FIM 880 AC Outlet-- Best tweak I've ever heard


Summary: Friday morning I installed a FIM 880 AC outlet. This receptacle is made of high purity copper with ceramique insulation. I plugged my amp into it and was treated to the best music I have ever heard in my stereo system-- rich, warm, natural and beautiful.

Story: Last Oct. I got Vandersteen 5 speakers. In preparation for them, I had to go to 15 ft. ICs, short speaker cables, and Syn. Res. Master Couplers for the powered subs in the speakers, and a 14 ft. Master Coupler to reach from amp to a dedicated outlet. I also put in 3 Acme silver plated outlets, two went in non-dedicated circuits for the speaker subs, and the other was put on a dedicated line for my amp. So, I had to break-in or burn-in a lot of different "stuff" at the same time-- not the best way to do it, but to put the amp between speakers, I had to go this route.

I immediately liked the V5 speakers and even though they were very revealing, somewhat bright, and somewhat lean, I expected all the new wires and speakers to mellow as they broke in, and they did smooth out greatly over a 30 day period, and have continue to improve even now. But, even though very smooth and non-fatiging, they were still very revealing and brighter than I prefer.

I considered everything but most suspected the 15 ft. Syn. Res. silver/copper active shielded ICs, but to correct that would be expensive, and I didn't know what to replace them with anyway. I also remembered that the Acme outlets were silver plated, and of course silver has a reputation of being fast, bright, detailed, zippy, clean etc. But recently another A'Gon member, Eagle, recommended the FIM outlet so I bought one-- not cheap at $70. either.

Immediately after exchanging the Acme outlet for the FIM for my amp, I listened to some well known music. To be honest, it was a "jaw dropping" experience (and I seldom "gush"), Alison Krauss' vocals became warm, rich, immediate, live, natural, seductive. Timbral richness is now incredible. I had also just gotten 3 XRCDs and on Thursday night, (with Acme outlet) could only say the XRCDs were very revealing but that's all. But Friday with the FIM outlet, the Jacintha XRCD2 "Autumn Leaves, The Music of Johnny Mercer", music became truly breathtaking. It had ALL the positive characteristics I've noted above, and most of all was beautiful, natural, musical.

The same thing happened with the XRCD Robert Lucas "Luke and the Locomotives"-- a hard driving Blues/Rock CD. With the change of outlets, piano sounded like piano (it was glassy before in the treble range), a Fender Strat at full scream now sounds "right", and soft acoustic guitar was better than I've ever heard. But vocals was where the magic really was-- Jacinth's voice was rich, warm, natural, and "in the room with me".

This review is not meant to critisize Acme outlets, as in a dark sounding system, they may be "just right-- they are fast smooth and detailed once broken in. BUT IN MY SYSTEM-- well, the FIM has transformed it-- I admit to a definite preference for a warm, rich, sweet presentation, and I have FINALLY found it with a simple outlet change. Also, my Vandersteen 5s now sound like Vandersteen speakers.

If my house were burning down, and there was only one of these FIM outlets in existence, I'd save my wife, the cat, and the FIM outlet. The FIM 880s are "Dyno-Supreme", IMO. Sorry for the long-winded gushing, but I wanted to share this 4 month journey and experience with A'Gon brethern, and I also needed an "outlet" for my excitment;>) I've gotta' quit! Any comments/questions are welcome. CHEERS. Craig
garfish

Showing 5 responses by sherod

Galen Carol Audio will have them in stock this coming week for $55.oo.A bargain as within the last few weeks they have made even better improvements.www.gcaudio.com.Galen is a very friendly guy with many years of experience.
Talk to Galen at www.gcaudio.com.Galen has been communicating closely lately with the FIM people and is being constantly updated on the outlet upgrades.As I understood Galen last week in our phone conversation the newest outlets have even more copper in them for an even better contact.Galen would prefer phone contact as he is usually too busy at his business to chat on-line.I ordered the new fim outlet from him last week.They should be arriving from factory in Ca. next Tues.for shipment.I have read from many sources that the fim outlet is far superior to any hospital-grade outlets available.( better sound and longevity).There are other fim distributors out there but I live in Texas and Galen is in Texas so I try to keep my dollars locally.
I have heard that the fim gold speaker cables are one of the most musically-right cables on the market.Very expensive and very stiff,so evaluations are crucial for system compatibility.My friend Galen likes this cable line a lot but he told me recently that most of his customers prefer Cardas.Personal preferences and system synergy matching obviously at work here.I have found being new again to the audiophile world again after being away from it for many years that with all cables( interconnects and speaker) you have to be very patient and allow a thourough break-in of these cables before passing judgement,even longer than the manufacturer recommends.I recently bought a pair of interconnects that sounded awful after a week of 24 hr. burn-in and completely transformed after that to become one of the best-sounding cables I have ever heard.Patience is indeed a virtue in today's hobby of auditioning high-end gear. Happy listening fellow audiophiles.
This message is for Craig(Garfish)A little off the subject it may go to another thread.Anyway, I noticed in your bio and other threads that you have or are using Synergistic Research cables.I read recently that SR is offering effective 3/01/02 an inexpensive upgrade to the new "X" series i.e. active versions. I have a pr. of Signature 2 speaker cables which I was thinking of selling and upgrading to the reference level,but the new SR website says an upgrade to the x-series would make your current model superior to a non x-series reference model.Have you or anyone else with SR cables tried this new upgrade and what are the sound differences.I know they are throwing in a $50.00 power supply and they boast of the neat-looking cool blue lights, but is there a dramatic betterment of the sound.Anyone that's heard these new x-series cables please respond.Thanks Also the website is www.synergisticresearch.com .When you get in click the big blue X. They are currently revising their website so this is all you can get into for now.I think I see why so many dealers are trying to dump all the SR models at 1/2 price in order to make way for this new revolutionary X-series.
Does everyone still like their FIM 880 outlets? I was reading in some recent audio asylum cable threads that some people prefer the new Jena Labs and Acme silver cryo'd outlets.Anyone ever do a comparison with these?