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Zu Audio loudspeakers

i saw a second hand zu audio couple years back , i asked for comments on one forum and they were 90% negative sadly . they are extremely detailed .. you might like them but they are certainly a marmite speaker
 
Marc aka spiritofmusic over on what's best forum runs a pair and is very passionate about them, but equally is honest about what's good and not so good about them. Worth reaching out to
 
I own Superfly. They don’t really come to life at low volumes. Druid on the other hand has always been fantastic at low volumes.

There’s very little that’s marmite about them. People don’t generally get to grips with the fact that they brutally expose what’s going on upstream.
 
In most of the measurements I've seen they have a frequency response like the himalayas. Off axis is worse because of terrible beaming, and then you've got all the break up from the large driver being run without a low pass filter.

Whoever has these probably owns lots of CDs that are "badly recorded".
 
Fatmarley said:
Whoever has these probably owns lots of CDs that are "badly recorded".
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That's a bit of an assumption! o_O

I've never heard them myself, but I know that they have their fans in the 'high-end' audio community in the USA. I gather that they are a marmite speaker (sorry Mike), but there are plenty of those about. Even Kans have their fans. I like Lowthers, others hate them. It's whatever floats your boat in the long run.
 
Fatmarley said:
In most of the measurements I've seen they have a frequency response like the himalayas. Off axis is worse because of terrible beaming, and then you've got all the break up from the large driver being run without a low pass filter.

Whoever has these probably owns lots of CDs that are "badly recorded".
Click to expand...

I remain unconvinced any speaker is “marmite” in any sense. You either like speakers or you don’t. Looks, sound, room, personal taste, WAF are all things which come into play and I’ve yet to hear any speaker that everyone agrees or disagrees on.

As for the above comment, what can be said that hasn’t been said a million times before. Do measurements help? Yes, they are indicative of engineering and design choices. Do they tell you anything about what a speaker sounds like or indeed whether you’re going to like it? Very little indeed. The much younger me paid rapt attention to such things right up until I repeatedly heard pair after pair where the measurements told me it should sound like x but it actually sounded like y. Sometimes y was awful. Sometimes y was fantastic. After you’ve heard multiple pairs of speakers which measure broadly the same sound entirely different you either obsess on what other things might be wrong or accept that measurements are but a small part of a much larger equation. When you have paid attention to other things like system matching, room, cables, power, shelving etc. and know nothing else is wrong then you likely have your answer.

What do we have in reality here then? A poster who hasn’t heard them repeating a cliche about measurements and beaming. Let’s pick that apart.

1 - you will not find a single review of the Superfly which talks about beaming or off axis issues. You’ll do well to find mention of such a thing in any Zu review in the last 2 decades. I sit about 3 foot off axis every night for the past decade and frankly it’s well balanced, relaxed, detailed, incredibly coherent and just a joy. My wife sits in the centre position and finds the same. Ditto the 15 year old who sits off axis in the other direction when we’re all listening. Now, the plural of anecdote is most certainly not evidence but here we have an assertion of beaming simply because the poster has either heard that that’s what full range drivers do or had heard other full range speakers do that. If the poster were to make such an unevidenced assertion in any other walk of life they would rightly be picked apart, so, why not here!

2 - Is there break up from the driver? I’m sure there must be if you say so. Frankly the level of enjoyment we’ve had from these speakers is so high that none of us could give a damn. There is nothing which manifests itself intrusively into our listening experience and given the level of enjoyment I don’t ever intend to sit down and try and clinically listen to anything other than music. I’ve tried. I’ve tried to square measurements with what we hear. It’s impossible. The music takes over. Is it therefore perfect? Obviously not. I doubt you’ll be able to find a piece of kit that is. Is it therefore for everybody? Absolutely not? What the heck is? Do I have badly recorded CDs? Er, yes, who doesn’t other than someone who likes sound rather than music. Do they constitute the majority of my 1900 albums? No idea. Too busy listening to my system bring the best out of the night after night. I do wonder about about people who make these sorts of comments. What’s the aspiration? To spend your live on forums telling people how wrong they are or to lose yourself in great music. I know where I stand on that one.

3 - In terms of “long demo” will 3 years do? 5 dealers and 3 years. The list I worked through ran into middling two figures i.e. about 60 different pairs of floor-standers. Zu were the only ones I missed when something wise was subbed in.
 
Never heard them but I should at some point.

