This would usually be part of the development thread, but if I put it in there possibly a lot of people might not see it.

Steve/Decware Company.....Developments Thread: https://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl?num=1408725911

In both the Development thread and the 25th Anniversary Amp thread as a result of lots of listening tests, I've posted quite a lot of colorful descriptions of what I hear so tonight it's the same thing, just in a different place and with new stuff!

I have to tell you the back story before we can get into this fully...

Back before Decware, as you know it, I had the opportunity to work in stereo store that sold upper-end mid-fi gear. It was one of the most fun jobs I ever had, and as you can see I'm still doing it, but just for myself instead of someone else. Anyway, I was working after hours and had brought in a pair of Imperial Folded Horns that I had built to raise the overall excitement level (which they handsomely did btw.) so I set them up as low frequency drivers, one in each corner of a room standing upright. To power them I used a pair of PS Audio's mono blocks (remember this was like in 1989).

We were Klipsch dealers, so I had just completed a repair on a pair of Klipschorns, and needed to test them out. I place a Klipschorn on top of each Imperial. Together they just kissed the 9-foot  ceiling. Powering the Klipschorns was a rack of NAD power amplifiers, One for the  woofers, one for midranges, one for the tweeters. I don't even remember what the preamp was, but it was a mini tower of power that 's for sure. Floor to ceiling speakers and literally about 2000 watts total on an efficiency of 104dB 1/w1/m. What this meant is that we could stay inside the happy zone of the solid-state  transistors which is 10% of their rated power (opinion not fact) and still have about 10 times more power than we could ever use.

It was a night to remember...  I had just got the new CD called "SWITCHED-ON-BACH" / Waltre Carlos performing on the Moog synthesizer.  After listening to it on several systems, I just had to hear it on a pair of Imperials which is what started the whole night...

I put that CD into this midnight system that no one would ever see or hear and it was simply unbelievable. The low bass that came out of that was simply memorable.  And ironically at a time when we were building some of the areas best car audio subwoofers, so we were no strangers to bass.  The Kicker Demo Van that we used had 57 or so drivers in it, and 24,000 watts and  9-18 inch subs in the back.  That was memorable too, but frankly no where near as memorable as this night!

It sounded like I was in a large cathedral, and I turned that damn thing up as loud as I could handle it without distortion, and played it over and over. I simply couldn't stop. It was so good every time it ended, I  hit play one more time. This went on from 8 P.M. to 8 A.M. when the business next door kept calling because it was too loud.

Yes, one CD played for nearly 12 hours straight. I guess this proves I'm a little sick... but believe it or not each time I listened to it, I heard different things... the bass notes and overall sound of this were overwhelming. By 9:00 A.M, I had the entire thing disassembled and put away as though it had never happened, and the store opened for another day of business.

Now, over the years I have listened to this same CD on a variety of different setups and never made it through even the first half because it just sounds so disappointing compared to my memory of it.

This week I am doing the final analysis of the ZMA (Zen Mystery Amp) Anniversary Mods and it has handsomely passed all the digital tests I can through at it so I think I am done with it.  To make sure I actually am done with it, it's time to bring out the big guns, so all last week it's been master tapes and LP's.

Today arrived a sealed LP, a Half-Speed Mastered extended range recording/ audiophile pressing from CBS Mastersound of you guessed it, "SWITCHED-ON-BACH"!!  So I decided to throw this at the ZMA and at the same time give the new DNA2 loudspeakers a serious bass test!

And that's what I did. I turned up the amp as loud as it would go and dropped the needle on the record and there were only two words I could think to say: " Oh, my! " Having never heard this on anything but a CD and being 30-some years   since that crazy night with the Imperials and the K-Horns, I have to say it brought back the memory like a flood, but the tonality now was at this moment over the top. Liquidity like I didn't know the Moog actually had, and the bass was just nuts... plus it imaged! I didn't know it did that either ; )

I'm going to have to play side two at this year  DECFEST 2018 because it's by far the most impressive thing I have ever heard come out of the ZMA and the speakers too! I can only imagine when I hook up my Imperials what's going to happen.

This really is the holy grail of demo recordings when you really want to make a point on a bigger system.

Really I can never remember a time when writing a post has been more tedious...  I have to spin the record again so bad I just can't stand it anymore.  God I wonder what's going to happen now?

WOW!   Sounds great, Steve. I have been wanting to hear my DNA2 and ZEN25 hooked up to Imperials, too. I can only imagine what that would sound like. Man, looks like I will be forced to attend Decfest again this year!!!!