Fritz vs CSS vs Ryan

Here's a review of Fritz: 

Great review and it’s part of why I created the thread. You ended up with Salk correct? 

@temmple I did, but they were a hair's breadth away. I honestly loved them both. In retrospect, though, I think I loved the Fritz Carbon 7's even better. Really lovely, intimate and warm midrange. Seductive.

Leaning that direction as well. The CSS seems like a great value and has been getting great praise. The audio show is in Seattle next week and Fritz is listed as a vendor as well as Salk. Going to give them both a listen. 

I own Fritz Carrera BE's and did a comparison against a number of well-known speakers last year. More specifically, the Carreras made me sell my Harbeth 30.1 speakers which are almost twice the price. You can read about it here ...

Thanks for the link and reply. Going to go read it now.

+1 on Fritz.  Toe tapping. :)

I'm afraid that I've not heard the other two to give a fair comparison.

Hello fellow Erik with a K. We are the minority now days. 

I guess my big question is the Fritz worth almost double the price of the Ryan.

If some of your options don’t allow a home audition with a full refund if you don’t like them (perhaps minus shipping or service fees), I would strike those off the list. The speaker is not only a matter of taste, it also interacts with each room differently. It is for speakers that the motto "try before you buy" is most critical.

I agree but that really limits my options to just one or two. Fritz does have a nice in home trial so there is that.

A nice in-home trial and a great reputation.

@temmple I suggest having a phone call with Fritz to discuss options, prices, etc. He's a very nice person.

Got a call in with him now and just waiting to hear back. 

Familiar with Fritz. One of my favorites. Rock solid with most any amp unlike many others similar and great value. Can’t go wrong.  Not familiar with the others.

Fritz are very very nice as are Sonner but double the price. 

Had a great convo with Fritz. Now I just need to figure out Carrera or Carbon…

Decisions decisions, I think that @arafiq review would be very helpful. As will this review from PTA I think...

I think that read made it harder. The Carbon might be more in my flavor and might even be a better match with the Kinki integrated.

I had the Carrera’s and could not tame the beryllium tweeter. Harsh and bright in more than a few song segments.

Two different houses, three different rooms. This was with Odyssey Audio hot rodded Khartago amp and Candela pre with Amperex 7316 pq tubes. Also had Ascend Acoustics Sierra2’s with a RAAL ribbon tweeter with same gear. Sweet as could be.

I personally would go with the Carbons. Beryllium just not for me. With that gear anyway.

@temmple

I’ve owned Carrera BE’s with the Transducer Labs tweeter for about two years now and my advice to you is that if you have any hesitancy at all about the Be tweeter sound then opt for the Carbon 7 SE or the Rev 7 SE which both have Scan Speak dome tweeters. The Rev 7 SE will be the closest to the Carrera’s in terms of driver quality in that it uses the same woofer as the Carrera and a top line Illuminator tweeter. A bit less in price than the Carrera.  Any of the three will be fine with the Kinki as I powered mine with the same Kinki as did Fritz himself at one time. 

The Illuminator is a great fabric dome tweeter which I have had in two pair of different speakers I have owned.

It's interesting that Ryan is in this mix for consideration. They made a big splash years ago but I haven't heard much of them for the last couple of years. I also was surprised that hilde45 was having second thoughts about not having kept the Fritz speakers. That should be considered a good endorsement.

@jackd I just noticed that the Carbon used to have the ScanSpeak 1 inch Ring Radiator tweeter and now uses 1" ScanSpeak Textile Diaphragm. I wonder how the ring tweeter sounded with the Carbon? Is one better than the other?

I'm a recent owner of the Fritz Carrera BE's.   I could not be happier.  Fritz is a great guy and loves talking speakers. I'm a big fan of the beryllium tweeter.  Highly recommended. Mine took 50+ hours to break in, and I still think they're not done.  They sounded really good out of the box, but now exceptional.  

@temmple 

If you're talking about the Carbon 7 SE Mk II tweeters, from my phone conversations with Fritz he thinks the new tweeter is better than the one in the original version.  Never heard either version but I would trust his choices.  Also the Rev 7 SE gives you a similar speaker as the Carbon 7 albeit with higher line drivers and a higher corresponding price.  In the end it will come down to whether you feel comfortable trying the Be tweeter or want to take the safer route with one of the silk dome tweeter models.  While the Carrera sounds good with most any amp I found that it does love tube amps the best.  

Fritz REV 5 SE owner here and I absolutely love them.  The ScanSpeak Revelator woofer combined with the ScanSpeak Illuminator tweeter is magic.  Enjoy them more every time I listen to them.  Fritz is such a great guy with a passion for his speaker’s sound performance and not just the sale $’s. Fritz has really got it going on with his speakers. Hope you pick Fritz and don’t look back.

Had the Carrera with the new BE Tweeter. Loved it. 

August 27th in Phoenix AZAVCLUB.com will hold

a 15 speaker exhibition. All standmounts under $3k.

Now what to buy for you? If your logic worked on Ryan

as a value, try GR Research XL-S Encore with upgrades.

$1,400 assembled. 

I had the Carrera’s and could not tame the beryllium tweeter. Harsh and bright in more than a few song segments.

