Zu loudspeakers

[rockhopper]

So Rockhopper, with a fair choice of spkrs out there, why go Zu?

One of the reasons was that I could try them at my home in St Andrews.
They just suited the room so well. Others I tried seemed to be firing at me.
The ZU,s had a all enveloping sound.

 

[perart1]

Not only new world Peter but a Montes

Oh dear...that explains why you like the Zu's

 

[shadowlight]

Shadowlight, I think when a spkr has a strong character like Zu, it is, or can be perceived as, lacking ultimate transparency. However I've heard spkrs that are as characterless and see thru as glass, and about as exciting.

What OBs do you run?

Agree on how transparent the Zu's are. My initial move to OB was Spatial Audio M3 Turbo and I recently moved to Pure Audio Project Quintet 15 with horn configuration.

 

[SETDrugs]

Agree on how transparent the Zu's are. My initial move to OB was Spatial Audio M3 Turbo and I recently moved to Pure Audio Project Quintet 15 with horn configuration.

Shadowlight that is very interesing speaker for sure Pure Audio Project. I have been curious about those for some time but have been too content and happy with my Zu to seriously make a change. Not to mention my bedroom is kind of limiting my speaker choices. But they are totally different design on a few levels. Full range drivers , crossoverless cabinets VS several drivers lined up in Open baffle with complex crossover.

I will try to audition some open baffles at a show one of these days to see what this type sound is like.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Shadowlight, what regrets do you have moving to these two OBs.

In other words, what Zu goodness is maybe missing since you moved on?

 

[spiritofmusic]

SETDrugs, I've had some experience w OBs. My tt designer Vic has run Bastanis and gone on to another similar system.

Unlike Zus he cuts to sub drivers at 100Hz, and then runs full range to 20k w no tweeters.

The sound is not quite for me (he uses SS T-amps), but it's highly detailed and present.

What I'm a little confused by re OBs is the claim from designers who are sceptical of the concept, that bass is a weakness w no cabinet. Vic has some of the best bass I've heard in a home system.

He laughs at suggestions OBs don't do bass, and his simple system is testament to this. He runs per side a pair of AE 18" woofers in an Isobarik fashion.

 

[spiritofmusic]

One of the reasons was that I could try them at my home in St Andrews.
They just suited the room so well. Others I tried seemed to be firing at me.
The ZU,s had a all enveloping sound.

Fantastic RockH, that's what it's all about. Spkrs that fit in and are immersive. Would you ever consider the latest Druids VI? By all accounts they are Sean's best yet, by a big margin. Indeed one report says they have the edge over the 6x pricier Zu Dominance.

 

[rockhopper]

Fantastic RockH, that's what it's all about. Spkrs that fit in and are immersive. Would you ever consider the latest Druids VI? By all accounts they are Sean's best yet, by a big margin. Indeed one report says they have the edge over the 6x pricier Zu Dominance.

I would really like to hear them but my circumstances have really changed.
I will send you a pm

 

[bonzo75]

By immersive, do they sound very enveloping and near field, or can you get them to sound backward layered and mid hall?

 

[spiritofmusic]

Ked, it's interesting you would ask such a Q.

We've been at one or two concerts recently where we sitting close to the stage, and the symphony orchestra was very immediate and up front. Yet I still felt it was immersive and enveloping.

Yesterday we were at a less bombastic gig mainly featuring Albinoni and Vivaldi, sitting almost mid hall, and things were more reticent yet still the ambience wrapped around us.

I can't imagine being able to swap presentations at home.

The Zus manage to capture a lot of the live experience with an expressive lively presentation, naturally warm w good imaging, avoiding the laser focussed spotlit sound I hear in many systems.

I'm due to visit a guy with a potentially fascinating system. Eera Tentation cdp heavily modded by Fidelity Audio in UK, Aqua La Scala Dac and transport, all-Thrax amps and spkrs.

This will be a good comparison to judge my current sound.

 

[bonzo75]

Ked, it's interesting you would ask such a Q.

We've been at one or two concerts recently where we sitting close to the stage, and the symphony orchestra was very immediate and up front. Yet I still felt it was immersive and enveloping.

Yesterday we were at a less bombastic gig mainly featuring Albinoni and Vivaldi, sitting almost mid hall, and things were more reticent yet still the ambience wrapped around us.

I can't imagine being able to swap presentations at home.

The Zus manage to capture a lot of the live experience with an expressive lively presentation, naturally warm w good imaging, avoiding the laser focussed spotlit sound I hear in many systems.

I'm due to visit a guy with a potentially fascinating system. Eera Tentation cdp heavily modded by Fidelity Audio in UK, Aqua La Scala Dac and transport, all-Thrax amps and spkrs.

This will be a good comparison to judge my current sound.

I am sure you will find yours better

Anamighty sound has a very good analog set up which is now with all Thrax amps and speakers.

 

[spiritofmusic]

It's really to gauge optimised Eera against proper 2 box serious alternative. I love the natural transparent sound of SGM w Aqua Formula XHD at Barry, so a comparison at these level is always useful.

A decade on, JackD201 still extols his Eera Tentation. It's taken a streaming solution w serious attention to noise suppression at over 3x the cost of the cdp to stsrt to beat his humble Eera.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Ked, by yr Q are you saying a system can by controllable to switch btwn front row and mid hall perspective?

 

[bonzo75]

Ked, by yr Q are you saying a system can by controllable to switch btwn front row and mid hall perspective?

Speakers can be, by changing upstream electronics. Also speaker positioning, listening distance, acoustics. That's why I wouldn't like to hear Zus only on one amp given the range it allows, from 2a3 to your Nats to push pulls

 

[spiritofmusic]

Fine Ked. You can always get back to me once you've done a Zu tour in 2029 LOL.

