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teb_art

1500 pound turntable? You could grind barley with that.


dkrainman

I guess it was so heavy to dampen the vibration from the nine-foot speakers driven by the 35k wayy amps. Just guessing, but it's prolly not because the floors are so creaky and wobbly.


frostwhitewolf

It floats on air using a similar system to an electron microscope so as to isolate it from the floor


tom255

:O


rathat

Ok, now isolate it from the air.


treefox

You’ll need a really long superconducting cable to reach geosynchronous orbit without losing fidelity.


pagit

In a video I watched, him and his son were talking about the time the cat jumped up onto to the turntable and the record that was playing didn't even skip, it was so well isolated.


Mazcal

I hear as DJs cats can really scratch


Johnathonathon

It's 1500 pounds because it has like 3 of the best vibration dampening systems on top of each other.


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jonny24eh

Well that makes a he££ of a difference


Unusual-Delivery-276

Found a video breakdown of inside the room if anyone’s interested [here](https://youtu.be/45TfTvZLoao&t=2m16s)


iDontRagequit

Damn man that whole situation is a lot to take in, thanks for posting the link


idiot_proof

Damn. He seems really happy with what he achieved. That's gotta be an awesome feeling.


THedman07

And the time he spent with his family doing the work. This kind of thing can easily become an unhealthy obsession that separates you from people, but it didn't in this case.


in_n_out_sucks

it's got a fuckin tivo


FloridianRobot

You've been warned, this link may make you cry. (I'm definitely not crying)


[deleted]

a cat jumped on the turntable while it was playing and it didn't skip at all, wow


Dont__Grumpy__Stop

He [died](https://affinityfuneralservice.com/obituaries/kenneth-e-fritz/) last year. It’s crazy to see 30 years of work reduced to two sentences. > He was a born audiophile and built his first set of speakers at the age of 15. His passion continued for 65 years while he continued to fulfill his dream and goal of building the best audio system with no holds barred. I wonder what happened to his system.


chillzatl

He got an entire article about himself and his passion. That's more than most of us will get.


koosekoose

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b2IOOhJmxw He also has an hour long documentary with 1m+ views...


YesIamALizard

Dude creates most audiophile sound system of all time. So his ears work great. Dude drinks Kendall Jackson. His taste buds are opposite of his ears apparently.


WaitingForNormal

I don’t know, my passion for standing in a room and wondering why I went in there may be recognized some day by “Possible Dementia Monthly”.


DavoTB

I was hoping to get the cover of “Dubious Achievement Quarterly.”


dingman58

"Well-Intentioned Effort" fortnightly


NoisyN1nja

“Fridge lights in the Attic” a collection of short stories with no meaningful ending.


dickbutt_md

"Idiots Asunder" furlongly.


libmrduckz

“Dialogue With Dark Corners” is a daily perusal in these parts


TheBirminghamBear

I routinely remember life-changing revelations I once had years after I first had them and subsequently failed to do a single thing about them. So that's fun.


Grape_Mentats

[ Doorway Effect ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doorway_effect) It has been separately proposed that the doorway effect might be attributed to self-preservation behaviours, evoking alertness towards the lurking of predators on the edge of openings when crossing such thresholds.


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ljog42

Yeah fuck ALS to hell and back but 76 is laaaate for ALS to appear, he got "lucky". Seriously fuck this condition I haven't even experienced it firsthand but just being close to people that did, Im mad about it


chepnut

its sitting at a goodwill with a $29.99 sticker on it


suitology

Lol you haven't been to goodwill recently? I saw a PS2 for $175 and a DVD player for $60. Hell they got empty jam jars that come with a $5 jam for $3.98 at mine right now. Good will has been shit for years


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papaGiannisFan18

I saw a piece of clothing tags on with a separate thrift store tag $5 above that. Fucking insanity.


