Zu Audio Omen Dirty Weekends

Love the Pure Audio line of OB's. FWIW I was using the Tang Band and Alpha combo before they were.

The Druids pre-date the Omens by several years and although they cost much more I've read that when compared the Omens were preferred.
The Pure Audio Project speakers use Voxativ drivers, they may have used Tang Band drivers in the past. As far as the Zu Audio speakers go, have you actually heard any yourself?
Some people prefer McDonald's barfburgers to a Porterhouse steak, does that make the steak lovers wrong?
 
The Pure Audio Project speakers use Voxativ drivers, they may have used Tang Band drivers in the past. As far as the Zu Audio speakers go, have you actually heard any yourself?
Some people prefer McDonald's barfburgers to a Porterhouse steak, does that make the steak lovers wrong?

Pure Audio used Tang Band W8-1808's in their first offerings but they moved to the Voxativ while I went with Lowthers. I pre-ordered my Omens before they hit the market and that's been 7 years ago or maybe longer. The original Druids had been around for a good while then and used the Eminence based drivers as well. Never heard the original Druids Mk1 (?) but from posts of owners and reviewers at the time who heard both the Omens were preferred. As an Omen owner that was surprising and not something I would forget.

I haven't followed the new models but I see Zu now sells a Mk6 edition which is probably very different from the original Druids.
 
From what i gather the last couple of generations of the Druids are exceptional. I wish I had that kind of coin.
 
On a whim, I just ordered a set of DW MKIIs today. I figure, what the heck I can always send them back. If they work out they will be replacing my RF-82IIs in my primary system, and those will go to my office.

Has anyone upgraded the "bypass caps" caps on them? I hear some people are running 1uF clarity with a 0.1uF cap in parallel. Is this something that is worth it, or is it just mumbo-jumbo?
 
On a whim, I just ordered a set of DW MKIIs today. I figure, what the heck I can always send them back. If they work out they will be replacing my RF-82IIs in my primary system, and those will go to my office.

Has anyone upgraded the "bypass caps" caps on them? I hear some people are running 1uF clarity with a 0.1uF cap in parallel. Is this something that is worth it, or is it just mumbo-jumbo?

Dude. They won't be going back. Believe me . The 82's are good and for home theater they are beast. But for 2 channel music I wasn't the biggest fan.I had RF 62's at a time. The Zu's in my opinion are in another league.

As far as the bypass caps, I am assuming you are meaning what ZU calls it, the clarity cap upgrade? My current ZU's don't have them but I ordered a second pair that will have it. I don't think it's mumbo jumbo but I am not expecting some revelation of sound quality with the upgrade. For $100 though, why not. I spent that on dinner tonight.
 
So for the first time since I have had my ZU'S, I played a Blu-ray movie in DTS HD Master Audio. The Incredibles. It was spectacular. This was at reference levels. There was only one scene that stressed either the Zu's or my subwoofers but I am pretty sure it was coming from the ZU's. It was a rocket launch scene in the caves. It sounded nasty but for only a couple of seconds. So I don't know if I just had too low of a frequency trying to be played through the ZU's at higher levels. I did have them set to large crossed over at 60hz. After the movie I went in and changed the settings to small and 80hz. I just don't want to damage my speakers while playing loud bass heavy scenes in movies. I was worried I did but played some music and everything seemed to sound fine. Should I worry? That kind of sound I heard out of them really freaked me out. I am a worrier .
 
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When I briefly used the Omens in HT I'm fairly sure the AVR was set to small which allowed the sub to do the heavy lifting. The Omens weren't designed to reproduce explosions and earthquakes.

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When I briefly used the Omens in HT I'm fairly sure the AVR was set to small which allowed the sub to do the heavy lifting. The Omens weren't designed to reproduce explosions and earthquakes.

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Yeah, I had the LFE split between the mains and subs, with the Fronts set to large and crossed at 60hz. Now they are set to small, LFE to sub only and 80hz crossover. I might even go 100hz. Man it freaked me out when I heard that god awful sound coming from my speakers. I listened to some music after with the new settings and it actually sounds a lot better for music compared to my initial settings. I guess taking a lot of the load off of the Marantz AVR helped. And everything sounds good so I don't think I damaged the speakers.
 
Now since changing the settings I am barely getting any LFE. WTF?!? Maybe its because of how the subs are wired? I don't know. Going to look at it some more tomorrow. But when I had the it set to large, 60hz and LFE for both mains and LFE, everything sounded great. Except for the one scene in the movie that the ZU's didn't like. I am perplexed.But I just got done watching an episode of Gotham on Netflix through my PS4 and it had no low end. Very frustrating .
 
Jeff FWIW,

I have a friend on AC who started out powering his Omens with an expensive 300B amp. I learned that he sold the 300B in favor of his modded TPA3116. He claims the Omen's bass is superior with the TPA. He happens to be a fine engineer and concert violinist so I believe him when he says our future is with class D. You can read his post under the Omen thread on AC ( full range single driver circle ).

