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Will this FIM 880 open up & let some detail in?

Pulled my stock Acme Silver last night for the FIM 880. At same time I pulled a stock 20 cent house outlet near the rig for an Acme Silver w/ Cryo and the stock Acme silver went to the "B" system. I just had to hear the difference myself b/w the FIM and Acme.

I know this is only Day one, so things will change. However, I instantly missed the detail of the Acme Silver? Playing Sara K "Hobo" & Patricia Barber "Companion" I first noticed a smoother vocal presentation that was kind of cool This particularly struck me on the Pretenders Live Acoustic CD. Then I started noticing little things that were not so cool. Bells, Triangles, Shakers and such in the backgroound were much more less distinct. That dynamic snap to the vocals when they go from soft to loud were glossed over some. Now, I know the FIM isn't broke in yet, but also I am thinking that replacing that crappy 20 cent outlet near the rig w/ the Acme Cryo HAS to be giving me LOTs more detail than before so one could extrapolate from this that the FIM is even MORE rolled off on top?

Gear: AES Superamp w/ Amperex EL-34 tubes w/ Double-D getters, Siemens CCa drivers and RCA Cleartop inputs connected w/ David Elrod EPS PC. Theta Data Basic II transport plugged in w/ Shunyata Cobra PC. EVS M2 DAC plugged in w/ Black Mamba PC. Melos Maestro pre using Omega Mikro PC w/ Active Shield. Harmonic tech Magic One digital cable and Pure Silver COnnection R-30 large silver ribbon ICs and speaker cables to Silverline Sonatina speakers. Amp & Theta plugged into dedicated FIM line via PS Audio Ultimate Outlet and BMI Whale PC.

I will check back in here from time to time w/ results. As for now though I would be interested to hear the burn in results of other FIM owners as they process went on. Does the top end open up after a while? In my experience most new cables and such sound sort of bright at first then settle in and the midrange blooms last. Hate to think this FIM will lose anymore top end detail?

For now will pull my CCa driver tubes for a more extended, but harder sounding Siemens E88CC tube to try and gain back some lost sound.

Due to having tube gear it is not really feasable for me to leave stuff on 24/7 to help this, but I may go get a large fan or something and plug in while I am not using the stereo to help speed this up.

Outlets, who wouldda thunk it! ;~)
blazter
gpb
25 posts
 
Hi,

I have 16 dedicated 20 amp lines powering my system on 4 200 amp service boxes. Just kidding.

Seriously, I have 3 FIM outlets on two dedicated lines (12 AWG/20 amp). I've had the FIM's for quite a while, in audiophile time that's more than a few months. A week ago, I had wonderful dynamics and couldn't believe things could get better. That's when the Progold and DeoxIt arrived. I figured, here we go...another small tweak.

I started with speaker connections and RCA's. WOW...maybe a little better, well, it all sounded a little cleaner...but things already sounded good. So, moved onto power cords. Yep, sounds good. Went downstairs and cleaned the wire and the breaker...and my digital cable. Hmmm, now I lost my air and things kinda went soft. WTH? So I took a little rubbing alcohol to the digital cable to clean it up. No change.

Are we in the Matrix or what? This is nuts. Now I'm thinking I should backtrack and clean everything up with alcohol and see if I can get back to where I started.

Thoughts? It's been about 5 days since this happened. TIA.

-- Greg
blazter OP
27 posts
 
Glad to hear that the FIM will open up then! From the "bottom up" is very unusual, but the fact that my system changed SO MUCH from going to the FIM from the Acme Non-cryo is mind boggling enough. Just got finished w/ about 4 months of power cord evaluations and to think I could go off on an outlet junket just about sends me over the edge!

Tom, The Cryo Acme are supposed to take care of that "chalkiness/whitening" you mentioned, that's why I got one when I bought the FIM. Definately FIM are "darker" sounding! Part of my panic was when the Acme went in I loved it from the get-go! So to pull it for the FIM and then NOT like what I heard instantly sort of threw me. Even today though as I played the rig for about 8 hours straight it did begin to give up a little more detail. I did replace my CCa driver tubes for more revealing Siemens E88CC and that helped a small amount too. I am a self proclaimed detail fanatic so the Acme CRYO may be my route in the end? Going to be patient though and givce this FIM another week or ten days to start to turn around.

Hdm. Thanks for that detailed lesson on the various outlets. Looks like this is my power cord evaluation all over agin? Apparently once we get to a certain point then EVERYTHING we change on the power side no matter how small is going to have some effect on our systems.
At this point though there is NO doubt that the FIM is masking info that is plainly there just yesterday when the Acme Non Cryo was in the rig at that location. The Cds I used are just too well known to my ears and when I can barely hear something while the FIM is in that is prominant w/ the Acme it just bugs the hell outta me! Still if in the end the FIM even gets me back to 90% of the Acme detail and keeps the smoother vocals I'll give it it's due. I have a sneaky feeling though that knowing how I am I wont be able to rest until I let the FIM burn in for a couple weeks then go w/ the Acme Cryo in THAT location and see how much it is improved or not over the Non cryo & FIM IN THAT PARTICULAR spot. having the Cryo where the old cheap outlet was isn't as significant. Possibly the thing to do is first swap the FIM & current Cryo locations THEN get another Cryo for the dedicated spot where the darn FIM now rests? Oh crap, here I go again! ;~)

THANKS GUYS!
hee
22 posts
 
Try replace the CCa with a (genuine) Valvo for the HF sparkle.
jose21
93 posts
 
I installed the FIM and replaced my PS Audio PowerPort 10 days ago. Had the same results as Blazter did. Extremely rolled-off,less detail and dynamics compressed. Even my Velo sub was about 3-4 dbs lower. WEIRD!?! My dealer says that 100-150 hrs. should be enough to "open" things up. 200 hrs. came and went with no change. Went back to the PS Audio today and I'm happy again.
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