To Fritz, Quicksilver, and all the exceptional makers trying to get the word out

Glad you are enjoying your system.   I've had Quicksilver Mid Monos since 2015 and they have been great.    I also bought the QS Headphone Amp a few years ago .  Great stuff.  

Happy New Year!

@hilde45 ,

Hilde, would you give me your comparative thoughts between your updated Ascend Towers vs. the Fritz Carbons?

Thanks!

Always nice hear about someone system performing well.

For many years I’ve been convinced that many of the smaller less known companies produce the best sounding gear. Big conglomerates with CEOs, board of directors, accounting and marketing departments, and shareholders, etc., have to focus on profit, while many of the small businesses were started by hobbyists who care more about sound....they also have to sound better to compete with better known brands. Sure, there’s a downside with resale of lesser known gear, but it sure can be a pleasure to use. I commend those who are willing to take the road less traveled!

@hilde45 Hats off to Fritz and his wonderful speakers.  I picked up a used pair of 2017 Rev 5 SE to use as mains in my 2nd Home Theatre System. They exceeded my expectations so when I ungraded my amp in my main system I thought let’s add my outgoing 2017 Raven Blackhawk SE integrated amp to my HT system along with a used Gustard R26 DAC/streamer.  Along with a few tweaks this combo delivers the most surprising results that it dumbfounds me. So simple yet there are times I enjoy this set up more than my main system.  The Fritz speakers just disappear and fill the 25x18 untreated room with such depth and clarity…. I  guess miracles do happen.   Cheers to your miracles happening in 2025!

.  

@hilde45 excellent post and Happy New Year!

Welcome back, I too tend to take 'vacations' from the forums from time to time.

Coincidentally, I was just thinking about how I've migrated towards boutique brands over the years. I too prefer to support these smaller operations, my hard earned money going directly to engineer/designers vs investor class. Value is an added benefit, profits don't have to be generated to support this surplus group of people. I've owned some of the corporate/big name equipment in the past, not going to say there wasn't good value in some, but others not so much. My estimation of value includes build quality, parts quality, sound quality.

Boutique audio entities also afford me the opportunity to assemble an extremely unique system aligned exactly with my preferences. This even to the point of changing out individual parts within components, capacitors, resistors, inductors, wire, drivers, etc.

I thought that 89% of audiophile gear is unknown to 98% of the public

@hilde45 ...but if I just want them on in the background, they're lovely that way, too. 

It's a great point, leaving them on in the background, being able to walk around the house listening while doing various things. Just leaving it on and not having to sit in front of a system is desirable too.   I miss the old days systems where we just flip it on and leave it on not worrying about over-heated Class A amps or high $ tubes burning down. Its the OCD side or frugal side some of us have, I'll admit it :) 

I'm revisiting what I refer to as [new value tubes vs NOS] and integrated SS amplifiers too as a result. Some of my older Sansui integrateds were the best.  Kinda miss that era. Seemed less complex, so easy, fun listening.  

The Fritz Carbons are a speaker I've referred to friends based your reviews @hilde45. Finding such a speaker you can just let play and enjoy with different amps is pretty darn cool.  Thanks for all of your time and energy on this @hilde45 

Never had the opportunity to experience Fritz but Quicksilver is another story...everything Sanders produces is just outstanding by any measure.

Heck I remember Quicksilver from the 1980s I believe? Their 8417 based amps were highly regarded and sought after. Never owned them but I did have a pair of Silver 90 monos.

An excellent post @hilde45!

Most of my favorite artists these days are known only to their small, cult-level audience, whose members tend to be older music lovers. But in exchange for being fewer in number, they are more faithful in their love. Flash-in-the-pans come and go, fading away as quickly as they rose to stardom, but a lot of superior artists soldier on, year after year, making one great album after another. They never make a fortune, one reason they keep working! By the way, Nick Lowe has a new album out. He actually DID make a fortune from one of his songs---"(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love, And Understanding." He’s out on the road now, backed by Los Straitjackets.

The hi-fi business has it’s equivalent; small, often 1-man operations, where the designer is often also the one making the product. Roger Modjeski of Music Reference even wound his own transformers. By the way, Mike Sanders of Quicksilver was one amplifier designer/builder whom Roger expressed admiration of. Tim DeParacini of EAR-Yoshino was another.

I have made bringing to the attention of Audiogon members the Eminent Technology LFT loudspeakers---a planar-magnetic loudspeaker sharing some similarities with the far better known Magnepan models---a project of mine. I’ll guess that Magnepan sells at least a thousand pair of Maggies to every pair of LFT-8’s ET sells, in spite of the fact that---imo---the LFT-8b is far superior to the MG1.7i, though the two are almost identical in price. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.