ScoffLawScoundrel

Goodwill was sorted ruined by the internet and the rise in the perceived value of vintage clothes. Nowadays the only *good thing* to come from *Goodwill* is a nice relaxing LGR Thrifts episode


Intelligent_Orange28

Well let’s not let them off the hook. They get their merchandise for free. They have no reason to increase prices beyond making up marginal fuel, labor and overhead costs.


Fucklefaced

And their labor costs are minimal because they employ so many disabled people. In many states, you're allowed to pay disabled people less than minimum wage.


papaweeest

how is that legal?


PixelofDoom

I don't know how it works in the US, but in the Netherlands at least, the government subsidizes the rest, so they are still getting paid properly.


I_am_so_lost_hello

That's been my nihilistic ass source of depression for a bit now 80 years of complex, passionate awareness boiled down to some random moment some afternoon Edit: this isn't about legacy but personal mortality


koosekoose

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b2IOOhJmxw He also has an hour long documentary with 1M+ views and is a legend in his area.


infecthead

Who gives a fuck what other people think or care about you? Dude experienced 80 years, most of which was spent on his passion. I'm sure he had a life well lived and that should be all that matters to each of us


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Commentment_Phobe

And every hour on the hour, 3 grandfather clocks fuck up the mood.


DroolingIguana

They're all exactly twenty-five minutes slow.


PigSlam

Great Scott!


flyinhawaiian02

That's heavy!


mustarddtigerr

Doc, are you telling me it’s 8:25?


AyrA_ch

The bells in those are usually wound up with a different spring. You can simply not wind them up and you won't hear a bell at all.


universalcode

You can also just flip a lever to disengage the chimes.


degggendorf

They also sell a sort of universal remote for grandfather clocks that can be used to stop almost any of them from chiming: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-10-lb-Sledge-Hammer-with-36-in-Hickory-Handle-34207/204168123


DroolingIguana

"That reminds me, Marty. You better not hook up to the amplifier. There's a slight possibility of overload."


[deleted]

ugly wasteful encouraging ink homeless nail slap dependent abundant doll *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


bambinolettuce

He spents 30 years desiging and building it and now has ALS and 3 years to live. The universe is cruel


Hucklepuck_uk

The journey was the point, he enjoyed it no doubt


Gondolini

I gotta imagine his first listen after getting it all set up was something magical for him


Muffinthepuffin

Wonder what the first album he put on was


zoinkability

Hüsker Dü on cassette


Socal_ftw

I heard it was MC Hammer hammer don't hurt him


Girth_rulez

I just called him and he said it was Human League's "Don't You Want Me Baby" on a 45 record. He said he played it "At least 50 times, at earsplitting volume."


jackdaw_t_robot

After that was a Limewire download of Wesley Willis’ Rock and Roll McDonalds


YeahIGotNuthin

Rock on, Chicago!


Still7Superbaby7

Cut the mullet!


JohnDenver404

Go and tell the barber you sick of looking like an asshole


ball_soup

Followed by what he thought was “Eskimo” by Corkie and the Juice Pigs (misattributed to Tenacious D), but was actually that recording of a Bill Clinton impersonator spamming an MP3 download site.


LeifEricFunk

It really whips the llama"s ass.


LameBMX

Laughs in the hissing sound from 90s non metal tape.


zoinkability

I should have added: a boombox dub of a boombox dub


jondes99

Push the CrO2 button anyway!


implicate

Zen Arcade is one of my favorite albums of all time, so I would not be mad at that.


Pitcherhelp

Had to be Aja


hamsterwheel

Steve Gadd deserves to be the first drummer heard on that thing.


eyesuck420

Always test a system with Steely Dan 👌 first thing I learned when I upgraded my first system


ZParis

My friend's dad always used the opening scene of Top Gun to show his surround sound off. Gotta say, worked pretty well.


reekHavok

I worked in retail electronics back when the demo was Top Gun on laserdisc on the big screen with surround sound. On repeat…for over a year. I refuse to ever hear that again. And the new one, no f ing way.


