Zellaton

[TechnicalPie]

First - ZELLATON not use metal drivers!!!
This is a multi-layer foam covered with the thinnest layer of foil!

Secondly - Any speakers of Focal Utopia, in my opinion, are not a competitor to Zellaton!

Focal Utopia - These are really dry and unnecessarily harsh high frequencies.
After 15 minutes of listening, they give me a headache.
They also have a specific "glass" bass.
There is nothing to do with natural sound! IMHO

Please read!
The 2018 Munich High-End Show | The Absolute Sound

“Best Sound!!!
The Zellaton Statement loudspeaker created the most realistic reproduction of the human voice I’ve ever heard from a hi-fi system. The sound was ineffably beautiful, seemingly existing in space independent of the physical means of its reproduction. The focus and coherence was beyond hi-fi. "

Absolutely. You can easily hear how resolving and accurate the Statement is. Based on my experience over the years that equates to a sound that is too lean and threadbare for my taste. As I mentioned in my other posts, I am sure many will enjoy that type of sound. No doubt with audiophile recordings it is a phenomenal speaker. Not sure what else one would expect from a 300k Euro pair of speakers? Color and euphony?

Just like I have yet to encounter metal drivers that I would find acceptable long term although they can be extremely accurate. Actually the Focal Utopia headphones with a Beryllium driver that is completely linear out to 50Khz came awfully close to being perfect for me but I still gave up on them long term as I don't only listen to Asian and other Diva audiophile grade recordings. Not that anyone can make a full range speaker like the Focal Utopia headphone... My taste and preference, I am sure many will disagree.

 

[Randy Myers]

Sure, I will listen to them... please send me a pair... oh, that is a problem, there is absolutely no way to listen to them... We would gladly allow you the chance to change our minds... send a pair to Ken, send a pair to me ...

“Best Sound!!!
The Zellaton Statement loudspeaker created the most realistic reproduction of the human voice I’ve ever heard from a hi-fi system. The sound was ineffably beautiful, seemingly existing in space independent of the physical means of its reproduction. The focus and coherence was beyond hi-fi. "

I've seen many similar review quotes on other speakers....
"What a speaker! What a completely memorable high-fidelity moment."
"When the song ended, I was speechless. I could not imagine a million-dollar system playing it any better. "

I could easily come up with a hundred quotes from reviews on speakers making similar statements about speakers that are in the $2000 range. Again, not saying the Zellaton's are not fantastic, I would be fairly certain they are. However quotes from reviewers mean little... if only they could be listened to ... I would be glad to listen, send a pair .

(obviously, for those who cannot tell the difference, this post is made with tongue planted firmly in cheek)

 

[Alpinist]

LoL. Well at least going about things the right way. Actually requesting to listen to the speakers in your system and room before forming an opinion on whether (price aside) you like them or not.

If someone posts videos of a system, they should prepare to get opinions on what it sounds like, be it positive or negative. Otherwise, why did they post it in the first place? I have done many live auditions of components that I listened to on videos first. It was a rare occurrence that I enjoyed the live audition when I didn’t enjoy the sound on the videos first.

Ken

 

[TheOctopus]

First - ZELLATON not use metal drivers!!!
This is a multi-layer foam covered with the thinnest layer of foil!

Secondly - Any speakers of Focal Utopia, in my opinion, are not a competitor to Zellaton!

Focal Utopia - These are really dry and unnecessarily harsh high frequencies.
After 15 minutes of listening, they give me a headache.
They also have a specific "glass" bass.
There is nothing to do with natural sound! IMHO

Please read!
The 2018 Munich High-End Show | The Absolute Sound

“Best Sound!!!
The Zellaton Statement loudspeaker created the most realistic reproduction of the human voice I’ve ever heard from a hi-fi system. The sound was ineffably beautiful, seemingly existing in space independent of the physical means of its reproduction. The focus and coherence was beyond hi-fi. "

Yes, I am aware that Zelleton used FOAM not metal for their drivers. My example of FOCAL UTOPIA HEADPHONES (NOT SPEAKERS) was just an example of what my taste/hearing does not tolerate long term. There is no comparison of Utopia Headphones to Speakers as there is only ONE driver in the headphones per side and it is completely linear out to 50KHz without even getting into crossover distortion and the fact that they can't make Beryllium drivers for full range speakers.

