ZU

btw Petro85- a Dominance owner I believe is in Maryland or Virginia, so not far from you if you want to hear them :) He runs Allnic DHT/FirstWatt SIT1s.
 
KeithR said:
What size room do you have?

If I had to downsize (I have a large 25x24x9 room), Soul Supreme would be my selection. The Radian tweeter is really sublime- so extended, so natural. That said, Superflys on a McIntosh integrated sound fantastic on a budget.

15w is quite good on Zus- I wouldn't run them on 8 watt SETs. I use DarTZeel 8550, so totally overkill power-wise-- but its a very simple design with only 2 transistors per channel. The amplifier is the fulcrum of sound with Zu- when you get rid of the crossover, you hear what amps really can do. I can not emphasize this enough- and I've had 15 or so amps on Zus of all topologies.

There is a thread on A'gon about Druid V vs Definition which is a good read if you are interested. I prefer the Soul form factor to the Druid, but to each his own.

I should also say that there are Zu speakers I have not liked--the Druid IV to me wasn't as extended as other speakers and I just didn't "get it." I've heard the Omen Dirty Weekend (with Superfly drivers- so a frankenZu design). It works in his super small room, but the cabinet is definitely made at a price point and it's short, so rake becomes an issue. The Superfly and Druid have better cabinets. He will be upgrading in two years, but he's sold on Zu forever.

The Def IV is in a league of its own- and I feel compares favorably with Wilson Sashas, etc. at 2x the price. I've owned Wilson Sophias, Dyn C1s, etc...but once you go high efficiency, you learn the things these other speakers just have a hard time doing. Zu creates more of a live space sound, but it can be bright/lean/forward if partnered with the incorrect amp. In fact, my BAT 300XSE integrated was a horrible match for my original Definition 2s and I was close to sending back the speakers---got a Mac in there and boom! Sounded sublime.

If anyone is in Los Angeles and would like to stop by for a listening session, that can be arranged. My DarTZeel as well as top of the line 845 Audion SETs setups are local. I should add that Sean and the Zu guys are good friends and have the best customer service I've ever seen (they delivered and installed my speakers for one). It's a real tight community and I have numerous friends now because of the Zu community.

KeithR
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thanks for the info. as you can see in my sig im running 300b's and by the sounds im getting right now i wont be changing to any other amps anytime soon. maybe upgrading to better 300b's down the road but i am hooked on these. so i will always be low watts. and by the quality of the sound from 90db speakers now, i can only imagine what it would be like to get more efficient. the soundkaos wave 40's(95db) i heard a couple times at rhapsody(bobs place) would be off the hook with these amps. but are also $22k without the sub package.
i had a listening session with bob, i brought my 100w snappers up for the day. the snappers did wonderful things with the raidho d3's ,and i think bettered the absolare amps in that speaker in his large room. but dbl the watts of the absolares. but the snappers didnt sound anywhere even close to the quality of the absolare SET's on the wave40's. was definitely something special. id love to check the 300b's with those waves.
we did snappers-d3's, d1's and c1.1's, and wave 40's
then did absolares with d3's,d1's and c1.1's, and wave 40's
i think the absolares-wave40's were the best combo we heard that day.

my room is like 22x14, but weird shaped with a hallway and one wall opens up to the kitchen, and my listening chair is 5ft off the back wall and my speakers are sounding best at about 5ft off the front wall. so it kinda shrinks the room down. but if i pull the chair out and sit on the couch which is against the back wall and make my speakers wider, to fill the whole room, the 15w>90db speakers have a rough time playing on loud volumes. so i know im at the edge of the limit of these if i use the whole room. thats why i tightened everything up. if i put a rectangular box around my chair and speakers it would only measure around 12x10. zus are on my list but as i mentioned hearing them is hard to do. id love to hear those definitions. voltis are on my list too but hearing them is hard as well.
the normal line of quality popular speakers (wilson,magico,raidho,dynaudio,etc, etc) are not an option for me anymore with 15w amps, and i am happy about it with the astronomical prices they are getting. so my search will be a long one, im sure i will have 4-5 pairs of new 300b tubes, a new phonostage, a few choices of cartridges, a new tonearm, and maybe a new preamp before i buy speakers.lol.
weird but to me the least important part of my system is speakers, the most important is the front end table/arm/cart/phonostage. i know most other people are opposite.
thanks for your help
 
Petro- there is a Zu Def 4 owner with a Hovland front end (HP100/Radia). You might reach out to him. Spiritofmusic is his handle at WBF- he now runs Audion 845 SETs, so could be very helpful.
 
