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
The problem with Fritz speakers is the wooden boxes they use are no better than a DIY job. If you want high end speakers surely the wooden box needs to be elevated in quality too? If you look at other high end speakers they do use more advanced boxes even if they are made of mdf. 
I don't know if that would be possible at the prices Fritz charges, Kenjit. As somebody broke down above, his margins are pretty tight.
[@any-novice]
"Total cost of drivers is $1300. Cost of speakers is $3500. So how much is he actually making? Can anybody answer that without insulting me?"

----------------------------------

Yes. Not making much.  

  • Drivers are part of the cost equation, not the total cost. 
  • Missing overall  R&D research time on a build. For some it's years. 
  • Missing the crossover design, parts for the "right" design.  
  • Missing the labor time to build and test the crossovers.  
  • Missing the cabinet R&D time and labor cost to design it right.  
  • Missing the wood and veneer materials costs and storage costs.  
  • Missing LABOR time to cut/assemble/build the pair of cabinets.  
  • Missing the time to lay up veneer or other cosmetics for cabinets.
  • Missing the time to fix or redo something on the finish, it happens.
  • Missing stock of internal wiring, terminals, solder,  costs, etc.
  • Missing wiring, terminals, soldering time for assembly of speakers
  • Missing costs of a facility to build and store materials, speakers
  • Missing costs of boxes, fillers, packaging materials and storage.  
  • Missing the costs of electricity, cooling/heating of a facility. 
  • Missing costs of tools, saws, blades, machinery, maintenance $
  • Missing shared property tax costs if you own the facility and land.
  • Missing time and labor $ for packing and shipping costs $.
  • Demos cost $. All sunk cost $.  Who absorbs these return costs...  
  • [Add] glue, and several things probably missed here, $
  • Missing the time-cost $ answering everyone's questions for FREE.
  • Time is $.  Remember boutique builders, where respect is due.

Caution:  
Only brave souls with extra savings $ need try to build and sell quality "value" speakers for public consumers in a boutique setting. It takes a very special person to do this long term for the audio community.  

>>Respect to those who do it well and stay in business<<.  Go Fritz!