ABTEC’s New DDZ18D1.5 & M4A

When I was told we were getting a DD Audio Z18 for the back of the trusty old Pajero I was overwhelmed with excitement, so much excitement that all I wanted to do is go and tell people like what a 5 year would do when he gets a new Tonka Tow-Truck for his birthday!

The only thing with this was that I was sworn to secrecy and wasn’t allowed to tell anybody, and anyone that knows me well would know this was very hard for me to do!

At this stage I thought it was about time we got this beast out of its cage! So I jumped right in to lift it out, for some reason it didn’t like me getting my grubby fingers on it so the Z18 decided to bite them on the way out causing me to be not only the first person to touch a Z18 in New Zealand but also the first to bleed all over one too!

After a spoonful of harden-up juice and too-much company time standing there glaring at the Z18 like a possum hypnotised by a cars head-lights, I moved out of the way so our MD could take some more photos. I must say, it looks good in the photos but they don’t do the workmanship justice tho. The handmade workmanship is nothing short of PERFECT!

Before I forget to mention it. If you think that a $8999 RRP sub-woofer wouldn’t sell very well, I am glad to say that you would be very wrong as our Z18 is the 67th one built in 2012 and over 500 have been sold worldwide!

Now onto the DD Audio M4a. Like the Z18 I did expect the M4a to be quite weighty and sizeable, what I didn’t expect was that the box housing it was going to be one foot wide and four foot long!

This got us replanning the layout inside the Pajero as the space we allocated for the M4a just wasn’t going to cut it. Lucky for us the box design we are using for the Z18 will allow us to place the M4a further back from where we originally planned.

One thing I must say about DD Audio amplifiers is that I love how simplistic they look and the way they preform is far beyond there RMS ratings that is for sure! I am personally excited and can’t wait to hear this set-up once it is fully installed and run in. I am pretty sure the rest of the ABTEC Team feels the same way and can’t wait to SPL it!