Now he is an audiophile.
Ken Fritz article
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The tale of this guy's life is one that many here should reckon with. While I am a bit obsessed with my stereo, it does not interfere with my family and I respect the value of the dollar too much to take my desires to a level that makes people uncomfortable. 10 foot speakers, IMHO, would be fitting for a listening room full of 10 foot tall people!! And don't get me started on those identical grandfather clock sound dampeners! Ken's life is a sad story on how any focus on any one thing can lead to failure in all the other parts of life that have much greater value in life...reminds me of all the people who can't put their phone down!! 😒 |
Anyone who can sacrifice everything for just one goal remind us of what we must value over any goal...Even if so much perseverance and dedication can teach us something too ... By the way i dont envy him a bit... My low cost system satisfy me because as in the Fritz case i created it myself ... But at a low cost price without too much human cost... 😊
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The dual grandfather clocks ticking away with resonating cabinets and internal parts vibrating away inside in the background caught my attention as well. Interesting, bizarre, and sad all at the same time for the family. |
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i will not say that obsession is never a good thing... So much discoveries in humankind comes from obsessed people from Archimedes to Tesla and beyond... But obsessing about "sound" in this way is interesting case but i am not sure it is as you said a good thing, because perfectionism obsession is not the optimal attitude in this acoustic/ musical case ... it is certainly not a road to take nor a person to imitate.... but as everybody i marvel at his room/system and i would love listening it... His family who paiy the real price are not so much interested by my curiosity...
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I actually don't think this article tells us much about "audiophiles," per se. Most audiophiles don't live the life he did nor treat their family as he did. And I agree with @mahgister that there are obsessions which are great things! Just have to keep balance across the multiple values and obligations of life. I posted this because it makes the Ken Fritz story a bit more three dimensional. |
It is very enlightening... Thanks to the OP ... in a multiple ways... For sound quality journey... Any audiophile as i am must dream to hear his system ... I do ... but it is a sad story because he succeed at the end of his life... And he paid a big price ... Price being said here in all its different meanings ... |
I stand corrected. Obsession with the exception of extremely rare cases,the likes of Da Vinci,Tesla or Archimedes for example are never a good thing.Better? For the rest of us mere mortals and non geniuses keep your sh*t in check is the moral of the story here. Even a dog knows when its been kicked or tripped over...I know abuse and extreme selfishness when I see it. I watched the documentary a while back and I did not come away with the thought Mr. Fritz's system was something I cared to experience, all I felt was sad for him,his story is one of someone out of touch and yes it is about extreme audiophiles and it most certainly is a tale of someone obsessed, but what do I know I'm not a genius just someone with sense enough not to take anything too far. |
"obsession is never a good thing" said the man in search of mediocrity. a very large percentage of successful people are OCD. This is especially true in professions where practice and training is important, such as athletics and music; or where enless hours of intense work is required such as physics, math, and many leadership roles. |
After watching original video on 2021, I had temptation to visit his listening room.
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Carlsbad2 - couldn’t agree with you more, especially your opening sentence. Success often requires sacrifice and discomfort; an idea we can't commit to without some level of obsession. Obsession Is the #1 Habit of Highly Successful PeopleObsession has been defined as “the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, or desire.” “The people who succeed are irrationally passionate about something”“Obsession isn’t comfortable”
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I am happy for Ken for reaching his goal of putting together the ultimate hi-fi audio system. In doing so he must have sacrificed a lot, but the his health robbed him the joy of listening to his system. May He Rest In Peace As we grow old, our health becomes a major issue. We all must take time to evaluate our own health and should not let anything else become a priority over one's health. So I leave you with some words of Wisdom from Lord Buddha: One day, King Pasenadi of Kosala went to the Jetavana monastery after having his full morning meal. It was said that the king had eaten one quarter basket (about half a bushel) of rice with meat curry on that day; so while listening to the Buddha's discourse he felt very sleepy and was nodding most of the time. Seeing him nodding, the Buddha advised him to take a little less rice everyday and to decrease the amount on a sliding scale to the minimum of one-sixteenth part of the original amount he was taking. The king did as he was told and found that by eating less he became thin, but he felt very much lighter and enjoyed much better health. When he told the Buddha about this, the Buddha said to him, "O king! Health is a great boon; contentment is a great wealth; a close and trusted friend is the best relative; Nibbana is the greatest bliss." Verse 204: Health is the greatest gift, contentment is the greatest wealth, a trusted friend is the best relative, Nibbana is the greatest bliss. |
