calibrating the FEP scale

Posted by: Joe Petrik on 10 October 2000

With all the FEPs being awarded and rescinded on the forum, maybe we should calibrate the scale so the points mean something.

Although some components work together synergistically -- suggesting that FEPs awarded to individual components can be multiplied -- for simplicity we should add individual points to get an overall FEP score.

Ready? Get a pad and pencil out and tally your FEPs...

Source FEPS
· Is your turntable worth more than your speakers? If yes, add 35 points.

· Do you own a record cleaner? If yes, add 25 points.

· Is your turntable placed on a dedicated altar? If yes, add 20 points.

· Do you use fancy anti-static inner sleeves? If yes, add 10 points.

· Does your turntable's platter weigh 50 kg or more? If yes, subtract 25 points.

· Is CD your only source? If yes, subtract 20 points, unless you own a CDS-II.

· Does your turntable have a record clamp? If yes, subtract 10 points.

Electronics FEPs
· Does your preamp have a mono switch? If yes, add 30 points.

· Have you ever accidentally left the preamp in mono but didn't notice for days? If yes, add 20 points.

· Did you paint the front of your 52 silver? If yes, add 10 points.

· Did you chintz out and get the preamp without a phono input? If yes, subtract 50 points.

· Does your preamp weigh 5 pounds and your power amp weigh 500? If yes, subtract 40 points.

· Does your preamp have tubes? If yes, subtract 30 points.

Speaker FEPs
· Do you own any of the following speakers: Kan I, Kan II, Sara, Isobarik, IBL, SBL, DBL, Quad 57s? If so, add 40 points.

· Do you position your speakers for the best overall groove and image (zero points), best groove (add 20 points), or best image (subtract 20 points)?

Lifestyle FEPs
· Do you enjoy air, space and blackness? If yes, subtract 40 points.

· Is it better to have thin but groovy bass (add 20 points) or full but flubby bass (subtract 20 points)?

· Have you ever spent an afternoon adjusting the tracking force for that magic value between 1.95 g and 1.97g? If yes, add 20 points.

· Do you vacuum your cartridge regularly, knowing full well that one day you'll suck the generator right out? If yes, add 15 points.

· Did you try all four positions of the belt and both positions of the mat on your LP12 to determine which sounds best? If yes, add 10 points. (If you ever wondered whether the belt and mat combinations interact and therefore exponentially increase the number of permutations add another 10 points. Add another 10 if you tried all permutations.)

· Do you spend Saturday afternoon at garage sales, looking for 50 cent LPs? If yes, add 10 points.

· Do you own a 45 RMP version of Yello's "Stella"? If yes, add 5 points.

· Do you own a half-speed master of ELP's "Tarkus"? If yes, subtract 40 points.

· Do you buy audiophool LPs for their smooth, silky sound? If yes subtract 35 points.

· Do you use a record clamp? If yes, subtract 20 points.

Posted on: 10 October 2000 by rohit

i got ZERO points !

can't see why anyone here wouldn't dig blackness.
i confess my fetish for black Tees mugs boxes...or am i not getting something !!

Posted on: 10 October 2000 by Paul B

I tallied my score and had 225. I believe I could claim 275 as I have two preamps and the 32.5 does have a mono switch which I left on for about a week and never noticed (several times).

Vuk might insist that I deduct 35 points for buying audiofool LPs (although my purposes are different from those suggested - I can't afford the originals)!

The one about the belt and mat is brilliant - I have done that so many - too many - times!!

Paul

[This message was edited by Paul Byron on WEDNESDAY 11 October 2000 at 05:21.]

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by bob atherton

Ermm.... I don't know if I should be proud or sadly embarrassed to notch up 260 points!

Bob

( flatter than the flattest thing that you thought was very flat )

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Former member

is this the first negative score, or am I the only brave person here?

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Tony L

I get a score of 235 FEPs. I am truly proud.

Tony.

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Rico

215 points.

I'm not so flat earth as to forget that I have the Mono switch in. And I will confess I've never vacuumed a cartridge

No FEP's for Mana, Joe? Brilliant post!

Rico - musichead

oh wow, do I gain an additional 10 pts for additional Naim pre with mono switch?

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Former member

Yes, -60. No deck, just CD = minus score unless you have a CDSII.

Hmmm.

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Simon Jenkins

Scored 165, not to bad I guess.

Simon

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Former member

Adding negative and positive points gives zero for me.

Stefano.

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Former member

No minuses.

Joel

Born to groove

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Former member

quote:
"Is CD your only source? If yes, subtract 20 points, unless you own a CDS-II."
Hey, that's a tailored question for Joel ! a 1991 CDS1 or a CDI should at least give the same FEPs.

I consider the CDS II, CDX/XPS and CD12 to be suitable alternatives to a serious turntable as primary sources. The rest (including the CDS1 and Jawed's Audio Synthesis) are only fit for secondary use beside an LP12, Xerxes, P9 etc. You definitely lose FEPs for using them as a primary source.

So I'm keeping my points, mate.

Joel

Vinyl die-hard who likes three CD players.

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Tony L

quote:
I consider the CDS II, CDX/XPS and CD12 to be suitable alternatives to a serious turntable as…

Joel,

Nice to see you back and posting in the daytime, we were all getting rather worried that you actually had to do some work with your new job.

Tony.

