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Cable shoot-out: FIM against Valhalla

Before I begin with my next summary I would like to explain a few things.
First of all I apologize that my review is lacking a certain sophistication, but I am sure that you must have realized by now, that English is not my mother tongue.
Then I am fully aware, that I have a certain responsibility towards the cable manufacturers also, since these are all hard working people, trying to create an excellent product for their audiophile customers and I can imagine that my reviews could influence certain buying decisions.
All the cables I have received for auditioning are excellent products and even if I find that a cable does not sound optimal in my system when compared to the Valhalla, does not mean that in a different system it will sound a lot better. And please, let us not forget the price of the Valhalla!! This cables 7 times more expensive than most of the cables I review, so doesn’t it deserve to sound a little bit better? But does it mean it is still the superior cable, if you balance the price against the quality of the performance? I am not so sure anymore. It all depends what you are looking for. I personally can live with 10% less performance and save 5 times the money.
My intention was to find the best cables for my system and not the most expensive. I was very curious the see how good the Valhalla would sound in my system and then ventured out to compare certain other brands against the Valhalla. I have never intended to do an absolute cable review, comparing all the cables I have at home against each other and I state also, that I am in no way a professional reviewer or have a top notch system.
This said, I will post another short follow up:
Today I tried the famous FIM cables. I received the bi-wire version and it is a very well build cable also, very thick and pretty stiff. You need to bend the pig-tails a bit in order to make it fit your components, but I find that people have greatly exaggerated that this cable will lift components from the shelf , or break loose from the binding posts. My two Bel Canto Amps are not the heaviest amps in the world, but it took me only 5 minutes per channel to stick the cables to amp and speakers. And I am talking bi-wire here. I cannot see why anybody would have problems with the single wire version, if you bend the pig-tails slightly before installing the spade lugs to the components.
My first impression again was that it does not reach the qualities of the Valhalla in my system. It is a very musical cable, with a detailed sound stage, but the sound is a bit darker, although the bass is less pronounced than compared the Valhalla. It seems that the Valhalla is a pretty lean and very fast cable, the sound of a piano is awesome with the Valhalla, you really can hear the keys “bottom out”, whereas the FIM is heavier sound wise and slower, but maybe a bit more musical than the Valhalla. And I am sure it some systems this could be an advantage for the FIM.
In my system with the Bel Cantos and my Martin Logan Prodigy speakers though, it looks, like a leaner, brighter and faster cable will cater better to my musical taste. Price wise the FIM and Valhalla are pretty close together, the FIM biwire in 8ft. is $4400 whereas it is possible to get 8ft of bi-wired Valhalla for $5000.
So again, I personally tend more towards the Valhalla again, but to me it looks like the FIM has a potential to reach the Valhalla in a different system. That’s why it is so important to audition cables before buying.
After the recent audition, my personal decision would still be the following: (provided I cannot get an excellent deal on used Valhalla): Ensemble speaker cables with Pure Note Epsilon interconnects.
I have a few more cables coming in: Empirical Audio and Virtual Dynamics and I was able to lay my hands on a pair of Siltech Compass Lake interconnects, which are the most expensive interconnects in the world and I am very curious how they will compete against the Valhalla.
I will keep you updated.
tekunda
tekunda OP
127 posts
 
I stopped playing around with this rather expensive cable, as I am afraid not to receive my money back.
I had to pre-pay the cables and got the promise over the phone, that I would receive a full refund, in case I should decide to send the cables back. But the cables need still to look like new after my review.
When I finally got the box, there was a letter stating, that I will only receive my money back, if the spade lugs will have no marks or dents.
After reading this statement, I should not even have touched these cables anymore. Everybody, who has seen this cable knows, how thick and stiff it is, especially the bi-wired version. In order to make the spades stay at the binding posts, you have to excert a certain amount of pressure on the binding post nuts. If you do not tighten the nuts enough, the cable will slip out immediately, especially at the speakers, where you have 4 pig-tails coming from the main cables.
Now the spades are made of very soft, high polished copper. Of course you will see some marks!! There is no other way around it. If the cable is not tightly squeezed into the binding posts, you will not have enough contact and the sound suffers, as well as the cable will slip out.
As soon as I realized, that I gave the owner ammunition for refusing a refund, I put the cables back into the box.
I mean, this seems to be a bit unreal. If FIM knows exactly that you will leave marks on the spades, even when being extremely careful and they tell you on the other hand, that this will prevent a refund, then they cannot go ahead and send these cables out for audition. I hope, I am not stuck with almost $5000 here.
No way I will hook this cable to my cable cooker and give it a fair chance. I might leave more marks! If the owner prevents his product from being auditioned, because of such unreasonable demands, which cannot be met even with the best intentions, then he is to blame, if he is loosing out on a potential customer, or a better review.
I can imagine that this cable has a great potential, but under the given circumstances, I will send it back immediately, without further audition.
jfz
570 posts
 
Your concern seems very warranted, Tekunda. I had only a very brief experience with an FIM cable. I had similar concerns. Your post actually reminds me how frustrating this hobby can be sometimes. And I still don't understand why more manufacturers don't break their wire in before sending it out. The cynical part of me says it's because then they can tell people the wire will get much better. I'm not putting down break-in of wire. I believe it's a very real phenomena. Unfortunately, the state of the high-end audio business is such that those of us who are pursuers of musical nirvana have to deal with things afficionados in other areas wouldn't have to. C'est la vie.
brianw
373 posts
 
So, how valid is your comparison?
tekunda OP
127 posts
 
Well, after having put several cables on my new Audiodharma cable cooker, I am now in the position to tell that the cable cooker works and that at least the cables I have, did improve after 24 hours.
I stated that I feel the FIM to have a certain potential to improve quite a lot, but I doubt that even with a dramatic change it will reach the Valhalla. I am pretty positive about this from comparing how much a cable has indeed improved after being put on the cooker. It is not like we are talking a 200% upgrade here. We are more talking in the 20% to 30% range here.
But even if I assume for a second, that the FIM would have reached the Valhalla eventually, it is more expensive ($4800 versus $3500 for the Valhalla) and please do not forget the resale value. I am sure, I can sell a used Valhalla cable in a day or two, but a FIM cable in this price range will take a long time to sell. Actually I am looking for a cheaper option than a Valhalla, the FIM would contradict my intentions and I only auditioned it, because a few people claimed it would beat the Valhalla. No way, José!
brianw
373 posts
 
That's great, the Valhalla worked well for you, in your system. The Valhalla was beat by the FIM in mine. However your statement above, "... No way I will hook it up to my cable cooker and give it a fair chance. I might leave more marks.", leaves me to wonder ...

Cables are system dependent, so It's okay. Your reveiw will work for those of similar equipment.

Peace.
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