Anyone listen to Zu Audio's Definition Mk3?


Comparisons with the 1.5s and the others that came before? Getting the itch; again......
128x128warrenh
Phil, plus others, any comments on the Zu Event SpeakOn connectors which maintains cable integrity from internal drive unit wiring to amps?
Is it really the advantage it's touted to be? Have been quite happy to order it since price differential over regular hook up was reasonable.
Haven't seen it on any other spkr installations.
My speaker wires terminate as banana plugs. The connections with the Def 2s were always tenuous. These are more secure.
I unequivocally recommend Zu's B3 cable geometry continuity via the Speakon connector. Zu had abandoned this for several years in favor of the Cardas multi-way binding post. But because my Druids are early models continually upgraded, they were built with the Speakon + the Cardas connections. So I had Zu Ibis speaker cables on both my Druid and Definition systems, with the Ibis terminated with Speakon on the Druids and bananas or spades on the Definitions. Same lengths in both systems since I use mono pairs of amps on both. So I was able to listen to the difference between Speakon preserving the B3 geometry vs. Cardas connection interrupting B3.

There was no aspect of the sound that was better via Cardas and many subtle - but in the aggregate significant - improvements to driving the Druids via Speakon/continuous B3. If this can be heard on Druids, imagine the difference to be more obvious on the more resolving Definition 4.

The question then always asked is, "....well then does that mean Zu B3 Event via Speakon is better than any other cable connected via Cardas....?"

My answer is, that depends on you. Zu Event is an unusually neutral cable, very clean, transparent, toneful. It also gives a coherent sonic presentation. It is much more neutral than most cables at any price. Given the "fixed parametric equalizer" nature of most cabling, whether you will prefer another cable to Zu B3, or not, very much depends on what role cables play in compensating for other traits elsewhere in your system. I know, for instance, that the older Ibis and the newer Event cables have been too transparent for some listeners using solid state amps. Depending on your sources, especially digital, other traits may be preferred. One of the best alternate speaker cables I've heard for a Zu speaker is the Auditorium 23 popular with the Shindo/Leben subculture. Others here have argued for far more expensive cables with complex geometries and multiple dielectrics. I don't recommend that.

The question of whether there is any non-B3 cable better than B3 and therefore preferred via Cardas two-post vs. B3 via Speakon is impossible to answer simply because no one has heard all of the cable offerings under identical or comparable conditions, and cables are so often used as compensating tone controls. What I can say is that Zu Event and the older Ibis are exceptionally neutral and therefore not highly useful as compensating elements for correcting another component's traits. They are also quite transparent, revealing, dynamic, and allow coherent presentation of music -- and they are reasonably-priced relative to the rest of the market. All of this is especially so if connected via Speakon to a Zu speaker equipped for that. But for Speakon-connector Zu speakers, Zu offers a nifty Speakon adaptor with the Cardas two-post clamp so you can cable whatever and however you want.

Phil
Phil, I'm glad you stress the neutrality of the Event B3 SpeakOn cable. I'm finding more and more that neutrality and speed are what I'm looking for. My tube pre/ss pow Hovland combination will benefit from it I'm confident going into the Def4s.
Can you comment any further on the upgrade to the structure of the speaker? It sure seems beefed up wrt to the Def2s. From what I gather the front baffle and base plate the super tweeter and sub woofer drive unit are fixed to are pretty substantial and contribute to the improved sound quality.
There is further bracing of the Def2 cabinet internally to make it a Def3, and some added quieting of the structure. But Def3 does not get the immense stiffening of the front baffle resulting from the inclusion of the compression-mounted Radian 850 super-tweeter. I haven't seen the internal drawings of the cabinet mods to create Def3s from Def2s.

Def4 on the other hand is a completely new internal structure, with FRDs in a mini-Griewe chamber, the structural stiffening of the front baffle by the massive Radian compression structure, and the whole speaker being mechanically anchored by the super-stiff machined-aluminum plinth to which the down-firing cast-basket 12" sub is bolted. The internal wood plates forming the Griewe load slash remaining cabinet talk and arrest booming by the tall sidewalls. The FRDs are isolated internally from the subwoofer chamber. So you have the speaker bisected into two very strong boxes within the tower, on that massive machined aluminum foundation.

Phil