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(Un)healthy Obsessions - audiophilia taken too far

tuga

tuga

Legal Alien
Another account of audiophilia taken too far:

(Un)healthy Obsessions
Rogier van Bakel | Apr 15, 2024

During a ferocious storm one recent Saturday, firefighters knocked on my door and urged my family and me to evacuate. The gale had smashed loose a neighbor's large propane tank and plunged it into the choppy waters of the fjord we live on. An explosion was possible, we were told. Five minutes later, our teenage daughters, our dogs, and my wife and I were in the car on our way to safety. (No blast occurred.)

Coincidentally, the last thing I'd read that turbulent morning was the Washington Post's front-page story about the late Ken Fritz (above), a diehard audiophile who'd spent 40 years creating "the best stereo system in the world," and, as I wrote in the April 2024 issue's My Back Pages, alienating members of his family in the process. Both the evacuation and the Fritz tale put me in a pensive mood. If you'll pardon the triteness, each reminded me that life is precious and fragile, as are our relationships with loved ones. We can't afford to take either for granted.
(...)

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Not quite sure what this about but:

”each reminded me that life is precious and fragile, as are our relationships with loved ones. We can't afford to take either for granted.
(...)”

Wise words and something worth reminding ourselves of regularly.
 
I have no issue with anyone going all out on their hobbies - as long as their obsessions don’t impose on family members, as I firmly believe Ken Fritzs did. IIRC his son fell out with him because Fritz roped him into helping build his listening room, with no thanks attached. Nor would he let anyone else use his system. That it was all about him I found repugnant.
 
tuga said:
Another account of audiophilia taken too far:
(Un)healthy Obsessions
Rogier van Bakel | Apr 15, 2024
<...>
Coincidentally, the last thing I'd read that turbulent morning was the Washington Post's front-page story about the late Ken Fritz (above), a diehard audiophile who'd spent 40 years creating "the best stereo system in the world," and, as I wrote in the April 2024 issue's My Back Pages, alienating members of his family in the process. Both the evacuation and the Fritz tale put me in a pensive mood. If you'll pardon the triteness, each reminded me that life is precious and fragile, as are our relationships with loved ones. We can't afford to take either for granted.
Click to expand...
Does that extend to out fellow forum members? Asking for a friend.
 
There are lots of people who have become obsessed with lots of things and alienated loved ones. Collectors, hoarders, the politically opinionated. The list is endless. Cars, bikes, sports, infidelity, addiction, religion. It is very much a human condition and certainly our hobby can have that impact when the relevant gene kicks in. Remember that Audiophilia is a made up word though. It is used as a negative label but in all honesty characterising a person who destroys familial relationships through obsession as being in any way similar to someone who hears differences where others think you should not is perhaps just a bit obsessive in itself.
 
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