Who heard ZU?

they love them on 6moons.com

 

They love tie dye fishermans trousers and joss sticks on 6moons.

 

Mic, I answered your question, no comments...

 

You miss the point. Most in room plots will be fairly flat above 200hz. Indeed a decent speaker should be +/- 2db in room above that point provided you know something about rudimentary positioning. Sad to say my valves and horns are +/- 2db from 250hz to 20khz at the listening position. That doesn't surprise me - but obviously does you.

The issue with the Zu is it's incredibly uneven regardless of the room, and the bottom end is non existant. In order to get realistic bass, the unit has to be boundary loaded, and the boundaries in typical UK living rooms are better suited to this than American dwellings. Hence the propensity of US speakers that can sound bloated when used in typical UK listening rooms. They need more bass - not less.

I have never and could never envisage wanting to hear a speaker with a roller coaster response as you put it. Enough research exists from Floyd Toole to show that the average listener likes a linear frequency response. With regards to EQ, my feeling is simple, that the DSP involved in processing the EQ damages the signal to the extent that it is audible to the listener - that something is lost along with the undoubted gains that a properly EQ'ed room provides. I am in the throws of acoustically treating my room at the moment. Sadly the passive option is still to my ears, the only one likely to succeed on both objective and musical fronts.

 

And sandals, you forgot them bloomin' flip-flops...

What else: easy listening "world" music. Not ethnic, just bubly fusion lounge music...

Some even like country...

But, heck, they're americans...they're supposed to like country music.

P.S.: Hey, why not start a new thread on favorite reviewers...

 

stereo mic, 'i wasn't using that as praise', it was menat to be faintly damning.

 

Ah glad to hear that SQ. I was imagining a Yorkshireman with a goatee and large Indonesian batik collection ;-)

 

I like the Zu's

I've Zu's Druid MkIV and Credenza, MiniMethod and their Ibis, Varial and Mother cables. The Druid's break-in is (after six month's) just becoming bearable (sic. enjoyable) - the Credenza (as meanwhile all ongoing production) is broken-in. I visited Ogden (Zu) and auditioned fully broken-in Druids (with and without sub) and never before had I enjoyed playback as much as during those minutes. The Credenza mimics what I heard, i.e., those FRs are, in my humble opinion, the best deal in 'HiFi' (as are their cables) I've encountered during forty years hobby. Same goes for the hands-on quality.

Just today a friend heard my, the Zu speakers for the first time. He owns the Avantgarde Trio FR horns with custom subs (2x15" Stoker ea.), Pass' Aleph (mod by Prof. Matuschek) and 2x Crown K2 for the subs - Brinkmann/Breuer/BlueMoon & ModWright 9100 as front ends. He was impressed with the Zu sound (even disregarding their absurdly low pricing). A pair of Presence (also Zu) might end up in his bedroom rig, maybe by Christmas... He might even trial (90-day satisfaction guaranty) their cables (in exchange for his costing five-plus times as much). Yes, that impressed.

I do not concur that they sound 'better' in American rooms (I'm American but live in Germany), nor do they 'sound' American as well as flash-in-the-pan, i.e., beguiling today, boring tomorrow. It took me some time to come around, no question. I lived close to ten years with the Celestion SL600 (mated with 50W Class A, later Gryphon Tabu Century), 'corresponded with Graham Bank (600's designer) for years. I owned Infinity RS4.5, Tannoy Kensington, AR3a - a lot [more] of excellent speakers and most recently the QLN G3 (with REL Storm II) before my Zu-thing...

Perhaps the most revealing piece that Zu produces [and led me on to the 'quality' of their gear] is their Ibis speaker cable. Wired to a TEAC CR-H225 and Mission M30 (the wire costs far more than the rest), the playback rivaled my Gryphon/ModWright 9100/QLN kit! My point, physics (Zu's B3 geometry, non-ported short-throw sub, hard-hung FR) and not "pixel-counting" -intended design approach, matched with practically flawless construction at price points not to make them millionaires but instead give you 'more' than you paid for...

