Don't Be a Ken

Tis very Interesting. I admit I am growing wary of this sort of biopic reporting/narrative (someone told me The Atlantic magazine made these popular) as it always has a strong agenda - a (sometimes complex) moral to the story it throws in your face. Still the facts stand on their own: his narcistic obsessiveness, familial estrangement, his desire to see his system live on past him as some kind of legacy (never was going to happen). Yet we all (or at least 97.23% of us) have serious blind spots, family wounds that will never heal (in this lifetime), etc. Some version of this story (with our own particular banal obsessions and wounds) could be written about almost all of us. RIP Ken, ALS is hell, maybe he deserved it, maybe we all do, but I like to think that it is not so.

 

This right here. Ken is a negative example is an example/warning to us all. More to your point, we all have this in us. I hope I was saying the same thing. Ken's life was marked by a real narcissism and lack of balance - the audio was just the outward form his inner demons took. His workaholism and extreme focus led to the detriment his relationship to his family and a virtuous life.

Thing is negative examples just beg the question: What should a man be? A question for another thread perhaps

Now back to my current obsession over hearing allegedly minute differences of HQPlayer filters LOL

 

talk about burying the lede, shiiiiiit.

 

I love the C8, but still feel it's the spiritual successor to the Fiero. If I ever get one "FIERO" will be my vanity plate. I'm more a C5 flip up headlight kind of guy.

note the backfire

 

Getting over-involved with moderating an internet forum did my marriage noticeable harm. Long since left behind. But, as I point out to people who think everything can be fixed, you can skillfully glue a broken plate, but it will always have a crack in it.

 

Yes the silhouette of the C5 FRC is what makes me want the convertible (damn sexy wedge with minute cockpit bubble). I'm not totally against getting a targa hatchback, but the FRC is out for me due to the ABS, and torque tube issues in pre 2001 C5's. I'm getting old and a fairly stock 2001+ excellent condition C5 convertible in auto would be my geezer GT that I could sail off into the SoCal sunset with...

 

Always a classic. To @purr1n point I have old fart stories here in FL.

One old audiophile who died in his 60s who levied near my dads house had one closet filled with $20k worth of interconnects and can spent a whole day tweaking his setup. Former NJ lawyer who never got married but was engaged a few times (I wonder why). Hardcore analog guy, he hated digital with a passion. However, his setup sounded great.

I leaned a lot from the guy, since he gave me perspective that I still have today. We had a blast making fun of the audio rooms sounded like ass from Axpona Year 1 and 3 (when it was in Jacksonville). But him smoking imported Dunhills cigs and poor diet got to him. Before he gotten his stroke he sold his house and rent it from the new owners so he can spent it on $70k worth of audio gear. Few months later he died from a stroke.

After he died, the vultures (the audiophile group we were in) all raided his former house and auction off all of the stuff locally to each other. When these old farts die, the vultures want the gear like eating a dead body on the road.

It was then when I said screw these old farts, with their Oppo player fetishes, three subs in a stereo setup, and cold as shit sound on classical and big bad jazz. Quite frankly, the majority of setups were trash by a bunch of old farts with money who lost their upper frequencies hearing and have a fetish for speed with regards to sound.

 

Damn.

Nobody should live life without real respect from people close to them, and definitely nobody should have such disrespect when they’re dead.

 

He preferred single-ended to balanced?

 

Balanced

 

I have been lucky to not be rich, I could have easily gone the way of isolated with lots of gear. With a moderate income have a system I truly love and still a little cash to play with. Having known guys in Chicago who down the rabbit hole, died alone, drunk, sad, resentful and very unhappy it has been important to remeber Im not different then them and have been fortunate to be blessed with a loving community and family.

 

How many exposition-laden stories have we seen just since the pandemic about people who detrimentally hooked themselves on trading zombie company stocks; or buying dodgy virtual coins; or mobile games; or Fortnite; or exercise equipment; or... audio gear. To Marv's point, we're not special - addiction is an original demon that tailors its face for each of its victims. The dopamine-industrial complex is alive and well, thank you.

In the last few years, I've consciously forced myself to diversify my hobbies and leisure activities within my current family constraints. Money I used to set aside and dump directly in audio now gets divided into separate savings accounts for audio gear, or travel plans, or going out to theatres/movies -- think "cash stuffing" without having to deal with all those cocaine-laced dollar bills.

Yes, money moves from one account to the other, but it takes conscious thought and effort: if I buy (X) audio gear, that means trip (Y) might get pushed back; or if I jump on a great flight deal for trip (Y), that means (X) audio gear waits until later in the year; or taking the whole family to the IMAX to see Dune Part Two means I don't buy any records this month.

The people I feel sorriest for here are Ken Fritz's children. They don't have memories of their father they'll want to share with their own children. Just bitterness, anger, repeated missed chances, and unnecessary stubborn righteousness to the very end. Maybe this one punches me in the gut the hardest because it hits closest to home.

 

On the other hand, there is no* rule to say that a person can't be stinking rich and have a room full of audio gear and have a family that they relate to and have a life apart from the audio.

And it's also possible that, had he been poor, with no audio gear, he would still have been an absent father, non-relating husband, and generally unable to handle the world.



*edit: I missed this important little word! But I think people knew what I was trying to say <blush>

 

I remember one story from a customer/contractor back in my TSAV days a few years back. Contractor out in LA area had one client that he described as an Audiophile hoarder. Would order doubles of like everything, loved McIntosh and would get a piece for the house and another unit but then stuck it in his warehouse. Plenty of money to afford the big ticket stuff but would also then get into a different brand like Woo and did the same thing for their big stuff.

Eventually the guy passes away and the widow has a warehouse full of his toys since he also into more than audio so they decided to have an estate sale. Contractor said he snagged all the audio stuff for $100k but just looking the stuff up and going by MSRP the new/unopened stuff was at least tallied up to $300k.

Probably an extreme example but seen more than a few examples of guys like that, collecting stuff just because they can afford to. But next of kin has no idea how to sell the items so it ends up becoming a hassle for them in a way. A lot of the big audiophile collector guys of the past with these 6-7 figure audio setups are in that Baby Boomer demographic, past their prime earning years and likely not doing big updates anymore to their system. Little dark to say but I do expect a number of them to not be in the best of health, getting sick or passing away. Probably going to be more and more cases like Ken Fritz in the coming years.

 

When Ken Fritz's stuff went up at auction it mostly went for ~20% of retail. Nothing was terribly esoteric, but a dozen or so lot of the PE Ultimax 15" subs went for like $600 or something... It's a shame, but it's not.

 

So true. I use to frequent estate sales often as I collected and resold vintage / luxury menswear - yea sort of an odd thing to do but I worked in the clothing industry at the time and a lot of what I found was used for work. And as you call them, the vultures, that would show up at estate sales and rummage through peoples wardrobes, drawers, garages, living rooms made me swear to myself I'd never die with anything material of worth.

 

I'd like to die with lots of material worth: one gets to enjoy it before hand.

On the other hand, we must understand that, by the time we kick the bucket, everybody else has already got their life-time garbage collection, and they won't want ours. It'll all be going the same way as our bodies.

Dust to dust, ashes to ashes... but lets make the best of it while we can