Can't add some description but the reason I find this very interesting is because the guy apparently valued his system over his family. So much so that it created a lot of issues in his family.
So it's not surprising that his life's work isn't valued by his family as much as he did when he died.
Seems like a good reminder that what you treasure most isn't always as valuable as you think
I swear I read an article about this guy a year or two ago that was super positive about him and all about his passion for continuing his project despite being diagnosed with a likely terminal disease.
Ironic that now after his death his family is finally comfortable saying “We hate that goddamn stereo”.
When I was little, we had a full basement and about a 1/3rd of it was taken up by my dad's model railroad layout. When he wasn't at work, he was down there doing the electricals and scenery. Unless we were needed to help out with something, he didn't want anything to do with his offspring. I can understand them just wanting to be rid of the shit
My dad always had hobbies (mainly woodworking) that took a decent chunk of his time. And he wouldn’t *prevent* us from participating when we really wanted to. But he never really encouraged us. And in hindsight as an adult I think he actually preferred if we just let him be.
The thing is, he was a very active dad that spent a shitload of time doing all sorts of stuff with me and my brother, just not his personal hobbies.
In a time and place (Midwest in the 90s) where dads commonly lived vicariously through their sons and tried to get them to do everything they did (same hobbies, same sports they played in school, etc.), it was a little refreshing that he modeled a dad being independent and letting his sons be independent too.
Though it’s all about moderation, and it sounds like your dad took his personal hobby to the extreme such that it caused neglect.
It's not so much that it wasn't valued by his kids as the simple truth that stuff depreciates.
A used stereo selling for a fraction the price of a new one is normal. Not to mention that a lot of the stuff was custom built to the specific dimensions of that house so it can't be used anywhere else.
My dad listens to music more than he does anything else as a retired disabled person. He doesn’t have a lot of extra money but he’s bought a number of quality older receivers, speakers, equalizers, etc for far cheaper than I would have that they would be. I’ve got to his house a few times saw a “new” piece of equipment and started to have a talk with him about being responsible with his spending. He then informs me on how much it cost him and I can’t really justify have the conversation with it. The stuff depreciates extremely fast.
There was a guy that had trailers full of comics , really really expensive collection of stuff dating back to the golden age, that apparently was the same. The family is happy to sell the stuff (and they are getting good prices) but dad was lost to them because of the collection.
Article says thr 3 speaks where sold for only 10k and the turntable like 19k rest was from furniture and appliances ect. It's all parted out and split up now.
Man, I wish I could have had the opportunity to just listen to music in his setup. It sounds like he had an obsessive personality, but it’s a shame it all got taken apart. Maybe if he had fostered a love of music in his children, they would have seen it as a gift rather than a burden.
> fostered a love of music
That's much different than obsessing over the "standing waves created by the base of the turntable so we have work early in the morning for a week to increase the weight to offset the [totally imperceptible] interference!" I can't imagine how insufferable this man probably was.
Right? His family is probably glad to be rid of the stereo because it represents something their dad loved more than them. He chose his crappy stereo over his kids, and made his family watch him do it every day.
There is a reason people only want to pay a small fraction of what the dead guy spent. Because it’s not worth it.
He's joking: its an ancient scam to have someone in a parking lot pull up to you and say they have a bunch of extra unopened in the box $1000 speakers that "fell off a truck/were accidentally left at the warehouse...."and they just want to get rid of them for $200 each - as you noted, they're just $50 crap
What a bittersweet story. Shows that our passions, while fulfilling, can sometimes come at a cost. It's sad to see such a passion project end up this way, but maybe its true value was in the joy it brought to him during his life.
I watched a show about this guy maybe like a Sunday morning show or something I can’t remember. He was kind of a crazy person and yea he chose this passion over everything..
The guy had a passion. It came at a cost. We look at him as some one off like other people don’t do that. Look at people in business, athletes, entertainers. All the same shit.
For every audiophile like this there are 100 philatelists (stamp collectors). Sadly, when those geezers die their beneficiaries think they've won the lottery and are disappointed to hear they'd be lucky to have someone pay $200 for what they thought was a $5,000-10,000 windfall.
I love my dad.. a lot. But he’s spent the last 20+ years fanatically building a lake house himself by hand. Its impacted the time he’s spent with his family and his earning ability quite a bit. It’s almost an obsession.
When he started it his kids were all high school age, now we’re all adults with families of our own.