I find their bass without a sub flawless and with one, awesome. The speakers are not difficult to set up (instructions included) - an evening should suffice (when I think of the weeks of tinkering I used to go through!). If those Tones are still out there, buy them and thrash the heck out of them (invert phase with a blanket over 'em) with solid 100+W and trance music for 300+ hours. Then trial their MiniMethod ($1500) that is fast enough for the FR, get good solid speaker stands and be glad you saved so much dough for such great 'tone.'

Repeat: anyone ready to trial their speakers, meanwhile they are factory broken-in. Anyone ready for, in my opinion, proper signal transfer, try any of their wire. I'm sure their new pick-up cartridge is 'killer' as well. By the way, their stuff doesn't fall apart, music-wise, at no matter which volume level. I don't know (or care) about graphs or other's opinions, just what I remember from 'live.' The folks in Ogden are revolutionary.

P.S., not to bash REL (loved it a long time) but compared to Zu's sub(s) - eons of 'much better' (zero qualms!) with Zu

 

It's funny how so totally polarised the opinions are regarding the Zu speakers, I spent the better part of an afternoon listening to a pair of Druids at a fellow audiophiles place recently.
His system was VERY expensive, all analogue top shelf gear with a mega buck Zyx cartridge and battery powered phono pre on a top shelf Acoustic Signature turntable, Audio Aero tube amplification and so forth....
We listened to many genres of music in his lovely and rather expansive half an entire building floor, loft style apartment.
The Druids were a good 9 months old and had apparently been "blasted regularly" by the enthusiastic owner....
After about 3 hours of listening at various levels and dispersed by several glasses of wine and chat, my girlfriend and myself left and the the first thing she said was "Thank God...those f@ucking speakers were shredding my bleeding ears.."
I too had a lot of pressure in my ears which lasted hours, very similar to having endured a live band through a crappy PA system at the local pub.....
Your mileage may indeed vary, but having spent some 20 years in professional audio as an engineer using literally countless speakers in many environs, I can honestly say that I have never suffered such displeasure from any system, let alone a tube/turntable based system, in such a short period of time !
They belong in a Zu alright....................

 

Just need to comment about " Flimsy American walls". My home as well as thousands maybe millions have plaster over wood lathe on wood studs. My home for example is a 80 year old German Tudor. The listening room is 24x 16 with a 7.5 ft. clg. New constr. nowadays for walls is primarily double 5/8" gyp. board on metal stud with sound attenuation.
If your gonna bash us at least get your facts straight.

rollo

 

What the f*ck is German Tudor? I thought the Tudor period ended in about 1600 in the UK, maybe it was different in Germany, or....ahem... the US D). No offence meant tho', just wondering .

 

Since when has plaster/studding wall been solid, thats a crappy partition wall.
We tend to use bricks.

 

I'm losing track of the point here - is it not that a stud-type/plasterboard/drywall/timberframed or whatever-you-call-it wall will absorb more of the bass* (also like Scandinavian homes where I live), whereas a brick or concrete wall will simply bounce bass round internally**. Hence a speaker voiced for the first kind might sound too boomy for the second - correct?

* see this table
** actually I think I should rather say that the really low frequencies pressurize the room, rather than bounce, so walls that do not move (e.g., brick) have higher pressure peaks, whereas walls that move a little ("give") take away some energy and take off the pressure-peaks.

 

Agree 100%. Your point is well made.

rollo

 

Well if you recall history the people who migrated to the USA after WW2 brought with them their style of home as well as other Architectural styles. We have English and German style homes here. My listening room is in the basement where we have solid concrete foundation walls. Todays construction however is not of the same quality it once was. With metal studded walls and shitrock which sucks for a listening room in any Country.


rollo

 

For interior partitions? Or exterior? Or both? If its interior walls your a lucky man. A typical plaster wall is 6"-7" thick. Flimsey its not. Plaster acts the same way as masonry in keeping the room pressurized [ 1 1/2" plas.on 1/2" wood lathe over 4" wood stud ]. Unless we measured a difference in absorbtion of the bass its just another opinion. Has anyone here actually measured a difference in wall types. Just curious.


rollo