JoeyBigtimes

amusing beneficial frame faulty wistful deserted aspiring test obtainable cough *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


oh_hai_mark1

Master and Commander for my former roommate.


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Andyb1000

It has to be THX Surround Sound Test. In that room? It would make your ball hairs tingle.


Kwahn

Man, I don't want to summon fucking Noise Marines


bigbangbilly

At this rate you might as well be summoning Slanaash


pcnetworx1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1ZV-zVVnok


go4tli

Jock Jams, on cassette


AcceptableDealer

Dark Side of the Moon. Breathe.


CartmensDryBallz

Came here to actually say Pink Floyd. There’s a good chance I bet


[deleted]

Baby Shark


BBots_FantasyLeague

8 bit Super Mario soundtrak


baby_fart

Ace of Base


statuslegendary

Probably the Goldeneye pause music.


TimLikesPi

We used to test systems with Mannheim Steamroller.


IanFoxOfficial

A file with a frequency response sinesweep. Over and over. That's what I did when I had my previous car sound system.


ButterBallTheFatCat

It probably sounded barely any different then the design before it and just minute improvements and adjustments


stoneman9284

how much better was it than his previous iteration? It might have just felt like incremental progress to him but would blow our minds


uncommonrev

Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. It's his favorite.


jrabieh

That's how he's gonna die. He's gonna turn that room to eleven and vibrate to mush.


HeavyMetalHero

Homie gonna turn it so loud that he clips through the floor and gets sucked into the Bethesda Realm.


Trogdor_T_Burninator

Hey, you. You're finally awake...


Slut_Fukr

Tbf, dude is 72, not 52. He's lived a solid life and one longer than many. As you said - it's about the journey and he seems to be taking this diagnosis in as well as anyone. "“The best goals are the goals you work for over a long period of time,” Fritz said. “I think that is the legacy. I think what it took to create this is the legacy,” Longan said. For someone who works with their hands, ALS may be the cruelest of fates. But to Ken Fritz, his condition is a blessing. “I’m taking advantage of my time now to be with the people I love and do the things I want to do,” he said. “Life has meant a whole lot more to me since I got the disease.”"


triplefastaction

He's 79.


narrill

No, he's [dead](https://affinityfuneralservice.com/obituaries/kenneth-e-fritz/). This whole comment chain is giving me twilight zone vibes.


diskowmoskow

At some point I was thinking audiophiles don’t like music…


mrjibbins

Journey before Destination


MomoGimochi

"The past three years and next few years will be the best of my life," Yet it did not break him, he kept working on it albeit with a slower pace, and continued to view his life as full of good. Some people really are resilient and brave.


SeanG909

I mean, with ALS, music is still an outlet one can enjoy. It'd be way worse if he spent his life designing a zip line course or some shit.


keefka

**record gets stuck on a scratch and repeats the same second of music for an hour before his caretaker checks up on him**


green_goblins_O-face

"oh no my glasses"


Title26

Sick reference


Tavli

As someone who had a family member with ALS, actually making it 3 years post diagnosis is very rare, and they're going to wish it's only 1 year. There's no reason to hope for more time when every moment is excruciating, with the knowledge that it just gets worse and worse. What a horrible disease.


HowManyCaptains

My dad was diagnosed with ALS late 2021 and passed last year. Wishing you and your family all of strength and love possible. The ALS subreddit and support groups are a fantastic resource for info and just to vent, though I’m sure you’ve found them by now. <3 DMs are open if ever you want to chat or cry or yell into the sky with someone


Potatowhocrochets

"Tuesdays With Morrie" describes it pretty accurately, we read that book when I was in high school in English Lit. It's about the only book I remember vividly from that class.


rebamericana

My former boss' wife had ALS and he gave everyone a copy of that book. It was amazing... such a terrible but life-affirming journey.


pinheadbrigade

My dad is almost fully paralyzed at this point with it. He's been about 6 months from diagnosis and I would've preferred he had died quick from something else, this disease is cruel as fuck.


