New Fritz Carbon 7 bookshelf speakers review!

@stuartk - painful to listen to indeed; for me, it sounded like the mid-range and the tweeter had never been introduced to each other before, and they needed to date for a few weeks before they were a proper couple instead of an odd one. Same thing with my Marten speakers, which cost about 3x what the Fritz's do; they were awful for a few weeks, but when it all settled in..... 

I may have done Fritz a disservice here and need to correct something.

First, I’ve not heard every Fritz model, but what I’ve heard were exceptional 2-ways with excellent tweeter and mid-woofer integration.   The Fritz Rev 7E in particular was a stunner and excellent value. 

Let’s now talk about what I meant.  The 7" mid-woofers in the Rev 7E are capable of really impressive bass for the speaker size, but the room is a tone control.  If you hear OK bass, but not "wow" that’s when a little room treatment, to tame the mid-high frequencies really lets the bass bloom.  At shows I’ve seen Fritz take 4 or 6 panels and put them around a modest hotel room and that is all that was needed to be among the top 2-3 rooms in a show IMHO but also in the opinion of recording artists I got a chance to talk to.   That’s actually very impressive.  For a speaker in a hotel room to actually sound very good with just a few panels is something very very few speakers can do.  It’s not an indicator these speakers MUST have room treatment. 

I’ve not heard the OP’s speakers or room, but I respect Fritz judgement enough to say  "that’s not at all the product I’d expect him to build." 

I don’t think Fritz speakers MUST have room treatment, but that a lot of ambitious 2-way speakers a little room treatment can make them sound much larger than otherwise. 

Seriously, like the opening notes of many Universal movies have a really impressive drum introduction.  Th e Rev 7E is amazing. 

@larsman 

Good to know about Marten, as they are a brand I'll be considering when it's time for a speaker upgrade. 

@stuartk  

FWIW, I found the Carbon 7’s surprisingly bright, based upon what I’d encountered in reviews.

If memory serves, you’ve had brightness issues in your listening area for many different products and it’s largely the fault of your room. 

I’ve tried Fritz against many other speakers. It is NOT a bright speaker. I’ve tried it not only in my treated listening room and in my untreated basement -- which is neither bright nor dull. 

Speakers plus rooms make brightness. If your room is bright, don’t blame the speaker. It’s soft dome tweeter, after all.

Oh, and people bring panels to shows for audio because they don't know what they're going to get and at least need to deal with unexpected issues -- this is NO proof that the speakers are bright to begin with.

@hilde45 

I've had rather dull sound, bright sound and at present, pretty evenly balanced sound in my room, depending upon speakers and electronics.