Duke mentioned Druids. I might as well say here that before the CS2, I owned Definitions, and before that, Druids. Kehut bought my Druids when I got the Defs. I bought the CS2 after hearing them at his place. And the world turns.
Re Zu speakers, you will not hear anything bad about them from me. I am still a fan of their philosophy, design and products. But the Druid is not a realistic match for the CS2; it is, frankly, outpunched, despite being a delightful speaker in its own right, and one of a handful I would pick to be my 'deserted island' speaker. The Defs have some strengths the CS2 may be a little behind in. But that is a far more even match, and guess who finally won in my house. Note the price differential BTW, which I do admit was part of the decision. But I lost nothing of significance due to this decision, and gained quite a bit.
I re-read my post to Tvad above and realize it may come off as a trifle aggressive. It was written in frustration, but not because the CS2 is being picked on... that baby can fight a great fight for itself. It is about this whole audio"phile" thing, where some find it incumbent upon themselves to cast aspersions on product they haven't even heard. No doubt there is some agenda there, but I can't figure it out.
Having been around these forums for several years, I have had my fair share of gear pass through my hands. Nearly all of it has been fairly good to very good. About the only thing I would trash is some of the products put out by AV123, and that was a few years ago; I haven't heard their more recent lineup. So guess what? I don't talk about it! Is that so hard?
So back to the CS2. Is it the second coming? Unlikely. Even Clayton is working on an improvement, a.k.a. CS1. Is it a surprisingly competent speaker that releases the average audiophile (eg, folks like myself) from some of the constraints of this wallet-busting hobby? You bet your sweet patootie. I now have well under $10K in my whole system and wouldn't be embarrassed to demo it to anyone. Its bass is realistic and live-sounding, its midrange is competent, and treble is unfettered. Before anyone thinks calling the midrange merely 'competent' is damning it with faint praise, know that to me competent is another way of saying 'as good as it should be'.
What do the parts cost? Who gives a damn? Are you buying parts or a product that makes sound? Did you read my post about Pierre? Or maybe you want to know if the designer is ripping people off and perhaps you want to show it should have a market price of, say, $1K. Fine. If you want to build and sell a competitive speaker for that, go ahead. If the market thinks it sounds as good or better, then you will be rich(er) and poor old Clayton may have to start living out of a refrigerator box. But for some reason I don't see that happening.
From Duke you heard that he used to be a dealer but now isn't, yet admires the speaker and is still cordial with Clayton. That says something for both Duke and Clayton. BTW, when Duke was a dealer and made some positive posts about the CS2, I read those and they helped me decide to give them a try. It was also the audition at kehut's, and last but not least the incredible conviction I heard in Walter's words when he began talking to me about them. I am among the more cynical people you will meet (not particularly proud of it), but Walter melted my stone heart that day.
OP and tvad, may I suggest you give Walter (underwoodwally) a call? He will tell you what you need to know; his knowledge on this speaker in particular and audio in general is encyclopedic. He may be able to set up a demo for you.
tvad: you really should contact Walter. It is his job to explain, set up demos and sell. If Clayton did all those things he wouldn't have time to design and build, and even if he did he then wouldn't need Walter. However, on the occasions (AFTER purchasing) that I've needed to talk to Clayton he has been very reachable. I'm not saying he's avoiding you; I have no idea. Just that if you use the established channels, you should get faster results.