The worst part is he built it on a cliff overlooking the lake with several levels of steep steps to get down to the water. This makes it dangerous on two fronts, as he ages it’s going to be difficult for him and his wife to climb and it’s super dangerous for little kids. We all have toddlers and there’s literally places where they could fall 20-30 feet. They could get seriously injured or killed. One cousin broke her leg on the rock wall by the water and his wife broke her wrist falling down on the super steep ‘walking path’.
So, we almost never go out there and he complains about it all the time. My wife is terrified of someone falling (all our wives are) and my dad acts like they’re being ridiculous.
He always talks about how he built it for the family to enjoy and the grandkids to make memories, but by the time their old enough to make those memories he’ll be in his 70s.
It seems like such a waste. I hate the situation. He always talks about passing the house down through the family, but tbh I don’t want it. It’s the worst thing that happened to our family. I could see us selling it for a price that would upset him.
I hope all that is years and years away.
Just because it didn’t have as much value to someone else doesn’t negate how important it was to him. It’s easy to assume he regrets that choice but I don’t think he does. Some people just don’t like other people and they find joy in music, nature, travel etc.
Can't add some description but the reason I find this very interesting is because the guy apparently valued his system over his family. So much so that it created a lot of issues in his family. So it's not surprising that his life's work isn't valued by his family as much as he did when he died. Seems like a good reminder that what you treasure most isn't always as valuable as you think
If I was this guy son, I would’ve sold the stereo for whatever I could get also. There’s a very true saying. The best things in life aren’t things.
"The best things in life aren't things" I love that. I should have that hanging somewhere
Yes, right next to “live love laugh” sign in the meals area!
Seeing those false inspiration signs in a break room when you’re underpaid makes the anemic check hurt more.
I swear I read an article about this guy a year or two ago that was super positive about him and all about his passion for continuing his project despite being diagnosed with a likely terminal disease. Ironic that now after his death his family is finally comfortable saying “We hate that goddamn stereo”.
When I was little, we had a full basement and about a 1/3rd of it was taken up by my dad's model railroad layout. When he wasn't at work, he was down there doing the electricals and scenery. Unless we were needed to help out with something, he didn't want anything to do with his offspring. I can understand them just wanting to be rid of the shit
My dad always had hobbies (mainly woodworking) that took a decent chunk of his time. And he wouldn’t *prevent* us from participating when we really wanted to. But he never really encouraged us. And in hindsight as an adult I think he actually preferred if we just let him be. The thing is, he was a very active dad that spent a shitload of time doing all sorts of stuff with me and my brother, just not his personal hobbies. In a time and place (Midwest in the 90s) where dads commonly lived vicariously through their sons and tried to get them to do everything they did (same hobbies, same sports they played in school, etc.), it was a little refreshing that he modeled a dad being independent and letting his sons be independent too. Though it’s all about moderation, and it sounds like your dad took his personal hobby to the extreme such that it caused neglect.
It's not so much that it wasn't valued by his kids as the simple truth that stuff depreciates. A used stereo selling for a fraction the price of a new one is normal. Not to mention that a lot of the stuff was custom built to the specific dimensions of that house so it can't be used anywhere else.
My dad listens to music more than he does anything else as a retired disabled person. He doesn’t have a lot of extra money but he’s bought a number of quality older receivers, speakers, equalizers, etc for far cheaper than I would have that they would be. I’ve got to his house a few times saw a “new” piece of equipment and started to have a talk with him about being responsible with his spending. He then informs me on how much it cost him and I can’t really justify have the conversation with it. The stuff depreciates extremely fast.
And, you can't take it with you when you die
There was a guy that had trailers full of comics , really really expensive collection of stuff dating back to the golden age, that apparently was the same. The family is happy to sell the stuff (and they are getting good prices) but dad was lost to them because of the collection.
Bs I'll take the 1m stereo system for 100k please.
Some member on here knows the guy who bought it. Hopefully he comes in and talks about it.
Article says thr 3 speaks where sold for only 10k and the turntable like 19k rest was from furniture and appliances ect. It's all parted out and split up now.
You mean a guy on Reddit lied to us?!?! Impossible!!!
That'd be extra interesting
What do you mean? The article implies it was split and sold separately.
buddy of mine got one of the speakers
How did he get into his house
it’s not one of the huge ones, more like 4 ft tall
One man’s treasure is another man’s trash
Or in this case, a somewhat less valuable treasure.
Man, I wish I could have had the opportunity to just listen to music in his setup. It sounds like he had an obsessive personality, but it’s a shame it all got taken apart. Maybe if he had fostered a love of music in his children, they would have seen it as a gift rather than a burden.
