Ken Fritz - Audiophile Documentary

[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.

 

[Ron Texas]

Maybe this is how not to pursue your hobby.

 

[Mart68]

The only real negative the long article could find in all of it was the relationship with one of his sons. He had 5 children and a good relationship with 4 of them. The article dwells on the bad relationship he had with one of his sons while briefly passing over the good relationship he apparently had with his other 4 children.

I agree. Can't see how he 'neglected' his family, seems like he provided well for them. Okay the first wife wasn't happy but non-audiophiles sometimes get divorced too, I think.

So the children had to help put an extension on the house, clearly it didn't kill them. I had to dig up and re-seed the lawn when I was 8 years old and you don't hear me complaining.

 

[Keith_W]

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.

No kidding. I did a quick calculation of the size of his listening room mentioned in that article (1650 sq ft) ... 153 m^2. That is just shy of the entire built up area of my house! The article also says 2:1 ratio, which means 8.75m x 17.5m (29ft x 58ft). That is a giant listening room, enough to accommodate a full 20Hz sine wave. It would take just under 100ms for sound to travel from one end of the room and back. I am sure he would get very late reflections and get closer to concert hall sound than any of us could manage.

 

[Dialectic]

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.

If designing a listening room to mimic a concert hall strikes you as a good idea, I don't think I should try to explain.

 

[Digby]

If designing a listening room to mimic a concert hall strikes you as a good idea, I don't think I should try to explain.

Well, it is if you can get the musicians in as well

 

[Somafunk]

No kidding. I did a quick calculation of the size of his listening room mentioned in that article (1650 sq ft) ... 153 m^2. That is just shy of the entire built up area of my house! The article also says 2:1 ratio, which means 8.75m x 17.5m (29ft x 58ft).

It’s a huge listening room, I’d definitely like the space as you could fit 3 x my entire house into the room (my entire house footprint is 8.5m x 6.3 for 53m2)

 

[kma100]

There is fine line between passion and obsession. And often obsession becomes unhealthy.

 

[ahofer]

Any sense that he ever measured? Probably not, given the vinyl addiction. Would be interesting to put an ASR-approved system in there and compare.

 

[CleanSound]

Americans, help me out here, what is the point of this story? To show that a determined man neglected his family for his hi-fi..

Plenty do the same for work, cars/motorbikes, extramarital affairs and so on. Single-minded people, although often times impressive in their resolve, are rarely the nicest or most considerate. It doesn't surprise me that his children seemed less than happy with him, but I don't see what we're supposed to take away; it just seems like airing dirty laundry in public.

The hi-fi is not the point, the man would have found any number of other things to throw himself into/neglect his family with. Many men (and women) are like this.

I'm American and I will say that there's nothing special nor newsworthy about this guy, zero. The only thing "special" about him is that he had a successful business to be able to afford to build this system (and not really, since he had to build the extension himself instead of hiring someone, unless he enjoys building that extension) and he made bad financial and time/commitment decision based on an obsession.

The reason how he became a big fuss was because a while back when his daughter knew that he was dying, got him some publicity on his stereo with some YouTuber as a way for him to indulge more into his obsession during his last days and to preserve his "legacy."

On top of that, he build his own speakers and the turntable. I would like to know what science did he employ in doing so. Did he have a NFS to ensure that his speakers are built to good science? Did he have an AP, a vibrometer to ensure that his turntable was indeed sonically excellent. The guy also champion a lot of snake oil non sense like "silver" cables.

 

[hvbias]

The article is paywalled so I don't know if this was linked in the article. Here is a documentary piece on his journey building the system:

I watched it when it came out, I loved it, you can feel his passion. He certainly knows his classical music performances well.

 

[Keith_W]

Great quotes from that video:

Q: "How do you know the difference between these cartridges if you haven't heard them yet?"
A: "If you read the reviews, they say that one sounds glorious, the other sounds heavenly" (wink in his eye)

"If it doesn't sound as good as i'm hoping, I will lie to myself and say that it is the best that I have heard"

The guy may be portrayed as pretty nasty in that article, but I think he is really charming and has a great sense of humour!

