Fritz Speakers Carbon 7 An artisan-crafted speaker that is capable of riveting you to your favorite music. Review By Clarke Robinson (2024)

November 2011
Fritz Speakers Carbon 7
An artisan-crafted speaker that is capable of riveting you to your favorite music.
Review By Clarke Robinson

I first heard of Fritz Speakers atthe CAS 2011 (California Audio Show) inJuly. The Carbon 7s were playing in one of the best sounding rooms of the show,and I struck up a conversation with Fritz himself at an after-show get togetherhe and his showroom-mates were hosting. We hit it off immediately, which willcome as no surprise to anyone who's met him...chatty and amiable, Fritz givesthe impression that he could hit it off with just about anybody. He's also got aton of great stories about the audio industry, the music industry, and aboutbuilding speakers...something he has been doing for a long time.

Fritz Heiler is a modern American artisan. Hestarted out as a cabinet maker, but a day spent at a local audio dealer lookingat speakers inspired him to make his own. Then he started making them forfriends. Then friends of friends. Now, almost 40 years later, he is still at it,and he's still a one-man operation, designing and building everything he sells.

Fritz stars out the design process with cabinetsize and crossover values determined by loudspeaker modeling software. He thenmeticulously tweaks the crossover -- one part at a time, one value at a time --by hand and ear alone. The subject of this review, the Carbon 7s, feature aseries crossover which, as I understand it, allows for a very low parts countthat maintains the sonic purity you might find in a first-order crossover, butprovides a much steeper curve that enables each driver to "focus" on what itdoes best. A series crossover is not a magic bullet...it still requires carefulmatching with the drivers, and the ScanSpeak 8545K mid-woofer and ScanSpeak 9500tweeter seem perfectly suited.

Of course, none of that would matter if it didn'tprove itself in the listening, but prove itself it does: the Carbon 7s are atrue music lover's speaker. They do not reach out and grab you in anin-your-face audiophile way, they more seduce your with an irresistiblyinviting, smooth presentation. More like a warm campfire than a firework show,but did you ever notice how you can't look away from campfire? That's kind ofhow it is when the Carbon 7s are playing. "Just one more track..." I kepttelling myself, long into the night.

While the Carbon 7s are definitely for those whowant to enjoy, rather than analyze, their recordings, they don't have the overlysweet/syrupy tonality often associated with "musical" speakers. Highs are crisp,clear, and accurate: recordings with excessive sibilance, like the first fewtracks on Emmylou Harris' Spyboy,still sound sibilant, although not as annoyingly so as they would be on a pairof ultra-linear monitors. Bright recordings, like VanHalen I, still sound bright, but also come across with all of theenergy and impact that comes with an extended top end.

Bass on the Carbon 7s is extraordinary: they playvery low for a speaker their size...test tones in my living room were audiblebelow 30Hz. Of course, these are still stand-mounted speakers...they don't movea ton of air, and won't rattle your floorboards. Still, I kept them about fourfeet from the front wall, and never felt the need to turn my subwoofer on theentire time they were in my system.

Of course, music lives primarily in the midrange,and the midrange is not neglected in the Carbon 7s. I had an easy time findingmusic that sounded fabulous on them. Smaller groups are the thing (reproducingfull-scale symphony orchestras is not a strength of any stand-mounted monitor),but even largish groups like the David Murray Octet, on their classic BlackSaint album Home, sounded excellent, swinging madly with cleardelineation between the band members. That said, the most magical moments I hadwith the Carbon 7s were with intimate recordings of duos, trios, and soloists.

Listening
Firstup was a new album by Norcal singer-songwriter Mokai. I'm not a huge fan of the "singer-songwriter"genre, but the album's two instrumental tracks, "Holy Guacamole" and "HayesStreet Blues", are worth the price of admission. Mokai is easily one of the mosttasteful finger-pickers you've never heard..."Holy Guacamole" opens with abrisk, Spanish-style melody before taking off into a delightfully head-boppinggroove, slapping the strings to create fantastic dynamic tension on a close-mic’edGibson J185. His virtuosic use of harmonics on "Hayes Street Blues", give thepiece a spacious, atmospheric vibe that is gorgeously rendered on the Carbon 7s.

