anyone heard zu definition speakers?

Sakes alive, Phil. Your volunteer efforts in support of Zu are exemplary. Your writing is concise and communicative. Following your dispatches (partially), I have sold my Druids and will be receiving custom-painted Definitions in about 3 weeks.

I loved the Druids, but they don't go below 40 hz. For rock or synthesized music, the lowest octave is a big part of the sonic picture. Subs are always an option but are fraught with peril. Everything I've read is that the Def's maintain the strengths of the Druids and add to them. This was crucial for me, as the Druids (aside from low-bass response) were the speakers I've been seeking for a long time.

Though you said the Def's are less idiosyncratic than the Druids, the Druids don't take long to love. They keep the single-driver strengths and smooth out the response, effecting a hybrid of sorts between the camps. I've always correlated "non-fatiguing" with rolled off treble, and aggressive or bright with tipped up treble. The Druids have very nice, extended treble, but they take non-fatiguing to another plane.

Single-driver lovers will already understand this. Because these speakers portray nearly all of the sound spectrum without crossovers and multiple drivers, the music all gets through the amp, to and through the speakers as one contiguous signal. It's never broken apart and sent in pieces to different drivers in separate locations with different voicing with the final product expected to be coherent and smooth.

I posit this generally necessitates work by the brain to reintegrate disparate parts. I never thought this until owning the Druids. They truly let your brain forget there's hi-fi in the room. I just hear music without parts. The parts are there, they just don't demand attention. How often have you sat listening thinking "how clear the cymbals are" or "nice bassline". Not with the Druids. They put it all together with one true voice that is astounding and unspectacular at the same time. Neat trick.

Anyway, preservation of these extraordinary strengths and adding deep, stereo bass would be the only way I'd switch speaks. And now I will.

Miklorsmith,

Which version of the Druids did you have? I used to have version 1, then upgraded to 2. Then sold & upgraded to the Definitions.

This past weekend in Easton PA, I heard the MK 4 version of the Druids. Their bass extension was much more satisfying than I could remember. We listened to them both with & without the Method sub. The Method definitely adds to the lower octaves, but when playing withou the sub, the Druids were quite quite satisfying.

Todd

They were the MK-IV's. The bass is taut and very satisfying down to 40hz. They don't have the kick of a true fullranger, but overall I'd definitely take the Druids over any multi-way I've heard.

I was contemplating subs. It's expensive to get a reference quality sub that would be fast enough to keep up with the Druids and still provide 20 hz extension. And, you'd need two of them for true stereo. I thought about the Method, but then it's not stereo and you're at $5,300 for the tandem, which is getting closer to the Def's.

I was worried about room integration and space. Accurate subs aren't small. And, you'd potentially be fighting room issues forever. Overall, the Definition is an excellent solution to all the concerns I've had about other arrangement. It's the 7-driver, single-driver speaker. :)

I'm happy to help to the Zu guys, if writing here makes a difference. When you have a 30+ years perspective on hifi as I do, you realize how few new designs and products stand out; how few there are that change your agenda as an audiophile; how few expand the possibilities. Especially in speakers.

In speakers in the 1950s, before I was involved, the AR1 was transformative. In the '60s, the Quad ESL, the KLH Nine and Janzsen peeled back enough veils obscuring fidelity to make plywood, by making the electrostatic speaker viable in the home. In the 1970s, when I was getting familiar with the realm, the Dahlquist DQ10 showed you could get electrostatic-like detail and focus with much better dynamic range, through carefully networked dynamic drivers; and the BBC LS3/5a defined a surprising new paradigm for nearly 2 generations of compact monitors. The '80s had little to show for design advances, apart from the magnificent aberration of Apogee. Most of the energy was put into applying rapid advances in materials and manufacturing quality to derivative designs. In the '90s the slap upside the head in speakers was the revival of efficiency and full-range drivers, instigated by the rediscovery of the loveliness of SET amps. Not all of these developments are equally noteworthy.

Now we have Zu and the founders have channeled their dissatisfaction with shouty horns, wimpy FRDs, and music-strangling cross-overs into an honest investigation for how to do it all better. They dove back into dormant research already learned and forgotten, re-examined the physics of getting fidelity from transducers, innovated and brought us speakers that have it all. Not perfect, but clearly better than what came before, and a real advance for any kind of listener with nearly any music or amp preference.

Few have done such a thing, lately. And no, little balls or big colorful plastic horns don't count. Nor does a Frank Gehryesque stack of boxes in nice paint, for example.

New, small companies like this progress on the evangelism and energy of their early customers. And the fact that this is a company committed to manufacturing in the USA and...AND...is making money exporting to Asia, only makes it more worthwhile to spend a little time explaining Zu when I can. It's all stream-of-consciousness writing however and I only wish I had time to write it more concisely.

By the way, it is in the treble where a Druid owner upgrading to Definitions will find their first surprise. Everything from impedance curve to frequency response on the Definition is flatter. That means the Druid's trace of old-school warmth is mitigated. As wonderfully open as the Druid is, the Definition puts Tom Waits' and his cigarettes in your living room. So, get a can of Glade, before they show up at your door.

Phil

At $9K+ they are not going to be showing up at my door. Maybe the rich neighbors on the other side of town, but not mine. The Zu guys appear to be a talented and dedicated bunch, so let's hope the next piece of innovation they bring us is priced for the average joe. By definition, innovation doesn't have to be expensive.