Ken Fritz article

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...

Obsession is never a good thing.

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.