Ken Fritz's $1M Dream System update

Lonely by what standard? Perhaps certain people get little enjoyment in sharing the experience. All of these things are very personal experiences and it is foolish to apply your standards to any of this. Makes our society seem broken somehow.

Even the best of audio systems are equivalent to works of art virtually no one sees or appreciates, what a lonely obsession.

True most people dont have $ 1M dollar systems. But who cares? Making judgements about how much we spend on anything takes us down a dangerous path.

There is possibility the family drove Him crazy. I feel also He did not get the support and understanding from his family. Sometimes people around are more than enough to drive you crazy.

Let's be perfectly honest. Most others don't have a $1 million dollar system but still have relationship issues with family.

Why even speculate? The man is dead and built what may have been a great system. So ridiculous, these days, to attribute negatives to the pursuit of perfection. Spend your money your way and extend the same courtesy to others.  

I am lucky to have a listening room.  It's not big , so there's not much stuff in there.  One recliner in the sweet spot.   I throw a bean bag chair in there if my girlfriend wants to join me .....   no I don't make her sit in that. 

I want to be solo when I decompress 

 

I have no problem with people wanting to listen to their music in solitary positions. My best two friends and several other friends are single and deserve to listen as they want to. The caveat being that I want anyone listening with me in my listening rooms share equally which is why I desire a wide dispersion speaker. There is a limit wherein my former ML Monolith III stats when my girlfriend (now wife) experienced them said no way! They are beamy and I have to keep my head in a fixed position (plus lack of textured detailed bass, lacking in dynamics). So, out they went and I been happy with wide dispersion speakers since (the major fault of the Legacy Focus).

I has been in this hobby since 1978.

 

During those years, I had gone through more than 10 speakers and some monster amplifiers like Jadis 500.

 

But I made balance between my hobby and relation with my three children.

 

They also enjoy listening to music and play some instruments themselves.

 

Thus I had never got complaint from my children.

 

I expect to have fifth grandchildren next June.

 

It would be nice if I had chance to listen to Ken’s system.

 

I may have had taken over his whole system including his house.

 

I still respect his passion but he had gone overboard with his family relationship.

 

But I do not want to criticize him too much.

 

May Ken rest in peace.

 

Thomas

 

 

@mulveling 

Hear, hear….

What is all this backlash against single listening chairs? God forbid a man have a hobby he can enjoy in solitude! I have as much company as I want in my life already. Sure it was fun having a great stereo to share when I was actively dating, but these days I really enjoy immersing myself in peace.

@mikelavigne Similar response except I never want to retire.  Married 42 years (I'm younger).  My wife demands season opera tickets as she doesn't like to listen to it at home (or even on 75" 4K TVs).  Plus, i am an amateur recording engineer with over 150+ recordings in major and salon venues, recording archivist to 2 composers and now have acquired too many LPs and CDs (61,100 total physical media).  Despite all my family illness traumas, my music is a respite which I use every night for 2 hours prior to bed and go immediately to sleep.  I'm a happy pessimist (especially happy when things turn out for the better)

@drbarney1 I was so flustered every time I had guests over (often) in my new custom listening room listening to giant headphone (not as bad as electrostats) Legacy Focuses. I finally sold them and switched in my living room Sig IIIs. Great. Then I finally could afford the ultimate speaker brand for dispersion without sacrificing sound quality, the Von Schweikert VR9 SE Mk2 upgraded. I often prefer listening off axis now, stereo or mono. Some people enjoy one or two person audio systems, particularly if they are single or don’t care to share. Duntech/Dunlavy and many stat speakers are for them.

As to comments concerning a $million system-it’s the reason I found Von Schweikert’s so late in life. My wife heard their show system in 2017 and for the only time in her life, felt emotionally congested and wished we could have a system like that. We do now and it cost 20% of that by buying used Von Schweikert speakers although I was ready to purchase their less expensive VR models. My best friend has VR35 exports and they sound very similar to my speakers lacking only in the dynamic range and deep bass but his room is a typical condo. I wish I had purchased his speakers a decade ago instead of the Focuses. Plus an SOTA pair of amps, near SOTA DAC/Pre-amp and CD transport. Wow!!! I’ve heard at least 1000 audio systems in my life, mostly at shows and salons. I don’t change equipment often and now my friend/dealer has set me up to life.