But I doubt his modded TPA3116 sounds better than your Volt amp(s). He does use the highly regarded Akido preamp with the TPA.
 
Jeff FWIW,

I have a friend on AC who started out powering his Omens with an expensive 300B amp. I learned that he sold the 300B in favor of his modded TPA3116. He claims the Omen's bass is superior with the TPA. He happens to be a fine engineer and concert violinist so I believe him when he says our future is with class D. You can read his post under the Omen thread on AC ( full range single driver circle ).

But I doubt his modded TPA3116 sounds better than your Volt amp(s). He does use the highly regarded Akido preamp with the TPA.

Yeah. I became real interested in the search for a new amp. But am back to, if it's not broke, don't fix it mentality. I know I need an amp for my second system but why pay more for something I might be or might not be happy with. Just going to get the Volt+d and call it a day.
 
I won't own a speaker very long or at all for that matter if it doesn't play all genre's of music good. In my opinion that is ridiculous. I should have different sets of speakers depending on what I want to listen to today? Thats a joke. As far as the DW's go, I listen to everything from Nine Inch Nails to Eva Cassidy to Chris Botti and they do it all! I haven't found a weakness in the Zu's no matter what part of my eclectic music collection I throw at them.
 
I got my dirty weekend MKiis a few days ago and have been listening to them a lot along with comparing them to the RF82iis.

A lot of people complain that Klipsch RF82s are too bright, I don't find that to be true at all, for me, they come off as a bit boomy compared to the ZU DWs. The ZUs are extremely good in the vocal range, I would say much better than the RF82s. The ZUs feel a lot more "musical". They are a bit lacking on the bottom end, but not offensively so. I may end up pairing them with a subwoofer.

All and all I would say they are a big step up from the RF82s. Are they the most amazing speakers of all time? No, but i I bet they would give any speakers under 3k a run for their money.

36276429_10112987595970384_2509430463408373760_o.jpg
 
I got my dirty weekend MKiis a few days ago and have been listening to them a lot along with comparing them to the RF82iis.

A lot of people complain that Klipsch RF82s are too bright, I don't find that to be true at all, for me, they come off as a bit boomy compared to the ZU DWs. The ZUs are extremely good in the vocal range, I would say much better than the RF82s. The ZUs feel a lot more "musical". They are a bit lacking on the bottom end, but not offensively so. I may end up pairing them with a subwoofer.

All and all I would say they are a big step up from the RF82s. Are they the most amazing speakers of all time? No, but i I bet they would give any speakers under 3k a run for their money.

36276429_10112987595970384_2509430463408373760_o.jpg

Those are sweet!

I told you that they wouldn't be going back and that they were in a different league. I didn't want to offend you by saying that they smoke the Klipsch's, but they down right do. And I didn't even know you were strictly talking about a two channel set up. I heard Klipsch and instantly thought they were serving in a multimedia system. Everything about the ZU's are more musical, soundstage, separation, coherence. Accurate and fast. And yes, "quality, musical subs put the ZU's into a different level.
 
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And to add on to what you were saying about bass. The bottom end/bass that you are talking about with the Zu's are anything but offending. You are correct. And you're coming from the Klipsch's that are more boomy but the bass is sloppy and not as refined. The Zu's bass has this quickness to the attack and decay. Its fast and immediate. And its punchy. I love it. No overhang or sloppiness to it. It presents what is in the recording. Could and would I be happy in a 2 channel music set up with no subs? Absolutely! But, add a sub or two that blends well and compliments the Zu's, its really a different experience. I did my homework and added 2 RSL Speedwoofer 10's. And as the name implies, they are quick. And not one note wonders. Once I got them dialed in and blended with the Zu's, I won't EVER listen to music again without them.

And of course the Dirty Weekends aren't the most amazing speaker of all time. Never said they were. Are they the most amazing speaker for $999? In my opinion, yes. And I am excluding the DIY, segment. I have owned and heard speakers costing much, much more. And they haven't given me as much enjoyment as my Zu's do. I owned the Tekton Pendragons and those are $2000 speakers. Great speakers, but I enjoy the Zu's more.
 
Been watching this thread for a while and I've been a Zu fan for a few years now and I have used a Musical paradise mp301 mk 3 and now out of retirement is the Yaqin MC13s . And yes I love everything the Omens do music wise and this coming from a person that has used Legacy HD monitors and JBL 110s . Funny story my wife had one of her friends over the other night and I thought she would never leave my room. 15304730330017466507169188031603.jpg
 
I may ask for a pair of Dirty Weekends for Christmas! I get to him and haw over wether to get them in blue or red! They look fantastic and am encouraged by all the good reviews they are getting from my fellow Akers.
 
I remember my first email to Sean and ask if 6.5 watts was enough to power the ZUs and his reply was holy crap that's enough to wake up the entire neighborhood LOL. You having a block party LOL!!
 
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