FM ACOUSTICS NEWS Volume 8, Sping 1997 News fo Domestic Uses Phono Lineaizes/Peamplifies 1 The Futue of Analog 3 The Inspiation System 4 Unique Potection Systems 5 Tuneable speake cables 6 Impoving the LP 12 tuntable 7 News fo Pofessionals ClassAmp M-1 8 Ty a "Poduce's Set" 9 Audio Vitual Standad System 10 Unique testing pocedues 11 Net pice policy 12 Liteatue and infomation 12 Acclaimed the wold ove: The Resolution Seies TM Phono Lineaizes/Peamplifies Fom enginees to ecod collectos, fom audiophiles to Shellac enthusiasts, fom musicians to poduces and eviewes, the eactions and vedicts ae pecisely the same: neve befoe in the histoy of music epoduction has it been possible to extact so much music, detail and emotional context fom ecod gooves. It was the beakthough in the design of tue balanced cicuity togethe with new components that made the design of FM ACOUSTICS' phono lineaizes possible. The R&D of this poject was a temendous expense and commecially speaking, the whole poject seemed athe questionable. Huge development costs combined with a - then - almost nonexisting maket. We decided to continue despite this as the possibility to hea fo the fist time ecods pecisely as they wee meant to be head was too thilling to be bypassed. Many classic pefomances can only now be admied in full thanks to the Resolution Seies TM phono lineaizes/peamplifies. 1
The Resolution Seies ΤΜ 222 With the FM 222 & FM 122 it is fo the fist time possible to optimally estoe, tansfe and achive analogue ecodings with an accuacy neve befoe thought possible. No othe phono peamplifie povides anywhee nea such epoduction. Catidge fine tuning with unlimited flexibility togethe with many othe featues such as the fully vaiable RIAA de-emphasis chaacteistics allow accuate epoduction of any ecod with any catidge/tuntable combination. The diffeence must be head to be believed. All epots the wold ove agee: - "The FM 222 is designed fo the most committed LP "Die Hads"; you will neve eget paying so much fo such a mastepiece... You old and new LP's & 78's collections have all been ebon again." Audio Land Magazine, Hong Kong - "It is without doubt the best phono peamplifie that I have eve tied." Suono Magazine, Italy - "You cannot do anything bette fo you ecod collection. Tuly fantastic music epoduction." - "With the FM 122 and FM 222 one expeiences musical teasues as they wee meant to be head. The best." Image Hifi, Gemany "...Afte having listened to the FM 222 fo a couple of weeks, I feel I have to wite you. I have been involved with High End equipment fo yeas and have also collected ecods since I was in school. Since the beginning of this yea, I finally felt I had aived at the ultimate a system could yield. I had been woking towad this end fo the last two and a half yeas. I have always only used tubes so theefoe optimizing a system which involved the seach fo excellent tubes, which wee also ae, made the poject even moe complex. When I odeed the FM 222, I did it because I was intigued by its design concept and you eputation. I did not, howeve, expect to enhance the quality of the sound my system poduced; pehaps, at best, to give it a new pespective. I was, theefoe, even moe ovewhelmed by what I expeienced. Right out of the box, the FM 222 impessed by its stunning appeaance. It looked moe like a fine piece of jewelley than audio equipment. The minute I played the vey fist ecod, I knew I neve head anything like this befoe. The sense of pesence, ease and natual detail. The ichness of tone and esonance. The vibant, vital quality of voices and instuments was simply beathtaking. Neve befoe had I head my ecods epoduced this way. Fo the vey fist time since I have been tying to achieve the vey best in sound epoduction, I felt I was in the ecoding venue. I was pat of the moment when these ecods wee being ecoded. Finally, I believe I have an insight and new undestanding of the meaning of ecoding music and its epoduction. The expeience is what makes all this wok wothwhile and fo it, I must thank you." Ausbet de Ace, New Yok, U.S.A. "With the FM 222 one can almost make a late RCA "No dog" stampe sound like a "Shaded Dog" stampe." "The accuacy of the FM 222, combined with the wondeful musical feeling is simply supeb." Eckhad Hempel, Sydney, Austalia FM 222 CLONES... "Imitation is the sinceest fom of flattey." Othe manufactues will no doubt ty to copy some featues of the FM 222, such as e.g. the vaiable loading and the vaiable RIAA de-emphasis. In this way they ty to make customes believe that the units will be able to pefom like an FM 222 o FM 122. Howeve, the vaiable RIAA de-emphasis developed by FM ACOUSTICS is much moe complex than a couple of contols and switches. It is easy to design a "lookalike" but the pinciple of FM ACOUSTIC'S cicuit is unique. Copying the knobs and switches is one thing, duplicating the pefomance is quite anothe. Just one example: the signal levels passing though the Resolution Seies TM phono peamplifies ae vey much highe than in usual peamplifies. Othe designs ae simply unable to povide the necessay headoom equied, so the esulting sound will be compessed and ill-defined, totally opposite of what an FM ACOUSTICS' phono lineaize/peamplifie povides. The cicuits ae totally unique, cannot be copied and emain popietay. 2