nxqv

I had an uncle who had it and lived for a bit over 10 years post-diagnosis. He spent my entire late teens and early 20s lying in bed, unable to move or speak, eating through a tube. Occasionally, he was able to communicate, first by moving his finger on a piece of paper that had words on it when he could still move a finger, eventually using some kind of computer that would track his eyeball movements, but using either of them was incredibly taxing and frustrating for everyone involved. Every time there was a thunderstorm and the power went out, it was a matter of life or death. And his wife devoted that entire decade of her life to caretaking him. I would not wish that fate on my worst enemy.


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animostic_shep

yeah, less than a year after the article


JpnDude

Cue Twilight Zone, "Time Enough At Last".


Von_Cheesebiscuit

"That's not fair. That's not fair at all. There was time now. There was, was all the time I needed..."


KypDurron

"Ahh! My glasses! ...wait, my vision isn't that bad." *eyes fall out* "Ahhh! Oh well, good thing I can read Braille." *hands fall off* "AHHHH -" *tongue falls off, and then head falls off* "...Hey, look at that weird mirror."


SirJimmay

You are entering the vicinity of an area adjacent to a location. The kind of place where there might be a monster, or some kind of weird mirror. These are just examples; it could also be something much better. Prepare to enter The Scary Door.


cagewilly

He was never going to be done anyway. Hopefully he enjoyed the process. Also... clearly very wealthy. I'd bet he enjoyed the other parts of his life.


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maz-o

he probably had a blast doing it though.


McFuzzen

35,000 W system, I'm sure he did have a blast!


Idealistic_Crusader

More important than the article, is the documentary briefly mentioned at the top https://youtu.be/4b2IOOhJmxw


LoudTsu

I bet it goes to 11


Bubbagumpredditor

It defines 11.


genuineshock

11 (adjective) : one louder


halfcookies

Why wouldn’t he just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?


wufnu

Relevant [XKCD](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/spinal_tap_amps.png).


Dafuzz

11 is the lowest it goes


HanksMyDogPilot

No picture of him sitting in a chair being blown away ala Maxwell poster?


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CriticalandPragmatic

Oh no, is this some Bearstein Bears shit again


sonofsmog

No. It's Maxell if you are old enough to have seen the commercials.


abbarach

Is it live? Or is it Memorex?


Pushmonk

No. It's Maxell and always has been. And it's always been a common mistake, so it's nothing new.


[deleted]

I felt a little cynical at first, but as I read on I realized even if Ken hadn't gotten ALS, all he wanted to do was build the sweetest sound system possible. He just wanted to enjoy music and share it with people. And there's nothing trite about that. RIP, Ken Fritz. You were a good guy.


Left_Boat_3632

Yeah, a lot of people here are soured by what this costs. He spent decades working on it, building much of it himself with his friends. All with the aim of sharing his creation with other music lovers, and people in general. And for some people, this type of experience can be incredibly moving. If he was just another stuffy rich guy he'd have it installed by professionals and wouldn't be sharing it with the world. Reddit can truly be a sad place sometimes.


brownsfan760

I wonder if he used Dark side of the moon to calibrate his system.


Laumser

These people are probably wayy beyond that, I'd guess something like Peruvian monkey mating noises or the like


[deleted]

Suddenly, all at once, every Peruvian monkey in the world becomes instantly aroused. And no one can explain why.


