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.

But I got the news that his health was deteriorating and no more visitor allowed.

It would be nice if could take over whole system, but I was hesitant to move to Richmond VA since it got too hot and humid during summer time.

Sad ending, but he devoted his life to audio fulfilling his lifelong dream.

The only bad thing is he could not have time to travel around with his five children.


I had travelled a lot with my three children and good relation with them while I spent lot of time on my audio.

Also I got twin granddaughter Jan 2nd, this year I now have four grandchildren.

I will not have strong devotion to audio as Mr Fritz but just enjoy nice music through my modest system, Scaena line array speaker augmented by Rel subwoofers and Altec basshorn through active crossover.

Carlsbad2 - couldn’t agree with you more, especially your opening sentence. 
You can tell who is successful in their life and who isn’t. Here are some quotes that I feel successful people resemble;

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 People

Obsession 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”

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.