CD Player + Integrated amplifier Arcam FMJ CD17 + FMJ A18 Krzysztof Kalinkowski

This time I have put my hands on devices from one of the legends of British audio, available for audiophiles without a thick wallet, Arcam. This is a specialist of amplifiers and interesting players of 12cm audio discs, so I was not especially surprised, when it turned out, that those will be a CD player and an integrated amplifier from the known and apprised FMJ series. Until recently, all devices from the FMJ series were made in Great Britain, but now the manufacturing has been transferred to China. The sources I found were not unanimous; some stated that only a part of the production was transferred to China, others that it has been fully transferred. Looking at the back plates it is also hard to be sure – the amplifier has a statement about designing and manufacturing in the UK, on the player there is no mention about the country of manufacture. At the same time the prices of both devices might suggest Far East origin. Anyway, the looks and the make do not have signs of Chinese birthplace.

FMJ means ‘Full Metal Jacket’. And this jacket is very nice, all FMJ devices have a fully metal enclosure, including the front panel made from a profiled aluminum plate. The A18 amplifier and CD17 player are the cheapest devices from the series, only recently introduced to market. At the given price level they have to face strong competition – here fight such contestants like NAD, Marantz, Cambridge Audio or Harman Kardon. The editor in chief already tested many Arcam devices in High Fidelity OnLine – among others the player FMJ CD 36T, amplifier FMJ A32 or home cinema in one box Solo Movie 5.1 http://highfidelity.pl/artykuly/0709/arcam1.html . All those were interesting propositions in their price class, so I started testing without further ado.

SOUND

First, I want to remind a rule, that is also reminded by the Chief every time – a test must be read and understood in context of the price class, the tested devices are in. Both Arcam units cost about 2000zl a piece. And in this price range those are very honest devices.

I will start the description differently – I will first try to characterize each element apart, and then write a few words on how they sound as a set. It also turned out, that besides listening to the Arcams in my system, I could also test them in a second one, composed of Musical Fidelity electronics and Vienna Acoustic Beethoven loudspeakers.

Let me start with the amplifier. My 804 and the Beethoven are quite difficult loudspeakers to drive, so the smallest Arcam had some problems. And he managed quite well, having only 50W per channel. But you should not expect miracles. Looking at its price, the Arcam will probably not be a partner for such large and demanding speakers, but they allowed assessing the assets and shortcomings of the amplifier. It was clear from the very beginning that the amplifier is very well balanced. No subrange was underlined, the tonal balance was also correct. Modern Jazz Quartet from the disc Porgy and Bess (Atlantic, 8122-75445-2, 1966/2004, CD) showed, that the timbre of the acoustic instruments was very good. There were no doubts which instruments plays. This disc showed also, that the resolution of all the subranges is average. Also the sound scene was not overly wide – it was contained between the speakers. This was confirmed by the disc of the group Archive Lights (Warner, 2564 63330 2, 2006, CD), where in the title piece is an incredible stage, reaching far outside the loudspeakers to the sides, but also in depth, where behind the musicians a wall of electronic rain is spread. The Arcam flattened the stage in both dimensions, but without blurring the positions of the instruments on the stage. Their contours were shown at a level offered by similar amplifiers from this price level, like the NAD C352. The vocals were on a good level. Their size was right, as was their saturation. The amplifier handled also sibilants quite well, it hissed once or twice, but it was related to the recording. But even such badly recorded discs like Amy Winehouse Back to Black (Universal, 1726133, 2007, CD), which is clipped in many places and has a hump around 10kHz (checked on a frequency analyzer) could be listened to without pain in the ears. For me, this is a big asset of the device. Finally a few words about bass. Due to the fact that both sets of speakers, the amplifier was attached to, are especially demanding in this area, I am not able to fully assess how it would behave with other speakers. The timbre of this frequency range was good, but its control and speed were below my expectations. The bass from the disc In Rainbows Radiohead (XL Recordings, XLCD324-2, 2007, CD) was not especially tight. Probably the amplifier was not able to supply the amounts of current needed by the VA or the B&W, but this not its fault. I think that changing the speakers to stand mount ones like the Usher S-520 or small floor standers like Audio Academy Phoebe II or KEF iQ would improve the situation.