By the way, if you have a chance to listen to a pair of Utopia Headphones, do give them a listen. It just may open up a new window of appreciation of what a pure and accurate sound REALLY is. It is just me, I like a bit of color and euphony over accuracy and perfect response since the recording engineers did not always do a great job!

 

[TheOctopus]

If someone posts videos of a system, they should prepare to get opinions on what it sounds like, be it positive or negative. Otherwise, why did they post it in the first place? I have done many live auditions of components that I listened to on videos first. It was a rare occurrence that I enjoyed the live audition when I didn’t enjoy the sound on the videos first.

Ken

Bingo. If you have spent enough time in this hobby and listened to a multitude of different flavors of gear and speakers, youtube will not stand in the way of getting a very good idea what the philosophy of the speaker is. I can tell a tonally rich and saturated presentation of a speaker tilted a bit on the romantic and musical side from a speaker whose engineers worked very hard on accuracy and faithful tonal/timbre qualities. I may not be able to tell much else from a youtube video but all that is secondary to me. If I like what I hear, I am confident I can work with it. In fact that is what I did with my latest pair of speakers. Heard them on Mike's youtube and ordered right away! I love them just like I knew I would.

Would I suggest for folks to use youtube to select their speakers? Of course NOT!

 

[Randy Myers]

if you have a chance to listen to a pair of Utopia Headphones, do give them a listen. It just may open up a new window of appreciation of what a pure and accurate sound REALLY is. It is just me, I like a bit of color and euphony over accuracy and perfect response since the recording engineers did not always do a great job!

Exactly, we all have different preferences. I have never listened to the Utopia's, but I did own the Clear's. They were very nice headphones, but I can say without reservations that I very much prefer my Abyss. Completely different level. They also gave me a good idea that I prefer ribbon, planar magnet, panel transducers. With much reading and research I came to the realization that my preferences lean toward panel designs... That is me, maybe not other people .... they are pretty popular though . Very happy that I moved to planer speakers.... very much improve my enjoyment of my music.

 

[TheOctopus]

Exactly, we all have different preferences. I have never listened to the Utopia's, but I did own the Clear's. They were very nice headphones, but I can say without reservations that I very much prefer my Abyss. Completely different level. They also gave me a good idea that I prefer ribbon, planar magnet, panel transducers. With much reading and research I came to the realization that my preferences lean toward panel designs... That is me, maybe not other people .... they are pretty popular though . Very happy that I moved to planer speakers.... very much improve my enjoyment of my music.

Absolutely. We all have our preference and it often goes hand in hand with the genre of music we prefer. Some speakers just work better with specific genres. The transparency, speed, attack and decay or leading and lagging transient response of electrostatic/panel/ribbon drivers often has a slight advantage over the better dynamic drivers and often at a lower price point. The proper placement of such speakers comes into play. I had my time with Martin Logans and Magnepans back in the day. I was truly impressed with the Audeze headphones as well. Once again, if I preferred accuracy, I would still be with a faster, more airy speaker like the Logans or a Magnepan on their higher end of offerings.

 

[Backpacker]

I have heard Zellation Emotions and the Zellaton Reference at RMAF and the New York Audio Show respectively. Two out of three times the sound was so good I didn't want to leave the room. The only time I wasn't pulled in was when he used CH Precision electronics. Probably too much tending toward the analytical in the chain there ....

They don't have enough bass for me and I doubt they would be dynamic enough either. However, other than those limitations, they are phenomenal. For me they do everything electrostatics do but they do it better. The drivers sound more like the real thing and they are just as fast and transparent. I had several moments where I was amazed at what I was hearing. All of the drivers in the speakers I heard were the handmade foam sandwich drivers which probably helped them sound so coherent.