Family first, business second, then my music/video hobby which does consume about 25% of my time. 

Honestly this year at axpona I’ve heard two outstanding system one is the Borensen c1 set up $35 k and other one is the Wilson Maxx Dan Agostino amp and preamp If Iam correct. My guess the price close to $500 k. On the 35k I heard amazing musicality and energy, palpability   On the expensive set I heard musicality, energy, liveness, like you are in the concert hall. 

This system's use was limited to a minuscule sweet spot of only a couple of seats when in a concert hall there are hundreds and sometimes thousands of seats. A music system or home theater should offer a shared experience with friends. That is the problem with how wasteful the system was. The children should not have working on it or any other hobby they do not choose forced down their throats. 

To be honest with ourselves, can we really notice the difference between an overpriced system and one that most of us can afford without having to have unrealistic sensitivity to sound characteristics? Even for the few who do, concentrating to evaluate subtle differences in soundstage and the like will cost the attention to the emotional content of the music. 

There is no reason to envy systems that cost six figures with the likes of speaker cables that cost five figures and sound better by placebo effect.  

a single chair in a listening room is the symbol or loneliness or selfishness. 

Unless of course the wife took the other chair out to the patio....

I think it's sad women are not part of taking an interest in this hobby in a meaningful way. Maybe this explains why there are so many single chairs in listening rooms which I think is really kind of sad

I was wondering where we all can come to cry about the results tonight. Two separate threads, obviously.

Never miss a chance for a political dig. It’s the American (Audiogon?) way….

Madman Across The Water comes to mind.....

....and the one playing out Now....

... as long as what you've amassed sounds like a million with that you prefer to hear with it....

There's excess, and manias'.

One chooses which to embrace.

It may be a sad story, but it’s no deterrent. From the humble system I have today, In the time I have left, I too am aiming for a $1m system. It’s the personality that counts. Even knowing I am bi-polar, does not change anything. Like, I do not want a $1m car, or recvee. I know what I want, and every year it sounds noticeably better.

IAN.

 

Life is short and you should find happiness in it wherever you can. For some billionaire a million dollar audio system is mere pocket change. But for someone who really can't afford it yet sacrifices to do so, it can become the proverbial albatross around the neck.

Chris Rock (or Dave Chapelle, one of those guys) made a joke once that only women, children and dogs are loved "unconditionally" in this world. Such a thing is not true for men, it's just transactional for the most part.

But, you could imagine that you're loved unconditionally by so many artists (so many beautiful souls) when you're in your listening room, i.e., before this transient thing called life ends.

The first wife seems did not recognize the passion of her husband as well, and did not support Him. She probably did not know how to support Ken as well. In this hobby you need the wife support.i read if Iam correct Ken fav recording is The SWan , She called it Pig Swan?

i met Ken at audio shows a couple times and talked to him on the phone. he called me about tape decks a few times. we had some things in common as far as our desire for an ultimate room and hifi system. but his direction was different than mine. so as far as over-the-top commitment to music and hifi i can relate to him.

it is sad to see the negativity as part of his legacy, and it’s been unfortunate how the spin of it has gone. yes; there are lessons to be learned.

personally, even though my commitment was considerable, my family never was sucked into it other than my wife allowing me to do it and her understanding of how i liked it. i worked 6 days a week for 50 years and hifi/music was my stress relief. my children never have been a part other than my son helping with my network stuff as he is an expert. one time he helped me with a project for a day, and i gave him an expensive bicycle.

having a super hifi system and exotic room can be something complimentary to a happy balanced life. one thing for me is that my children have not provided me with grandkids. only a grand-dog. so from that perspective that would have taken much of my hifi fire away and directed my time and energy differently. been married 50 years and we are going strong, retired 18 months ago, all is well. and still love my system and spend hours a day in it with a smile. my wife and i are now making plans for some traveling around.....and enjoying life.

a huge commitment can be something that gives to you, and not something that crushes you and your family. but it has to fit into your life, not control it.