Now a few words about the player. I started listening from jazz – Modern Jazz Quartet Blues on Bach (Atlantic/Warner, 7567-81393-2, 1974, CD), or Pat Metheny from the disc Selected Recordings (ECM, 014 163-2, 2004, CD) showed that the Arcam has quite a nice resolution. This is of course not the level offere by players like Musical Fidelity CD3.2 or Bluenote Koala Tube but it does not impair the listening to music. Only listening to more discs, from jazz thru classical music to rock showed, that Arcam engineers used a certain trick, that improves the perception of music from this device – namely the treble is preferred against the rest of the frequency range. This makes the impression, that the sound has a higher resolution than really provided by the player. This manner of sounding called to my mind the players from Rotel – both the RCD02 as well as the RCD1072 had a similar philosophy of the sound. The sound stage was OK, but not very big. The clearness of the instruments and the reverb do not differ from those offered by competition at this price level. The midrange was a bit warmed. Listening to the disc Rajaz Camel (Camel Productions, B00002MIDO, 1999, HDCD) the vocals were very nice, but the guitars a bit softened. The resolution of this subrange was not bad, the instruments were cut from the background, but the contours were a bit washed out. The bass had a nice timbre, but did not reach very low, and in the lowest registers lost resolution – the bass drum kicks on the disc 10000 days Tool (Volcano/BMG, 2006, CD) had a tendency to flow together. However, the dynamics of the recordings, especially in the macro scale was nicely reproduced; the player also handled well the reproduction of the might of the recordings. .

And finally about Arcam in a set. The devices fit together nicely. The character of sound is similar, so the sound of the set is very even, without emphasis on any of the frequency subranges. The dynamics of the set is also fair, especially in the macro scale. It can be listened to with pleasure. You have only take care choosing the speakers, the amplifier is not a power plant in miniature, but I think, that with small floor standers or bookshelves it can sound wonderful. I can recommend it with clear conscience to beginning audiophiles searching for a universal set, being an introduction to the world of good sound.

DESCRIPTION

Arcam FMJ A18 is an integrated stereo amplifier. Like the name FMJ (Full Metal Jacket) suggests all elements of the enclosure are made from metal. Especially good appearance makes the front panel from profiled aluminum. The center of the front panel is occupied by a big alphanumeric display in the Arcam characteristic green color. The display shows the chosen input and volume level in steps from 0 to 71. Below the display there is a row of eight small buttons used to choose the input. Every button is described which input it activates. To the right we find an AUX input by means of a 3.5mm mini-jack, allowing attaching a portable device to the amplifier, and an identical socket for the headphones. More to the right there is a mechanical power switch and green power LED. To the left of the display there is a big attenuator knob, that can be used to control volume, balance, treble and bass level, depending on the mode the amplifier is placed in. Next to the mentioned knob there are six more buttons – balance, correction, mute, display dimmer (allows for two brightness levels and switching off the display) and a processor button – allowing using the amplifier in home theater systems. All functions are also available from the supplied plastic system remote control.

On the back panel we have a whole battery of medium class RCA socket inputs, although looking gold plated, two fixed level outputs and a variable level output (pre out). Besides those we find there also single loudspeaker terminals, plastic, but nice looking, and an IEC power socket. An interesting touch is a built in gramophone preamplifier for MM cartridges, made based on an IC. For not very demanding audiophiles this is really interesting. Inside the amplifier is also nicely built. A lot of space inside is taken by a toroidal transformer and heat sink, to which the integrated power amplifiers and transistors stabilizing the voltage for the preamplifier were mounted. The whole is mounted on two PCBs – the main one, placed near the back plate, containing the power supply, power amplifier and the preamplifier, and a second one, placed vertically behind the display, containing the control circuitry. On the ICs anti-vibration pads were glued, so the marking could not be read. Also the enclosure is damped in a few places by bitumen and aluminum elements. The switching between inputs and volume control is done by integrated circuits, and the loudspeaker outputs are keyed with a relay.

The Arcam CD17 is the basic player from the FMJ series from Arcam. It looks typically for the players of this company, with the tray positioned on the left and a big display on the right (looking at it – it cannot be distinguished from the earlier tested CD36T). Below the display we find buttons controlling the main functions of the player, and more to the right a mechanical power switch and the power LED. The back plate contains a double fixed level RCA output, digital and coaxial outputs in the S/PDIF standard and an IEC power socket. The enclosure is fully made from metal, but the shade of the aluminum differs from the one used for the amplifier. Of course a system remote is supplied, identical to the one supplied with the amplifier.
In the player a Sony CD drive was used, what can be immediately seen on the display – it has a characteristic ‘calendar’ of songs. And here a surprise – the player reads CD-Text, what can be a nice addition for people looking for functionality in a player. The drive itself functions very quietly, only the tray ‘claps’ in a characteristic way for this drive (eg. the Musical Fidelity A3.2CD has an identical drive, and identical sounds are generated while operating the tray). The Arcam reads all CDs and CD-Rs without problems; CD-RWs were not tried. Inside the player there is ideal order. The whole of the circuitry (except for the display) is placed on one big PCB. The power supply is based on a significantly sized toroidal transformer with many secondary windings, and the separate voltages are stabilized near the circuits they feed. Most of the ICs and some capacitors were glued with dampening material, that makes reading the markings impossible. According to the company materials the converter chip is the Wolfson 8741. The passive elements are also of good quality. In addition, just like in the amplifier, the enclosure is shielded in a few places with aluminum plates and damped with bitumen matte.

HOME PAGE