Obsession to the nth degree

[gez]

I like my home to look "lived in" but not to the point of clutter. So I sit in the mid range between minimalism and a room so full you have to pick your way between "things" like an obstacle course.

Before my current neighbours arrived our shared staircase had just a single (largish) canvas on the wall. Otherwise the main stair part was just plain walls. I liked it like that. The "new" neighbours had downsized and had loads of paintings that they had no space left to hang. So they asked if they could hang some of them in the hall way. Not wanting to be a "difficult" neighbour I agreed, despite not really wanting more on the walls. A few days later I arrived home to see a literal run of pictures one after the other on both walls of the staircase, all the way up. (at least it was just one row I suppose, rather than going up to the ceiling too). I wasn't impressed, but given how I don't exactly spend more than 5 minutes in the hall I chose not to make a deal about it. Either way, I'll still be happy should they chose to move on and I can have a nice clear open hall way again.

 

[Brian Ellis]

Thanks to this thread I watched the entire video. I thought he came across as a well balanced individual who was obsessive about a passion of his. Hats off to him for pursuing something he clearly loved and got enjoyment from.

 

[Miss Ariel]

Thanks to this thread I watched the entire video. I thought he came across as a well balanced individual who was obsessive about a passion of his. Hats off to him for pursuing something he clearly loved and got enjoyment from.

Couldn't agree more just another audiophile who had the cash to achieve his dream system
Good for him for trying to achieve
We all love audio gear ...why would we be here ? And talking about kit
And let's face it most people have a soundbar and stream off their phone maybe Spotify...cost them about £200
Loads of us here have cartridges costing over a grand for example
So if the guy was obsessive...what does it make us lot ?

 

[Mick P]

Everyone has the right to waste their money on anything they want simply because it is their money. They don't need to justify it to anyone.

 

[Bob McC]

It wasn't paywalled for me either.

Was for me and the first time I’ve ever been there.

 

[ChrisS]

There was a gift link on another forum yesterday or the day before. Maybe Hoffman or Naim. It’s making the rounds. Not sure if it would still be active.

If you haven’t read the article, it cost him relationships with his kids and likely first marriage so I don’t see it as all that positive. Keep in mind, the second part of the title is “The real cost was unfathomable”.

I would also argue it is also something of an unfortunate introduction to audiophiles for the general public if that is now the only example someone has of who an audiophile is.

 

[13th Duke of Wymbourne]

I think a lot of audiophiles would end up like Mr. Fritz if they had his time and money. Likely for him it was as much about the journey as the destination.

Will Mr. Pig become PFM's agony uncle?

 

[sq225917]

If you want obsession there's a guy round d the corner from me who's house is full of speakers. The hallway is lined with them, he has them on shelves like books, all over the house, every room had tens of pairs. He must have a good 150 pairs, mostly in states of disrepair. Just hundreds of crap broken speakers. It takes all sorts, he had a great collection of vinyl, not many records, but some mega rare decca sxl.

 

[James Evans]

I almost feel sane

 

[hockman]

The writer chose to slant the story in such a way to make up a juicy tale about his hifi obsession leading to great damage to his relationships. I think that's unfair and I don't see any evidence of that at all judging from the video and previous videos on Fritz. He may have been an old school stern man who believed in hard work but it is clear that his wife and most of his children were there to lovingly support him til the end. One son even chose to make a video about his father's obsession in quite positive light. The altercation with his other son might have been harsh but that really had nothing to do with the hifi per se, and there may have been some other long seething issues in their relationship all along. Again, this is nothing strange or unusual in many families and I am sure we all know of strained or estranged relationships between close family members (including our own).

For me, it is mostly sad that he worked so hard and long to achieve his dream and then had so little time to enjoy it. A cautionary tale about enjoying what you have right here and now because you never know what's round the corner...

 

[garyi]

So what you are saying is, you liked the guy on a video therefore his x wife and kids were wrong about him being a git? You realise this is how men get away with so many bad things don't you?

 

[tuga]

Most of you will have seen this:

Spoiler: audiophile to his daughter...

 

[barryb]

It's clearly the dealers fault. These chaps knew no better. They procure this stuff from God knows where, destroys families in the end.

 

[tuga]

I have to confess that I feel a bit embarassed about how much I've spent over the years and my current system didn't even cost me £7k.
The other day I had friends over and I couldn't force myself to tell them how much my speakers had cost...

On the up side I have spent more on music, both recorded and live.

 

[hockman]

So what you are saying is, you liked the guy on a video therefore his x wife and kids were wrong about him being a git? You realise this is how men get away with so many bad things don't you?

You are putting words in my mouth. I never said I liked the guy, I've never met him, and if I did, probably not. I did not try to justify his behavior. He was a flawed individual but so are many of us. But the point is, all this has nothing to do with his hifi obsession. I reread the article and together with the video, I don't see any real evidence that the hifi obsession itself seriously damaged his relationship with his wife and kids. I just think the writer wanted to slant the article in a certain way.

 

[sq225917]

Audiophile-phobic

 

[Brian Ellis]

No different to people losing a relationship because of Golf or football or any number of hobbys/obsessions. It's unfortunate but a fact of life and I still maintain it obviously gave him great pleasure.

 

[onlyconnect]

What impressed me was that he built his own room and speakers and they apparently sounded really good

That shows considerable audio engineering talent if nothing else.

 

[Theo]

I think he realised that he'd taken the obsession too far, and hadn't given himself enough time to enjoy it. I'm sure he had regrets, but it told me one thing: I need to put some thought into what happens to all my stuff. I'd rather just bequeath it to people if I thought they'd get the same pleasure out of it that I have.

I would dearly have loved to listen to Ken's system just one time...

 

[Woodface]

I definitely became a bit obsessive when building my naim system but I ended up at a certain level & stuck there for 15 years or so. Perhaps I went through a phase without realising?

I do think vinyl feeds this mania, I’m a lot less bothered about every detail these days.

If I had loads of money I’d probably just get the biggest ATCs I could accommodate & feed them with a high end DAC/Pre. Probably Linn or DCS. Would it make me any happier? Probably not.