THE FUTURE OF ANALOGUE The Resolution Seies 122 Phono Lineaize/Peamplifie Immutable Music is famous fo thei "Tansfiguation" MC catidges. The following comment was in a fax that was eceived: "We have puchased the FM 122 with its FM 102 powe supply, and we ae vey pleased to infom you that if vinyl collectos have not head the FM 122, they have not head the futue of analogue. Quite simply, the FM 122 is musically excellent. It takes the bass claity, definition and pace to an unexpectedly high standad fo LP eplay". Seiji Yoshioka, Diecto, Immutable Music, Yokohama, Japan SWISS NATIONAL RECORD LIBRARY INSTALLS FM 122 With the intoduction of the outstanding FM 122 phono lineaize/peamplifie, fo the fist time eve, ecods (LP's, 45's Mono ecods as well as Shellacs) can be epoduced as they wee intended to be head and this at a - no, not cheap - but a easonable pice. The National Recod Libay of Switzeland tied the FM 122 on estoation wok, fo tansfe and achiving of the huge collection of analogue ecodings (moe than a million ecods) in thei libaies. The comment afte the enginees head the FM 122: "The FM 122 is in a class of its own. The delicacy of epoduction in combination with the featues make it tuly unique. A esounding success. It is in constant use in ou tansfe facilities, eveybody wants to use it!" The FM 122 is a deam component, enabling the eplay of vinyl teasues in a way neve befoe thought possible. No compomise in the design and manufactuing is allowed. As the FM 122 is single ended the component count of the tue balanced FM 222 phono lineaize/ peamplifie is pactically halved. This allows it to be much lowe in pice and it theeby achieves an unbeatable pice/pefomance atio. Via its continuously vaiable de-emphasis contols (no switches!) the FM 122 allows the eplay of analogue ecodings with the pecise mio image of the pe-emphasis (cutting) cuve used at the time. In this way it can extact the oiginal tonal chaacteistics, imaging, ambience and dynamics of each instument and voice with a neve befoe attained pecision and ealism. "The musicality of the FM 122 Phono Peamplifie is simply phenomenal. It epoduces music puely as music. Fantastic!" Willi Maissen, Uste, Switzeland "By acquiing the FM 122, I made a giant step fowad in this field." Heman A. Witjes, Gümligen, Switzeland. Ask fo a demonstation to expeience this mavel. 3
Inspiation System What a eception! An entiely new wold in music epoduction. The official wold Pemiee of the Inspiation System took place at the Palace Hotel in Lucene, Switzeland, tuly one of the "Leading Hotels of the Wold". The eactions wee so ovewhelming that it is consideed to have pesentations in some othe majo cities. Comments fom attendants: "This is sonic Nivana" "Absolutely incedible" "Music like neve head befoe - as stated on the invitation!" "Fa above any audio system I eve head" "With this system one can finally ente the wold of eal music epoduction" "Honestly, afte all of these yeas in this business I have not head anything coming anywhee close to what I head hee" "I came with high expectations, and was liteally blown away" "Such sound one can only deam about" "Music in its puest fom. Fo the fist time in all these yeas my wife said she now undestands fully why I indulge in this hobby" At the end of the pesentations many who attended efused to leave the oom and stayed on to hea a second pesentation. Some attended even a thid one and one gentleman fom Holland - who is espected fo his ability to pecisely judge the musical accuacy of music systems - stayed fo two full days! His comment on the Inspiation System: "It is fa beyond anything I have eve head. The longe you listen to it, the cleae it becomes: This is THE efeence." The Inspiation System had been peviously peviewed unofficially to a selected goup of distibutos at the CES Show in Las Vegas. Afte the fist day, the news had made the ounds and liteally dozens of the most famous designes and manufactues of electonics and speakes lined up to hea the system. They eithe left quietly o openly acknowledged the absolute excellence of the Inspiation System. As an example hee the comment of the chief enginee fom a vey famous manufactue: "It must be admitted that this is by fa the closest to eal music epoduction we eve head. Even compaed to today's "State of the At" technology it is in an entiely diffeent ealm." The most famous enginees in audio, fom Tom Jung (DMP) to John Eagle (Delos) wee thooughly impessed by the system's capabilities. "You oom at CES exhibition sounded geat. You oom at evey CES exhibition is consistently geat, and this is just like you poducts." John A. Mille, Acoustic Sounds, Salina, KS, U.S.A. At the official wold pemiee in Lucene the two hou demonstations wee shaed between Jüg Schoppe of Wintethu, one of Euope's most dedicated and knowledgeable collectos of music aities on vinyl (and a tue music love) and Manuel Hube of FM ACOUSTICS. M. Schoppe pesented a deam collection of ecods, amongst them "Hifi à la Espagnola" and Ruggieo Ricci's Camen Vaiations. Neve befoe have these ecods been epoduced moe ealistically! 4
