Gregm - Zu makes all their own drivers. Each cabinet contains 4 x 10 inch powered woofers in the rear. Each front sports two 10 inch mids and a super tweeter in the MTM arrangement you described. These present 101 db efficiency at 6 ohms. This is a nearly resistive load so it is very amplifier friendly.
Actual listening seems to support their claim of 16Hz on the bottom. I found imaging to be very good and depth of soundstage very convincing. I hope to be buying a pair of Definitions very soon. Meanwhile, I bought the Druids. These are much more cost effective than the Defs but with 5 fewer drivers per side, they don't quite do the same thing. |
The Druid comes much closer to the performance of the Definitions than an educated guess would allow. Someone wrote not long ago that the Druid provides 75% of the performane for a third of the price. If anything that is an underestimate. The Druid is far better than it appears in pictures. In fact, I suspect it would embarras many vaunted designs by famous manufacturers. My guess is we'll be hearing much more from Zu.
I know nothing about the DB 99 so I can't provide the requested comparison. |
I have new Druids and I can tell you that they will play louder than anyone should listen. Loud enough to damage your hearing.
This is the most original, engaging and exciting audio product I have ever bought in 30 years of perpetual experimentation.
They are fast and friendly, clean and rhythmic, magical in their presentation, and modest in their requirements. High efficiency combined with high power handling capability opens the door to any amplifier you care to try.
I would say that comparison to electrostatics might be more apt than comparison to conventional cones. The Zu Druid will leave that stuff in the dust. I replaced Goldmund Dialogues, one of the all time great designs and one of the fastest cone speakers ever with these Druids. The speed and ease I now have make the Goldmunds forgettable.
I felt I was gambling when I bought these Zu speakers but I can tell you that there is no gamble involved. Try a pair. |
Phil,
You write very well and your observations support my experience. It seems to me inevitable that Zu will insinuate themselves into a great many homes over time but I wonder why the progress is so slow. As soon as I learned about this Druid speaker I was hellbent to see and hear them. The inherent superiority seemed obvious to me. All I needed was to determine if it was indeed as clearly superior as the design suggested. So I ventured up to Ogden, Utah and visited the Zu lab. My answer came upon me instantaneously when Adam fired them up.
I urge everyone out there to try a pair on their trial basis.
They tell me that only one pair has been returned out of several hundred. So it seems likely your biggest problem will be finding someone to take your crossovers off your hands. If you hurry, you might still find someone who doesn't know about Zu.
And, Phil, your earlier writings played a big part in my decision to visit Zu. Thanks. |
At ease. Nothing to defend here. If you like your speakers, That's fine. I didn't hear Phil attacking the DB 99s at all. What I got was a physics lesson. "No crossover" is superior to any crossover, whether it is Wilson's, Von Schweickert's, or Bose. I feel the same way, having just replaced Goldmund Dialogues with crossover slopes in excess of 60 db per octave.
For my part, this is an invitation, not a challenge. There is something better available. Find out now or find out later. Zu has moved beyond convention in providing a grounbreaking new product. If you aren't interested yet, that's also fine. In time, however, this one will find it's way to your house because it isn't an arguable gimmick like bi-wiring. It's a whole new ballgame. |
Wc65mustang,
I agree completely. Not only did Bornie not identify his prejudice but it appears he never intended to. Only when he was outed by another member did he own up and even then he claimed it wasn't necessary.
That explains why he did not address the topic of crossovers that Phil raised. His intent was to advance his agenda rather than the discourse the rest of us were pursuing.
Having experienced the "no crossover" presentation, I fail to see how anyone could dismiss the concept so readily. At least now I know why one person did. |
Since it appears that it could help my credibility, I will confess to being unemployed and unaffiliated.
That said, after visiting the Zu factory and buying a pair of their Druids, I will allow that I am not entirely unbiased in this matter. I would very much like to see these wonderful young guys make a go of it with their speakers.
TVAD - Keep up the excellent sleuth work. I love it when the pot gets caught calling the kettle black. |
Dawgbyte,
My name is Desmond. I am Mr. Phil's factotum. He told me to ask you if your speaker has a crossover. Good Evening, Sir. |
Duke,
I appreciate your evenhanded approach to this topic. Could you specify what you like and don't like about the Druid and Definition separately as they are a bit different? The Defs, for instance, do receive subwoofer support from below the mid array. The Druids, on the other hand, achieve their bass response from a downward firing transmission line, a sort of bass horn. |
Duke,
I hear nothing very negative in your comments. As a Druid owner, I guess I would have to say that my speakers are about fun. They're just so musical and so high on the PRaT scale that I just notice my toes tapping and disregard any concerns about accuracy. Others have said that they are linear, precise, accurate, faithful, cohesive, etc., and they may well be. I find them to be engaging. As for bass, I didn't have much extension until I experimented and it turned out that in my room they worked best right up against the front wall. Also, it is important to gap them properly from the floor in order to optimize the Griewe loading. The Zu boys have been over the top motorcycle enthusiasts for most of their young lives and as a result of that passion came upon a fellow named Ron Griewe who is a former editor of some biker mag. This Griewe fellow had conducted research over many years in the area of flow and displacement in motorcycle exhhaust. Sean and Adam recognized the potential this held for speaker design and purchased the rights to apply his findings to their designs. This is a large part of why the Druid performance is so much bigger than the speaker itself. Srajan stated that the Druid was equal to his AG Duos in almost every way. WarrenH is correct when he recommends trying them at home. The Definition is no more fun than the Druid but it offers a more solid state friendly impedance curve, more downward extension, better resolution and more compactness than you get in a Druid/sub arrangement. |
The cost of round trip shipping is nothing compared to a dealer markup. I'm only about 300 miles from Zu headquarters so one way shipping on my Druids was $40. If you call Zu they'll give you a firm shipping quote to your zip code.
You know, as I think about it, round trip shipping is usually cheaper than sales tax on something this expensive.
And what better place to evaluate them than in the space where they will reside? |
Phil's right. The Definitions would cost as much as the Watt/Puppy 7's if they were sold at a conventional dealer margin. And the Druids would be more like $7 grand. Don't forget these speakers are 100% American made from proprietary parts. No off the shelf drivers, no Chinese parts. I'm not saying this makes them more valuable than a Chinese product, just more costly to produce.
The big irony lies in the fact that once these speakers finally gain wide acceptance, they probably will be much more expensive. The early bird gets the worm in this case. |