Steve

Don't know where you are in NJ or how far you are away from Amherst, Ma., but you might want to check with Bob Neal (Positive Feedback) who owns Amherst Audio. He carries the Audio Note and Blue Circle tube amps along with the low power tube friendly Reynaud, AN and Tocaro speakers. As a former reviewer and dealer/distributor he has heard a lot of combos and might be able to point you in the right direction, plus having things you can listen to.
 
Petro85 said:
thanks for the info. as you can see in my sig im running 300b's and by the sounds im getting right now i wont be changing to any other amps anytime soon. maybe upgrading to better 300b's down the road but i am hooked on these. so i will always be low watts. and by the quality of the sound from 90db speakers now, i can only imagine what it would be like to get more efficient. the soundkaos wave 40's(95db) i heard a couple times at rhapsody(bobs place) would be off the hook with these amps. but are also $22k without the sub package.
i had a listening session with bob, i brought my 100w snappers up for the day. the snappers did wonderful things with the raidho d3's ,and i think bettered the absolare amps in that speaker in his large room. but dbl the watts of the absolares. but the snappers didnt sound anywhere even close to the quality of the absolare SET's on the wave40's. was definitely something special. id love to check the 300b's with those waves.
we did snappers-d3's, d1's and c1.1's, and wave 40's
then did absolares with d3's,d1's and c1.1's, and wave 40's
i think the absolares-wave40's were the best combo we heard that day.

my room is like 22x14, but weird shaped with a hallway and one wall opens up to the kitchen, and my listening chair is 5ft off the back wall and my speakers are sounding best at about 5ft off the front wall. so it kinda shrinks the room down. but if i pull the chair out and sit on the couch which is against the back wall and make my speakers wider, to fill the whole room, the 15w>90db speakers have a rough time playing on loud volumes. so i know im at the edge of the limit of these if i use the whole room. thats why i tightened everything up. if i put a rectangular box around my chair and speakers it would only measure around 12x10. zus are on my list but as i mentioned hearing them is hard to do. id love to hear those definitions. voltis are on my list too but hearing them is hard as well.
the normal line of quality popular speakers (wilson,magico,raidho,dynaudio,etc, etc) are not an option for me anymore with 15w amps, and i am happy about it with the astronomical prices they are getting. so my search will be a long one, im sure i will have 4-5 pairs of new 300b tubes, a new phonostage, a few choices of cartridges, a new tonearm, and maybe a new preamp before i buy speakers.lol.
weird but to me the least important part of my system is speakers, the most important is the front end table/arm/cart/phonostage. i know most other people are opposite.
thanks for your help
Click to expand...

Steve, nice to see some with a plan. One day i want to hear your sound/system/sounds.
 
For those of you comparing Zu to Dyn and B&W, you're way off track. You couldn't find a more different speaker if you tried, they just can't be compared. If you love B&W you'll hate Zu and vice versa, so you need to decide what kind of sound does it for you first.

For me, the Soul is the gem of the Zu range. True point source is the key to coherency. If you need more bass grab an Undertone sub!
 
sharkmouth said:
Steve, nice to see some with a plan. One day i want to hear your sound/system/sounds.
Click to expand...

hey kev if your ever in n.j. lol i know a little far, but im here.

Arcade said:
For those of you comparing Zu to Dyn and B&W, you're way off track. You couldn't find a more different speaker if you tried, they just can't be compared. If you love B&W you'll hate Zu and vice versa, so you need to decide what kind of sound does it for you first.

For me, the Soul is the gem of the Zu range. True point source is the key to coherency. If you need more bass grab an Undertone sub!
Click to expand...
the souls are very interesting, and from what i read you get a little more as opposed to the similarly priced omen def.
i was looking at these ferrari red definition mk3's on agon today. they want $8k which is a little high for used, but its the custom color that adds money to them. but this thing has some settings i wouldnt even begin to know how to use.
convert
 
Petro85 said:
hey kev if your ever in n.j. lol i know a little far, but im here.


the souls are very interesting, and from what i read you get a little more as opposed to the similarly priced omen def.
i was looking at these ferrari red definition mk3's on agon today. they want $8k which is a little high for used, but its the custom color that adds money to them. but this thing has some settings i wouldnt even begin to know how to use.
Click to expand...

Leave that mess be! You don't want all those knobs and switches and thingys. :wacko:

Take a look at the Soul Superfly's.