I love challenging, experimental music, and Ifind it makes excellent evaluation material for audio components: if I can beenthralled by music that is devoid of obvious hooks and grooves, the system mustbe doing something right. I recently picked up HistoricallyInnocent and Sexually Indifferent, by Chicago-based improvisers theFanlab Duo [Peira Records PM06]. Both members (Daniel Fandi on one channel andBrian Labycz on the other) play modular synthesizers, only occasionally usingthem to generate sounds normally associated with music. Sounds range frommicroscopic pops, clicks, and glitches to full-tilt washes of static and noise.However, if you listen closely, which is very easy to do with the Carbon 7s,their elaborate dialog becomes clear...each of these pieces is a dramatic ebband flow of non-traditional sound, completely improvised live. The third track,"Your Dad is a Grandpa, Your Uncle is in Jail, Your Dog is an Orphan"may be the best piece I've found yet to introduce people to this type of music.It's fairly short, just under 6 minutes, and builds to a palpable climax beforereleasing into the closest thing to harmony the album has to offer (it is, atbest, a Schoenbergian harmony, but a harmony nonetheless).

As my time with the Carbon 7s was winding down,ECM released the remarkable ­ECM[ECM 2211], a remix project for electronic music producer Max Loderbauer andgreatest DJ in the world Ricardo Villalobos. Loderbauer and Villalobos weregiven full access to the ECM back catalog, and I must say, I'm impressed withtheir choices: recordings from Arvo Part, Louis Sclavis, John Abercrombie, andChristian Wallumrod (whose music I was previously unfamiliar with) all appear,along with several others. I must also say that the sonic results are unlikeanything that has appeared in the oeuvre of any of the artists involved: nothingon here will be mistaken for the spacey breed of chamber jazz the label istypically known for, but this is no booty shaker, either. The more abstracttracks work the best: a stunning showcase for the Carbon 7s imaging ability, re:ECM opens with "Reblop", which tosses subtle electronicswirls and curlicues at you from every corner of the soundstage. Acousticinstruments (like Christian Wallumrod's piano) bubble to the surface as well,giving the feeling of walking through a forest late at night that's teeming withlife you can't see. Mesmerizing.

Conclusion
Needless to say, I enjoyed having the Carbon 7s in mysystem. They are more expensive than the speakers I typically audition, butconsider what you're paying for here: a unique, an artisan-crafted (in the USA)pair of speakers that is capable of riveting you to your favorite music for alifetime. How much is too much for that? The best word I can come up with todescribe the Carbon 7s, both their sound and their fit & finish, is"beautiful". I suppose beauty isn't for everyone, some might prefer"honest", but for those who feel they need a little beauty injectedinto their system (or their life), I highly recommend giving Fritz a call.

AssociatedEquipment
Marantz SA8003 SACD Player
Music Hall DAC25.3 USB DAC
Parasound Model 2100 Preamplifier
Parasound Model 2125 Amplifier
Listening room is approximately 13 feet wide and 25 feet long.
Acoustic treatments include wall-wall carpet, curtains, and a large overstuffedsofa.

Specifications
Type: Two-way monitor speaker
Frequency Response: 39 Hz to 20 kHz (+/- 3dB)
Impedance: 8 Ohms nominal
Sensitivity: 87 dB/W/m
Bass/Midrange Driver: 7" Carbon Graphite Fiber/Paper Pulp composite cone with non-resonant low loss butyl rubber surround & Kapton voice coil former & die cast frame with massive magnet, bass reflex loaded- rear port
Tweeter: 28 mm 1.1 inch hand coated textile soft dome with non-resonant rear chamber & ferro-fluid cooling, aluminum face plate.
Crossover: Series crossover without any capacitors or resistors in the circuit with the tweeter. Acoustic Reality Series Crossovers
Dimensions: 16 x 9 x 12 (HxWxD in inches)
Weight: 30 lbs. each
Recommended Power: 30 - 150 Watts RMS, without clipping
Price: Starting at $1795 per pair

Company Information
Fritz Speakers
Voice: (310) 379-8190
Website: www.fritzspeakers.com