F I M Speaker Cables

i agree wholeheartedly with jacks and jcbtubes. the fim's are world-class and the current wire of choice for avalon acoustics. (these folks can have anything they want, BTW, including the most obnoxiously-priced nbs.) me thinks sdrconsultant is a pimp for fatwyre? i hope winston never sells his wire thru those leeches.

Hi Accel, I have been using the FIM speaker cable and as Sdr said, it is STIFF. I pity the poor guy who has to bi wire. As Jcbtubes said, watch those connections. I disagree with Sdr on the construction of this cable. The FIM has weight, power, and is very rich sounding. There is an ease to the sound that I had to get used to. I have never heard a cable that has a density in the images as the FIM. This density in the images creates a dimensionality that is truly extraordinary. This is the first cable that lets me see (hear) the back of the soundstage as well as the front. I still feel that I have a lot to learn about this cable as it is so different from all other cables that I have tried. I wish I was better with words in describing what I hear. If you are looking for world class sound and have a high res system, then audition the FIM against any other cable. IMO this stuff is amazing. Do not think you can just pop this stuff in and out and get a true understanding of what this cable can do. I might be much slower than many others in doing comparisons but do not think you can come to a conclusion with a 1 day trial. I have had this cable for a time and I am still learning things about this cable.

Accel and Cornfedboy, clarification follows. First I am no pimp for fatwyre. Our company is a high-end custom designer of 2 channel and theater system for commercial and residential clients in Minnesota. Neither I nor our company has any connection with fatwyre. Second we have three complete installations with FIM gold at clients insistence. Two pair of tweeters blown out of JMLab Utopias, one Theta Gen Va DAC gone up in smoke, I could still notice the scent of burnt electrical components when I arrived, one dCS Delius and Purcell damaged. All of this destruction is a direct result of the FIM cables, more specifically the power cords. No one in the thread is questioning the beyond difficult to work with cables. Because of their stiffness they do loosen binding posts off speakers and amps and the power cords do NOT stay in components resulting in the above losses. I agree with all the posts saying they are amazing sounding cables. In our collective opinion not better but different than the other high end cables. The conclusion to all this is we will no longer install this brand of cable. It is not worth the risk. Clients are not always as attentitive as they should be. No matter how often we go back to the site and no matter what unique rigging we have tried it just isn't woth the risk of losing clients and damaging our reputation (looking foolish in the clients eyes with smoking equipment)for a different not better sound. Other posts may be right that these cables will become the world standard in listening but, from our point of view we can not be at every client's listening room for every session so this results in an unworkable product for us. IOHO we respectfully recommend against them. Thanks for all your patience reading through a long post.

Sdrconsultant: thank you for your polite and thoughtful followup. your experience does give one pause.

Sdrc- It is certainly regrettable about the problems that you've encountered using the FIM cables. Obviously, it was a poor choice given the customer's application or installation limitations. Certainly, if the equipment is to be moved around or not installed allowing adequate strain relief for heavy cables (and this would apply to any of the big-named, hefty power cords,ie. Shunyata KC, Electraglide, NBS, etc...) then the potential for problems would exist. Fortunately, having lived with most of these other cable brands as well as the FIM, I haven't encountered any of the catastrophic failures that you noted. Precautions are obviously needed concerning the pre-forming and rechecking after the cable has had time to relax, but I would hate to discourage someone from auditioning FIM cables. I have found them to be not only different, but sonically superior to the other better-known brands (MIT, Kimber Select, NBS, etc...) that I've used in my system. In your position as a consultant/installer, I understand your feelings due to your experiences. Possibly, your better understanding of the additional requirements for a successful installation using FIM cables could benefit the manufacurer and be incorporated into the installation sheet for the product to assist other users. Just a thought.