Correct me if I am wrong but there is only one person who had actually met this man. Believe none of what you read and half of what you see. As if there are no disgruntled children with an axe to grind.
Judgment is part of life and it helps us differentiate between right and wrong. Having said this, true judgement can only come from knowing an individual sufficiently to discern their actions accurately. This no judgement stuff is feel-good nonsense that is moving society away from the belief in moral absolutes.
So, by your logic, given what’s written about him in the article, if anyone comes to the conclusion that he’s a selfish, self absorbed, no integrity jerk, then that’s who that person is also?? Interesting.
Question; what’s your judgment on say, reading an article about someone who sexually abused a child?? I find that detestable, do you? I find it that way because in part I believe it to be inherently disgusting and would never conceive of doing such a heinous thing. If you find it detestable, by your own words you find that detestable because you can’t accept it about yourself. So, unless there's something horribly wrong with you, which I doubt, your logic is flawed.
@posbwp55i thought your comments were well stated and thoughtful.
The world around us is our mirror, and judging someone does not define who they are—it defines who we are. More often than not, the things we detest and judge in others are a reflection of the things we cannot accept about ourselves. The yardstick we use for ourselves is the yardstick we use for the world.
This is one of the sadder things I've read in awhile.
While this man's "problem" is perhaps the pennultimate example of a "first world problem," his personal and family pathology, his failure to love and nurture due to his obsession, and his willingness to alienate his son--are universal.
There are an infinity of ways to be unhappy. This is one of them.
I appreciated and admired Ken’s system for years and enjoyed the video made a long time ago by his younger son. I wondered about many of the things that this article brought to light when learning that the system was sold for a pittance. I am glad that people who appreciated his work benefited from it but also feel bad that his family didn’t get more for all the physical work and emotional toll that it had on them. I’ve worried about that myself and have been very transparent about all of it with my family asking them to go on this site to post it for sale used with appropriate value attached to it so they can get something out of the system too. My wife really enjoys it so I also hope she will use it for many years if I happen to go before her. She knows how to turn it on, unlike Ken’s family it seems, and will have it going by the time I get home from work. I feel like the article was a great cautionary tale to all of us who have hobbies that can border on obsessions. We need to step back and evaluate what is truly important and if I were true to myself I would list my family first. We also need to recognize that not everyone shares our sentiment about these things. I often get a check when someone visiting shows a spark of interest as I’ll go on too long about how it all works. In the end it’s about the experience and how it sounds, I do love seeing people’s eyes light up when I play their favorite song.
@retiredfarmer I agree with you about buyers who ask for concessions when they arrive to pickup the item. If the buyer simply decides they want to pay less as an in-the-moment change of mind, I'll politely decline the request, though it fortunately very rarely happens.
In the case with Fritz, I agreed to pay his asking price, but he clearly discovered (albeit at the last moment) that he could do better pricewise. He could have done the less underhanded thing and told me that he discovered he could get more and ask if I wanted to pay it. Maybe I would have, especially since we had long planned the deal. But he didn't care that I had made the arrangements, got the car, and took off from work - he made his decision and that was that. Again, a true creep.
I suggest one can take the article at multiple layers. The audio achievement...impressive; the family's life...somewhat tragic.
Things have got to be pretty serious to disown a son. Perhaps it wasn't solely audio that caused that, but still, that's tremendously sad and I would view as the largest failure in my life it it happened.
It's also an allegory - plenty of the greatest-of-all-time type famous people have paid similar prices for their success, and there seems to be a two-way interaction between the price and the achievement.
It is an interesting point - if your hobby was golf, travel, wine, etc., you'd have nothing to sell at the end and so you don't get your money back. That seems like it would be reasonably true in audio as well, albeit there is some salvageable value there.
I'd hope my kids would want some of my stuff. But probably not - they really only need these tiny screens that fit in their pockets.
@srs148 that Is the most disturbing story of all. When a man is not capable of keeping his word over a few dollars you know what the problem s stem from with his family. On the other side nothing worse than making a deal and after the buyer shows up they decide they are going to pay less. Only one way there yes or no negotiating is over. If you see something you don't like you say I didn't realize,e this say no thank you and leave. I very much dislike when people cannot stand by what the say.that is not gentleman like behavior.
