Will this FIM 880 open up & let some detail in?

I just picked up a hydra, FIM duplex, and 40 feet of the JPS in the wall elec cable. I plan to hook the cable up the a 20 amp breaker in my office warehouse, hook up the FIM to the cable and plug in the hydra. I will then hook up 6 300watt lamps to the hydra. I will run the whole mess for 7 days and burn it all in at once. There goes the electric bill.

Here's my take on things. I should state that I have no experience with the FIM or the Acme, but in the past year and a half I have experimented with about 5 or 6 sub $20 receptacles, with it being pretty apparent to me that there are some pretty big differences in sound quality, and that is with a system that probably costs about 25% of what yours does (maybe less).

I would doubt that the overall character of the FIM is going to change that much for you. My experience is that receptacles will give you almost as much difference in sound as power cords will. They may also, like power cords, be system dependent and I'll get to that in a minute. My experience is also that if you are running multiple receptacles within your system that you can best judge the "sound" of the receptacle only if you run all FIM, all Acme, all Hubbell etc. In other words, if your system is drawing from more than one receptacle (like most are) you better not mix and match if you really want to establish the true sonic character of the receptacle. All of my conclusions are based on using the same receptacle at any given time, throughout my system (ie. at the wall and in my line conditioner as well).

I had originally been running orange Levitons, and have experimented with the P&S 5262 (better than the Levitons), the Arrow Hart 8200 (better than the P&S), and the Hubbell 8200 and 8300 (better than the Arrow Harts-I changed my mind on this recently after some further experimentation). All of the above "better thans" should be followed by "in my system", which is solid state based and leans toward the brighter side of neutral. As Craig's recent post on the FIM outlined, from his perspective the FIM presents a "darker, mellower, richer" sound in his (also solid state) system. In my system the Hubbells (which I currently use) do this, although I think they actually do more in terms of eliminating "distortions" which the P&S and Arrow Hart introduce. Putting the Levitons (the worst) aside, in my system, the P&S 5262 was the "brightest" and most forward of the bunch. The Acme is a tricked up P&S 5242, so it doesn't surprise me that it is more "detailed", or appears to be at initial listen, than the FIM. I bet it is. The character of the P&S that I used was definitely "front row" as compared to the Arrow Hart which was a bit more "mid hall" or the Hubbell which is possibly even more "mid hall" or further. I've had e-mail correspondence with Dekay about this, and in my system the P&S, although better than the Levitons and initially impressive, totally fell apart when compared with the other receptacles. The Arrow Hart had a beautiful, very open mid-band, but was definitely more forward than the Hubbells and ragged at the frequency extremes compared to the Hubbells. The Hubbells have an extremely "black background" but for some tastes might be a little dark. With a tube set-up, though, it might not be the way to go. Maybe it is a ditto for the FIM.

All I can tell you is that, in my system, the smoother sounding receptacle is, in my opinion, the most accurate, although it may not initially be the most exciting. All the detail is there upon careful listening, although it is presented in a different (I would call it a smoother and more refined) manner. But the "perfect sound" is a pretty subjective matter and what may appeal to you (detail, forwardness, etc) may not appeal to me (a preference for a richer, mellower sound with a more mid hall perspective). Then you have to introduce tubes versus solid state issue and their interaction with the receptacles, so what is effective in one system may not be in another. I think receptacles may just be another example of this.

Wow, this is a great thread!

I have my amp plugged directly into a Wattagate receptical and the rest of the system via a Hydra into a just-installed FIM outlet on the same circuit. The Wattagate is closer to the panel (about 15 feet), the FIM another 10-15 feet away. I have no conclusions to offer up yet except that these things do apparently make a difference and, goddammit, I wish that weren't so. I also suspect that proximity to the panel may be a factor, just to add another variable.

I believe in break-in, but these things should break in very fast, given the amount of juice flowing through them, don't you think?

Nice detailed post Hdm. I'll just add a FIM follow-up to my "rave" review of the FIM 880 of a few days ago. Since then, I've gotten 4 more FIMs, put them on dedicated lines that used to have Hubbells, and plugged ALL my components into them. To make a long story short, after 5 days I did not particularly like the music character of my system with ALL FIMs. With the additional FIMs, music was airy, detailed, very smooth, but leaner and brighter-- not my "cup of tea".

So, last night I put 4 of the Hubbells back in (on everything but my amp) and music immediately became warmer and richer with excellent vocal timbre, and it had more "body and weight". And with the more "meaty" sound-- which I prefer-- I liked the PRT better too. I like the Hubbells much better on all components except my amp.

When I relaced the Acme with a FIM for my amp, I actually think that much of the benefit came from getting my amp off the bright and detailed Acme silver plated outlet, rather than from the character of the FIM, ie a Hubbell or P&S may have worked nearly as well, but I haven't tried them.

It seems that having one FIM in my system adds some beneficial dynamics and "sparkle" to music. I now have Hubbells on all components except the amp on which (for now), I'll leave the FIM. My Vandersteen speaker sub amps are plugged into non-dedicated Acme silver plated outlets-- I think this works well as the speaker subs only handle 125HZ and down, ie no brightness problem, yet I get excellent bass articulation.

One other point: my 4th and 5th outlets ARE dedicated, but are wired together. I have nothing plugged into the 4th outlet-- which is a Hubbell, and my amp is plugged into a FIM, the 5th outlet. So, AC flows from amp to FIM to Hubbell to breaker box. I really don't know what the hell all this means. It gets confusing fast, but I agree that outlets have their own colorations just like power cords. And as of now my system is again sounding excellent. I have found beneficial places for Hubbells, a FIM, and 2 Acmes. YMMV, Whew! and Cheers. Craig

I have 8 dedicated 20 amp lines in my room, and installed ACME 20 amp non-cryo outlets in each one last October. Three days ago I replaced two of the ACMEs with FIM 880s, one for my cdp, and one for my preamp.

I can identify with many of your observations. In the first few hours of use the FIMs sounded slow and muddled, and the highs rolled off. It is day 3, and there is improvement. The top end is starting to open up, although not to pre FIM status, transients have more snap, and familiar details are starting to emerge. The FIMs seem to be breaking in more from the bottom up. This is the area that is improving most in terms of speed, transparency, and extension.

Overall I like the FIM's tonal qualities better then the ACME's. There is less chalkiness/whitening (not sure how else to describe it) of the mid/upper registers, more of a natural tonal color and weight across the range. They are darker sounding, so this additional weight and richness may not suit a well balanced tube system that already has these qualities.

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