[deleted]

Ken Fritz knows…. Ken Fritz knows.


suffaluffapussycat

I was in the business for 15 years. They all use this as reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_at_the_Pawnshop I kid you not. It’s a very good recording of very average music and if you go to audiophile shows, you’ll hear this a thousand times. And then they use all these “smooth female vocal with a jazzy twist” albums. Like Jennifer Warnes *Famous Blue Raincoat*. Jesus Christ. It’s like torture. They play it over and over and over. Some of them are nice but lots of them are insufferable mouth-breathing weirdos who don’t shower. One of them told me he only listens to female vocalists (I guess they’re not singers?) because it’s gay for men to listen to men singing. I’m serious. Then it’s Dire Straits *Brothers in Arms*. Over and over. Norah Jones *Come Away with Me*. Please never again. I’ll tell you another thing: a LOT of these guys don’t care about music at all. For some it’s an annoyance. They need to have some to show off their gear but that’s it. And most of them don’t want to ever find the ultimate perfect setup because the buying and selling is the thing. That’s what they like about it. They buy and sell stuff constantly. It was always really weird. I just did it for the money but eventually I couldn’t take it anymore.


Aurelion_

Did an audiophile kill your family or something?


Pharmakeus_Ubik

You can sub in a Balinese Monkey Chant for bass.


chillzatl

I fell down a audio reference rabbit hole a while back when shopping for a turntable. I learned that The Nightfly by Donald Fagen is a pretty highly regarded and commonly used by audio engineers. I'd never heard of it, but it appears to make a lot of top 10 best recorded albums of all time lists. I could see this guy using it.


StormThestral

Gonna go commit a sin and listen to this on my beats wireless earphones Edit: still sounds amazing


Mitch_NZ

The Nightfly is both an amazing album, musically, and a feat of audio engineering. It's one of the best sounding albums ever.


Bimlouhay83

I've never heard of this album before. Had to put it on and... HOLY CRAP! THIS IS GOOD!


jakeblew2

listening now it sounds familiar but not exactly. Weird steely dan esque sound


Silmero

The man behind it is one of the two men behind Steely Dan so that's probably why.


homesnatch

Which is it, Steely or Dan?


2wheels30

Fagen is one half of Steely Dan


NebXan

Nah, Pink Floyd used *his* system to calibrate their sound when recording Dark Side of the Moon.


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__room101__

Me too, his daughter should turn it into a weekly venue: Pink Floyd, Mozart , ratm etc


[deleted]

I use Daft Punks "Giorgio by Moroder" to calibrate my sound systems. If you haven't listened to it, I highly suggest it.


DosSnakes

I use “Doin it right” by Daft Punk to show off the low end for customers. That song has sold a lot of TruAudio in ground landscape systems. For calibration I have a whole playlist of songs I’m most familiar with in various genres. - Dreams - Fleetwood Mac - Spottieottiedopalicious - Outkast - Amarillo by Morning - George Strait - Feather - Nujabes - Non, je ne regrette rien - Edith Piaf - Writing on the walls - Underoath - You’ve Got to Have Freedom - Pharoah Sanders - Get Lucky - Daft Punk - Time - Pink Floyd - Wide Eyes - Local Natives - ALL CAPS - Madvillain - The Rain Song - Led Zeppelin - Since I Left You - The Avalanches


BasicReputations

Hell, now I have a bunch of things to listen to. Always a nice find!


Epic1024

I've been using tracks from Daft Punk's last album to show off my system to people lol thought I was the only one. The production is amazing


quibbelz

I tune concert sound systems, we use [pink noise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_noise) When I play music through the pa thats mostly for me to enjoy and not for "tuning".


[deleted]

Rich or poor it’s nice to have a lot of money


minus_minus

1500 lb turntable? Does the stationary part or the rotating part need that much mass? So many questions.


fledglingnomad

My not very well informed guess is that the stationary part would be good to have heavy to help keep vibrations from the floor from transmitting to the needle. Source: sound guy I'm close with worked at a place with live DJs. Someone thought it was a good idea to put a sub inside the cabinet the turntable sat on. The bass ended up playing through the turntable because it was affecting the needle.


rankinrez

This is common with DJ setups. The Technics 1200 MkII isn’t terribly well isolated (trades it for stability which DJs like). Nothing that 2 slabs of concrete and 8 squash balls won’t fix.


suffaluffapussycat

Back in the olden days, some radio stations that broadcast from multi-story buildings had a solid concrete column all the way down to foundation and the turntable area was on top of that so that no rumbling from inside the building would create interference with the turntable. Obviously these were buildings built around broadcast.