In terms of design and ethos they don't appeal at all.
A large full range driver pushed to run high topped-off by a tweeter up in the air frequencies is just wrong on many levels.
But sometimes 'wrong' can provide sonic thrills on the right material, so who knows.
 
My tastes run through rock, pop, folk, jazz, classical, soul, blues, electronic, African, funk, country. Not sure what the “right material” would be in that sense. Never really felt there was a specific weakness. Equally, design wise, there are arguments for apparently fatal flaws in most designs so I can’t say it’s something I’d get hung up about.

The main driver isn’t “pushed” in any sense. They do detail and coherence incredibly well but again it’s worth emphasising that they don’t hide anything. If there’s the slightest flaw upstream then you will hear it. Equally they are sensitive to cold and when moved they can take a day or so to settle. That aside they offer sixty days or your money back so why little to lose from trying them.
 
Had these Druid 4,s for many years

Only changed when moved to smaller home and had to down size

Found they had a wonderful room filling presentation with lots of air and depth.

Would deffo visit again in larger room, Druid 6 would be my choice

IMG-7903.jpg
 
Mike Hughes said:
My tastes run through rock, pop, folk, jazz, classical, soul, blues, electronic, African, funk, country. Not sure what the “right material” would be in that sense. Never really felt there was a specific weakness. Equally, design wise, there are arguments for apparently fatal flaws in most designs so I can’t say it’s something I’d get hung up about.

The main driver isn’t “pushed” in any sense. They do detail and coherence incredibly well but again it’s worth emphasising that they don’t hide anything. If there’s the slightest flaw upstream then you will hear it. Equally they are sensitive to cold and when moved they can take a day or so to settle. That aside they offer sixty days or your money back so why little to lose from trying them.
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It's a large main driver though (relatively) and should be rolled-off around around 2-3Khz tops to avoid breakup and power response issues. IIRC they roll in the tweeter above 10khz. If the designer has chosen to live with the fixed problems such an arrangement brings, you get a marmite product due to uneven performance. Some will love it, others might well leave the room quickly.
 
Zu Audio speakers are very "left field" in their approach, which for some reason or other gets some people a bit hot under the collar, mostly those who have never actually heard them it seems. Not just here but in other places too...

@Mike Hughes - thanks for your insight and glad you're still enjoying them. I'd like to learn a bit more about them first although you mention the 60 days money back and "little to lose" I was quoted $379 shipping for the Omen DW, I'd say there's a fair bit to lose if I couldn't get along with them.
 
I'd never heard of them until this thread, the Soul Supreme looks like an interesting speaker, I wouldn't mind hearing a pair partnered with a good quality class A amp, perhaps a SET.
 
Ian,
Dont listen to most on here, as they have never heard Zu speakers, let alone owned a pair.
They should be helping you to get to hear them, not pouring cold water on them with their unqualified opinion (ducking now)
Send me a PM as I have extensive experience with Zu Audio speakers and cables.

BR

James
 
@Avonessence don't worry - I have a very open mind but will take you up on your offer as I would like to get another prespective.

In the last paragraph of the review I linked to above, Herb has this to say in the last paragraph:

Audio consumers need to be self-aware and self-empowered. Don't just buy into some pre-existing (ie, mainstream) audio aesthetic or belief system. Your ears, heart, and mind are far more sensitive and sophisticated measuring tools than any 'scope, calibrated mike, or analyzer—trust them.

Good advice for us all.
 
Ian Austen said:
Zu Audio speakers are very "left field" in their approach, which for some reason or other gets some people a bit hot under the collar, mostly those who have never actually heard them it seems. Not just here but in other places too...
Click to expand...

They are significantly coloured speakers which may appeal to some audiophile enthusiasts but will be rejected by those wanting high technical performance/high fidelity/neutral/studio sound. If one person wants their speakers to enhance the sound and another wants their speakers to be as clear and neutral as possible where is the problem? Of course, coloured audiophile speakers tend to be overpriced and marketed with dubious content free emoting which may irritate some depending on their values and technical knowledge.

I briefly came across a Zu speaker (model unknown but with a large resonant driver at the top of a shallow cabinet with tweeter below) at a show (IFA I think but I could be wrong) about 15 years ago before I knew what they were or had much of an understanding of the audiophile industry. Irrelevant to my interests at the time but have a vague recollection of sounding a bit like an old large valve radio but with a strident edge. Wasn't high fidelity but then I think that was part of the point.
 
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