They are crazy expensive -- References are $150K, Stages are $90K and if the Emotions are still available I think they were around $30K. But if money was not a concern and I had the space I would own them just for when I wanted to listen to smaller scale music. I also love the Vandersteen 7s which have identical drivers (except for the subs) and I think that is part of their magic as well.

 

[Alpinist]

I also love the Vandersteen 7s which have identical drivers (except for the subs) and I think that is part of their magic as well.

That is what I love about Vandy 7’s too and exactly why I purchased them.

Ken

 

[roy51]

Never mind... not my business... if you allow blatant advertising that is your business.

BTW- almost $30,000 for a two-way stand mount speaker.... really... I mean really?

I bought the very similar looking, probably with same components ( at least looks the same and as far as I can recall are indeed Zellaton made ), Swiss made Ensemble Reference back in 92 for 5500 USD. So price for new Zellaton Legacy might be not so steep after all. The above Ensembles still sound fantastic after close to 30 years.

 

[Mordante]

If the Plural Evo is 40K, that’s regular hi-end territory.

Would be interested to listen to them.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Zellaton Plura Evo € 47.900,-
Zellaton Stage € 87.950,-
Zellaton Reference mk2 € 168.950,-
Zellaton Statement € 390.000,-

Not 40k. I think 50k would be closer to the truth. Regular hi-end territory is 5k.

 

[Kuoppis]

Zellaton Plura Evo € 47.900,-
Zellaton Stage € 87.950,-
Zellaton Reference mk2 € 168.950,-
Zellaton Statement € 390.000,-

Not 40k. I think 50k would be closer to the truth. Regular hi-end territory is 5k.

Hmmm. I think that depends a bit on who’s answering the question[emoji848].


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Myles B. Astor]

Zellaton Plura Evo € 47.900,-
Zellaton Stage € 87.950,-
Zellaton Reference mk2 € 168.950,-
Zellaton Statement € 390.000,-

Not 40k. I think 50k would be closer to the truth. Regular hi-end territory is 5k.

For US readers, the Plural Evos are $60k.

 

[Myles B. Astor]

quiet an entertaining e-fight

as for the zellatons, they are the most outstanding speakers for me. apart from the bass....little output, not even a hint of slam.
their newest model, the plural evo, is said to be a different animal. very good bass and a more attractive price (40k euro). what makes the zellaton so expensive is the work involved for the driver. for the plural evo they found a cheaper way.
i was close to buy it and it is still on my list. my wife dont want them in the livingroom though. a friend in germany got them in the store and was talking enthusiastic about.
Zellaton - PLURAL EVO

Plural Evos pretty sexy looking too.

 

[a.wayne]

Are they natural sounding ...?

 

[MPW]

Are they natural sounding ...?

They’re not vintage horns with generic wire, so probably not.

 

[u-sound]

Plural Evos pretty sexy looking too.

hi myles, did you already had the pleasure to listen to the plural?
glad to hear any kind of feedback. it was on my wishlist while it came out new and then it was so quiet that i forgot about it.
nice pictures by the way!

Zellaton Plural Evo - Part 1 - Unpacking - YouTube
if you skip to the end, there is one in custom color, porsche-achatgrey

 

[puroagave]

They’re not vintage horns with generic wire, so probably not.

members are being kicked off that site for nothing more than expressing their opinions (innocuous ones, I might add). Cancel culture has reached the audiosphere.

 

[Myles B. Astor]

hi myles, did you already had the pleasure to listen to the plural?
glad to hear any kind of feedback. it was on my wishlist while it came out new and then it was so quiet that i forgot about it.
nice pictures by the way!

Zellaton Plural Evo - Part 1 - Unpacking - YouTube
if you skip to the end, there is one in custom color, porsche-achatgrey

Yes, just recently. You can read about my listening experiences here:

Venturing Out For The First Time -

Audionirvana.org

 

[u-sound]

very cool!
may i ask how cohesiv, coherent and balanced they play.
you mentioned very good bass. can you please say, do they truly slam?
how different / similar to your magicoS5mk2 ?