Wow. I mean..........wow. What a tale, almost worthy of a Shakespeare byline.
I venture to say that, sadly, he suffered from an obsessive disorder that clearly prevented him from maintaining what most would consider "normal" relationships with his family, perhaps others. While the emotional methodology behind his pursuit left a family in tatters, and his level of audiophilia could only be considered malignant, I have to believe that when not set to "movie", his system may well have been THE finest personal sound system ever assembled in a home environment, never to be duplicated. I'd have given an eye tooth to have heard it. It's final disposition is tragic, IMO.
Pretty sad story all around. Weird system, def not worth the money, time and terrible strife and division he caused in his family and sold for piece meal pennies on the dollar when he died.
My perspective based on The Post story: this was a monomaniacal obsession with serious consequences for his family and for himself as well.
Of course, it's difficult to comment on his psyche not knowing him (and maybe it would be presumptuous anyway), but presumably a lot of the information came from people who knew him well and/or were related. Many of them came across as disliking the guy and his hobby due to his fixation on that project.
So, the facts are that he spent a lot of money (most of it lost to his hiers) and appears to have alienated and offended in equal amounts. A sad story, in some ways...
I had dealings with him. He was a creep. He backed out of a long-planned deal (months in the making) we had for the sale of one of his pieces of equipment the day before I was to drive to Richmond to pick it up. This was after I had verified with him that the deal was still on and after I rented a vehicle for pickup of the gear. He said he changed his mind and in another interaction with him a year later, he bragged at how he sold the equipment for a much higher price. Others had similar stories, mostly on the sell-side. If he was buying, however, he was the nicest guy to ensure he got what he wanted to feed his obsession.
Reflection in order and compassion… and a better plan for my eventual passing….
Aside - I attended a nice music listening event last evening to honor the life and memory of a music club co-founder. Bit of a fund raiser for his favorite charities….
Congratulations on that whitewash, but I think that it was made clear that his passion was far from solitary, and if you think that it's ok to make your children literal slaves to your hobby, then I'm not sure what behavior you would consider to be obsessive.
Reading the article, I came to a much different conclusion than most here. Here is a very bright guy that provided very nicely for his family. He had a lifelong love of music and pursued it vigorously. He built most of his gear so the project s were a labor of love not a massive outlay of money. I have no idea how the “million dollar system” description was arrived at. He was a workaholic that owned his own business and provided very well for his family. Some people collect cars, they don’t receive the “this guy is nuts” labels appropriated tho audiophiles. His wife didn’t like his hobby and one of his sons had issues with his father. The rest seemed to be OK with their father. Obviously there is not enough information to make judgments about the family dynamics or assign blame. Some hobbies are solitary by nature. Audio is not necessarily one of them. I sold a pair of Levinson monoblocks to a couple from Baltimore. They came down picked them up and listened to my system for a while. Surprisingly, it was the wife that had the greater passion for the hobby (very unusual). I think the bigger problem is people that have no passion in life. That phenomenon seems to be the unjustified cause of grievance of others enjoyment. Who is the selfish party in this scenario? What causes unhealthy relationships is people that are solely dependent on interactions with others for emotional satisfaction. Balance is key in all aspects of life. Between running his own business and his passion for music he may not have shared enough time with his family. His passion was not destructive. He was not excessively into alcohol, drugs or gambling. It’s no one’s fault that only a very small percentage of people are passionately into music.
I was an acquaintance of Ken Fritz through my stint with the Richmond Audiophile Society and found him to be an intelligent, basically happy, persistent and dedicated in his pursuits, gentleman. There are a number of others in the Richmond Audiophile Society that knew him in much greater detail than I who feel as I do that the WaPo article was a hit piece. How many of us can say we don't have skeletons in our closets that if revealed to the public would be devastating to us or our families ? I'm sure some of the information is true, however usually this type of exposure is found in political rhetoric and not normally seen in the general public. Just my opinion...