Amongst the othe titles wee test pessings of popula music such as Ry Coode, ZZ Top and an Elvis album fom 1954 which sounded just medioce until M. Schoppe adjusted the FM 222's vaiable RIAA deemphasis which made the singe and musicians liteally jump alive! What a diffeence to the usual "audiophile" systems! FM ACOUSTICS' pesident, Manuel Hube pesented both, some athe unique and also some easily available ecods, almost binging back to life the most cheished musicians anging fom saxophone geat Ben Webste to the phenomenal pianist Atuo Michelangeli Benedetti (who owned FM ACOUSTICS equipment). On Satuday the end of the demonstation was scheduled fo 7 p.m. but listenes just efused to leave so the music did not stop until 11 p.m.! On Sunday some newe titles fom CLASSIC RECORDS wee pesented, amongst them Sonny Rollins: "The Bidge" and Dave Bubeck's "Time Out", fine e-cuts by Benie Gundman, which esulted in a wide applause fom the audience. The Inspiation System is a joint effot of 3 high level enginees fom Switzeland and FM ACOUSTICS who builds all electonics including the special active and passive cossoves. It is a "complete system" appoach and includes eveything except the souce(s): an FM 266 linestage pefectly balances the signal and sends it though P.I.T. cables to the special electonic cossoves. Fom thee it is fed to two steeo amplifies (one channel of each amplifie dives the bass speakes, the othe channel dives the middle and highe fequencies). The mid- and high-fequency signal is then supplied to the passive cossoves and is then sent via multi-pin connection to the individual dives. The Inspiation Systems ae only made-to-ode because of the exteme difficulty in assembling a system of such outstanding accuacy and such low toleances. They ae not systems fo the usual "audiophile"; these ae systems fo atists, seasoned music loves, collectos and libaies who must have ultimate accuacy and ealism, and who ae eady fo the final, once in a lifetime investment. No, FM ACOUSTICS does not manufactue loudspeakes. But we have ageed to make the Inspiation System available on a made-to-ode basis because of its absolute excellence. FM ACOUSTICS' UNIQUE PROTECTION SYSTEMS "Potection Systems that do not limit Sound Quality" The Resolution Seies TM amplifies incopoate a computeized potection system that employs a multitude of sensos continually checking vaious pefomance paametes. This allows the amplifie to dive any known load but also instantly ecognize any dange o negative influence on the audio signal. If an eo situation occus the amplifie will instantly disconnect its load and switch itself off. Eos such as tansients on the mains line, instability and HF oscillation of peceding equipment, pesence of stong RF signals, shot cicuits, DC offset voltage, non-satisfactoy eathing/gounding aangements etc. can do no ham in an FM ACOUSTICS. In othe amplifies such eos often cause damage to speake and/o amplifie. Expeience has shown that this system is a fa bette way of potecting the load and the amplifie than the usual output fuses, signal clamping, electonic voltage limiting o signal compession used in odinay amplifies, as all these negatively influence the audio signal. With this system thee is absolutely no possibility of limiting o compession no othe influence on the audio signal. Eithe the amplifie woks pefectly o it switches off, signalling the type of fault. How do FM ACOUSTICS amplifies achieve thei unique, pactically unlimited output cuent? In the Resolution Seies TM amplifies the cuent capability of the amplifies is not limited intenally. It is only dependent on the capabilities of the mains supply. Amplifie designes face a dilemma: thee must be a shot cicuit potection fo the output stage but the typical fuses, cuent o voltage limiting in dive o output stages and othe kind of limiting used today all have a vey negative influence on the audio signal. Futhemoe these cicuits can be tiggeed by dynamic Back-EMF (the cuent that is fed fom the loudspeakes back into the amplifie once the diaphagm has been excited) and vaious othe dynamic phenomena. This esults is a cold, hash sound when diving a speake: shap limiting, hash clipping, even oscillation o extemely fast