[chesebert]

After 27 years and $1mil spent, the system was sold for a mere $157k, of which spkrs sold for a mere $10k

More details here

WaPo article if you have sub.

 

[tabness]

cocaine is a cheaper "hobby" than summit fi audiophila and way cooler (or at least less embarrassing lol)

 

[feverfive]

If I recall, that $1 million investment doesn't even include all the time/labor/effort spent expended by various people. I can't gauge how to value 25+ years of that.

 

[Chefguru]

I don't think anyone in the headphone world is at this level of delirium. The thing I love about this niche hobby over the speaker equivalent is the liquidity of what we own. Many of my purchases have increased in value.

 

[vcoheda]

looks like it was sold as liquidation/estate sale, which always gets you the least value; sold properly, one could have recouped 1/4 to a 1/3 of the investment instead of 1/10.

 

[RHMMMM]

I don't think anyone in the headphone world is at this level of delirium. The thing I love about this niche hobby over the speaker equivalent is the liquidity of what we own. Many of my purchases have increased in value.

It’s a great idea to buy with resale in mind and I personally try to avoid too many custom things.

 

[P+D-MI]

That whole story, to me, is really depressing. I feel like I'm stating the obvious. Just something I needed to say.

 

[Kevintj604]

That whole story, to me, is really depressing. I feel like I'm stating the obvious. Just something I needed to say.

It is a really sad story. Ken Fritz essentially spent his entire life's savings building a system only to die and leave his family with something they clearly didn't understand and had no bearing on how to navigate the audiophile market. With such a niche market and a smaller amount of people who would even know how to appreciate the gear and the room that it was built around it's an absolute fool's errand to think of building something like that. This is especially sad because the family could've been set up for life financially and all of the money was squandered for only a few years after the room was completed for enjoyment.