Poor Fritz


There’s no better value and no one as willing to make bespoke speakers out there than Fritz and these forums treat his speakers as if they cost $200K.
They don’t. They are remarkably affordable and yet potential customers put him through the absolute ringer, asking for custom features, going through 2 or 3 models of home auditions and maybe not even buying any of them.

Look, you buy what you want to buy, but I think not enough credit is given to the man or his speakers in terms of the overall value proposition and I think this is a disservice overall.  If you write a 5 page review, please keep this very much in mind that you are not reviewing Wilson or Focal's flagships.  Maybe he doesn't deserve quite the same scrutiny.

erik_squires
@erik_squires
"... who uses comparable drivers".

How do we know they are "comparable"? Maybe his drivers are better than standard versions...

It’s not entirely impossible Fritz has as special order line made to spec for his particular drivers - on some models. Dynaudio and others were doing this for years with Totem and other manufacturers starting out with custom quality wound voice coils, better magnets, or surrounds, and different baskets in special circumstances for some "signature" models requested by the builder. I’d bet the cost of the Be tweeter alone used in his Carerras is more than what some may have guessed until looking closer.

Not saying this is the case with Fritz for his tweeters or woofers. It could be though...However, as you mentioned its easy for "armchair" folks to make assumptions on the cost of the drivers, or get one digit off on a model number on a part and not realize when higher grade version drivers and components are used by a builder in a particular speaker. As already mentioned, same goes for internal crossover parts people never see, not fully understanding true cost of what’s on the inside.
 Dynaudio and others were doing this for years with Totem and other manufacturers starting out with custom quality wound voice coils, better magnets, or surrounds, and different baskets in special circumstances
Why arent these supposedly better versions already being produced and offered for sale to the public then? 
Because the DIY public doesn't keep their doors open the large scale manufactures do.
+1

Some people look at a speaker from a photo and make assumptions on parts and materials used inside, and the manufacturer total cost for each component used. It’s not always comparable in function, sound, or cost just because it looks the same from the outside.