I met this guy in a hotel room....


Many years ago, in a dark hotel room I heard a pair of relatively small two-way speakers with excellent tonal balance, clarity and absolutely glass smooth response. Literally among the best sound at the show, the only other contender in a room there in Oakland being a top of the line Vandersteen driven by $60K worth of electronics. Nothing else in the entire show actually sounded as good in room as these little gems.

I ran into Blue Coast records (an excellent and under-appreciated audiophile DSD label). Cookie was there, along with two lovely musicians who had finished their tour. The musicians also praised the room. Cookie had not heard the room, I beleive. She was busy actually working! She did sell me a portable DAC that was amazing though. (I may be mixing up 2 different Cookie stories). Sadly it died six months later from some power supply issue. I miss that little puck. Anyway, going back to my story...

In the room I speak of was Fritz and his speakers. For under $4,000 he was selling really unique crossover designs with world class drivers. $4k for the parts he was using is basically a song, and to be put together in such lovely sounding speakers was an amazing feat.

Today, looking for an interesting new DAC, I came across the Montreal Audio Show coverage in Stereophile, and I found a pair of speakers using similar components and they run almost exactly 10x the price.

I don’t really have a moral, except maybe that audiphiles need to get away from looking at price tags for sound quality and that if you are looking for sweet 2-ways, and have been following any of my postings about how you can get a lot of bass out of two way monitors you should look up Fritz.

 

erik_squires

I always grin and shake my head at all the reviews giving high praise to the latest 2-way stand mount or bookshelf speakers. I’ve listened to many at audio shows and here - many are much more expensive than Fritz’s. None have impressed me as much as the Fritz Carbon 7BE. If I were in the market, Fritz speakers would be my first choice. Plus Fritz goes out of his way to please his customers.

 

There are a lot of inexpensive (relatively) two ways that sound terrific...I'll keep my wharfie 225's for life, even though I run tannoys right now. 

I enjoyed a pair of high quality Fritz Carbon 7 SE MK2. Ultimately I sold them . Could've been my amp, source' entirely. But while clean, coherent and engaging, there was, for me, something a bit reticent on the high end that I couldn't shake. I am confident that the wellspring of accolades he receives is well deserved. 

I just emailed Fritz and gave him the URL of this thread in case he hadn't seen it yet.... 

Smaller two way speakers in a small room may net good bass response at moderate volumes.  I do not see how it’s possible in larger rooms or at louder volumes without either big woofers or multiple medium sized ones. I doubt anyone has ever heard truly differently. I never have.