spikes ae typical eactions of usual potection cicuits. These effects do not nomally occu with a so-called "dummy load" (i.e., the 8 Ohm powe esisto used on the typical test bench) but ae pesent when diving cetain, moe demanding speakes. With some of today's speakes accuate epoduction of dynamics equies huge output cuents fom the amplifie (not a dozen - as usually believed - but liteally hundeds of epetitive peak Ampees!) and this at the same time when lage voltage outputs (up to 180V pp continuous) ae equied, a temendously difficult task. When one adds to that the amplifie's capability of diving impedances to below 1 Ohm (!) without any fom of limiting o signal compession plus the capability of the Resolution Seies TM ingenious potection cicuits to instantly ecognize any shot cicuit, it becomes clea what a fomidable task this development pesented. 5
TRUE TO THE MUSIC: FORCELINES Resolution Seies ΤΜ REQUIRES FORCELINES The Resolution Seies ΤΜ powe amplifies have much highe demands on speake cables than any othe powe amplifie and can theefoe only be used with FORCELINES. Thee ae seveal easons fo this equiement, one of them is the output impedance which defines - amongst othe things - the amplifie's capability to contol the speake diaphagm. Geneally, the lowe the impedance, the bette the contol exeted on the dives. Typical "high-end" amplifies have output impedances of 50 mohm to 200 mohm; the output impedance of othe solid state and that of tube amplifies is even highe. The Resolution Seies ΤΜ amplifies, howeve, have an output impedance that is no less than 4-15 times lowe! This means that the cable connecting the speake becomes as many times as impotant! If standad "audiophile " speake cables would be used, the unique chaacteistics of the Resolution Seies ΤΜ amplifies would be defeated and theefoe the amplifie would be unable to pefom at its best, simply because of the limitation of the cables. With odinay high-end cables the unique damping of the FM ACOUSTICS amplifies - into which a lot of R&D has gone - is loweed damatically. To avoid losing these had-eaned chaacteistics of the amplifies a totally neutal, ulta-accuate low impedance cable had to be developed. Resolution Seies ΤΜ powe amplifies ae theefoe only available in combination with FORCELINES. Othe amplifies can also benefit fom the unique chaacteistics of FORCELINES. Seveal diffeent vesions ae available to allow optimal pefomance with a vaiety of diffeent amplifies. Contact you distibuto o FM ACOUSTICS fo futhe details and Technical Bulletin No. 23. TUNEABLE SPEAKER CABLES Thee ae noticeable diffeences in how speakes and amplifies eact to changes of capacitance and inductance of speake cables. A chaacteistic unique to FORCELINES speake cables is that thei capacitance and inductance ae tuneable by the use (othe cable designs have fixed capacitance and inductance). Thanks to thei constuction as sepaate conductos, the physical position of the conductos in elation to each othe (and theefoe the pefomance) can be optimized fo each combination of audio components. Some amplifie/speake combinations will wok well when the cables ae twisted, while in othe systems sepaating the two conductos will povide bette esults. It also is possible to keep the two conductos sepaated at a fixed distance with the special spaces that ae povided with evey FORCELINESpackage. FORCELINES allow fine tuning fo optimal pefomance and theeby guaantee ultimate, lowest loss signal tansfe. "What I epot hee sounds almost unbelievable, but by eplacing the 2 huge mono block amplifies with the single FM 611 and just playing tack 8 of the Sheffield test CD, one immediately ealizes that even a simple sine wave on a CD sounds clealy much bette though FM ACOUSTICS' powe amplifies." A use in Switzeland THE COMPLETE SYSTEM Only the complete system appoach will povide the full expeience of an FM ACOUSTICS' component unde test. So, even if you ae only inteested in a single FM ACOUSTICS' component, do not limit the expeience by just listening to that unit combined with othe electonics. Ask fo an audition of a complete FM ACOUSTICS' system. This way the component will be head at its best and you can be sue not to miss pat of the expeience. 6
