This thread is a good micro summary of the history of postings on Zu speakers, IMO. Some people clearly love them, and some clearly hate them. Perhaps less sit in the middle, although there seem to be some owners or previous owners in that camp too. Quite polarized.
The shows don't always seem to do Zu a bunch of favors. I suspect blindjim nailed some of the reasons very well in his explanation as to why. Settling and power factors seem to be completely true with my Zu experience in my own home. From my personal experience with amp matching at home, and reading show reviews over the years for Zu, I might question some of the amp choices that Sean has chosen for previous shows (several years back for sure). Peachtree stuff probably won't blow your mind at a show. Nelson Pass' SIT-2 is a great solid state amp--I own it--but in my opinion it doesn't produce mind-blowing results with my Zus.
I'm going to get my 4th pair of Zus next month in Druid 6's. I own 2 of their more entry models in Unions and Cubes, and have been running their Soul Supremes in my main system for about 3 years. The first 2 sets were good--I still own them and have them in various systems around the house. I love the Soul Supremes, as they are clearly in a different league. I have not owned or heard Def 4s, but I suspect given the shared drivers, I can imagine how they can sound in the right sized room (my room is quite small at 11x16ish) paired with the right amps and pre-amp.
I post only to note that it's my opinion that the absolute "best" SET amps and properly matched pre-amps are likely needed to really get the highest end Zu's to deliver on what the "Zu sound and design" is truly capable of delivering. If you pair the lower models (Unions, Cubes, etc.) or OLDER models of Druids or even Definitions (I suspect) with these highest-end amp/pre combos, you might get good to really good sound, but it won't be great or phenomenal by many highest-end standards (some older Zu owners will disagree with me I'm sure).
IMO, only their latest offerings (from my readings and experience) are likely to match what their biggest fans will claim as to how good they are or can be. The Unions and Cubes, for example, are clearly in a lower-level than their newer, higher-end speakers. Like WAY different, so when people hate the Zu sound, I look for what models and eras they heard, and with what supporting components, or in what poorly set up show. They can ABSOLUTELY be made to sound mediocre or even bad, so I don't doubt a single poster on his/her experience having heard some Zus somewhere sound bad. I have too, in my own home.
Similarly, pair their newer, higher end speakers with only decent amps and pre-amps, and the combos may not blow anyone away either. Especially by the really high standards many of us have from experience with other systems.
As the OP suggested, I do find that a REALLY great 845 SET amp pairs very, very well with Zu's higher-end stuff (read ~$5K speakers and up). You can read elsewhere that others who really feel the cross-overless nature of Zu's highest-end speakers are most ideally matched with very expensive SET amps, in both 845 and 300b.
So how many of us have heard Zu's best stuff with $20K SET amps and a $15K pre-amp of like quality to really hear what their capable of--I suspect not that many, and that may also be some of the reasons for the polarization...the Zu range of speakers over the years can and will produce an insanely wide range of sound quality depending on a number of factors.
And for those of us who have heard those absolutel best combos, you may still NOT like the sound due to all the personal reasons that are reflected in these forums as so naturally subjective in the first place.
The shows don't always seem to do Zu a bunch of favors. I suspect blindjim nailed some of the reasons very well in his explanation as to why. Settling and power factors seem to be completely true with my Zu experience in my own home. From my personal experience with amp matching at home, and reading show reviews over the years for Zu, I might question some of the amp choices that Sean has chosen for previous shows (several years back for sure). Peachtree stuff probably won't blow your mind at a show. Nelson Pass' SIT-2 is a great solid state amp--I own it--but in my opinion it doesn't produce mind-blowing results with my Zus.
I'm going to get my 4th pair of Zus next month in Druid 6's. I own 2 of their more entry models in Unions and Cubes, and have been running their Soul Supremes in my main system for about 3 years. The first 2 sets were good--I still own them and have them in various systems around the house. I love the Soul Supremes, as they are clearly in a different league. I have not owned or heard Def 4s, but I suspect given the shared drivers, I can imagine how they can sound in the right sized room (my room is quite small at 11x16ish) paired with the right amps and pre-amp.
I post only to note that it's my opinion that the absolute "best" SET amps and properly matched pre-amps are likely needed to really get the highest end Zu's to deliver on what the "Zu sound and design" is truly capable of delivering. If you pair the lower models (Unions, Cubes, etc.) or OLDER models of Druids or even Definitions (I suspect) with these highest-end amp/pre combos, you might get good to really good sound, but it won't be great or phenomenal by many highest-end standards (some older Zu owners will disagree with me I'm sure).
IMO, only their latest offerings (from my readings and experience) are likely to match what their biggest fans will claim as to how good they are or can be. The Unions and Cubes, for example, are clearly in a lower-level than their newer, higher-end speakers. Like WAY different, so when people hate the Zu sound, I look for what models and eras they heard, and with what supporting components, or in what poorly set up show. They can ABSOLUTELY be made to sound mediocre or even bad, so I don't doubt a single poster on his/her experience having heard some Zus somewhere sound bad. I have too, in my own home.
Similarly, pair their newer, higher end speakers with only decent amps and pre-amps, and the combos may not blow anyone away either. Especially by the really high standards many of us have from experience with other systems.
As the OP suggested, I do find that a REALLY great 845 SET amp pairs very, very well with Zu's higher-end stuff (read ~$5K speakers and up). You can read elsewhere that others who really feel the cross-overless nature of Zu's highest-end speakers are most ideally matched with very expensive SET amps, in both 845 and 300b.
So how many of us have heard Zu's best stuff with $20K SET amps and a $15K pre-amp of like quality to really hear what their capable of--I suspect not that many, and that may also be some of the reasons for the polarization...the Zu range of speakers over the years can and will produce an insanely wide range of sound quality depending on a number of factors.
And for those of us who have heard those absolutel best combos, you may still NOT like the sound due to all the personal reasons that are reflected in these forums as so naturally subjective in the first place.