I'm looking forward to the upcoming Netflix special on his life. Apparently the depth of all he did was not well covered in the Post death articles and his videos. 

I tend to think brunomarcs is on to something. Plenty of examples of really poor parents by which to compare. I find it hard to believe that some many of you (us) believe the printed word regardless of the source. To accurately understand this family dynamic would require spending time with all the parties involved. 

The auction prices don't tell us much except what equipment brings in a short sale window with unknowns regarding condition and costs of removal and transport. Whatever the system might have sounded like in the space where it was designed to sit couldn't be assured somewhere else. It might be sad to think that the equipment would be sold for used parts value but that may be the truth of it.

Interesting perspectives indeed.

Confusing, but interesting.

Does anybody really believe a Washington Post Article? To me that’s the amazing story here.

I just recently unsubscribed from Washington PooPoost. That Bezo baldiluscious locks bubba’s too ugly (bobigly)....and I kept seeing the ghastly when I tried to read it...

These spoiled kids should've met my father who split when I was 5 and my brother  was 8! Fritz gave them a roof over their heads and probably fed them too!  And at the very least willed them a house and other stuff to sell, what the house sell for? I'm sure the kids fought over every last penny and are estranged from each other because of it. 
If they hadn't been so lazy they  could've easily fetched more for the gear, an estate sale or auction house isn't the way to go! 

It was about harmon and Floyd toole measuring his speakers.buy yes Izzy I made a wrong turn went into medicine then the government ruined it from my prospe time watch Southpark the episode the end of obesity. I spent the best years of my life studying to help people only to have corporate  destroy it.thats why I like music.enjoy the hunt.some might say doing trauma surgery every other night on call  was old but that's what it took to be excellent and train at the knife and gun club in new york.

I've run Into Ken a couple of times, late 90s/ early 2000s. He was indeed a tad eccentric, but, so are loads of guys in audiophilia.

For those unaware, he was a big proponent of multichannel audio. I never heard his end game rig in that large space, but, I get the feeling it would have b.slapped the daylights out of whatever lousy lil rigs y'all have (the harbeths,  crappeths, gooftubes, etc, whatever and let's not forget the fuses) around here, lol..

All the Ken hate seems to be coming from these constantly disgruntled dudes (chains of misery) who always have lousy sound no matter what they do with their crappy lil stereo squeakers on lil stands in terrible rooms. Blame everything on the cable thereafter and keep changing the cables, mighty silver knights....bwaaaaajahahaha

 

 

Some interesting perspectives coming to light here.

 

 

The story is well over a year old, longer since Ken's death, the recorded interviews, several years. He built what he thought would sound best within a generous budget for any home system. He appeared to have a large vinyl collection, and his playback equipment was the most customized of the components. The room is what seems least discussed except that the ceiling is a copy of a concert hall ceiling in Osaka, Japan and the walls are concrete (this all built not-so-harmoniously onto a pretty ordinary-looking mid-60s tract house in an ordinary-looking suburb with dowdy landscaping.) From the looks of things, Ken's efforts seemed to stay in the listening room. The splendor, if you can call it that, ended there.

People find ways to enjoy their money, or at least seem to try. Sometimes it brings satisfaction and pleasure, the interview suggested he got some from his efforts, but maybe not all he wanted. The quest vs the arrival and all. Like so many hobbies, the pleasure is in the journey more than the product.

If you appreciate fine woodworking, there is a remarkable tool case built by an American master piano maker Mr. H.O. Studley. It is now displayed in a museum in Massachusetts. The case was his own work built for himself, and is a masterpiece of organization. It is at once a display of his extraordinary woodworking skill, decorating finesse and mental organization. It cannot have been made all of a piece, but as a meticulous process of layered organization, measurement, trial-and-error and a deep knowledge of materials and craft. Although it looks finished, you have to wonder whether it ever really was done.