Pecision Inteface Technology PHONO INTERCONNECT CABLES IMPROVE THE LP12 TURNTABLE Seveal uses and distibutos have infomed us that by eplacing the cables in the LP12 tuntable with Phono Inteconnects fom Pecision Inteface Technology, an amazing impovement in music epoduction is achieved. This is a simple modification that has a geat effect. Hee some use's comments: "It is eally amazing; I would neve have thought that the phono inteconnects play such an impotant ole. It eally makes the LP12 fly."...astounding claity of the music and most of all the clea positioning of the musicians.fo the fist time deams became tue. Music began to live. Pete Lastovka, Feilassing, Gemany "Apat fom the astounding sonic impovement, we found that the ulta high flexibility of the P.I.T. cables allows the LP12's suppot system to be moe effective. Thee is no stain on the sub-chassis thanks to the cables' supeb flexibility. The cable also consideably impoves bass epoduction." CABLE TESTS An inteesting blind compaison of 16 diffeent cable bands was ecently epoted fom Malaysia. A goup of ten consisting of music loves and musicians sat down fo listening compaisons of vaious cables. Among the cables evaluated wee FORCELINES speake cables. Each cable was evaluated with two diffeent amplifies and two pais of speakes. No "influencing" of the listenes was possible since the cables wee hidden and the cable bands wee not given until afte the test was ove. The test setup was ealistic, using decent but not vey expensive audio components and a vaiety of music mateial. The esult vey biefly: ten out of ten subjects chose FORCELINES cables as the most accuate and natual sounding speake cables. The second test involved inteconnect cables. The esult was equally ponounced. Ten out of ten listenes chose the ulta flexible Pecision Inteface Technology inteconnects ove all othe cables in this test. The juy was not just asked to ate the cables in elation to each othe but also to make subjective comments. Fo P.I.T. cables, attibutes such as "sweetness", "fantastic tanspaency", "bette dynamic contasts", "moe finely delineated hi-end", "moe neutal", "moe eal", "pinpoint focusing at the same time as extended depth and width" wee given. An inteesting test that confimed once again that the most accuate cables do not have to be bulky o outageously expensive. One must be awae that cetain systems o combinations of components may equie a "filteing" type of inteconnect cable, this to compensate fo system nonlineaities and eos. If say, a thinny sounding CD playe/convete is combined with a bight sounding speake, a neutal and linea cable will eveal the bightness moe than a "filteed" cable. The eos ae theefoe moe ponounced with the linea cable that is - in this case - sounding bighte. This is exactly how it should sound! Rathe than using a filteing type of cables as a "band aid" to compensate one eo with anothe eo, it would make sense to fist coect the oiginal eo(s)! The above is the eason why FM ACOUSTICS does not claim that P.I.T. cables will always and in evey system "sound bette" although in decent systems the impovement is immediately audible. 7
FOR PROFESSIONAL USERS Shawn Muphy buys ClassAmp M-1's Wold famous enginee/film music ecodist Shawn Muphy extensively uses the ClassAmp M-1 in vaious ecoding locations, including ABBEY ROAD Studio, London and TODD-A.O. STUDIOS, Studio City, Hollywood. Shawn Muphy chose "the ClassAmp M-1's fo it's "uncanny ability to pecisely epoduce what is captued by the micophones. The ClassAmp 's ambient etieval and its high fequency detail and extension seems to have no limit. At the same time it is totally fee fom any of the stidency usually associated with units having extended high fequency esponse". "(...) Ambient etieval is beyond what I have eve head befoe. The high fequencies ae extended in a vey likeable way - not aggessive, not bight - but thee is this feeling of unlimited fequency ange that esults in beautiful tanspaency (...)." With the new concept of amplifying the tiny micophone signal to line level ight nea the tansduce (the ClassAmp can be clipped to the micophone stand o placed nea the micophone), any negative influence such as hum, noise intefeences etc. ae damatically educed, and a much bette signal-to-noise-atio is achieved. The ClassAmp M-1 emains absolutely stable and this - contay to most mic peamplifies - at any gain setting. It also povides pecision stabilized phantom voltage to the micophones and featues an unmatched common mode ejection (bette than 100dB CMRR ove the full fequency ange!). Daio Dagoni on the ClassAmp M-1 "I have had the occasion to test you ClassAmp M-1 micophone peamplifie; with enthusiastic esults. I have made ecoding tests with a Hambug Steinway gand piano in a lyical theate, whee the ambience was paticulaly good and the auditoium acoustically vey equilibated. The sound of the piano was epoduced with exact intensity and optimal colou, lively and fesh. It had a vey focused steeo image, is deep and ich in hamonics." "Listening to the ecoding was vey convincing and confimed the quality of the ClassAmp M-1. The epoduction was vey beautiful and defined. It is vey detailed with fine definition, stable, apid and clea tansients, "pianissimo" ae all exceptionally pesent. The exteme high fequencies ae well equilibated and the medium fequencies clea and defined. "A special note is in egads to the lineaity: the steeo image is clea and wide, and, most impotant, eal." "The feedom of coloation is anothe