A visit to Z Axis Audio

Uk Paul said:

I wanted to get a pair of stock Spire's here when I completed these but understandably the dealer then was not at all interested in it! But yes Justin it would have been good to compare the two side by side for sure. I did think that the speakers were good to begin with though, and "worthy of some small changes" I thought back then though each time I have heard stock ML's since, either Summit, Summit X, 11a and 13a, Montis, the tranparency wasn't anywhere near the same, and the bass in mine is far less bloated and more controlled and reveals tone better. Just to point out though that the 10" bass unit is still mounted in the original placement below the panel, with only the electronics and crossover moved to the external cabinet, which may get a rebuild at some point as these are not quite truly finished. These run off the Symetrica too which is a must. Early experiments with Bal power was only on the speakers years ago when these ML's were stock, running each speaker from an airlink transformer and that clearly demonstrated that it worked but they did hum a bit, hence using the big DC filter now in the Symetrica.

The marriage of the CF ZL-200 mono's and these does work very well though as these dip to below 1ohm at hf, so clearly the amps can deliver the current required from just 8 Mosfets per channel in BTL configuration. This can give amazing power and dynamics and often provokes a '**** me' moment.. I wish there was more talk on here about ML's, and Marc, I didn't realise you heard the Neolith unveiling, was this at KJ? To hear that these surpass that set up is a nice thing to hear! Thank you! Fwiw, I put the Neolith as a choice on Davey's thread along with the Nautilus which I'd love to try here if anybody has any kicking around? lol..

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spiritofmusic said:

One thing I loved about Paul’s setup was a level of transparency/system invisibility that I rarely hear ie a system that you “don’t” hear.
So many systems are impressive (even more the opposite), and seemingly see (hear) thru, but some aspect of component character, tonal bias, highlighting of one attribute or another, in effect gives the game away.
It’s easy to pick this up in systems that don’t speak to me, but almost never does it not happen even in entertaining rigs.
There was a truly non fatiguing flow to Paul’s sound that just drew me in, and never alerted me that a system was playing. That in itself was my biggest conclusion, and even though I don’t know how Paul achieved it so well, I do know it took hard work, trial and error.
Amending speakers, powerful but understated amps, excellent tt drivetrain updated to 2017 standards, a stellar arm/cart/phono combination, attention to detail on his racks, cables and balanced power.
A real masterclass in getting it as right as possible.

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Uk Paul said:

Justin, yes, like humans Sorry I never did get down to hear your Duetta's after you got them back, maybe one day? I'd also love to hear Barry's horn system sometime..

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spiritofmusic said:

Difficult clients? In high end audio? I’ve never heard of such a thing . Too bad.
They should have been able to chill out taking in yr sound.
I can help re visit to Barry. But do PM him yourself, he’s a v friendly generous soul.

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