The map is great at creating space around the individual instruments, but still making everything hang together. The depth of the sound stage is vast. The sound is also neutral, it manages to be mucial without resorting to warming the sound.

Compared to a friends good system (linn amps) I realised that my arcam sounds as if I sit a couple of rows further back. I heard details that I had not noticed at home, afterwards I did notice them, The Arcam had just not drawn my attention to them. I suppose that it is a question do you want all the details thrown at you or do you want to find them, there where they are in the music. This could of course be the room or speakers or cables...

I have har Arcam equipment for over 15 years, Before this amp I had an C200/SA200 per/power combination This was an old amp produce in 1981, even so it managed to outshine many modern amps simple by sounding nice, as if it liked playing music.

The upgrade to an Arcam FMJ22 improved on this by loving the music it plays. I find myself listening to whole CD's when I only meant to listen for a few minutes. The amp presents what is good about each recording, and makes excuses for whats bad!

For the record, my system is
Arcam FMJ CD23 Cd Player
Linn interconnects
Arcam FMJ A22 / A&R Cambridge SA200 power amp (biamped power amp for the bass)
Kef Reference 104/2s (bi amped version)
Kef Kube200 sitting between the A22 and SA200 (This means that I get the bass extension without it veiling the descant and midrange)
VanDeHul SC12 speaker cables