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Zu Audio Speakers...Not a Discussion!

Art K.

Art K.

The Voodoo You Do!
Anyone who cares to post positive opinions or reviews of Zu Audio speakers please post here.

This thread is not meant to be a discussion as defined in an earlier thread but instead is a place to find out about what it is that draws folks to Zu Audio and their products.

If you listened to Zu Audio speakers or products and enjoyed them please tell us why. Plenty of information at AK pointing to why some folks here don't like them so here is a place to post information without having to sort through arguments to find the positive stuff.

If love Zu, tell us why.

As I've stated before I have no investment in the speaker or company.

If no one wants to post, I will understand why.
 
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PAGS said:
Well...I just ordered some Tektons. They're kind of like Zus. At least they're both made in Utah.
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Tekton's have a lot of fans. Probably a pretty good bet.

I really am looking forward to finding out what the allure of Zu speakers is and what keeps the customer once they have them.
 
I've had Zu's and Tekton's and can recommend both.

I never had a listening room that worked well with the Omens with too many hard wood surfaces, bookcases etc. I did favor them over some respectable speakers I've owned such as the Aerial Model 5's and ADS 710's which are much different speakers.

Although Zu's shotgun marketing strategy recommends SS, AVR and tubes for the Omens, in my experience a SET amp brought out their best. I encouraged one owner of the Defs over at Audio Review ( Slippers referenced him ) to try an inexpensive SET with his but he sold them instead. I believe he also used them in a surround system with a center speaker but each to his own.

The Omens are not a finesse speaker and not for the girl with a guitar crowd. They are lively with far greater dynamics than these small Tektons. They seem to shout "if you don't like my big boisterous in-your-face sound look elsewhere!" With them I missed the intamacy of the little Tektons with their spit-in-Miles' trumpet detail but I got a much larger dose of sound stage. Not as highly focused point sourced as the Tektons but not bad either.

SQ can be very good with the Omens if appropriately set up. I can imagine how flabbly and thick they would come off when plopped down at a Audio Fest room. I'm not sure the Zu folks have experimented enough with getting the proper distance and angle to the floor for those bottom finger ports. It took me weeks of trial and error and it was not what Zu recommended.

The Omens have very good bass and unlike these small Tektons do not need a sub. I did not find the Omens shocking out-of-the-box but I do think they would have less immediate appeal to those who have never owned full range single driver speakers and that's what they really are - 1 1/2 ways. Their super tweeter is just there for the very top end.

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The Soul Superfly pair that I listened to at a friend's house were set up on berber carpet, but sat on top of some 1" slate slabs that were a little bit bigger than the speaker itself. Also, he had the fronts of the Soul's slightly elevated by the ball-footers so that the tweeters were more inline with the seating position, and a slight toe-in. He did mention it took him awhile to get that finger port alignment down, and the general placement of them. His were also about 4-5 feet from the back wall and maybe about that from sidewalls give or take.

I really enjoyed the presentation of his system, it was very different from what I am typically used to-no tubes, all solid state for me for quite some time, and typically with more laid back types of speakers. I expected these to sound harsh-again from all the things I had heard previous to my listening experience, but it was not harsh at all, unless the recording was. And I have to say, they can be rather unkind to crappy recordings, but so can many other types of speaker. While the upper end isn't a nice silk-dome tweeter, it did a good job of things.

I guess the thing I came away with was again, guitar tone, acoustic or amplified just sounded right. Can't say I have heard Stevie Ray's guitars sounding much better. I do think the full range driver is very good and does the job, at least in this setting.

I also have to say the Almarro 318B integrated tube amp was very nice as well, this along with the Zu's seemed to be a very good match, although we tried nothing else. I did want to explore solid state with these, but did not, I was enjoying the system as it was. I could almost see myself with the very system, but it would definately be something I would have to see if I could get right in my own house, as I have a normal living room as my listening space, this on the other hand was a dedicated room, and nicely done. I also admired the Luxman PD 277 turntable too, wish I could recall the cartridge/phono stage though!