This article has many details left out of youtube videos I've seen. Major cautionary tale in my estimation, seems the cost of this obsession much greater than the benefit. Having a loving psychologically well adjusted and functional family far greater accomplishment than any audio system. That audio system was a solitary pursuit that only served to alienate at least some in his family.
It appears that the equipment utilimately found it's way into the hands of those who do appreciate it -- at "market value". It could have been worse. Demolition, and landfill?
Tragic about his relationship with his son. We are all familiar with similar circumstances. It's never easy to dig into the details.
The author presented a balanced approach to Ken's accomplishments. Well done.
@uncledempVery well written and thought provoking post. Here’s hoping 2024 brings you much joy to balance things in your favor. It’s what we could all use.
Actually, Bell Labs was located in Murray Hill, NJ. I used to go to their sound proof room when I was a kid. A million dollars does not buy you great sound. Have you been to a reviewers system lately? LOL
The trick, pioneered in the early 1930s by engineers working at Bell Labs in New York and Abbey Road Studios in London, was in the two channels of sound. Recorded from separate microphones and played back through separate speakers, they could simulate the swirling warmth and depth of life.
@exigem2I go into a lot of houses after family members pass and this is my number one takeaway. Please plan to get rid of whatever stuff you "collect" so you don't leave the burden to your family. Antiques, records, Beanie Babies, lawnmowers, etc. Most of the time your "valuable" stuff will end up in the dump or practically given away, leaving your family feeling guilty that they're throwing away "your" stuff. They'll most likely spend a not inconsiderable amount of time trying to get something for it before throwing in the towel.
No one deserves a dad like that. Mine was consumed with political power during my youth. Same end result. Only positive, I never indulge in politics. I bet his son will never give a crap about audiophilia.
For anyone who does not have a Washington Post account (and doesn't want one), you can read all about this by going to YouTube and just typing in Ken Fritz. The entire story had been there for several years.
Um, no. The WaPo report has new information about a story already out there. So, not the "entire story" at all. Think, man, think.
This was a respectful but far less fawning take on Ken Fritz's quest than the well-edited and shot videos on him and his creation that appeared on Youtube. The costs in terms of spousal unhappiness, alcohol addiction, divorce, estrangement, lost opportunities for pleasure against the singular pursuit of a personal "dream" make one wonder how worthwhile that pursuit was. To see it all go to the auctioneer's block so quickly and for so little should give anyone pause.
Read it today in WaPo. It was a larger tale than just about our hobby. Many, in fact probably most, passionately assembled possessions move to new third party owners for “pennies on the dollar.”
While I’m just a Mid-Fi audio fan, my wife and I (along with a small group of local artisan renovators) are obsessive partners in restoring homes and repurposed 100 year old public and industrial spaces. We share an eye and a skill set for cap and lintel interior trim, bead board and post Victorian Craftsman proportions and techniques. We’ve done half a dozen projects, in which our reimagined elements are instinguishable from original to 99% of anyone who sees the work…even those who ended up purchasing and using the spaces.
I felt sad that the personal joy at the root of Mr. Krell’s audio journey came at a high price to his family life…but the larger truth of “pennies on the dollar” at the end of the day is very common across many modern pursuits.
My grandfather collected books his whole life. Filled several rooms in their house with thousands of books floor to ceiling. First editions signed copies and limited printings. His closest friend George was the same with Records, amassing over 100k. Both passed leaving the liquidation to their emotionally distraught wife's, who just wanted them out of the house as it was a constant reminder of their loss. For my grandfather and his closest friend, it was all about the chase of finding new pieces to add to their collection. Neither stopped to think about their legacy and how it should be handled when they were gone. Planning for charitable donations, gifts to loved ones, working with a trusted dealer or auction house all would have been better than leaving it to a family that is grieving to figure out.
While I am sure he enjoyed the journey, Ken's obsession took a big toll on his family.
For anyone who does not have a Washington Post account (and doesn't want one), you can read all about this by going to YouTube and just typing in Ken Fritz. The entire story had been there for several years.
When I tell my wife that I’m thinking of buying something, after she asks how much, she says if you’re going to enjoy it, then go for it. Alas I am definitely not talking about a million dollar system though.
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