point that has been much appeciated, a clea sound with eal timbe, identical to the oiginal, and in geneal, a ealism, a fidelity of sound that has taste; a epoduction that is neve tiing." Daio Dagoni, chief enginee at the Music Poduction Cente SRL, Somaglia, Italy. Some of Shawn Muphy's ecent ecoding pojects: 1992 "Sommesby" "Falling Down" "Home Alone 2" 1994: "Speechless" "Little Woman" "Legend of the Fall" "Fantasia II" "Clea & Pesent Dange" 1993: "Schindle's List" "Juassic Pak" "Indecent Poposal" 1995: "To Die Fo" "Outbeak" "Doloes Claybon" "In evey single mic peamp shot out, the ClassAmp M-1 outpefomed all othe micophone peamplifies." John Catchings, Cellist, Nashville TN, USA ClassAmp M-1 Powe supply cables Powe supply cables to connect a second ClassAmp M-1 to the powe supply ae available in diffeent lengths (each FM 202 powe supply can powe two ClassAmp M-1's, one via the cable fitted to the powe supply and one via an additional powe suplly cable). Standad lengths have the following odeing codes: ACC- 22083: (2 mt) ACC- 22084: (5 mt) ACC- 22085: (10 mt) Any othe lengths can be manufactued to ode. 8
Bette Phantom = bette Sound! When setting up the ClassAmp M-1, emembe to switch off the Phantom voltage of the mixing desk o the equipment to which the ClassAmp M-1 is connected. The Phantom voltage fo the micophone is povided by the ClassAmp 's own high pefomance powe supply. Much bette Phantom stability is achieved this way. Pactically all mixing desks allow you to switch off the 48V Phantom powe. If this should not be possible, bypass the desk and connect the ClassAmp 's output diectly to the ecode's input. Fo best pefomance it is eccomended to bypass the mixing desk electonics completetly. Sampling with the ClassAmp M-1 When ecoding samples, use a pai of musically accuate micophones, feed them into the ClassAmp M-1 and fom thee diectly into you ecode. You will be able to ecod the most beautiful sounding samples eve. "The ClassAmps ae absolutely excellent and at thei pice woth evey penny." Gabe Wiene, Quintessential Sound, U.S.A. New ecodings with the ClassAmp M-1 Amongst the ecent poductions done with ClassAmp M-1's wee ecodings of the Po Gloia Music label: Riceca, a collection of Geman keyboad music befoe the time of Bach, and Lagime Mie, a collection of Italian lute songs. Rea viewof the ClassAmp M-1: with 12V-0-48V Phantom switch next to the powe supply connecto unknown to many uses - and manufactues - 12V is equied by some ae vintage micophones). These ecodings wee done by Gabe Wiene, pesident of Po Gloia Music and masteing facility Quintessential Sound Inc., New Yok, USA. The natual ambience and the sound of the instuments ae impessive. ClassAmp M-1 Offe: Ty o ent a Poduce's Set Fo pofessionals that have not yet expeienced the ClassAmp M-1 FM ACOUSTICS is now offeing the possibility to ent a Poduce's Set (2 ClassAmp M-1 Pecision Micophone Peamplifies, one FM 202 Powe Supply, one ACC -22083 powe supply cable all housed in a flight case). If you would like to hea fo youself what the ClassAmp M-1 can do fo you ecodings, contact FM ACOUSTICS fo details on the tial/ental conditions. Thee may be some time befoe a "Poduce's Set" can be sent as they ae in constant demand. If you foesee an inteesting poject whee you would like to use the ClassAmp M-1 contact FM ACOUSTICS o you distibuto well in advance. The offegets even bette: if a Poduce's set is puchased within 3 months fom the ental of the set, 50% of the ental amount will be cedited to the puchase! Conditions may be diffeent in othe pats of the wold. Enquie fo details. 9
AUDIO VIRTUAL STANDARD (AVS) DEVELOPERS USE FM ACOUSTICS A new system, called the Audio Vitual Standad ecoding/epoduction system was pesented by Andea Von Salis at the Top Audio Show in Milan. This new system consists of specially modified micophones, fed into ClassAmp M-l micophone peamplifies to a 88/96 khz DAT tape machine. Immediately afte the pefomance, the ecodings wee epoduced in the same oom though a high accuacy audio system, consisting of the FM 266 tue balanced Linestage and the FM 611X powe amplifie. The Bobby Watson Tio being ecoded live with the new AVS System and ClassAmp M-1 at the Milan Audio The chaacteistic that the AVS system is most emakable fo is a vey natual ambiance and spaciousness without the phasiness that is often pesent with existing "sound impoves". The epoduction, the dynamic contast, the ai between the instuments and the applause, as well as the natualness and "be thee" effect is impessive. Repoduction at home is possible with an existing steeo system. No pocessos, black boxes o any "add on's" ae needed as the pocess is done duing the ecoding. A lage and moe complex AVS systemcan achieve a 360 o image by adding a dedicated pocesso, anothe steeo amplifie and two ea speakes. The AVS could impove existing music epoduction