Thanks @hilde45 for the links....and the object lesson of OCD/obsession allowed to become a kudzu that smothers all, including its’ owner. Most have an obsession of some sort at some level. As pointed out, the successful illustrate that in their varied ways, and sometimes get to share the minus issues it bears when others about them just can’t deal with it anymore.....the current example our X-POTUS, who seems destined to spend the remainder of his life in courtrooms. Unlike Ken, I don’t feel sorry for him at all....or his family. Kens’ family? "Woulda’, coulda’, shouda’"...allowed his obsession to dominate their lives as well as his.... Goats like to eat kudzu. If this was realized and put to practice earlier, it might not have become ’the weed that ate the South.’ (An absurdovation to yours unruly to share: Put ’jit’ after Ken, no space.... I’m a bit ADD/OCD...it has some benefits....and its’ drawbacks. Fortunately, I have too many things that keep me preoccupied, and enough prodding by those about me to not allow me to get stuck on any one item or task. I trust I’m not alone...here, there, and most anywhere else...to suffer to the degree of the late Mr.Fritz.....and, if there be an afterlife beyond this realm of reality.... Don’t seek Ken out...he’ll try to commandeer you to help in tuning the cosmos. RIP, Ken....it may be heaven, but it could also be yet another version of hell. |
I don't know about obcession.every other night on being at the hospital in a 6 year surgical residency has served me and my patients well.but it has been at at a price to me and my family.corporate has been a determination of medicine when we have the best technology but it ties our hands and won't let us use it .too many deniels by insurance and too much paperwork not just by physicians but by nurses most dislike it. The interview by the jet blue owner was asked why he didn't take meds for his ocd.simply stated would not haVe got much done.our image guided machine to fix brain fluid leaks has revolutionized skull base and sinus surgery.enjoy the music keep healthy. |
@carlsbad2 and @p05129 I knew there would likely be those that would respond as the two of you did with personal attacks because you likely see yourselves in what is being presented in the article. I feel sorry for you too.You have no idea my level of success in life; my profession or my athletic/musical abilities for that matter. Life is about balance something the two of you seem to not be able to grasp. I don’t need to brag about my level of income to me that is not what matters most having the love and respect of my wife and children is my most cherished achievement. I put four kids through college, 2 with masters degrees with no student debt attached to any of them, own my home outright. My wife and I take all our kids and grandkids on vacation for 1 week every year without fail to ensure connection remains in tact.When folks quote from how to be successful books I know they probably are not. I’ve never found much use in them other than to enrich the author. A mench is born not made,sorry.But I don’t put down those who did get a Phd I had to grind for mine (building a successful business),thats my story again no need to brag. My words of wisdom are cited from the book of my own life experience and hard work. To some my perspective may present as that of a mediocre loser, I’m ok with that. |
This guys life is like a Rorschach test for frequent posters here. Some who think his obsession was justifiable, and liken him to creative artists who were obsessively driven…and the rest of us. I could never justify this guy’s behavior as one would justify Da Vinci or Beethoven. Creative Artists in a separate category than bibliotheca, stamp collectors, art collectors, and audiophiles. Matching components and optimizing rooms, supposedly to optimize the reproduction of sounds created by someone else, is not comparable to creating those sounds in the first place. Book collecting, music collecting, bottle top collecting may be worthwhile hobbies in and of their own, but ultimately they are of less value than what is being collected in the first place. I would not have wanted to grow up or marry into that family. Everyone who knows me thinks that my obsession with sound and music is over the top. My wife showed me the article on Fritz. I told her that the value of his life was to make people like me appear sane by way of comparison
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I guess it all depends on your definition of "successful". This guy was successful in building the system of his dreams/everyone else's nightmare, but at the cost of a meaningful and fulfilling relationship with his family. My worry about my record cleaner finally kicking the bucket doesn't get in the way of even the most mundane family matter. My kids are 21 and 23 and I am 100% confident that we will never be estranged. I have a wonderful, honest and comfortable relationship with my wife of 25 years. I have a wide circle of friends, some of which are music/audio enthusiasts, and more which are not. As far as I am concerned, I am a tremendous success. If your definition of success is wealth, you have been duped. I think a lot of what we are calling "obsession" is just somebody being a self-absorbed jerk. |
Actually, Bell Labs was located in Murray Hill, NJ. I used to go to their sound proof room when I was a kid. A million dollars does not buy you great sound. Have you been to a reviewers system lately? LOL The trick, pioneered in the early 1930s by engineers working at Bell Labs in New York and Abbey Road Studios in London, was in the two channels of sound. Recorded from separate microphones and played back through separate speakers, they could simulate the swirling warmth and depth of life. |
Hear hear! These elements are so fundamental to a happy and fulfilling life, that I cannot imagine being able to enjoy anything -- a stellar audio rig, included -- without these fundamentals. In other words, the enjoyment of music and sound are premised on a wider and deeper foundation -- or at least this is how I am set up. |