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Igor Zamberlan

I have an issue.
Being a self-conscious, impenitent round earther, I bought a valve(!) line(!) preamp without mono switch(!!!), and a separated phono stage. Do I have to subtract 50 for the line stage or, being consciously going separate boxes, am I dispensed?

In this second case, it's 65, which is not bad, if you count that my only FE(ish) component is a CDS.
In the other case, well, I'll have to do something about it (like buying some Simon Yorke TT costing more than my Totems... )

Igor from Round Earth (though with an attitude)

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Mike Hanson

Here's how I did it:

Is CD your only source? If yes, subtract 20 points, unless you own a CDS-II.

Total = -20

Does your preamp have a mono switch? If yes, add 30 points.

Total = 10

Did you chintz out and get the preamp without a phono input? If yes, subtract 50 points.

Both my pre-amps were purchased used, so I didn't have the opportunity to "chintz out". As you know, the 82 doesn't have the phono input, but the 32-5 does (with the boards removed, of course).

Total = 10

Do you position your speakers for the best overall groove and image (zero points), best groove (add 20 points), or best image (subtract 20 points)?

Total = 30

Do you spend Saturday afternoon at garage sales, looking for 50 cent LPs? If yes, add 10 points.

Total = 40

There you go. Now, if I were to answer the questions based upon when I owned a turntable, I would actually have 190, so there! Catch you later!

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Smilies do not a forum make.

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Joe Petrik

Mike,

quote:
Now, if I were to answer the questions based upon when I owned a turntable, I would actually have 190, so there!

But that's the point. Any flat earther worth his weight would have a turntable -- or at the least a motha' of a CD player. We at Flat Earth Labs have conducted pain-staking research to devise and calibrate the scale, and we estimate its precision to be within 10 FEPs 95% of the time.

Even I missed out on some FEPs for having a 102 (no mono switch) and Sorcerers (Kan-like non-Kans).

[This message was edited by Joe Petrik on WEDNESDAY 11 October 2000 at 14:00.]

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Joe Petrik

Joel,

So, just how many days was your 52 switched into mono before you noticed? Flat earth labs will award a bonus 10 FEPs if it was more than a week.

Joe

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Greg Beatty

...When I bought my 72, I was impressed by the 'MON' switch. It turned out to be the Tape MONitor and not MONo, and I was miffed by this. So do I get the bonus MONo points?

- GregB
Freedom is not in finding the Holy Grail but in stopping the search for it

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Former member

quote:
Did you chintz out and get the preamp without a phono input? If yes, subtract 50 points.
Both my pre-amps were purchased used, so I didn't have the opportunity to "chintz out". As you know, the 82 doesn't have the phono input, but the 32-5 does (with the boards removed, of course).

Aha, caught cheating! When you bought my 82, I had phono cards, but you didn't want them. In any case, you could have bought a set from your dealer. The question doesn't say it has to be easy--and even with a dealer, it's sometimes not--so you chintzed out dude, which brings you down to 10 FEPs.

Vuk.

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Eric Barry

I get 80, which included the double deduction of 10 and 20 for a record clamp (VPI owner) and -40 for enjoying "air", though I like groove better.

However, I think there are some oversights on the scale. I would suggest:

Do you prefer CDX to CDS, or CD3/3.5/5 to CDX? (Plus 20)

Do you prefer Rega turntables to all others? (Plus 20)

Do you think Mana racks are equivalent to spending 5x as much on boxes? (Plus 20)

Do you own more lps than cds? (Plus 10)

Do you buy more lps than cds? (Plus 10)

Do you listen more to lps than cds? (Plus 20)

Do you own more cartridges than cds? (Plus 40)

Is you tonearm or cartridge worth more than your cd player? (Plus 25--only if you own a cd player)

Do you own a power conditioner? (Minus 25)

Do you use aftermarket footers such as Navcom Silencers or Vibrapods which are compliant? (minus 15)

Do you own a DAC? (Minus 20)

--Eric

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Eric Barry

Do you own any equipment not designed in the England, Scotland, or Cambridge? (Minus 20)

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Former member

If we add Eric's criteria I go from -60 to -85.

Shall I just kill myself now ?

Jonathan

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Rico

quote:
Do you own any equipment not designed in the England, Scotland, or Cambridge? (Minus 20)

Dude - there's no way a Nakamichi owner can lose 20 points as pennance for ownership of the most flat-earth tape-deck outside of a Revox A77/B77/G36.

Rico - musichead

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Martin Clark

Since I appear to be balanced perfectly at the point of inflexion is this the sound of one foot tapping?

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Eric Barry

Perhaps I could add "any non-recording component" not designed in England, Scotland, or Cambridge (NAD does make tape decks, BTW). But then anyone who owns a cartridge other than Linn would cry too, and frankly I don't think such whining is in the nature of this endeavour. So take your lumps--and try to find a prototype of the Naim cassette deck.

--Eric

Posted on: 11 October 2000 by Former member

Catch wrote:
As you know, the 82 doesn't have the phono input, but the 32-5 does (with the boards removed, of course).

Mike,

I just re-read this properly and you are in serious trouble with the FEP committee. The BNC connectors at the back right (looking from the back) of your 82 are the phono input. If you use it as such, you have the right to change the "aux" button sticker to "phono" at the front. So both your 82 and 32.5 have the capability, but they require the boards, which you don't have and is what Mr. Petrik meant.

Vuk.