Hi, I have a pair of Fritz Carbon 7 speakers on loan for me to review. These are handcrafted speakers by Fritz. He made them out of Tiger Ebony which is just beautiful. They are the middle speaker in the 3rd row down on his website below. These are beautifully done and there is not a blemish on them for being hand made. The craftsmanship is excellent. Fritz partially broke them in and it took another 15-20 hours for them to settle in and sound their best.
https://www.fritzspeakers.com/These are larger bookshelves and weigh about 30 pounds each. They sell for $2800 and could easily sell for $4000 or more in stores.
For the review I used my new Mark Levinson 5805 Integrated amp which retails for $10,500. I used its internal DAC which is fabulous by the way, along with my Luxman DA-06 DAC. I also used my analog system which is a Pro-Ject Classic Evo TT, Shelter 501 MKIII MC cartridge, and a Gold Note PH-10 phono preamp. No subwoofers were used.
Music players were Audirvana 3.5 and the recently downloaded Audirvana Studio which is a nice step up from 3.5. Some of the music that I used was Pink Floyd, Patricia Barber, London Grammar, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Pat Metheny, SYML, George Winston, Ernie Watts, Haevn, Bob James and Earl Klugh, Jim Kimo West, Best Audiophile Voices Vol I, Eva Cassidy, Joni Mitchell, Sara Bareilles, a Telarc Classical Music Sampler, Rebecca Pidgeon, Antimatter, Massive Attack, George Ogilvie, Cowboy Junkies, Arctic Lake and many other artists.
First off, I love these speakers. They have a slightly warmer sound (I told Fritz that I like a warmer sound, I do not know if he tuned these for me or not, maybe he will comment on this). They sound smooth as silk without sacrificing detail and resolution. They are completely non fatiguing and I could listen to them for hours on end. The treble and high frequencies are extended with good air. Cymbals sounded like real cymbals with good shimmer and decay. The bass is deep and powerful without slop. The bass has good texture to it. It is not one note bass. However, these speakers really shine in the midrange. The midrange is full, musical, tonally rich and well textured. It is the best part of this speaker and I love this type of midrange. I am a Ken Ishiwata (the master designer of Marantz) disciple and believe that music lives in the midrange and these speakers did not disappoint. The tone of piano was real sounding and it had excellent decay. Vocals had great texture. Eva Cassidy and Rebecca Pigeon sounded sublime. The speakers have great dynamics as well. There is good spacing among instruments and on complex music I could pick out individual instruments and vocals. The speakers also sound like some floorstanders in that they present a big sound without sounding strained. They have a wide, deep and transparent soundstage. They also sound pretty good at low volumes. Turn them up to medium or loud volumes and they just get better.
The truth be told, I cannot find any significant fault with these speakers. They do everything well and I have heard a lot of speakers at shows, at audiophile friends homes and my own personal speakers over 40 years. If I were to nit pick, I would say that in my room which is 17x17' with 9' or 9.5' ceilings, I have to turn them up a little louder to fill the room compared to my Magnepan 1.6's (which is really an unfair comparison) and the Arendal 1528 stand mount speakers I have on hand which dwarf the Carbon 7's in size (they weigh 66 pounds each and Arendal calls them bookshelf speakers).
If you buy these speakers, please allow at least 50 hours of break in. At first they sounded much less detailed with less air and spacing of instruments. As I stated earlier, Fritz partially broke them in for about 24 to 48 hours at low volume. They took another 15 to 20 hours to really shine. The difference was very noticeable to me and my audiophile son. So be patient and you will be rewarded with fabulous sound.
If you have any questions about them, please do not hesitate to send me a PM or just reply to this thread. You can also call Fritz later in the day or evening as he is not a morning person like me.
I am considering buying them. I have to make a decision in the next week or 2 as I am deciding between these and the much more expensive Arendals and it is a tough decision for me. I wish I could have them both because they have totally different presentations, both excellent and fun to listen too.
I will post pictures later in the week when the lighting is better in my room.
Larry