Have a set of quicksilver on my voice of theater and work great.my lft 8b require more wattage.have talked to the owner developer of eminent technologies.he is very supportive and smart.clearly they are undervalued.as are the quicksilvers.enjoy the music stay healthy.

To @bdp24 the first time I heard Eminent Technology LFT-8s and LFT-16s was at my local dealer using my same Quicksilver Mono 120 amplifiers.

I won’t forget the listening experience because it represented its own type of sound compared to all the other AudioNote and SoundLab electrostatic speakers there.

Another one of the exceptional makers, getting the word out came as a result of hearing the combination in person. If I resale my upgraded Quicksilver M120s tube amps down the road, I could only hope they would go to an ET speaker owner, either model. To this day I felt it was one of those amazing match-ups and synergies I’ve heard first hand.

Makes me want to bring my personal Quicksilver amps over to the dealer to play them on the LFT-8s since I’ve upgraded the coupling caps and power caps to top shelf Mundorf & Nichicons. I bet it would sound even better than last time I heard them play with the standard amps and tubes.  

Excellent thread because of the tenor and tone of the conversation; namely, informative and gracious. As for small batch speaker manufacturers, it wouldn't be a lost effort to include Bache Audio among the talented yet often overlooked speaker designers worth discovering or re-discovering. Designer Geg Belman's Bache Audio 002 Limited full-range speakers, which I own, deserve a listen.

I think a lot of new Magnepan owners owners find themselves surprised by that company’s speakers’ need for very high power at low impedances. I bought my first pair of Maggies---the original Tympani T-I---in 1973, and bi-amped it with an Audio Research D-75 and D-51 power amps. The original Maggie was an 8 ohm load, while all future models have been 4 ohm (dropping to 3 ohms at some frequencies).

My current Tympani T-IVa’s require massive amounts of power. When I have them set up (not currently possible), I bi-amp them using a PS Audio 200w/ch amp on the two bass panels, and a Music Reference RM-200 MK.2 on the tweeter/mid panels. Roger Modjeski designed the RM-200 to do two things: 1- produce 100 watts from a single pair of KT-88’s. And 2- To perform well into low impedance loudspeakers. The RM-200 (in original and MK.2 iterations) was Michael Fremer’s reference "affordable" tube amp for over a decade. The Magnepan ribbon tweeter, by the way, is a beauty, one of the best available.

In contrast, while the Eminent Technology LFT-8b shares roughly the same sensitivity as the Maggies (83-84dB), it’s 8 ohm impedance is much friendlier to tube amps. And if you bi-amp the LFT-8b (easy to do, as it has dual binding posts, one for the woofer, another for the t/m panel), the t/m panel presents an 11 ohm load, great for tube amps. Use any old amp on the woofer (I still have an Electron Kinetics Eagle 2A, a great low frequency reproducer), and either a Music Reference RM-9 Mk.2 (using 8 EL34 tubes) or RM-200 Mk.2 (4 KT88’s), both producing 125w into 8 ohms, plenty for the LFT-8b m/t panels.

I have been always advocating audiophiles that one would get better performing gear within his reach if one explores more, than expensive big names and exquisite/extravagant tech.

Another for Quicksilver. I’ve been using Quicksilver gear for the past 20 years. Great sound, great build quality and reasonably priced. I’ve tried other gear and the Quicksilver always goes back into my system. BTW, Mike Sanders the owner and designer is one of the best when you have any questions. I recently had to send an amp back for a repair that I caused. He fixed it for only 80 bucks and I had it back within one week!

Anyone have Quicksilver’s line stage preamp?

Look forward to your impressions.

@decooney Thanks for the kind words.

@ghasley Hello from your CO neighbor!

@tksteingraber I like the way you phrased your praise. There is this weird, unassuming naturalness to the speakers, the experience of music "just happening to be in the room." I suspect that these speakers might be best for my life just set up simply, in a living space with a small, well integrated rather than in my "audio room." They are great there, too, but I see them just becoming part of daily life listening, as @decooney described.

Eminent Technology LFT loudspeakers is on my short list of speakers to try.

@sns Hi back to you! Boutique+used is a path to some really interesting gear. It requires up front research, and that may be a hurdle for some. I like the idea of a world with more small makers -- and more local techs to help with a fix or upgrade if shipping is a problem. I know a lot of people on the forum have said that small makers are great...but what if they go out of business, etc?

@thecarpathian Both are easy to drive and tube amp-friendly.

