So why the love for Zu? Well, it's all in the amalgam of full range drivers w true high efficiency and uber SET friendliness, and the holistic effect this has on transparency to musical message.
I've heard quite a few multi driver tower spkrs of medium and low efficiency, w complex crossovers and a thirst for high power SS because of either efficiency demands or dips in impedance.
A lot of these spkrs are fantastic at first blush, but go on to reveal their forensic ruthlessness and drivers discontinuity.
I'll never forget the KEF Muons 2 w Levinson 6 pack demo where after 10 mins serious bigging up by the hosts, out sprang a sound that was as dissected and artificial as could be.
But, I've heard great multi driver systems too. It's just that I seem to be particularly prone to hearing the mechanics of music making of so many tower spkrs w seperate tweeters, mids and woofers drivers.
The Zus full range drivers concept OTOH are a lot more reticent in how they first greet you, but when they latch onto whatever part of the psychoacoustic part of your hearing and brain processing, it's really hard to go back to the more forensic transducers.
The Zu full range drivers just seem to nail the mids/upper bass part of music where so much intonation and meaning resides. Zu tonal density and dynamic shove is not a function of playing louder and deeper, it's about the full range driver encapsulating the envelope of the note and not allowing it to be adulterated by being split into frequency bands.
Yes, I know, this leads to other irregularities like a slight tendency to break up twds the upper end of the driver response, and some congestion in dense orchestral passages.
But all spkrs have compromises, and I consider these to be worth the price of entry.
Now I know horns take the organic nature of Zus further on, but there are issues on how revealing they are of poor, flat sounding material, Zu really always finds a way to be forgiving even of some real horror productions.
This in a nutshell is what drew me to Zu, whats kept me loyal to the brand and concept, despite full awareness that what they do well is also a reason why they haven't quite broken the mainstream of audiophilia w their USP.