 

[BobbyTimmons]

Great quotes from that video:

Q: "How do you know the difference between these cartridges if you haven't heard them yet?"
A: "If you read the reviews, they say that one sounds glorious, the other sounds heavenly" (wink in his eye)

"If it doesn't sound as good as i'm hoping, I will lie to myself and say that it is the best that I have heard"

The guy may be portrayed as pretty nasty in that article, but I think he is really charming and has a great sense of humour!

He seems like a great guy. He doesn't promote 'audiofool' stuff so there isn't much to latch onto for the hostile reaction to him from some of the usual suspects who seem like the audiophile community's version of teetotalers at an Alcoholic Anonymous meeting. The closest he gets to an audiofool in the video was buying a reel of silver wire from his friend who couldn't sell it for years. He didn't say it would make a difference to the sound. He seemed to be laughing about buying the wire.

 

[DVDdoug]

I didn't read it...

If I had a million "extra" dollars to spend on an audio system, I wouldn't.

But If I did spend a lot, I'd spend MOST of it on the room. I've had my speakers in a few dance halls for DJ gigs and they sound a LOT better in a larger space. You wouldn't be able to build a concert hall for 1 million buy you could build a smaller music hall or theater with good acoustics.

 

[MCH]

What I always remember about the YouTube video of his project is how after spending so much time and work and 1M$ the guy goes switching manually one by one the led stripes of the shelves where he has the vinyls. If it was me the thing would start blasting the swans lake as soon as I cross the door and there would be no electronics to be seen.We are all different I guess.

 

[MAB]

Americans, help me out here, what is the point of this story? To show that a determined man neglected his family for his hi-fi..

Plenty do the same for work, cars/motorbikes, extramarital affairs and so on. Single-minded people, although often times impressive in their resolve, are rarely the nicest or most considerate. It doesn't surprise me that his children seemed less than happy with him, but I don't see what we're supposed to take away; it just seems like airing dirty laundry in public.

The hi-fi is not the point, the man would have found any number of other things to throw himself into/neglect his family with. Many men (and women) are like this.

Not sure how it relates to 'Americans'. Do journalists avoid doing color-pieces on odd people outside of the Americas? Do people with extreme obsessions not exist outside of America?

IL PIU' GRANDE SUBWOOFER DEL MONDO - by Roberto Delle Curti - Italy

But you are absolutely right, these personality types will find something to throw their life at. These guys just happened to fall for HiFi gear.

 

[OldHvyMec]

Wonderful story and system. I followed the fellow for quite some time. I have this to say. Jealousy always brings unkind words.
RIP and glad to see the money went to a good cause. What he wanted and by his own hand. I built by hand, hammer and nail
75% of my current home including my cabinetry.

When you do it yourself it leaves little for any other person on earth to complain about, only to admire or hit the road.

If I remember correctly the planars were hand built by a group of enthusiast and they went through a bit if a production curve
getting it correct.

The disease he died from was none to pleasant either.

I have no problem with an OCD directed life. I just happen to embrace a habit that paid for itself 10 times over. Mcintosh gear
since the 70s and NEVER buy new unless it's an insurance claim.

They say you can't take it with you, who says I can't? Prove it!

Regards

 

[Dialectic]

Jealousy always brings unkind words.

I don't think anyone is jealous of the man who had a $1MM stereo that sold for $150K.

 

[Joe Smith]

Sorry, all I can think about is the sheer hell he put his family through, and for DECADES. It's nice to have a hobby, it's nice to care about music. But anything taken to this degree of obsessiveness is mania, pure and simple. I am certainly glad I can be happy with my modest hobby investments and get a huge amount of pleasure from the simple things I own.

 

[DonR]

Everything in life is a trade-off whether it is in time or money. A lack of perspective is often a personality flaw and this situation would be no different than if he was obsessed with another hobby like cars or golf.