Enjoy guys, hope there are some other contributors here, and also some that might go check them out for whatever it is worth. Tim
 
I'll step up to the plate here. As someone who has owned a LOT of gear from Lo-FI to Mid-fi, Hi-fi and No-fi. and everything inbetween.
Zu audio speakers kind of fall into a class of speakers that need to be in environment that caters to their strengths. They hardly stand alone in this category, think Magnepan,Infiniti speakers. You wouldn't expect to drive either of these speakers with a 300B Set amps and if Hip hop was what you like to listen to, then perhaps these speakers are not the best choice.

I use a pair of Zu soul superflies in a low powered tube system in my front room. This is a second system but none the less it gets used often. The gerne of music I listen to does not chaange regaurdless of what system I listen to.

For a little back ground I will tell what gear is in both systems. The main Rig consists of Power Modules MB 01 mono amps. Because these are not so popular here is a link. http://www.powermodules.com/mb-01.html. Modwright SWL 9. OSE pre amp, Upgraded with tube rectifier and Capaacitor upgrade, Audio Research CD 3 MK II,PS Audio DL III DAC (Used with SONOS only for computer audio) Yeah I know Vinyl rules but I'm Lazy. Aerial Acoustics 10T speakers.

Now for the second system. SEP EL 34 Chinese Kit amp that has some of Keggers Magic worked in to it, nothing stock about the circuit anymore. Audio Research LS 15 preamp, Cambridge Audio 640B CDP,Cambridge Audio Dac Magic DAC, SONOS for computer Audio, (FWIW both systems do have TT but I don't have any Albums anymore due to a flood) and of course Zu Audio Soul Superfly speakers. As you can see the main rig out classes the second system by a pretty large margin however that does not stop me from enjoying the second system. :no:

The Zu speakers are a little fussy about placement Kinda like Magnepans. Your going to spend some time moveing them around to get them to sound their best. I found them to work best out in the room and far away from both back and side walls also this model is ported on the bottom and I do have carpeting in my room so it was necessary to put a ceramic tile under the speaker to eek out what Bass your going to get out of a 8 watt system. By the manufacture instructions they are slightly tilted back. I can't tell you how many degrees because I just don't know. I'm useing the factory spikes but I think the speakers could benefit from a spike that is both longer and heavyer.

The room is not that big I'm going to guess 18x10. This is why it is set up as a single chair nearfield system. The speakers are a good 3 feet off the back wall and are only about 6 feet apart which leaves them about 2.5 feet from the side walls. I sit about 8~9 feet in frront of the speakers.

I listen to mainly Female vocals and stringed instruments so it's pretty mello stuff. When I feel a bit rowdy I can get as heavy as electric blues but thats about it. I rarely rock out any more.
I think these speakers do an outstanding job with vocals and acoustic guitars.
They just sound very natural. I have heard some negative comments about the super tweeters. Some say they will cut your head off or make your ears bleed and this could be true if useing a higher powered amp. You are never going to cut your head off with 8 WPC. Zu claims that these speakers can handle 300 watts but I can't understand why anyone would want to do that when 8~10 watts is more then enough.

If there is one thing I would like to see changed about these speakers it would be the 16 OHM impedance. Most modern amps no longer have 16 Ohm taps and this is not a concern of harming the amp but more of a problem with Flea amps driveing the speakers. I have a very nice 2A3 amp the was hand built by AK member bricktop but I have not tried it on these speakers yet because I think it will come up a little short in the power department.
I have tried a Mcintosh MC 225 for a short period of time. I don't remember what preamp I was useing but I THINK it was a HK citation 17. The 225 just came back from a fresh rebuild from audio classics and the citation 17 had a recent recap from Terry Dewick so both these pieces were up to speed.
I did not think the the MAC\HK combo bested the previous set up. In fact just the opposite is true. I don't know if it was the extra power from the Mac of if it was the SS of the HK.

If I had to try to pick out what went wrong I would say it was a combination of both to much power and Vintage electronics. I know this statement will not will any awards here at AK but IMHO vintage is NOT where its at. I have had just about every brand of vintage gear out there and the only stuff I really like was the old HK citation stuff. I still do have 3 citation 5s and a Citation 3 and a citation 1. I do like the way they sound because they have a more dynamic and alive sound. I don't really care for thre FAT flabby mushy vintage tube sound. If you are wondering why I mention this it's just so you can understand what I like so if your likes are like mine then you might just like these speakers.