Ken stopped for illness, but I wonder whether he was done.

@mark200mph 

Seems like you made a wrong turn somewhere.

this thread is a magnet to selfish insensitive individuals

To hell with all this bleeding heart nonsense about wives and kids. Put your money where your mouths are, sell all your gear and give your paltry donations to the widows and orphans of dead selfish audiophiles.  I’m with Ken. He tried. God, he tried.  The spineless Washington Post can go to hell too. 

Read the reviews on the salon 1 how jbl has the machine that puts the speakers in the same spot every time they test it to reduce that variable.they have some quality engineers.how they  made the cabinets  the speakers so they don't overheat and get compression and the budget to do engineering science. I enjoy my salon speakers and the work done to reduce resonance in cabinets the curvature for time alignment.enjoy the music.enjoy the hunt but not to the point of ond.now I'm going to have to research this article.

@skinzy 

Remember a certain radio personality (RIP) called it the Washington COMpost, and for good reason.

Does anybody really believe a Washington Post Article?  To me that’s the amazing story here.

That, and the fact most people seem content to run with just one side of the story. Kids are just as likely to be rotten as the parents, and the fact they were so quick to air dirty laundry on death makes me like them less. So he wanted to wake you up early and put ya to work, wow what horrible abuse *eyeroll*...

Does anybody really believe a Washington Post Article?  To me that’s the amazing story here.

@rooze and @veerossi 

 

I too am "ears wide open" to any additional information that reveals opposing information and would love to know what gear was not included in the online auction list I used to compile my spreadsheet.  I was handling the Probate Estate of my Mother at the time Ken's auction was occuring, and therefore I had an Excel  spreadsheet I created to help me with her estate items. 

 

To take my mind off of being an Executor, I made a copy of the spreadsheet and plugged Ken Fritz's stereo gear into the columns.  I had watched the documentary soon after it was originally released, so I was familiar with the items listed in the online auction.  I went back and watched the documentary again, and compared the items highlighted in it to the listed auction items.  I didn't see any disparity of note of the items shown in the documentary to the items listed for sale -- especially the audio gear in Ken's main room. 

Was there a lot more expensive gear not shown in the documentary that was sold prior to the auction?  For example, the Denon PBN turntable, 2 SOTA turntables, custom Tannoy speakers, custom JBL speakers, 2 Cayin and 1 Dynaco tube amp, an unreal number of JBL and Focal drivers in boxes, Krell gear, custom audio stands -- I could go on and on -- all were not mentioned in the documentary (that I saw) but are listed sold with the price online.  Do you know what other gear he may have had that wasn't shown in the documentary or on the auction site?  You said a lot of "high value gear/media was sold before the auction" -- I'd love to know what other gear Ken owned.

 

Did you get to go to his house near Richmond in person to view the pre-auction items?  If so, I'd love to know your impression.  Did you hear the main room system? Prior to the auction announcement, I read a forum thread authored by a friend of the daughter.  He was assisting the family early on when they were trying to figure out what to do.  Someone asked him if he had heard the system, and he said the daughter didn't know how to turn everything on, and at that time she wasn't sure who knew exactly how to set everything up properly. 

 

I'm envious if you saw everything in person, mainly because of the vinyl collection Ken owned and the actual listening room.  It looked beautiful in the documentary -- the furnishings, the ceiling's molding, the rugs, etc.  Thank you for any additional information you can provide. 

@rooze "People believe what they want to believe, generally."

I agree. 

 

I am one of the odd-balls that is open to listening and caring about other people's perspectives and positions in hopes of expanding my ability to understand more while on this planet. Lay it on me. 

Here's this too (see newspaper link) and here's a documentary.

@rooze needs to read the Post Article 

@veerossi I attended the auction preview (prior to anything having been sold via auction) and a lot of the equipment and media you see in his original video had already gone. I spoke with the auctioneer and his daughter and was given a value of what had already been sold pre auction and it was significant. I could comment on the content of the written article but what’s the point? People believe what they want to believe, generally.