Ken Fritz, the man who spent decades and more than 100 million yen to create the world's best stereo system
Once you start getting too involved in creating an environment for listening to music, it's difficult to stop. Audiophile Ken Fritz made no compromises and ultimately spent more than $1 million (approximately 146 million yen) and about 30 years to create a custom stereo system that is said to be the best in the world. I created it.
What Happened To 'The World's Best Stereo System?' - Aftermath
Ken Fritz built a $1 million stereo. The real cost was unfathomable. - Washington Post
Ken Fritz – 1942-2022 | Acoustics First BLOG
https://acousticsfirst.info/2022/08/18/ken-fritz-1942-2022/
The stereo system created by Fritz has seven custom speakers, three 9-foot-6-inch line array speakers, and a 750-pound turntable, totaling 35,000 watts. This is the system.
The line array speaker has 24 mid-bass drivers, 4 flat speakers, and 40 tweeters, and each weighs 1400 pounds (about 635 kg).
The turntable is equipped with three self-made motors and three different cartridges, and the anti-vibration material is one used in scanning electron microscopes.
Mr. Fritz at work.
Mr. Fritz purchased some items at auction, but created the system by hand with the help of others. The furniture in the room was custom-made so that everything would blend together, and there was no space created that would hinder music listening.
How Fritz created the stereo system is summarized in a documentary video of less than an hour.
Due to ALS, Fritz lost his manual dexterity and was unable to do DIY in his later years, but he said he was happy to be able to spend time listening to music with his wife and children. I was there.
After Fritz passed away in August 2022, his family posted on the forum of a music-related site, ``Looking for advice on selling the ``World's Best Stereo System.'' This was a move to fulfill Mr. Fritz's wish to be succeeded by someone who would maintain the stereo system as one.
Need advice on how to sell 'The best stereo system in the world' | AVS Forum
https://www.avsforum.com/threads/need-advice-on-how-to-sell-the-best-stereo-system-in-the-world.3278371/
However, it was difficult to take over the system, which would have been difficult to transport, including three speakers that were just under 3m tall and weighed over 600kg, so in the end, the system was divided up and auctioned off.
#1719: *SOLD* Million Dollar Music System Auction: 1324 Hybla Rd: N. Chesterfield VA 23236 (Appraise Sell LLC) - eBIDLOCAL.com
The main line array speakers were valued at $216,000 (about 31.5 million yen), and each was sold at auction for $10,100 (about 1.5 million yen). In addition, the turntable, which Mr. Fritz made entirely by hand, was valued at $52,000 (about 7.6 million yen), and was sold for the highest price at this auction, at $19,750 (about 2.9 million yen). Other items such as Krell amplifiers and JBL custom speakers were sold at prices close to market prices.
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