I hope this can help someone who is thinking about these speakers. There are definitely 2 differnt camps on tube sound. I don't think I would use these speakers in an all SS system. These speakers have showed what it means for a speaker to disappear completely. I have never seen that happen with any other speaker. I just could not believe that it appeared there was more sound comeing from in between the speakers then was comeing from the actual speaker. While I have heard layers of depth with my Aerials, these Zus have it in spades. This may be a bit contradictory from what I said about the placement and sweet spot they also sound very good for just back ground music around the house.

So to sum it up. Are they Aerials...NO
do they sound good, Yup you bet....For what they are.
In the right system in the right room they sound great. They are not the last word in speakers but lets face it they're 3300 bux brand new. To some maybe thats alot. For others it's just getting started.

Thats it..........hope it helps someone out. :smoke:
 
coman61 said:
Wow, Polutrygiest and I see these speakers quite differently
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Different strokes and I listen to mostly jazz, blues and some rock. I really enjoyed the big sound the Omens project which to me was not unlike standing at the door of a live music dance hall. I'd favor them for guitar rifs from artist like Vaugh or Earle. They also do great justice to the slide steel guitar of blues recordings.

The Lores weren't out when I preordered the Omens but I think I might prefer their more conventional front port design but I've never heard them.
 
I can respect Poultry's posting ( and much respect for Poultry as a person) I think we see the Omen Defs sorta the same way. But I don't like them for the same reasons he does. This hobby is truly remarkable in that we are all unique in our preferences of gear/sound combinations....In my book....that makes it a lot of fun. One mans love, is another mans hate....in this case...embracing diversity.
 
As far as trying different amps with the Omens there were quite a few. I have a friend who is in the business and every week or so he's drop off a different one in hopes that I'd end up buying it.

I was interested to see how the vintage amps with their 16 ohm taps would perform with the 12 ohm Omens. I spent a week with a Fisher 400 and then a 500 and found that I could tell no difference in the 16 ohm and 8 ohm taps. Did the same with a gold faced HH Scott and had the same results. Other vintage tube amps came and went including a Dynaco ST70 and something my friend called a "Copper Top HK"? They all sounded like older vintage amps. The Prima Luna Prologue was ok but couldn't resolve detail at low levels like the SET amps.

I thought the 2050 Tripath with a tube preamp acquainted itself well with the Omens. The Marantz SR6006 in 2 channel direct mode was acceptable for a ss amp but the Omens really like tubes. My favorites turned out to be the ones I already owned, a Dared 2a3c, Bottlehead 2a3 Paramours, and the $230 Miniwatt SET.
 
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Zu Essence

Love or despise them, I can’t think of many speakers lately that can generate such buzz. Discussion and controversy that is, not some sonic shortcoming. I’ve owned a pair of Zu Essence’s for about two and a half years. Cut to the chase, I’m very happy with them. They do a lot very well and I can live with their shortcomings. I listen to a lot of acoustic jazz and female vocals and the Essence conveys almost every ounce of what I love about that music. Pianos sound sharp and woody at the same time with sustained notes fading slowly into the acoustic space. Subtle vocal inflections give new meaning to time worn standards. Massed vocals now are just that; several people singing together rather than, well, some sort of sound of people singing. If recorded properly, you can actually pinpoint the individual vocalists. All neat stuff to my ears.

These have been the only speakers in my main rig since I purchased them, though at times it seems like I’ve had a procession of different speakers. I attribute this to two factors. First, the Essence, and perhaps its sibs, demands a murderously long break in period, in my case about 400 hours. During that time the speakers undergo a very slow progression from a thin and boring sound with diminished bass to an encouraging display of tone and dynamics. The bass slowly improves too. Don’t even try to correct for shortcomings during this period by trying different placements. That will only make matters worse a slowly grind you into a shambled state of insanity. Patience here is a virtue. There is a payoff.

Next, in spite of what Zu may say, the Essence is not a speaker to simply drop in place and enjoy the tunes. At least that is the case in my room which measures 11 by 20. They are located on the narrow end of the space which is acoustically treated with fabric wrapped fiberglass panels. I sit approximately 12 feet from the Zu’s with the remainder of the space behind me open. I lost track of how many different things I tried before settling on the current combination of seating distance, height and speaker location. Again, patience dictates and there is a payoff.