The ribbon tweeter and the soft dome tweeter make one difference; the Fritz are softer up top but not blurry-soft. They tame most recordings that are a bit bright (e.g. Fagen’s Nightfly). The Ascends are clear and brighter -- but not as bright as, say, a Beryllium tweeter (which I cannot stand). The RAAL ribbon is quite high quality and it provides a kind of airy transparency to the highs which are almost always not-too-bright.

The bass on both are good, with the Fritz being surprisingly good for a bookshelf. It’s not "fudging" the bass -- it really digs low in an honest way. The Ascends are the same.

Fritz’s midrange is perhaps the "killer app" of the speaker. They have this way of putting instruments or voices "in the room" but not in that freaky way that some extremely expensive speakers do. There’s just this presence that seems to be happening without a technological interface. The midrange on the Ascend is excellent, too; honest and not too forward. But it’s not "magical."

The soundstage on both is very good and detailed, with extra size and articulation going to the Ascends; if I listened to *mostly* symphonic or large and complex music and I had to choose one speaker, it would be the Ascend. For small ensembles, jazz, I’d say Fritz. For a lot of hard-driving rock, it’s a tie based on your ears.

The Fritz are like my good leather jacket; comfortable, nice looking but casual. The Ascends are like my nice peacoat -- sharp looking, stylish, classy but also easy.

I had the QS linestage (non-remote) and upgraded it. But after a few months of trying it back and forth with a 6sn7-based preamp, I sold it. It’s solidly made, and quiet as hell, but really doesn’t add much character, even with some nice tube changes. If I had to choose btw a good solid state preamp and the QS line stage, I’d just eliminate the tubes from that stage of my system, altogether.

Thanks. Great, now I want them both!

I agree with you on the beryllium tweeters. I had Fritz's Carrera's  and could not take the tweeter no matter what I tried. Mids and lower registers were quite good. also had Ascends Sierra 2's so I have an idea of both house sounds.

Question: If you could keep only one pair, between the two which one would you choose?

Thanks for the add on of the linestage info!

@thecarpathian I have the 12at7 line stage. I have owned the original 12ax7 and the 6dj8 remote. I been using it for 10 years so my impression is high compared to many other preamps that I have owned. The only problem is I find the gain (18db ) is on the high side compared to most line stage preamps. BTW, if you need features like mono, remote and balance the QS does not have those options!!

Thanks, yogi!

Has anyone had any experience with the Quicksilver phono stage?

GrwT post! I agree about small boutique builders.

I have a pair of Salk Sound monitors . Jim Salk has retired now but his build and parts selection was masterclass. 

I also have a dedicated streamer from a small Canadian builder called Baetis the service and build quality from this boutique builder is un riveĺed.

I will be moving to tube amplification this year and considering either quick silver and Aric Audio

@hilde45 

I couldn't have said it better myself.  No, really, I couldn't have.

Well done.

Happy New Year

@hilde45  So great to hear from you, welcome back! I am still enjoying my Fritz Carbon 7s with either the Aric Audio Transcend tube PP or the Pass XA25. 

@mesch Hi back to you! Hope you're well.
@waytoomuchstuff    Very kind — thanks!
@thecarpathian 

"Question: If you could keep only one pair, between the two which one would you choose?"

If it was my ONLY speaker -- probably the Ascend because of the soundstage and ribbon tweeter for classical music.
As a SECOND speaker, probably the Fritz. It really has a unique sound that is so consistently very good to excellent across genres.

Aric has a fantastic product line!

@hilde45  Happy New Year to you as well.

I read your post with interest in several regards.  One of the things that makes Fritz speakers unique is his use of a series crossover.  (Built a bookshelf speaker with classic Vifa drivers and a series crossover years ago--very coherent sound with great imaging. Wish I would have kept them.) One end result is a flat impedance curve/easier to drive speaker.  From what I have read, that would be a very good match for the Akitika amp you have.

Wondering if you could please share how that amp compared to the other amps you have in your stable.  Like you, I have a Class D amp, Class AB amp, and a low powered SET.  I love them all but for different reasons of course.

Have an itch to do a project and the Akitika amp looked promising.  Have never listened to a chip amp and was curious how it stacked up to your others.

Thanks!

I've been a Fritz proponent for several years now and have recommended them here on many occasions.  That's based on the sound I've heard running off even the most modest powered amps along with the design info available that accounts for that performance as well as published measurements that support it as well.   

When in doubt, hard to go wrong with Fritz.   I already have a variety of speakers, more than I certainly need, but Fritz are at the top of my "speakers I'd like to own" list currently, especially if I ever decide to dabble with something completely different, like a flea powered SET amp.

