Yes, it's a shame I'm making all these changes at the same time (speakers, amplifier, cartridge). It's fun and informative to make just one change and assess it. I did try and source the KRs for a good price and was told that production had basically stopped because of the pandemic. From what I've read, the Gold Lions are more in the Eastern European camp as opposed to the Chinese camp when it comes to sonic signature(?)
SET amp owners thread
- Thread starter bonzo75
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If those are too warm sounding then give the JJs a try...they are also "European" sounding 300Bs.
Well it depends which Zu speaker, room, setup, amplification, etc. The single driver Zu speakers, ala Druid, are not symphonic champions, though v6 Druid has made great strides in that direction. The dual-and triple FRD speakers, Definition and Dominance are easily scalar for full symphony, but one can get it wrong. Too many people assume a 101db/w/m speaker is going to do everything with a 2w amp. Sorry, that's erroneous thinking. I have Definitions in place for 15 years continuously, v1.5 through v4 and v6 coming soon, and use 15-25w SET, SEP and some p-p amplification. As a lifelong live symphony attendee I know when a speaker and system can scale and when it cannot. If I had Marc's room challenge I might want his power level. Thing is, you can hand a 2000w amp on Zu and it will handle that just fine. Ampzilla 2000 2nd Edition lit them up gorgeously on full orchestral music. If you think Zu Definition can't scale, you just haven't put any time or thought into it, or you simply don't know what you're doing. Very little else matches it for scaled domestic performance, in practical terms.As you say Phil... absolutely complete balderdash. They just aren’t good at big scale classical at all. What they do well is all good. But you are the only one out there touting large scale classical as a natural Zu strength. I trust in Marc’s sheer bloodyminded focus and perfectionism to overcome an inherent constraint and get something really good happening. But no amount of bluff or wishing is just going to make Zu a big scale classic music lovers speaker without some serious sonic shifting $$$ investment. Have heard them here plenty of times so hardly going to travel across the world to suffer another tragic symphonic overture... glad you find them good enough for you at it but classical magic
Phil
Heard them... not especially good at scale compared to horns... and as anyone who knows anything about classical music definitely not great at large scale classical. Not sure about the petty cheap crack about not having put any thought into it or not knowing what I’m doing. That’s not particularly surprising though.
There is nothing intrinsic about horns that assures they scale. Most people cannot make practical use of horns that do scale, in domestic living spaces. If you have a mid-20th century movie theater (theatre) then maybe. It wasn't a cheap crack, btw. Maybe you know what you're doing with a horn but if you can't get scale from a pair of Zu Definitions, then you don't know what you're doing wrt a Zu Definition. If you did, you could get symphonic scale out of them. If you don't think they scale, it's not the speaker, it's the implementation.
Phil
Rubbish Phil. Want to tell me again I don’t know what I’m doing. Cheap crack it most certainly was.
Graham, as Vera Lynn sang "We'll meet again...", having become so close over Covid. You'll have to visit UK once, and diversion here.
I'm getting pretty good scale on my Zus, they're reflecting the rooms they were in/are in now.
Coltrane "Africa/Brass" title track is pretty brutal, w it's twin basslines and relentless brass section. My Definitions had struggled to navigate it before. They're still not as open as eg AG Trios or Cessaro Liszts or esp Pnoes would be. But I'm getting way less congestion, way more clarity. And that's a testament to the Zus being hugely more adept at classical/symphonic than I'd ever known in the past.
Planets Suite and Scheherazade and Sparatcus just great too. Really.
I'm getting pretty good scale on my Zus, they're reflecting the rooms they were in/are in now.
Coltrane "Africa/Brass" title track is pretty brutal, w it's twin basslines and relentless brass section. My Definitions had struggled to navigate it before. They're still not as open as eg AG Trios or Cessaro Liszts or esp Pnoes would be. But I'm getting way less congestion, way more clarity. And that's a testament to the Zus being hugely more adept at classical/symphonic than I'd ever known in the past.
Planets Suite and Scheherazade and Sparatcus just great too. Really.
At least they use a really good compression driver...just not in the best way (only for bat frequencies). They should build a proper horn for it and cross it around 1-1.5k and let the FRD be a superb mid/bass. That will open it up and allow more scale, IMO.
Brad, the new models due this yr, Covid permitting, will run three full range drivers instead of two, and concentric supertweeters within each.
So six drivers per side. Plus sub(s).
So six drivers per side. Plus sub(s).
The 950 was the plan when the next Definition was expected to retain the Def4 drivers arrangement. Sean has found something better, flat out to 30kHz and compact enough to fit concentrically within the Zu FRD structure. -Phil
Everybody's a designer. Less scale, actually. And you will never see a Sean Casey speaker put a crossover nor even a HPF point smack in the midrange. 1 - 1.5kHz is out of the question. It would defeat the entire purpose of building a (high efficiency) speaker around an FRD. Somebody wants to do that, fine. It's just not going to be Sean. And his customers won't buy that speaker even if he did make it. -Phil
Talked to Audio Detail about their 211 amps. At $10k, they seem like a good deal, on paper. The Owner was a really nice guy and spent the time to exchange e-mails. He mentioned that he will be releasing a 845 SET Monos in the near future. He seemed to think I would prefer the 845s for my Daedalus. In that case I could move my EAR 509s to subwoofer duty. Currently, I run them with a Parasound Stereo amp. I believe the damping factors between the two are causing a very slight subwoofer mismatch. Small, but noticeable.
Until I see the measurements, I don't believe a word from any manufacturer. That said, I had lovely sounding Audiostatic ES100s that had a terrible Venetian blind effect at high frequencies...you had to have your head locked in place...but what a sound in that place!!
If that was the case, I would rather get one of Radian's own Coax drivers like is being used in the Live Act Audio Speakers...very very good.
Mark's amps are very good, his 101d pre is excellent as well. I love his universums and have done many shootouts there with various electronics
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