Soul Superfly [Mk.I-B] Quick Specs

Height: 38” [96.5cm]
Footprint: 12-9/64”square [30.8cm square]
Weight: 54 pounds [24kg]
Bandwidth: 30 – 25kHz
Efficiency: 100 dB-SPL 1W, 1m
Impedance: 16 ohm
Power Amp Range: 2 – 300 watt

rmaf10_31.jpg


Look at that Emerald Green! Just in time for St. Patty's day. :woot:
 
dlb2 said:
Leave that mess be! You don't want all those knobs and switches and thingys. :wacko:

Take a look at the Soul Superfly's.

Soul Superfly [Mk.I-B] Quick Specs

Height: 38” [96.5cm]
Footprint: 12-9/64”square [30.8cm square]
Weight: 54 pounds [24kg]
Bandwidth: 30 – 25kHz
Efficiency: 100 dB-SPL 1W, 1m
Impedance: 16 ohm
Power Amp Range: 2 – 300 watt

rmaf10_31.jpg


Look at that Emerald Green! Just in time for St. Patty's day. :woot:
Click to expand...

the color is incredible. if i got them i would get that or blue.lol. and the specs are perfect for me. and the fact that if i buy them and dont like them i get all my money back. i think i have to at least try a pair. i would call that florida green.lol.

16ohm imperdance @100db would be nice with the 12.5w allnic integrated
 
Petro85 said:
the color is incredible. if i got them i would get that or blue.lol. and the specs are perfect for me. and the fact that if i buy them and dont like them i get all my money back. i think i have to at least try a pair. i would call that florida green.lol.

16ohm imperdance @100db would be nice with the 12.5w allnic integrated
Click to expand...

Order up! :D (Both pieces of course...)

Did you see this?

Zu Soul Superfly ? Reviews | TONEAudio MAGAZINE
 
dlb2 said:
Order up! :D (Both pieces of course...)

Did you see this?

Zu Soul Superfly ? Reviews | TONEAudio MAGAZINE
Click to expand...

thats sweet , you see he runs a frog!!! you need to leap on that. pun intended.
what i dont like about that article is the fact that hes buying up my 99cent records from my favorite store!!! stay away.lol. he must get a deal i never saw a record there for 99cents, mine are $1.lmao!!!
but all in all pretty good review. im not paying $2k for green though .lol. if i like em ill sand ,mask and spray em myself. i can spray houses, cars, furniture, im sure i can spray speakers.lmao!!!
 
Zu Omen's won me over in my setup, with pass aleph 30 amp and B1 passive pre. I especially liked their rendition of brass instruments compared with tekton lore and gallo 3.1 and as a former tpt player I am sensitive to that. I am planning on the upgrade to main driver and tweeter xover when funds allow. I think I may lean toward a more forward sound than I used to! Mostly I like their gutsy and organic hold on my music (acoustic jazz mostly). One thing I meant to add - I like bass porting out the bottom of speakers (also had decware radials once that used a bottom-mounted passive radiator). My hardwood floors help out, and I can tune it somewhat by adjusting the height off the floor.
 
roncagg said:
Zu Omen's won me over in my setup, with pass aleph 30 amp and B1 passive pre. I especially liked their rendition of brass instruments compared with tekton lore and gallo 3.1 and as a former tpt player I am sensitive to that. I am planning on the upgrade to main driver and tweeter xover when funds allow. I think I may lean toward a more forward sound than I used to! Mostly I like their gutsy and organic hold on my music (acoustic jazz mostly).
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awesome!! when i started this thread the people were coming out who didnt like them. now there are more and more people chiming in who are liking them. their internet direct approach could be saving the consumer some good $$ too.
 
Mine are Maserati Blue Nettuno :)

when Def V comes out, might be tempted by Audis Suzuki Grey- an RS5 only color. Zus paint work is world class. As good as Wilson- and i have not found this to be the case elsewhere.
 
I play my zu soul supreme speaker with the Leben CS-600 amp and they are a perfect team.
And I sold my brodmann V2 speaker (double price of zu) for them. With the newest lector CD player the sound it "complete".

Now waiting for the zu custom druid center speaker to fit in my 5.1.
greetings from munich.
 
webmiles said:
I play my zu soul supreme speaker with the Leben CS-600 amp and they are a perfect team.
And I sold my brodmann V2 speaker (double price of zu) for them. With the newest lector CD player the sound it "complete".

Now waiting for the zu custom druid center speaker to fit in my 5.1.
greetings from munich.
Click to expand...

Welcome!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
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