I mentioned earlier that I listen to primarily acoustic jazz and female vocals. This isn’t to imply the Essence is a capable speaker with only those genres. Part of my interest in the Essence came from its high sensitivity, wide-band driver and near crossoverless design. I was more than curious what the Essence would sound like with a singled ended amplifier. This simple, minimalist design approach has proven an excellent combination for my kind of music.

Over the past two and a half years, a number of amps have found their way into my rig; a Latino ST-70, Audio Research Classic 60, First Watt F5 clone and others. But the two that have provided the biggest sonic payoff are the Bottlehead 2A3 Paramour mono’s and the Decware Zen Taboo. Within their limitations, these amps are hands down, to my ears, the best. They both have that wonderful single ended sound that allow the Essence to let the music come through as it was recorded. But there is a price. The Paramours clock in at 3.5 wpc and the Taboo delivers 6 wpc. Don’t look for much Mahler or Metallica here. But for most of the music I listen to the Taboo is my go-to amp. Unlike the Paramour which uses a 2A3 triode for its power tube, the Taboo is based on the Russian SV83 pentode. Apparently the Russian military used it in video applications because of its large bandwidth. As far as I’m concerned it makes a great audio tube and is dirt cheap. And the extra few watts makes a big difference in dynamics and bass. But in the final analysis 6 watts is just 6 watts (but they’re really good watts) and I do end up forgoing some slam and bass, but I can live with that.

Giving the Zu’s more power from amps such as the ST70 or Classic 60 ups the ante for dynamics, bass and sheer wow factor of the music. But then you loose the qualities of what the singled ended amp brings to the table. Is moving from the single ended amp to a larger push-pill design a huge compromise? Maybe not to some, but for me it illustrates just how much musical information the single end amp/Essence combination conveys.

Patiently break these speakers in (I think I read somewhere that Zu now gives the widebander a 400 hour factory break in). Set them up correctly. Match the electronics and sources correctly and you’ve got one heck of a music system.
 
This thread was very helpful! So am I reading this right that the Omen's would not be a good pick for me since I will power with an NAD 370 and the speakers will be nestled between my tv stand and M&K 150's about 2 feet from the back wall?
 
G-Probably not the best solution for them, especially if you are crowding them or "nestling" them in somewhere. Better to give them room to breath a bit, setup is the key. As far as the NAD working or not, no way for me to say there.

I suppose you get a pair on trial and give it a shot! Tim
 
Poultrygeist said:
I've had Zu's and Tekton's and can recommend both.
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Thanks for taking the time to explain this. As you know I have several Tekton models and in another recent thread I noticed someone's comment that they're "lumped together" with Zu in terms of categorization, which made me very curious.
 
I would think the models from Zu and Tekton that are most comparable are those that share the same 10 inch Eminence Legend driver. Most of the Zu's use it, the Tekton Lores do and I believe the standard Pendragons.

The Lores and Omens are close to the same size and share a similar sound and many design similarities. The Lores probably have the better super tweeter in the well regarded Audax but like the Omens they come in so high there's not so much to hear.

I like the phase plug of the Omens which can smooth the mids and reduce shout which I never heard. The Lores don't use a phase plug. As stated earlier the Omens have the very finicky bottom finger ports which make them difficult to set up properly whereas the Lores use conventional front ports.

I'm hearing good things about the less expensive M-Lore which could be the real sleeper in the Tekton line.
 
Poultrygeist said:
I would think the models from Zu and Tekton that are most comparable are those that share the same 10 inch Eminence Legend driver. Most of the Zu's use it, the Tekton Lores do and I believe the standard Pendragons.
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Ah, ok, that makes sense. The Lore is actually not one of the three Tekton models I have, so I'm still in the dark about this experience-wise until I hear a Zu speaker (or the Lore, which is far less likely).
 
PAGS said:
Well...I just ordered some Tektons. They're kind of like Zus. At least they're both made in Utah.
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I would guess that Eric Alexander of Tekton and Sean Casey of Zu are friends. Seems like I read that they once worked together?

I met some folks from Ogden who were visiting our State House. Turns out they live next door to Sean and said he was one great guy.
 
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