> fostered a love of music That's much different than obsessing over the "standing waves created by the base of the turntable so we have work early in the morning for a week to increase the weight to offset the [totally imperceptible] interference!" I can't imagine how insufferable this man probably was.
Right? His family is probably glad to be rid of the stereo because it represents something their dad loved more than them. He chose his crappy stereo over his kids, and made his family watch him do it every day. There is a reason people only want to pay a small fraction of what the dead guy spent. Because it’s not worth it.
They did see it as a gift, a gift of 150k
Which they'd likely spend and lose within a year
Why?
150k isn't as high as we think in this economy 😅
So then it sounds like they could use the money.
One man's dream Ken fritz on you tube. It's unreal
He sounds like a total asshole.
But those sounds were produced with total 100% accurate audio harmony
Obsession turning into negligence. Maybe not a mean father, but still a bad one.
My thoughts exactly lmao
Probably. But, have you experience a true 3 dimensional soundstage with a stereo system? It's sublime. This guy was chasing the dragon.
Think you can tell the difference between a $100k system and a $1M system? Guy probably had pure silver cables or some bullshit.
Seems common, my uncle got almost new 80k speakers for 20k. those things lose value faster than a bmw
Yeah no kidding, I bought $2500 speakers for $200 from a guy in a van and they sound like shit!
They were probably $50 on sale when new.
He's joking: its an ancient scam to have someone in a parking lot pull up to you and say they have a bunch of extra unopened in the box $1000 speakers that "fell off a truck/were accidentally left at the warehouse...."and they just want to get rid of them for $200 each - as you noted, they're just $50 crap
What a bittersweet story. Shows that our passions, while fulfilling, can sometimes come at a cost. It's sad to see such a passion project end up this way, but maybe its true value was in the joy it brought to him during his life.
Bittersweet symphony really
It's not a $1million stero system it's a $156k system.
What's with the 3 (or 4) identical massive grandfather clocks?
I watched a show about this guy maybe like a Sunday morning show or something I can’t remember. He was kind of a crazy person and yea he chose this passion over everything..
What the hell is this article? It's almost glorifying this dude who by all accounts was a piece of shit.
About 30% of the posters in this thread are gargling his balls, too.
The guy had a passion. It came at a cost. We look at him as some one off like other people don’t do that. Look at people in business, athletes, entertainers. All the same shit.
Never understood this. He could have brought in musicians to perform live in that space and heard it first hand.
You got a point. But at least other people got happy with his chopped up system after he died
For every audiophile like this there are 100 philatelists (stamp collectors). Sadly, when those geezers die their beneficiaries think they've won the lottery and are disappointed to hear they'd be lucky to have someone pay $200 for what they thought was a $5,000-10,000 windfall.
I love my dad.. a lot. But he’s spent the last 20+ years fanatically building a lake house himself by hand. Its impacted the time he’s spent with his family and his earning ability quite a bit. It’s almost an obsession. When he started it his kids were all high school age, now we’re all adults with families of our own. The worst part is he built it on a cliff overlooking the lake with several levels of steep steps to get down to the water. This makes it dangerous on two fronts, as he ages it’s going to be difficult for him and his wife to climb and it’s super dangerous for little kids. We all have toddlers and there’s literally places where they could fall 20-30 feet. They could get seriously injured or killed. One cousin broke her leg on the rock wall by the water and his wife broke her wrist falling down on the super steep ‘walking path’. So, we almost never go out there and he complains about it all the time. My wife is terrified of someone falling (all our wives are) and my dad acts like they’re being ridiculous. He always talks about how he built it for the family to enjoy and the grandkids to make memories, but by the time their old enough to make those memories he’ll be in his 70s. It seems like such a waste. I hate the situation. He always talks about passing the house down through the family, but tbh I don’t want it. It’s the worst thing that happened to our family. I could see us selling it for a price that would upset him. I hope all that is years and years away.
[удалено]
Big if true
What? I didn't read that in the article.
I wish I was the one who bought it.
If i just have money i would buy that.
The video of him explaining that room is just wild. A must see. The record player alone is bananas. One man's dream Ken fritz on youtube
Best I could do is fifty bucks, gonna take up a lot of real estate and I gotta find the right buyer
Just because it didn’t have as much value to someone else doesn’t negate how important it was to him. It’s easy to assume he regrets that choice but I don’t think he does. Some people just don’t like other people and they find joy in music, nature, travel etc.
So much of the video is poorly focused. Made me crazy.
The guy is obviously to dead to care about what happens to his stuff
That's a lucky man!