@corelli Need to try the Akitika. Will let you know.

rivinyl

Has anyone had any experience with the Quicksilver phono stage?

Yes. I own one and use it in my main system with Teres 245 TT and Hana ML cartridge. I use a classic old step up transformer. I have enjoyed it for years.

I was unaware of Fritz speakers until pretty recently..maybe 3 or 4 months ago. There was not a ton of info or user reviews on the Internet but what I did come across was all positive. This forum had a lot of good words to say about them.

It is the quality of drivers that he uses which really sparked my interest..& the not ridiculous prices for a speaker that uses that caliber of drivers/tweeters. Outside of some DIY tube equipment most of my audio purchases are from the usual suspects of mainstream equipment. Other bookshelves I've owned over the last 3 or 4 years are the Linton's, R3 Meta's, Elac Vela 403, Martin Logan XT-B100. 

I came across a used sale for the Fritz REV7 SE. The price was really good so I took a chance..bought them without listening first. I am very impressed by their sound. They have a clarity & midrange that is sweet. Vocals are very nice. Guitar strums, bass plucks, the attack on drum hits & shimmering symbols..all extremely realistic. They disappear very easily..even in my wonky room. Putting instruments & sounds out into space all around the speakers. I know that some of this might sound a little ridiculous or overzealous but it is truly what I perceive & hear when I listen to them. They do seem to have just a smidge more emphasis on the upper half of the frequency response. Or maybe I'm just not use to a speaker this open & easy sounding. 

So I am a fan now. I did reach out to J.Fritz after my purchase thru email. He definitely seems like a cool guy. Very personable & open to talk about all things audio. He encouraged me to give him a call as I wanted to know more about his other speakers & designs in general. 

@mattw73 I really like how you described it and would agree. Fritz’s speakers are not cheap but there’s no middleman and I feel like people are getting his 40 years of experience in this very evolved model. No one begrudges a good chef at a unique restaurant the prices on the menu. Granted, it cannot be one of the restaurants that hedge fund managers go to -- there, the high price is actually part of what they want, for social reasons. But if I go to a good restaurant and pay a slightly higher price, I don’t say, "The Cheesecake Factory would have been just as good."

Love this thread highlighting smaller boutique brands.  I haven’t had the opportunity to check out Fritz or Quicksilver but have had my eye on Fritz speakers.  Aric is another fantastic brand, one man show.  I had a set of Omega speakers custom made, visited the shop to pick them up, craftsmanship was off the charts relative to the price.  For high quality, custom built cables Pine Tree Audio is outstanding.  High quality cables, power management components at extremely reasonable pricing.  You can call, email any of these shops and talk with the owner / builder / designer / maker and you can hear their passion for what they do.  Great thread! I need to get me a pair of Fritz speakers. 

I was a hair length away from purchasing a Fritz Carbon 7 SE MKII before leaving for TG holiday out of town and found a heavily discounted demo Audel Magika MKII made in Sicily similarly by a 1 man operation.  The birch plywood quasi transmission-like design intrigued me as did the drivers used (SB Acoustics and Seas) so after reading the reviews I made the purchase. Both the Audel and Fritz use drivers while different, cost similarly if purchased separately. 

The next day they were sent out but 2 days later Fritz runs a sale that while still more than the Audels, I would have jumped on.  I did consider it but I made a lot of purchases for the holidays and needed the dust to settle as well as selling off my larger/older gear first.  

I wanted smaller speakers but there really are none in the size I want that matches what a somewhat larger standmount offers.  Looked at other brands as well and am not regretful of buying the Audels.  They are nice sounding speakers, transparent enough and easy to listen too and if anything given the reviews and forums, the Fritz would be somewhat smoother, definitely different as the Audels are quite unique in certain ways from what I was used too.  Don't know if the Fritz are so much better, still they likely would be the next purchase in speakers if I decide to buy another set even over highly regarded others I had looked at as contenders.

Right now, looking at possible end game amps whether integrated/amp/pre or monoblocks and if one of the brands I am considering makes a (for me preferable) class D integrated with balanced inputs, that would be perfect for size, weight and simplicity.  That brand is Atma-Sphere and I suppose, other companies may offer high performing class D in the coming months or year as well in that form.  Hopefully anyhow. 

Will have to save diligently for what for me would be end game over and done for amp/dac and speakers (I know we all say that).  

So, for the time being, I will enjoy the Audels with my modest CA-1 and D70s while selling off my other gear.

@hilde45 yeah, for me I wouldn't characterize his speakers as "cheap" in price or budget. He did just have a cyber sale on US Audiomart...the Carbon 7 SE MKii for $2200. Which I watched a stellar review of them on the YouTube. Personally I don't consider $2200 cheap either..but from what I read/heard about them I get the feeling that all of his speaker designs have a somewhat similar sound signature in the midrange/upper frequency & amplifier friendly phase response. 