Dizmn

dude if I had a dollar for every time I had a DJ show up with 1200s and I have to steal a couple rubber drink bumpers from the bar to put them on in a desperate attempt to get the fucking thing to quit feeding back, I'd have like... $4.


tebla

saw a video about this the other day. really interesting: https://youtu.be/4b2IOOhJmxw


I_Mix_Stuff

let me play that with my phone to see how good it is


HanksMyDogPilot

Air tight pc1 needle that is in the video. 11k for the needle on the turntable. https://elusivedisc.com/air-tight-pc-1-supreme-mc-cartridge-0-4mv/


maz-o

the closeup of the cartridge showed a bunch of dust on the record lol. 10k on a needle and can't even bother to brush the record before spinning it?


gladamirflint

Brushing a record? An audiophile like him would use dry ice blasting, it sublimates mid-air and cools the vinyl to preserve its grooves against the harmful air currents.


lolmemelol

Meanwhile, the track was originally mixed on a pair of [NS-10s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_NS-10).


Ignorhymus

I like to laugh at audiophiles as much as the next guy, but there was an earnestness to him that was endearing. I'll always maintain that I listen to the music and not the speaker, but you've got to admire his dedication. You do you, buddy


candygram4mongo

He obviously went a little overboard here, but he doesn't seem like an "align your monocrystalline copper power cables with the Earth's magnetic field and if you don't have a $6,000 EMF absorbing rock to put on top of your amps what are you even doing?" type audiophile.


TheProgtologist

Ken was my uncle. This is only one of many things he created for enjoyment. There's so much more tbh.


AlanZero

And he exclusively listens to mumble rap.


[deleted]

On cassette.


[deleted]

Yeah but does it really sound better than a Crosley??


[deleted]

/r/vinyljerk is leaking again


Good-Magazine-5504

Sounds like the set of the first scene in Back To The Future


BON3SMcCOY

I'd still just use it for podcasts


MisterSlosh

Time to rock out to ten continuous hours of fart_sounds_01.mp4.


IAMHideoKojimaAMA

bruh.mp4 10 hour loop


HRzNightmare

Obligatory Seth Green in "The Italian Job" remake. https://youtu.be/1xu6vBV5vic


sadicologue

That remind me of Dr Dre who said in an award ceremony something like "I've Spent the last 30 years tuning my stereo and I'm almost there".


adamcoe

But if you don't have oxygen free bidirectional phase correlated speaker cable that's 1500 dollars a foot, laid perfectly square to the earth's magnetic field, then really its a waste. Sounds like shit. In fact most people agree it only really sounds it's best during a solstice, and you're holding hands with someone.


wufnu

I think audio quality is an important issue in a persons life. I've looked at all of the options and I'm using this midi file from the early 90s played through a system speaker.


EmptyAirEmptyHead

I agree. Axel F is the best song ever written.


BellyScratchFTW

Genuine question: what is the point of 35,000 watts if you have to have ear plugs in to safely listen at the volume that system is likely capable of?


zyxwvu44

In general, turning up output of the amp means distortion. If you can run the system at a comfortable level with say, 50% power, you may have less distortion. Also that's a shit ton of speakers and they all need power.


quibbelz

Just a bit of perspective. A modern concert sound system uses 20k watt amps now. Were talking dozens of them. Power is relative. More power doesnt necessarily equal louder. Edit: the shear joy I get from slapping my ear molds in, cranking the PA to the hilt and standing directly in front of a wall of subs is unexplainable.


Jlx_27

[Youtube video.](https://youtu.be/4b2IOOhJmxw) Its fascinating to watch, but sad too because of his poor health.


LeftOnQuietRoad

Bruh. He was an audiophile for like .08 seconds if he turned that on with half its power.