I haven't kept up on the company, but if the current Quicksilver shares more than the name with the old Quicksliver, HP (may he RIP) of "Absolute Sound" was very impressed with them decades ago.
To Fritz, Quicksilver, and all the exceptional makers trying to get the word out
It's been a while since I've posted. When you're in the sandwich generation, life intervenes. I've not had much chance to keep up with the conversations here, but I've managed some changes in my system, including a new set of speakers from a local audio fixer and DIY genius. These new speakers are wide baffle design with JBL woofers (15") and Beyma AMT tweeters. 97db sensitivity. I've put a picture on my system page.
But I've been thinking about Fritz and Quicksilver for an odd reason. There's an interesting guy on YouTube, Andy Edwards. He's a drummer and teacher with interestingly provocative analyses of rock, jazz, and music. Recently in a video entitled "Ten things non-musicians get wrong about music," he was pointing out how the music industry tends to advance very select fractions of talented people. There is a tremendous funneling effect that excludes a huge percentage of talented people. They are better than many of the most popular musicians, but they cannot get a hearing. They have to make a living in other ways -- but they are extraordinarily talented, nonetheless. This tends to skew the public perception of what a good musician is because people hear what they hear and then celebrate it because it's what they know. Subjective bias leads to (false) objective estimations of how good musicians can be. (Take one case in point: Kazuhito Yamashita. Look him up. Staggering genius on the guitar who didn't become a worldwide phenomenon.)
This made me think about two of the pieces in my system -- Fritz speakers and Quicksilver amps. They are complete unknowns to 99% of the buying public, and if you look around on YouTube or other media, it's pretty hard to find much promotion. It's all word of mouth, and even if they did advertise, who would hear them? With Klipsch and Focal and Yamaha et al. taking up most of the available attention economy, how could their message get through?
I am so grateful to the members of this forum for helping guide me to Fritz and Quicksilver. They are the most listenable, comfortable, and high-quality gear I've owned. I've heard amazing things about other brands -- such as Audio Note -- but I'm paying for college, soon for two kids, and that just ain't happening. These are not the best things money can buy, but as value propositions, you really cannot do better, IMHO.
For those whose ears are perking up about Fritz for the first time, I have done two reviews of what I think is his better speaker, the Carbon 7 SE MKII.
Written -- https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/review-fritz-heiler-s-carbon-7-se-mk-2-bookshelf-speakers?
Video -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpI6eAvc4_M
I've tried them with everything: they're tube friendly (Quicksilver, 60w); they're class D friendly (DIY Hypex-based amp, 275W); they're class A friendly (Pass XA-25, about 25-80w); they're class AB friendly (Adcom, Akitika, 60w).
I like them because if I focus in on them, they perform but if I just want them on in the background, they're lovely that way, too.
Hope everyone has a good 2025.
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hilde45 Not specific to Fritz or Quicksilver because I don't own either, but more about learning about brands I had never heard of before.....some of which I own. When these threads don't spin into pissing contests, they are actually filled with well meaning people that just want to pass along what they have learned.....and have been invaluable in my re-education. |
Big fan of Fritz. Outstanding speakers and not just for the money. They really do everything well with all genres of music. I’ve listened to several other name brands that cost two/three times as much with the idea of upgrading but cannot find any compelling reason to spend the money, they are that good. I talked with Fritz a while back about my Rev 7 SEs and he was great to chat with. |
I totally agree. That’s what got me going on the forum and I’ve learned a lot. I joined an audio society and also reached out to individuals in my town to hear things not carried by local stores. I wound up trusting Quicksilver because of @decooney who had a long history of trial and error with gear and was a speaker builder at one point. I knew he had nothing to gain by recommending QS and he kept asking me about my sonic preferences, budget, and plans for the system. Everyone has brands that they like and stand by -- that’s cool because they’re conveying what has worked for them. In my mind, had I not come across QS and/or had a slightly higher price point, I would gravitate immediately toward @aricaudio -- the cosmetics are lovely, he’s responsive online and on email, and (for preamps) he builds around the 6SN7 tube and (for amps) does single-ended. QS does not build those designs, currently. I’m thinking hard about a lower-watt amp as an alternate (I have very sensitive speakers, 97db, now), so I plan to review his stuff. We’ll see. (It’s just those darn kids in college, ya know?) |
To @hilde45, yep its been a fun journey searching out the low-key / affordable / lower cost builders who don’t pay for advertising and don’t appear at the shows. Referrals like a few mentioned on this thread seems to be how these cats like to operate, and want to keep it that way. We all can appreciate how this allows people to dip their toe into this hobby, not having to overspend to get started - and be able to experience and enjoy what it can sound like along the way. In your case you were able to utilize reasonably powered tube amps that offer a variety of different tubes also giving you the ability to try several different speakers. I was fortunate growing up with mentors and a number of builders, manufacturers, and store owners around me in NorCal which exposed different avenues and explorations with different types of components, speakers, and people who created careers and life-long hobbies and/or dream systems out of it all for themselves. Its been a lot of fun and interesting seeing and learning from all sorts of hobbyists too. Working, seeing, and being in/around speaker manufacturing for a while was a fun chapter too. None of that exist around here any more, unfortunately. Hey Man, you are well beyond liftoff, you are exploring the low power efficiency stuff now which leads to other books and many chapters there too, enjoy! . |
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