FM Acoustics amps

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
14,411
2,509
1,448
Well , where are all the reviews ...?

Spread throughout WBF...d'Agostinos on the D'Agostino thread, Tidal was last year when i got back from Asia. Colosseum i have littered throughout WBF. TADs i have not yet discussed in any detail. If i can find them all, i will try to create a link.
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
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Mephisto stereo just came thru the door - It's burning in now.

Listened to 1811, and the sound was many levels better than 458 - thundering bass from 1811, it can play very loud - I listened to very bass heavy electronic music - 268 volume control at 4 o'clock - this is very loud - even at this level the sound is neutral, clean, musical and super-fast - 1811 has total control of the big Kharma's. 115 is using toroid transformers, 1811 is using a special military leaf transformer which can deliver lots of power.

With normal FMA cables and 268, 1811's sound quality is 155-160. With biwired FMA interconnects 165-170.

And 268 grows with the better amps, how good is it? - up to maybe around 200. And the original design is from 2001!
Other preamps who beats it or are near? don't know - maybe the Trinity custom pre, Horch Stage or the not released yet Boulder 3010.

hi Wizard,

you have made a number of claims, and a few of them smelled fishy to me. so i did a little digging.

first; looking at your domain name you are located in Norway (i know your name but i don't think it fair to mention that), so i asked a few audio friends in that general region about you. evidently no one has ever been to your home, yet you make all these claims about having expensive gear. none of the local distributors know you or have sold any gear to you.

what got my interest was you claiming to have 'loaner' NHB-458's, and then bad mouthing them. had you owned them that would be your right. but no one in their right mind would loan anything (let alone a $130,000 pair of amps) to anyone who would say what you have said. it jumped out at me as pure bull. not that any piece of gear is perfect, but that is not how things work. and you not getting that is telling about what it is you are doing.

you have a right to have any random opinion you might like to have; it is the world wide web after all. but when you claim to have all this gear and then act like that then i gotta call you on it.

so i am asking you to 'prove it'. show me a picture of these 458's and today's newspaper. or maybe the serial number of the 458's. something that proves your stories are real. and do it for all this other gear you claim to have. i think it's all a fantasy for you.

i respect your blog, it's cool. and no doubt you are a smart guy with lots of knowledge about high end audio. i'm not saying that there is not much you have to offer this forum.

sorry but i cannot sit here and not challenge these claims you have made about the 458's.

prove me wrong, and i'll apologize.
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Mike-The only thing we know for sure about the Wiz is that he has access to lots of pictures of high-end gear.
 

asiufy

Industry Expert/VIP Donor
Jul 8, 2011
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San Diego, CA
almaaudio.com
And since he likes pictures so much, he'll have no problem is snapping a few more, of the amazing gear he's been testing, for our benefit, right?


alexandre
 

asiufy

Industry Expert/VIP Donor
Jul 8, 2011
3,711
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almaaudio.com
Most of what he posted here was replicated in his blog.

And when people asked for details about stuff, like when he came up with the "top secret" "balanced interconnects", no further information was given...


alexandre
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
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yes it seems like he did. we just lost a lot of interesting content. i hope you didn't scare away an innocent hifi enthusiast ...

'innocent'????

i have no problem with 'innocent' interesting comments. as i mentioned in my post where i challenged him, i like his blog and all his information. he no doubt has something to contribute. but when this fantasy gets combined with negative comments that are also based on fantasy experiences, he crossed the line.

if you criticize gear, then your credibility becomes an issue. and his credibility could not handle scrutiny.

it's not my call whether he continues to post here, but i'm not against that happening.
 

A.wayne

New Member
Jan 14, 2011
1,289
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Front Row Center
Maybe the mods should consider removing the delete option after a certain time period , say 15-30 mins , this would prevent content being removed at a later date ....


Regards,
 

Roysen

New Member
Aug 6, 2011
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Since I am his fellow countryman on this board, Wizard sent me this e-mail which from what I understand he wants me to translate and post on this forum because he didn't think his English was good enough to express what he wanted. So I will do just that. I would however first like to point out that otherwise I want to stay netural in this issue.

Thanks,
Roysen

"It's not just me thinking the 458's didn't have full control of the Q5 bass - http://viciaudio.blogspot.no/2010/03/audioshow-2010-notas-soltas-imacustica.html - translate in google.
No, it's not fantasy what I have written. Why would I write fiction. It is not possible to notice from measurements that an amplifier might sound bad - it has to be heard.
All the equipment in my system is bought abroad - I have not bought anything in Norway since the high-end market here is small and the brands I like have no distributors or deales here.
Mike attacks me when his dear product doesn't sound well on all speakers, but they will probably sound superb with his easy-to-drive MM3s. However they did not work so well on big Kharma speakers with an impedance below 2 ohms. My friend who bought the Horch system has visited the darTZeel factory and heard the MM-3s. It didn't sound all that well in his mind. He is using Dynaudio Evidence Master and biwired interconnects from XLO.

My 458s had a low serialnumber. Maybe there was something wrong with them or some bad synergy somewhere.

No there are no pictures of my system on the open internet, only on a closed hifi comunity which I am a member of. I don't want the pictures spread all over google, forums and internet.

I was hurt by Mike's post and felt just like deleting all my contributions to WBF. I did just that and will take a long vacation from forums and blog now."
 
Last edited:

MasterChief

Well-Known Member
Jun 26, 2012
253
58
935
Sweden
As a fellow scandinavian I have seen Wizard on several of the scandinavian forums for at least 6 years. Always posting interesting stuff and also his impressions. I have never ever thought that he is a hoax. Because 99,9% of his contributions is neutral and not bragging.

But I can understand Mr. Lavignes doubts, and if I was Wizard I would certainly send a pm to him with a picture. I am certain that Mr. Lavigne would not spread it. For me, It would be a matter of honor when someone imply I am a hoax. Not standing up and deliver some hard facts in this case do make me suspicious.
 

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