When I mentioned a smidge emphasis on the upper half of the frequency response I didn't mean it as a tilt or rise in that area. It's a very clear & open, effortless vocal/midrange area & upper frequency. It is different in a good way vs many other bookshelves I've owned. My Fritz pair has the newer Revelator 7 inch driver, SE crossover & the Illuminator soft dome..not the ring tweeter with the little hersheys kiss wave guide. I don't know if it's the tweeter or the series crossover (probably both) but it is the best tweeter I've ever heard in my home. 

I see and hear the value of his years of experience & the tweaking of his designs. We all have different preferences in sound & what we like but if someone is in the market in these price ranges I would recommend to give Fritz a call and inquire about his goods. I'm really not trying to come off as a schill to other readers. I think Fritz is a brand that is at least worth a listen..just as much as any other speaker out there. 

At one point I had both Fritz Carrerra BE's (Fritz brought 'em around to my apartment and we hung out for a few hours) and a Quicksilver Headphone Amp. I've since upgraded both, but those were both excellent in quality and value.... 

I've been very happy with my Fritz Carbon 6s which I drive with a 5 Watt/channel tube amp. They play nice together- I have them in my bedroom system. The speakers also work great with our class D amps; we showed with the Carbon 7s at AXPONA in 2023.

@corelli Did an extended comparison of Fritz with the Akitika GT-102 Z4 vs. the Pass Labs XA-25. There was no comparison -- with the Pass: bass tighter, greater clarity in the soundstage, wider soundstage, more presence.

That said, the Akitika really surprises you when you first turn it on. It is a $625 kit (this one is maxed out with $350 in additional parts) and really sounds fantastic. Of course, the Pass is in another league, so not really a fair fight. I’m selling the Akitika.

For anyone curious, the Akitika was maxed out, thus: "The unit is internally dampened, has upgraded VH audio hookup wiring throughout (roughly $100 worth), plus Pulsar CUii signal wire ($80/m). All caps upgraded including a new massive Muse cap for power ($85 cap alone), BPs on the boards and all components matched during the build. Copper lugs, gold plated speaker terminals, Cardas silver solder and more. With the chip shortage these were sold with clone chips for a while - however this amp has genuine TI chips inside."

@mattw73 If you picked those speakers up on the last month or so you're lucky.  I was watching a pair and waited 1 day too long and they sold.  Having said that, I recall not long ago a guy could find several used sets to pick from (hifishark).  Now... not so much.  Looong periods between offerings now so I guess the word has gotten out.  

I’m unfamiliar with Fritz speakers but have owned from new a pair of Quicksilver Mini Mite mono blocks for the past 18 years. In fact the 18th Anniversary just passed in December since I purchased the Quickies in December of 2006.

Mike Sanders does not worry about flashy products. He builds quality products with simple circuits that last for generations. I once had a pair of the 5 tube version of his original Quicksilver 8417 monoblocks from the mid 1980’s. One of, if not the first audio amplifiers to employ the use of the Philips 8417 Television tube.

What a great sounding amplifier that was! It even astounded the late Harry Pearson of The Absolute Sound, who preferred it to many of the far more expensive amplifiers he was comparing the QS 8417 at the time, in regard to an article that appeared in TAS magazine.

IME the only drawback to the philips 8417 was that it went through tubes at alarmingly high rate, which quickly used up the supply of 8417 output tubes that were available on the secondary market. In fact, while the tubes were still inexpensive, Mike Sanders (President of Quicksilver Audio) bought up thousands of them so that his 8417 owners would have access to new tubes when they needed them; and without marking them up.

However, given the 8417’s tendency to burn out quickly, within a few years Mike’s supply of 8417’s were used up and NOS 8417’s having become scarce, soared in value; in some instances a set of Philips 8417’s becoming as expensive as a pair of used QS 8417’s

The GE version of the 8417 was used as a replacement, however, IME did not sound as good and did not last as long as the Philips 8417’s did.

Glad that you are enjoying your QS amplifier and Fritz speakers!

My Quicksilver Headphone Amp is my top choice. Also have Hagerman Tuba, Pathos Aurium, Schitt Vali3, Arcam rHead for headphones. QS indispensable.

I have Jim Hagerman's first headphone amplifier, the Castanet, which was the predecessor to the Tuba, another fine headphone amplifier.  Just sorry to hear that Jim no longer manufactures the Tuba.  Like the Castanet, it's a great headphone amplifier!