework (think: sunk costs and 'wasted' investment, err... I mean R&D); likely only a small portion of any million dollar expenditure was present in the final system. But that doesn't make for a good headline.

I'm genuinely curious how it sounded, though the aesthetic leaned a bit... funeralesque.

 

[tmtomh]

Not a joke, the joke is anyone saying this sort of thing is "leftwign cultural agenda".....such a statement is basically stupid. What members promote this? I may have skipped over a lot of posts....

Yes, I agree completely. There's one member in particular who's been flogging that claim, and one other who posted something similar, albeit not as insistent as the other member. I didn't tag folks or name names because I didn't want to give more oxygen to their particular posts in the thread. But you can find them if you look through the thread.

 

[Anton D]

I don't doubt he spent that much in aggregate, but the article alludes to nearly constant rework (think: sunk costs and 'wasted' investment, err... I mean R&D); likely only a small portion of any million dollar expenditure was present in the final system. But that doesn't make for a good headline.

I'm genuinely curious how it sounded, though the aesthetic leaned a bit... funeralesque.

It did have a mortuarial kind of feel!

 

[benanders]

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

That is a factual statement except, perhaps, inclusion of “muddy” vs. something not purely negative in connotation.

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

Which is why big(ger) rooms can be problematic for fidelity in playback, but can sound really fun with PA kit.
Big sound in a big room, though a haphazard route if you ask me, can be an effective inroad to a more “live” sound from studio-recorded music. SOMEtimes.
From a power (or financial investment) requirement standpoint, I think rare will be the instance that room size and playback fidelity scale together positively, past a certain threshold.

 

[OldHvyMec]

I don't know that Mr. Fritz accomplished anything great, but he ran a good business, provided for his family, and had a singular passion to an uncommonly strong degree. This lead him to build something unique and incredible at least for himself and friends.

This is the whole point of life for men/women like him and VERY VERY few accomplish what he did with his own two hands.

I call people with condescending remarks the bla bla bla say nothing crowd. I know one thing for sure if you ask for
an opinion about something or state a fact like "the man with the 1 million dollar music system." it's just not clear what cost
a million dollars. I'm sure it didn't cost million, BUT could sell room in all for a million plus.

I know roughly what the drivers and power amps would cost. A 1200lb TT is not too uncommon. Remember he did 90% of
the building. 12-18K is a real push per speaker. The numbers just aren't adding up unless you add the room cost and I'm
100% positive that number includes the selling price of the home with the room? They MADE a lot of money building their
own rooms. DIY room addition just aren't that expensive. Having someone do it it can be really expensive.
Anyone can do that. Just like you can buy someone else's speakers from Parts Express or Magico OR DIY if you want the best.

IF he sold at 150K for speakers, power amps, preamps, source, and any special equipment like servo controllers. It covered the cost
easely. Throw the 1200lg behemoth TT in for posterity.

My point is the article takes little into account from an actual cost perspective when it's all said and done.

150K for the gear.

??? on the $$$ amount for the source material.

They will likely make a slough on resale when and if they do sell the whole house. Money very well spent compared to the typical,
RV, Harley, Boat, Vacation, Video Game BS, HT for the most part, cars, classic car (money pits), etc. Don't get me going on stamp,
or coin collectors. Holy cow. How about those green fees or better yet TIMESHARES from Satan's home town.

One other thing technically it's not a stereo with 3 main speaker cabinets. I'll still take two! I can figure out something to power
those things. Sure look fun!

 

[amirm]

150K for the gear.

Oh, that many Krell amps would cost well over this I imagine.

 

[Deleted member 21114]

Oh, that many Krell amps would cost well over this I imagine.

They probably included the electricity bill to get it from $900,000 to a round million.

 

[amirm]

Yeh, I can't imagine that many class A amps running simultaneously. It is crazy waste of power to drive those woofers and such.

 

[Ron Texas]

The price tag probably includes adding the room onto his house and some things tried and discarded along the way.