systems. The cucial point is if the impotant ecoding companies ae willing to adopt the system. The system is not complex o cumbesome no vey expensive. The AVS system is woth looking in to as it is diffeent fom the cuenty available ecoding and suound sound systems. DANCEHALL AMPLIFIERS... In an aticle published in the pofessional audio pess, the "expet" explained in detail the test he pefomed on a powe amplifie to detemine its sound quality. Refeing to this as "efeence citical listening evaluation", the place he chose to pefom that test was a discotheque playing - would you believe - dancehall music! Nothing against dancehall music but it is simply impossible to detemine musical qualities with music that is geneated mostly electonically. The conclusion of such a test is totally invalid and the eade is mislead. Reviews and tests must be ead caefully. Do not just accept the conclusions of the eviewes... Always ask in what cicumstances the conclusions wee eached o what influences may have played a ole. "IN IT" FOR THE MONEY... Some of todays audio manufactues just lack fainess and ethics. Afte heaing the Inspiation System at the Las Vegas show a well known manufactue of loudspeakes explained that "this yea we will launch a U$ 110'000.00 loudspeake. When asked what this speake's chaacteistics and featues ae and how the pice was aived at he eplied: "We have not designed it yet. Impotant is to have a pice that will "knock them out"!" A manufactue that has not finished designing a poduct yet but aleady knows the final pice??? A sad but quite non-typical example of what "high end" means to some of today's audio manufactues 10
UNIQUE TESTING PROCEDURES AT FM ACOUSTICS One of the most impotant consideations when selecting pofessional audio equipment, is the longtem stability and eliability of the poduct. An inspection of details such as the standad of caftsmanship, the quality of components, the standad the soldeing, the wiing, the component's cuent and voltage capability in elation to the demand, contact mateials etc., povide clues about the ultimate potential of the poducts. Of equal impotance is the standad of quality assuance duing poduction. Pio to shipment FM ACOUSTICS' poducts undego calibation, petesting, bun-in, vibation test. Then,each and evey FM ACOUSTICS poducts ae subjected to an additional final-test. To educe failues to zeo, a geat numbe of special pocedues and quality contol measues have been developed at FM ACOUSTICS ove the past 24 yeas. With the exception of high quality metal film esistos (which have a negligible failue ate of 1 out of 14 million pieces), each and evey individual pat is inspected befoe assembly. Selecting MIL specified capacitos to even tighte toleances (to less than 0.1%(!); typical toleances ae 10-20%!) to obtained. Afte that, evey single building block, P.C. boad and pat assembly undego extensive testing and pe-calibation. Intense cae and dedication goes into each poduct with liteally no limits on testing time. All pats ae tested seveal times duing the manufactuing pocess (e.g., compehensive components pe-selections, visual and electonic boad checks, multiple petests etc.). Theeafte each stage of the poduct is individually hand-calibated and fine-tuned with ulta high-accuacy testing machines. This way evey single component is tested between 3 and 7 times befoe the poduct even comes onto the final test! While in this way poduction costs ae much highe chances of component weakness o failues ae educe by magnitudes. ELECTROLYTIC CAPACITORS At FM ACOUSTICS ae selected not only fo thei pefomance but geat pecautions ae taken that these components have long life. Cetain components age moe apidly than othes. This applies, fo instance, to electolytic capacitos. Thee ae lage quality diffeences in electolytic capacitos. Futhemoe, many contain pollutants. The electolytic capacitos that ae specially made fo FM ACOUSTICS in an exclusive pocess employ a nontoxic electolytic that is biodegadable by natue. One of the poblems that had to be ovecome was the initially shotened lifetime of the fist capacitos employing biodegadable electolytic. The eseach pogam initiated took quite a bit of time and funds but all goals wee eventually supassed. Today these capacitos do not only featue biodegadable electolytic but have the same o bette life expectancy as the best MIL (militay) gade capacitos. This is an example how at FM ACOUSTICS we do not just take the easy and inexpensive way. Time and funds ae made available to inside and outside engineeing teams to find the optimal solution even fo things that only will become impotant in 10 o 20 yeas. The esult of this majo investment in eseach guaantees no waste and pollution and longe lifetime of the poducts, of couse at a cost, but in 10 o 20 yeas this will long have been amotized. NEWS FROM ENGLAND We wee delighted to hea about an