Tbh if I was minded to have user adjustability for staging in the way you describe, I'd prob go MCH w digital control on parameters.

I don't think I'd want the hassle of switching components like amps to achieve the same.

The hobby is sufficiently OCD without adding options such as this. Most of us want to just get one system sounding half decent.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Re positioning, my Zus sound poorer any closer than 6' to front wall, or more than 8' away. Ditto not being closer than 4' to side walls. So no scope here to alter more.

Re listening distance.
Me over 12' from Zus, things feel a little more mid hall diffuse, closer than 9' and its too headphone like/beamy. So 10-11' works for me.

I'm not minded to look for different presentations now I've found a reasonable sweet spot.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Also Ked re amps, my old 30W Audion 845s struggled to fully energise my space here as much as my 70W Nat 211s.

At 800 sq ft, it's 4-5x the size of a typical small British lounge. So for my personal situation, I couldn't practically contemplate SETDrugs' 2A3 setup on Zus.

Maybe if I was upgrading to a future system, Zu Experiences I or the Azzolina Hadrons/Sfera horns heard at The General's, I'd consider a commission to TMayer for 50W 845 or 211 amps.

 

[spiritofmusic]

The good news on the Zu front here at the chapel is that I'm finally cracking the code of how to get them to sing in those areas where they've been a little opaque and not fully transparent.

I remain envious of those who hit a home run w them seemingly out of the box, while its taken me a decade to get them to fully realise they're potential.

I'm not sure I'd give a girl this amount of time LOL.

And I've dumped friends who've not kept me amused in the same time I've stuck it out w Zu.

My original issue that plagued me for the first 9 years of Zu ownership (although I didn't really realise it at the time), was living w them in a truly atrocious acoustic. A 30x27 expanse of concrete ceiling and 3 no. 9x7 windows in my 27x13 concrete front wall, w very few soft furnishings or ability to easily install acoustic treatments, a reflective Hell, left me with a sound that had no chance of being warm and immersive, defeating all attempts at seamless sub bass integration and attempting a good stage.

All I could really maximise was what sold Zu to me, it's full range tone density and macrodynamic capabilities. It became maybe the best audiophile party speaker around, but I could never go from first row/spotlit sound to anything more introspective/gently illuminated.

Until of course I bought the chapel, carved out the new space, and reinstalled the Zus.

30 seconds in I knew I was cooking, the greatest sense of both panic release (nothing like realising $80-100k spend on the room was so worth it) and instant awareness that the Zus could be both compelling on a macrodynamic level and also to the deeper musical message.

And so started my final phase on getting the system, and thus Zus, sorted. The last 3 months with a handful of slam dunk improvements have got me falling in love w the Zu sound all over again (yes, still w the caveat that they have their limitations).

If anyone had said to me 3 years ago I'd be really enjoying classical thru them, and picking up on a whole bunch of cues inaudible to me then, I'd have asked what their drink of choice was LOL.

 

[SETDrugs]

The good news on the Zu front here at the chapel is that I'm finally cracking the code of how to get them to sing in those areas where they've been a little opaque and not fully transparent.

I remain envious of those who hit a home run w them seemingly out of the box, while its taken me a decade to get them to fully realise they're potential.

I'm not sure I'd give a girl this amount of time LOL.

And I've dumped friends who've not kept me amused in the same time I've stuck it out w Zu.

My original issue that plagued me for the first 9 years of Zu ownership (although I didn't really realise it at the time), was living w them in a truly atrocious acoustic. A 30x27 expanse of concrete ceiling and 3 no. 9x7 windows in my 27x13 concrete front wall, w very few soft furnishings or ability to easily install acoustic treatments, a reflective Hell, left me with a sound that had no chance of being warm and immersive, defeating all attempts at seamless sub bass integration and attempting a good stage.

All I could really maximise was what sold Zu to me, it's full range tone density and macrodynamic capabilities. It became maybe the best audiophile party speaker around, but I could never go from first row/spotlit sound to anything more introspective/gently illuminated.

Until of course I bought the chapel, carved out the new space, and reinstalled the Zus.

30 seconds in I knew I was cooking, the greatest sense of both panic release (nothing like realising $80-100k spend on the room was so worth it) and instant awareness that the Zus could be both compelling on a macrodynamic level and also to the deeper musical message.

And so started my final phase on getting the system, and thus Zus, sorted. The last 3 months with a handful of slam dunk improvements have got me falling in love w the Zu sound all over again (yes, still w the caveat that they have their limitations).

If anyone had said to me 3 years ago I'd be really enjoying classical thru them, and picking up on a whole bunch of cues inaudible to me then, I'd have asked what their drink of choice was LOL.

Marc,

Agree with everything you said about careful attention to detail with the Zus. Compared to some other speakers I've owned before, the Supreme seems to play every single genre of music well and are very special on a few of them. They seem to convey the emotion of the musicians and the atmosphere/venue of the recording better then any speaker I've heard before. I thought I was crazy with my system spending but you've probably invested 3 - 4x more then I have. It better be good by now but that's part of what makes this hobby exciting.

 

[SETDrugs]

Fantastic RockH, that's what it's all about. Spkrs that fit in and are immersive. Would you ever consider the latest Druids VI? By all accounts they are Sean's best yet, by a big margin. Indeed one report says they have the edge over the 6x pricier Zu Dominance.

I thought the Zu Dominance is temporarily discontinued right now or under revision? That is great praise for the Druid VI. If Sean can do something like that for Supreme II, count me in.