@pos5129
I realize this is social media but these kind of observations have no relevancy without citing where you found these words. Maybe "inspirational quotes" on Brainyquote.com? When we discuss things that are debatable, even if it is not audio, we should always have a source for where you have rooted your point. There is no link between obsessed people and success. Take all the obsessed people in the world and, unbelievably, they are all successful? 50% are successful? And what are the parameters on success? Obsessed? I would say that 100% of serial killers are obsessed. I would also state, without providing a link, that 100% of obsessed people are generally disliked, probably difficult to deal with, and treat others poorly. There is no silver lining with respect to obsession. Obsessed by definition is: A persistant disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling. (Pulled from Merriam-Webster dictionary). It would be helpful if we could have debates that are rooted in something else than a saying or a quote. All humans deserve intellectual conference, rather than a shot in the dark or an off the cuff remark that has no root in the truth. |
I'm grateful to the Post for publishing this article because it gave us a new dimension to Fritz's story. Like a lot of obsessed people (maybe most?) he was not a nice person. He lacked empathy and he was quick to form petty grievances. It's tragic that he and his oldest son never reconciled before he died. But what's just as interesting is the petty bickering in this thread. There is an irony here that I can't quite describe. |
We are rooted in something greater than ourselves and we play a game we choose to learn... We cannot even condemn ourselves , we can just realize the road we take is the wrong one or not ... Some said, even thinkers that we are not free in our choices...This is self contradictory claim; we are free to put a specific content in our thought and judge this content we created and choose it or not as from ourself or not at the end looking at this content accepting it or rejecting it ... Geometry teach freedom...This is why Plato love it so much... We can stay a divided realm or unite ourself to greater than us because what is greater than us is also "us" ... Truth is there to be loved before to be known and cannot be known before being loved... Wisdom pass over our limited knowledge... Fritz had learned and do his journey well as he planned it for himself and all of us... As a teaching ... as a work of love ... We can accept it or throw it off...We cannot judge him ... As for each one of us , his purpose in life was greater than himself..
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There's a "rule" somewhere that states "if you want expand some part of your life, it will pushback on others." I suppose we want to chime in and reveal our version of "the greater good", "a balanced life" and where to place our priorities. Sometimes it's difficult to separate narcissistic behaviors from efforts to improve the human condition for others. What may appear to be narcissistic at present, may in fact, prove to be a positive force for humanity years/centuries later. And, when the final "scorecard" is tallied, we may determine that the casualties (human or otherwise) were worth the price of admission for what transpired. The goal of "the world's greatest stereo" appears to be too narrow in scope to be impactful to a large number of people, The "balance sheet" doesn't produce a positive in the column of human interaction. IF this system (and room) would have been painstakingly disassembled (like a Frank Lloyd Wright designed building), reassembled in an appropriate venue, and preserved for millennium, then we might be having a different conversation. But, it appears we got to the end of the story, without a great deal of fanfare, or perseverance. |
There's a quote from Tolstoy about the uniqueness of unhappy families that probably applies to this man's life. I don't think his audiophile obsession was the source of his husband/1st wife or father/son problems. The root cause was his personality and behavior. He was an imperfect human and not everyone was willing to tolerate him. My takeaway from the article is that whatever anyone achieves will never survive. You could conquer half of the world and a few hundred year pass and it looks just like it did before you were born. Of course, you could always build a Great Pyramid. |
@onhwy61 …”The root cause was his personality and behavior.” +1 I agree. Really creative and hardworking people are frequently like this, Steve Jobs, James Camron. People around him must make choices. My father treated me poorly, so, as soon as I was 18 I ended our relationship. I also think he was pretty happy, but drove the people around him crazy. He was really successful at work and in his pursuit of audiophilia. Many men beat their wives and children, or leave and do not provide for them. You could grow up in many parts of the world and starve to death, be killed in war or genocide. He provided, and achieved his lifelong goals, and got to enjoy it for some years. |
@goodlistening64 Wrote:
Sound Labs Majestic 945PX speakers are nine feet tall, just saying. Mike |
Nicely said. I think the exact same impulse motivating people to read the Rorschach test that this story presents also crops up in those debates about whether audio is "only about the music" or also about "the technology and sound." The answer is, of course, subjective but people like to argue it as if there was only one, objective answer. |
Another writer could have taken a different approach to this story and - using the same facts - left us with a completely different set of conclusions. What stands out about it was that Ken was an audiophile. If he had put his time and money into building a boat it would have been an unpublished boat story. I would have been interested in knowing how good his system sounded.