English couple who afte lengthy evaluation decided to puchase an FM ACOUSTICS powe amplifie. Both have been involved in the music pofession all thei lives playing and teaching piano. When asked why they chose an FM ACOUSTICS powe amplifie, they eplied that they cannot settle fo second best and want to enjoy evey moment as they listen to music many hous a day. As they both use heaing aids, the distibuto felt compelled to ask if they wee eally sue about this decision as a lowe quality amplifie would pobably wok as well. Upon which the 92 yea old couple eplied that with the heaing aid the diffeence between baely acceptable and excellent is vey ponounced. They would not settle fo anything less than the best to fully enjoy the music! 11
NET PRICE POLICY FM ACOUSTICS has a Net Pice policy. All pices indicated on the pice list ae Net Pices when the equipment is paid fo in cash. Additional sevices of the deale o distibuto such as consultation, delivey, installation, calibation, etc. is invoiced sepaately. THE BACKGROUND In ecent yeas, pices in the audiophile maket - togethe with discounts to deales - have constantly been inceased. This has esulted in situations whee a client, upon enteing a etail outlet, is offeed a discount of say 20% on poduct A without even asking. If the client mentions he is moe inteested in poduct B, he is offeed an even highe discount on poduct A and so on... Such discounts ae only possible when a poduct is: a) is intentionally ovepiced b) is an outdated model c) has flaws d) povides medioce pefomance. The naive client - who thinks the moe discount he gets the bette off he is - is being taken advantage of. This pice/discount spial has been caied highe and highe; at the end to nobody's advantage. These atificially inflated pices bea no elation to eality. By intoducing Net Pices, fai and ealistic picing to all clients woldwide is guaanteed. Conditions ae such that the distibuto is compensated acceptably but that he does not make excessive pofit. So do not ask an FM ACOUSTICS distibuto fo a discount. He is unable to offe this. A fai Net Pice policy benefits all and esults in a cleane, moe tanspaent maket. It also bings tanspaency into the second hand maket. The inflated pices of cetain poducts esult in the fact that even one day afte being bought a poduct is woth only 40%-60% of its "list" pice; a temendous wite off. While the discount may have been geneous, at the end of the day the consume will be disappointed by the poduct's low esale value.thanks to Net Pices the esale value of FM ACOUSTICS poducts is high. DELIVERY TERMS Ove the past yeas demand fo FM ACOUSTICS poducts has been inceasing steadily, and the entie staff at FM ACOUSTICS is woking had to keep up with the demand. As all ou poducts ae handcafted, an incease in poduction is a slow pocess that must be caefully contolled to avoid negative influence on quality. This is the eason why quantities ae limited. At pess time the delivey tems vay between3 weeks and 5 months depending on poduct. Fo an exact delivey date contact the factoy. Copyight: FM Acoustics LTD., Hogen / Switzeland Pinted on ecycled chloine-fee pape. LITERATURE AVAILABLE Like a Swiss Watch : Bet Whytes s epot on the Resolution Seies TM in Audio magazine, USA. A New Appoach to Refeence Quality :Repot on the Resolution Seies TM 611 in TAS USA Resolution Seies TM 266, 611 and 811 : Fench epot in La Nouvelle Revue du Son (English tanslation available). Swiss Neutality : A desciption of the Resolution Seies TM FM 266; Audio magazine, USA. The Resolution Seies TM 266 & 811 : A eview in the Japanese Steeo Sound magazine (no tansla tion). Les Muses d O : A epint fom L Audiophile magazine, Pais (English tanslation available). The Resolution Seies TM : An aticle that appeaed in Taiwan (no tanslation). FM ACOUSTICS Resolution Seies TM 811 : Aticle in Suono Magazine, Italy (English tanslation available). Best Buy : A eview in Steeo Sound magazine, Japan (no tanslation). Vinyl koekt entzet : Repot on the Resolution Seies TM FM 122 in Sound magazine.(english tanslation available). FM 222 : A eview of the Resolution Seies TM FM 222; Suono Magazine, Italy (English tanslation available). FM 222 : A eview of the Resolution Seies TM FM 222; Audio Land magazine, Issue May, 1996, Hong Kong. FM Acoustics Resolution Seies FM 122 phono peamplifie : Review on the FM 122 in Steeophile magazine, Volume 20 No. 3, U.S.A. FM Acoustics 122 & 222 phono Lineaize/ peamplifie : 2 pat epot in Image HIfi maga zine, Issue Januay/Febuay & Mach/Apil, 1997. NEW Data Sheets Resolution Seies TM FM 122 Phono Lineaize/ Peamplifie Resolution Seies TM FM 411 Powe Amplifie Resolution Seies TM FM 266 Pecision Peamplifie Pecision Inteface Technology Phono cables FORCELINES FM ACOUSTICS LTD. Seestasse 5A CH-8810 Hogen / Switzeland Telephone:..41/1/ 725 77 77 Facsimile:..41/1/ 725 77 90 12