FM Acoustics 2011 - how do they sound

[Roysen]

Yes, Wizard got the information from me. We have known about this new amplifier for a few days. We didn't want to leak the information to the internet because at first we got information that the 118 would be a new annivesary model limited to a production run of 40 pairs. This information out on the internet would seriously limit my chances of getting a pair. This turned out not to be correct. The Resolution Series 118 will be part of FM Acoustics regular serial produced product line.

 

[ack]

Sounds like FMA is competing with Goldmund to bring out the most ridiculously priced gear available. I've heard FMA and it's good, but not that good - this is well past the point of diminishing returns IMHO.

I am glad you said that, not me

 

[FrantzM]

I just noticed on the Wizard Audio blog that FMA is coming out with a monoblock version of the 1811 called the 118....costing only 400,000 Swiss Francs/ pair. So to drive FMA's own loudspeakers, you'll need to drop 800,000 CHF ... Sounds like FMA is competing with Goldmund to bring out the most ridiculously priced gear available. I've heard FMA and it's good, but not that good - this is well past the point of diminishing returns IMHO.

+1

To save the dear forum members a trip to Google:
400,000 CHF is $432,000 US Dollars

Where will this stop?
When are we to see the first $1,000,000 amp?
Will we see the $50,000 speaker cable first?

 

[Roysen]

+1
Will we see the $50,000 speaker cable first?

We have already seen this, in prototype form only though in the Genoa model prototype from the colaboration between Allan Shane and Sensory Power. The conductors were superconductors and they were cooled with liqued nitrogen. The cables came with a compressor to circulate the nitrogen and a liquid nitrogen tank.

If I remember correctly it was more than USD $100K

 

[Steve Williams]

We have already seen this, in prototype form only though. The Genoa model prototype from the colaboration between Allan Shane and Sensory Power. The conductors were superconductors and they were cooled with liqued nitrogen. The cables came with a compressor ro circulate the nitrogen and a liquid nitrogen tank.

If I remember correctly it was more than USD $100K

Balanced or SE for the $100K

 

[Roysen]

Speaker cables.

 

[Steve Williams]

Ahh pardon my mistake.I was blinded by the glitz of the cable

 

[Roysen]

Let me correct that. The Genoa's price was USD $175000. They also had a scaled down model without the liquid nitrogen. The price was "just" USD $25000

 

[Steve Williams]

Let me correct that. The Genoa's price was USD $175000. They also had a scaled down model without the liquid nitrogen. The price was "just" USD $25000

I guess the price of liquid nitrogen is going up in some world markets

To even discuss this IMHO is absolutely ludicrous

 

[RBFC]

I guess the price of liquid nitrogen is going up in some world markets

To even discuss this IMHO is absolutely ludicrous

Hey, I was just getting my checkbook out.....

Lee

 

[garylkoh]

I can't resist......

Instead of spending $175,000 on speaker cables, why not build the amplifiers into the speakers?

 

[Roysen]

Back to FM Acoustics - I wonder if their active crossovers (Resolution Series 332 and 333) would be an improvement over the crossovers delivered with Rockport Technologies Arrakis 2 and/or Tidal Audio T1?

 

[Roysen]

I can't resist......

Instead of spending $175,000 on speaker cables, why not build the amplifiers into the speakers?

I can't imagine anyone here interested in buying those cables. I just answered a question if USD $50000 existed.

 

[RBFC]

I can't imagine anyone here interested in buying those cables. I just answered a question if USD $50000 existed.

Nobody's slamming you, it's just unbelievable that folks will pay that out of the insecurity that they won't have "the best".

Lee

 

[garylkoh]

Back to FM Acoustics - I wonder if their active crossovers (Resolution Series 332 and 333) would be an improvement over the crossovers delivered with Rockport Technologies Arrakis 2 and/or Tidal Audio T1?

If it was easy to throw together a couple of drivers into a cabinet and an active crossover, everyone would be a loudspeaker designer. How would the active crossover take into account the baffle step correction? Or the driver center-to-center displacement? Or drivers that do not have a perfectly flat and perfect phase response?

There are more pairs of Genesis One loudspeakers destroyed by a "knowledgeable dealer" trying to sell more FMA amplifiers and crossovers than I care to recall.

 

[Roysen]

Thanks Gary. That sounds like the correct answer.

 

[Peter]

Back to FM Acoustics - I wonder if their active crossovers (Resolution Series 332 and 333) would be an improvement over the crossovers delivered with Rockport Technologies Arrakis 2 and/or Tidal Audio T1?

That's an interesting question...to which the answer is purely subjective of course.

With these new FMA amplifiers, given that they are based upon the 1811 amp, is it possible that they will sound so much better than everything before them to even remotely justify their price?

It seems that with some of these things, it becomes a marketing ploy - to create "cache" by jacking up the price and saying there will be a limited number made. Actual performance appears to have little to do with it ultimately. At this point surely one must ask themselves if they'd spend their money in this manner (ie: extra $$ vs. extra performance) on the stock market?

Fortunately for me, I can't even pretend to afford such things thus I'm compelled to leave the resolution of this dilemma in the capable hands of those who can.

 

[Roysen]

Peter,

Just to let you know I considered these amplifiers only before I learned their price. At the moment I am back in negotiation on the 2011.

 

[Steve Williams]

Peter,

Just to let you know I considered these amplifiers only before I learned their price. At the moment I am back in negotiation on the 2011.

Can someone explain to me the high cost of these amps or do they do it just because they can. I also wonder if their owners can pick out their amps in a blind test

 

[FrantzM]

Can someone explain to me the high cost of these amps or do they do it just because they can. I also wonder if their owners can pick out their amps in a blind test

Not You too Steve . They're no different from other less expensive High Ebd brands. They are only more extreme. To be fair They have always been ahead of the curve in term of performance.

I heard back in the days a Crosby-modified Quad crossed-over with a FMA crossover to a Magnepan Tympani woofer, it was extremely good. I replicated it somewhat a few months later with a Tympani panel and an Athena crossover.. I think Bruce Brisson of MIT Cable fame designed these crossovers. They didn't seem to be as transparent as the FMA crossover. It was a different system (mine) in a different room (mine again) so the comparison may not be valid.
I have heard FMA a few times, the results were consistently good.
To answer the question about Crossover. Digital crossovers such as those of the DeQX or TaCT will do almost anything you desire and better than anything analogue. I should qualify better : better in terms of pure crossover parameters, Phase, timing, slopes and even impulse response .. Whether this sound will be pleasurable to the owner as opposed to analogue crossovers or passive is an entirely different debate.