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i will judge more harshly those who judge others too harsley than the passion of this man... I was myself consumed by the fever to create my acoustic room 24 hours by day for at least one full year... My wife thought i was crazy... Fritz taught us a lesson with his life and he succeedded his dream.... Our life impact go beyond ourself anyway , and most dont know why they are here ....
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Antisocial personality disorder, sometimes called sociopathy, is a mental health condition in which a person consistently shows no regard for right and wrong and ignores the rights and feelings of others. Obviously, Ken did not care about the feelings of others. All the attributes are there of one who has a mental illness. Someone mentioned OCD, and that would be validated by his obsession and compulsiveness, but not his disregard for the feelings of others. That has to be explained and I find it unlikely he was bi-polar (which would explain his lack of empathy and sympathy for others), but the signs of a sociopath is evident. How mental illness manifests itself is tricky, and only recently (last 20 years) has it been tackled within the pharma industry to provide medical solutions for many of the mental illnesses that have inundated our society. Ken was of age that in his youth there was no treatment for these diseases. Back in those days, we called people who had such diseases "fidgety" or "excitable" and/or any number of adjectives that described being different. None of them were very kind. Having family members who are dealing with such diseases - most successfully! - I see many of the attributes in Ken that I have personally dealt with. I do not profess to be an expert on the subject, but the lack of empathy hits home and is a crushing emotion when your child does not care about what you ask of them. Certainly, the other way around - having a parent that is disinterested in their own offspring can be devastating. Ken's room and system has some oddities. He incorporated four of the exact same grandfather clocks into his room plan. His stereo setup had three speakers. His plan for extended bass had two other speakers instead of say, subwoofers. And subwoofers are the easiest DIY assignment. I am just pointing out that what he did was not what most of us here would do with a room like that. Sure, you may include some RCA dogs (nipper and chipper) but IMHO, no one on this forum has ever said, "Nice listening room, have you thought about adding a grandfather clock? Or four?". Hey, grandfather clocks may have nothing to do with mental illness, but four of them have something to do something that no one here can explain. I find it amusing how we view his system setup and immediately feel that it MUST have sounded heavenly. It is a visceral reaction. Perhaps confirmation bias because, well, a million dollar system HAS to sound good, right? But truth be told, it may not have sounded good. While I did not watch the youtube video in its entirety, what I read and saw of it, there was not one person who claimed it sounded great. Is that important? |
I doubt Ken had antisocial PD. He had personality features possibly of some other PDs, but there isn't enough here to say more. Having a dysfunctional relationship with his older son is unfortunate, but not enough to make a diagnosis of anything. His son wanting a vintage car his grandfather owned and a vintage turntable as his only bequest is telling of not much, except that it was met with a smallness of spirit by someone who could have afforded to do better. The unsaid part may be bitterness over how unhappy his mother apparently was due to living in a home Ken dominated, but that is speculation. It is hard not to wonder whether he liked things more than people. He built a big sound system of his own design, choosing a big line array design and using his experience in commercial polymer molding to build it, filling in with extra low-end speakers and driving it with stacks of Krell amplifiers and separate crossovers. The video suggests he enjoyed it even if he realized it wasn't perfect: "you lie to yourself and tell yourself it sounds great." The grandfather clocks are an oddity, though. They aren't particularly great at timekeeping, they are delicate and cumbersome, and not anyone's idea of modern room accent. These weren't antique clocks which might make an interesting piece in a modern room, they looked like reproduction pieces. |
