Hi Guys
A friend of mine finally got around to hearing my new ML2's.
Here is what he posted on the forum out here in Australia:
Having spent more than four hours yesterday in extreme musical bliss courtesy of Mike and Bill (whose ML2s have returned to the showroom), I would just like to add a few comments about these speakers.
I was always impressed by the ML1s but never really wanted to own a pair. The ML3s pushed me into "yes please I want some" but they failed the vital WAF test at the last moment. Mike suggested I wait for the ML2 as it would be less visually imposing and perhaps, in some areas, exceed the ML3 sonically.
The first ML2s I heard were ljmac's prior to completion. They were definitely interesting - clearly of the same essential nature as the ML3 but subtly different. I waited eagerly for Bill's pair to be finished so that I could have a proper listen. That opportunity finally arrived yesterday and I headed to the Gold Coast with my amp, my DAC and my digital source paraphernalia to see what the synergy would be like.
In the interest of keeping things brief... the speakers are excellent, but it's the speakers PLUS THE TOPPERS which delivered by far the most absorbing, entrancing, beautiful music listening experience I have ever had where live performers were not in the room. Without the toppers, the ML2s are everything ljmac said. With toppers, they cease to exist in three dimensional space. You can still hear characteristics of the speakers (like their quite understandable inability to plumb down towards 15Hz) and the electronics (like the slight upper-bass thickness of the Audiophilleo/Metrum combination) but the imaging and soundstage becomes utterly believable. Close your eyes and the instruments and voices are there, and so are you, but the room and the speakers aren't.
The level of detail and accuracy unleashed by the ML2 with toppers is better than anything I have ever heard, yet it was completely smooth and not in the slightest fatiguing. I would have listened for many more hours if I had the chance. A Mozart string quartet in 24/192 resolution from 2L recordings literally gave me goosebumps and made my breath catch in my throat. Regardless of genre or recording quality (even some 256kbit AAC files) the system delivered music.
I've asked Mike to provide me with a package price for ML2s like Bill's (Duelund bypass caps), toppers (final prototypes still being worked on) and ML2 stands (currently in design phase) so that I can start negotiating with SWMBO. Hopefully their smaller cabinets and sleek lines will get them past the hurdle that tripped up the ML3s.
Thanks
Bill