Yes.
Poor Fritz
There’s no better value and no one as willing to make bespoke speakers out there than Fritz and these forums treat his speakers as if they cost $200K.
They don’t. They are remarkably affordable and yet potential customers put him through the absolute ringer, asking for custom features, going through 2 or 3 models of home auditions and maybe not even buying any of them.
Look, you buy what you want to buy, but I think not enough credit is given to the man or his speakers in terms of the overall value proposition and I think this is a disservice overall. If you write a 5 page review, please keep this very much in mind that you are not reviewing Wilson or Focal's flagships. Maybe he doesn't deserve quite the same scrutiny.
They don’t. They are remarkably affordable and yet potential customers put him through the absolute ringer, asking for custom features, going through 2 or 3 models of home auditions and maybe not even buying any of them.
Look, you buy what you want to buy, but I think not enough credit is given to the man or his speakers in terms of the overall value proposition and I think this is a disservice overall. If you write a 5 page review, please keep this very much in mind that you are not reviewing Wilson or Focal's flagships. Maybe he doesn't deserve quite the same scrutiny.
Showing 12 responses by decooney
[@novice] Got 5 good reasons. Experience matters. Until a novice has - 1. Built them, 2. heard them, 3. compared sound, 4. in a group setting, 5. with experienced listeners... ...It’s all just talk until then. Kinda like trying to convince oneself that frozen pizza with the same ingredients heated up at home is as good as a hot fresh pizza cooked in a really good pizza oven made at a real pizzeria. No comparison. Talk is cheap. Best of luck. |
@b_limo fwiw, I like those particular 7" ScanSpeak mid-woofers quite a bit, used them another custom rebuild recently. Very musical sounding. The new owner of these custom built speakers really likes them a lot. Agree, Fritz could charge more. The return comes from his customers and their regular referrals and great praise. Seems like it's a Win-Win as you well know - as good as anyone does. Thumbs up, cool setup u have. Keep us posted on the new Belles after 250hrs :) |
@erik_squires OP: There are reviews on the Fritz website and he charges something like $3295 for a small BE 2-way speaker, not inexpensive by any means. Seems like a fair price if you like how they sound. No guarantee. The speakers seem to hold their own, he sends them out for people to try and evaluate them, and hopefully they purchase them... sounds like a great formula and it works. Word is he sells a lot of them, that's great! Do you own a pair of Fritz speakers and how do you like them? |
[@any-novice] "Total cost of drivers is $1300. Cost of speakers is $3500. So how much is he actually making? Can anybody answer that without insulting me?" ---------------------------------- Yes. Not making much.
Caution: Only brave souls with extra savings $ need try to build and sell quality "value" speakers for public consumers in a boutique setting. It takes a very special person to do this long term for the audio community. >>Respect to those who do it well and stay in business<<. Go Fritz! |
Good Luck with the Madisound kit, they do offer nice kits and can sound very nice. Great starting point, and good things can be learned. Professor John did a nice review a few years back on the C7Be...https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2017/03/05/review-fritz-speakers-carrera-7-be-loudspeakers/ |
To: Kenjit, Why don’t you build a kit from Madisound if you have not done so already? It can answer some of your recurring questions. I’ve sourced parts from Madisound for 22 years and been designing and building my own speakers for 42 years. Came close to resurrecting and building a speaker company at one point. Decided its too costly to do really well in less than 2-3 years. Takes more like 5-10 years or more like you see with the better boutique builders. You might be confused comparing hobbyists with business. Hobbyists put no cost on their time and labor of love. Labor is free. Businesses are in business to make profit, to evolve, and stay in business. There is a cost to doing business. If you want to save money, buy good used speakers, recondition them. It’s cheaper, may be an option for you. REQUEST: If you know of someone who buys parts and builds new quality speakers for FREE at no labor cost, please share their name and contact info. |
@erik_squires How do we know they are "comparable"? Maybe his drivers are better than standard versions... It’s not entirely impossible Fritz has as special order line made to spec for his particular drivers - on some models. Dynaudio and others were doing this for years with Totem and other manufacturers starting out with custom quality wound voice coils, better magnets, or surrounds, and different baskets in special circumstances for some "signature" models requested by the builder. I’d bet the cost of the Be tweeter alone used in his Carerras is more than what some may have guessed until looking closer. Not saying this is the case with Fritz for his tweeters or woofers. It could be though...However, as you mentioned its easy for "armchair" folks to make assumptions on the cost of the drivers, or get one digit off on a model number on a part and not realize when higher grade version drivers and components are used by a builder in a particular speaker. As already mentioned, same goes for internal crossover parts people never see, not fully understanding true cost of what’s on the inside. |