Two different houses, three different rooms. This was with Odyssey Audio hot rodded Khartago amp and Candela pre with Amperex 7316 pq tubes. Also had Ascend Acoustics Sierra2’s with a RAAL ribbon tweeter with same gear. Sweet as could be.

I got the Salk SS6M's over the Carreras — because of the look of the wood in Salk's cabinets. Truth be told, I could never tame the tweeter — I have tube amps and even tried softer tubes in my DAC, in my Amp, in my preamp. Could have been my room.

I have nothing but good memories of the Carbon7. I wrote a review of that, too. I think the detail and sparkle of the Be  tweeter sucked me in over the Carbon7, but looking back, that was the stand mount I should have kept. 

To resolve my tweeter problem, I sold the Salks and got the Ascend Acoustics Sierra2’s with a RAAL ribbon tweeter. Now I'm happy. But the Carbon 7's would have stayed for good. Live and learn.

@jackd by chance were you able to compare the new Rev7 SE speaker with the ScanSpeak Illuminator Ring Radiator tweeter to the other Satori BE tweeter version speaker?  

While I've never tried Fritz speakers, I've followed him through @hilde45 's journey some and I've personally used some of the same Scanspeak drivers in my own speaker builds with great success. That new Rev7 SE version looks interesting. 

Why not trial both the Fritz Carrera BE and the Carbon 7 SE. I did. They both have their plus and minus…i had upgraded Raven Blackhawk as my tube integrated amp. And this trial was after already owning prior Carbon 7. To my ears, I liked the Carbon 7 SE, due in part to my previous Fritz speaker (beautiful mid range, voices…listen mostly to Jazz) and my lack of patience in taking the time to let my ears readjust to the beryllium tweeter which will definitely bring forth the higher frequencies. That said, I could certainly afford speakers 3x the price of Fritz speakers. But the whole package of personal service by Fritz, going through the personal journey of speaker education coupled with his dogged determination to build speakers based on his successful implementation of a stand mount speaker design with multiple bespoke wood finishes, while always searching for the best drivers is why I would wholeheartedly recommend the Fritz speakers. I don’t need to explain the amazing sound they produce as their are many, many reviews from numerous reviewers. I also do not sell them for Fritz !

A bit late to the party here, but I wanted to weigh in on my Ryan R-610s which don't seem to be getting much love here. Since I live within pretty easy driving distance of Fritz, and once upon a time (about 7 years ago) I had a Hegel H200 integrated which he wanted to hear, he was kind enough to bring by some different models of his speakers for me to audition. At the time I had a pair of Proac Response 1SC's that weren't such a good match with the Hegel. Fritz's speakers were all really nice, but to my ear a little TOO nice, that is, they seemed to smooth off the music's edges a bit too much for my taste. I eventually traded up to a pair of Proac D2's but in the end, they seemed a bit too shrill. That's when I found the Ryans and I give them my very highest recommendation. These speakers are beautifully balanced from top to bottom, preserve the music's edges without sounding etched, and convey plenty of space in the stereo image. While I have nothing but great things to say about Fritz as a person and technician, I just couldn't fall in love with his speakers. Anyway, if you can, I'd recommend giving the Ryans a listen--I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I plan on doing a shootout between the Carbon 7, Ryan R610 and a Monitor Audio Gold 100. This should be interesting. Anyone in the Seattle area that might want to ad to the mix please DM me. The more the better. 

I look forward to seeing the results of this shootout--will keep an eye out for it.

I am going to order the Buchardt S400 MKII and a pair of Carbon 7 SE and see what one I like best. I think this will come down to what speaker pairs best with the Kinki EX-M1 and what speaker works best in my room. I will report back with my findings. Thanks for all of the great input!

Should your speakers seem bright, as my old Vegas and alters did, cut small square pieces from,a,average t-shirt, I used double sided scotch tape, held up for 3 years, took every,bit of harsh, or the terrible “s” as we all know

love hate,relationship with,klipsch, who let one of the nicest sounding.loudspeakers fade away to nothing, wish I,still had my English mastiff “Twinkie”, would feed her chili and have her crap on klipsch’s ceos’ pillows!

keep your speakers if you love them, try the small cotton piece, if it’s still a bit high end, cut,another piece, double up. Save your money and hire Sammy Hagar to do a live,set in your back yard.

please try it, it worked wonders for my cv d-9 horn tweeters

should it,not make you sit back. In your, chair and do ……”..son..of…a, gun, he was correct”

it’s a very good inexpensive tweak for bright tweeters.

I used three small,squares on the tweeters of BIC Venturi dv84.’s 

they use a very nice Vifa tweeter, it was so crisp, clear,clean,etc, but it was loud, taped 3 layers of an old t-shirt,cut abut 1.5 inches with,double,sided tape, , night,and,day, then after a few months of break in, they,did,settle,down a,lot, and the bass improved, and the music was more,separated. 
 

hope you try it, crack a Hefeweizen, and sit back and listen to some thin Lizzy or Y and T

🍻

New change of plans. I will be auditioning the Ryan’s vs S400 MKII. I will report back soon with my findings. Should be interesting.

@temmple ,

So the Carbons are out of the running?

Yes. I tried but apparently they were not in the cards. Out of tweeters is what Fritz told me. 

IMO rock music is served better by full range 3 way speakers. 

Not always the case and I listen to more than just rock music.