Zu Soul Superfly

Phil:

Yes, the Stereophile review was positive, and please, I keep saying i am not a numbers guy.

I'm just pointing out that when you look at third party measurements of Essence FRD in its frequency zone they look very little like the Zu measurements of the Soul FRD in the same frequency zone. Given that the drivers are similar, it is remarkable -- although of course the driver is not identical.

I'm not a "measurement is everything" guy and Zu is not a "measurement is everything" speaker -- this is all very good. But Zu was bitten in butt by measurement in the past, and I would hate for a third party reviewer to run their measurement, and it not look like the ironing table Zu has on their site for this speaker.

Am I being a jerk for saying "Zu is too perfect!!"? Maybe, although that is not my intention. I am big fan of company and speakers. I am simply pointing out that this change is so dramatic, I'd love to see it verified by an independent third party even though I will trust my own EARS for how the speaker sounds, which is distinct from how it measures.

I disagree with you that Zu works well in widest range of rooms. I think EVERY speaker seriously needs care with placement to get the most out of it. The number of bad installations I have seen are ridiculous, and while it may be more fun to buy new hardware, spending a weekend (or month) sweating while you carry your speakers about the place will do more for sound. Sweat beats money. The port tuning does reduce one variable and that legitimately makes things easier of course.

>>Am I being a jerk for saying "Zu is too perfect!!"? Maybe, although that is not my intention. I am big fan of company and speakers. I am simply pointing out that this change is so dramatic, I'd love to see it verified by an independent third party even though I will trust my own EARS for how the speaker sounds, which is distinct from how it measures.<<

Not arguing with you. I have to ask Sean the origin of his graph. I just don't know and wasn't interested enough to ask. I view speaker response graphs as dubious marketing. And I say that as a marketer. Lots of speakers measure out ruler flat, uncorrelated to how they sound, so I pay no attention to this. I don't know how you measure a speaker for performance in the customer's room, so I've *never* put credence to speaker measurements. Almost every speaker I've heard that sounds natural is seriously compromised on paper in some way, and so has every speaker that sounds atrocious to me. The real trouble is the sheer mediocrity of most speakers that measure well, at any price. You're unlikely, for instance, to see me write anything even remotely positive about a Wilson, McIntosh, Coincident, PSB or B&W speaker, regardless how they measure and yet a company that consciously voices its products, like Sonus Faber, can often float something outstanding into the market. On the other hand, most Fostex-based hi-eff designs sound as ragged to me as they measure, but I don't need measurements to tell me that. So I think overall the industry has never developed an empirical representation of a loundspeaker's sound that is worth a damn in making a buying decision. John Atkinson sure hasn't.

>>I disagree with you that Zu works well in widest range of rooms. I think EVERY speaker seriously needs care with placement to get the most out of it. The number of bad installations I have seen are ridiculous, and while it may be more fun to buy new hardware, spending a weekend (or month) sweating while you carry your speakers about the place will do more for sound. Sweat beats money. The port tuning does reduce one variable and that legitimately makes things easier of course.<<

My statement regarding the unusually wide latitude of room and system types a Zu FRD speaker can be easily used in doesn't in any way contradict your view that "...every speaker seriously needs care with placement..." Yup, if you're up for it. But how much obsession should this quest for realistic music reproduction have to take? I abhor man-cave dedicated listening rooms. They're killing audio as an economically-viable hobby. It's a signpost of social dysfunction most people can't identify with. All my life, my systems have been in my living spaces. I have two full-blown SET vacuum tube Zu systems out in the open living areas of my home now - with turntables. In any room I'm going to put a stereo, the available space that reconciles sound with room usability is going to be a pretty tight box. There are not going to be any tube traps in my house. Micrometer-precise speaker placements. I'll use normal household items like furniture, books, art, etc. to "tune" my rooms. In other words, I'm going to make it as good as reasonable effort can make it, within the constraints I set by making hi-fi part of my *visible* life. When people visit, it's there, so anyone can experience it. This is how I got exposed to hi-fi 50 years ago, and audio would be in a healthier state if we returned it to a public place in domestic life.

Jim Smith's "Get Better Sound" has an audience, and yeah even a casual listener can benefit from some of it. But it misses the whole point of audio in the first place. If you have to read that book to get good sound, the whole industry has gone awry. Well, it obviously has, already. Maybe a hundred-thousand people in the whole world of six billion folks want the fuss. Want to know why audio is dying? The answer is in that book, and it's not related to the sonic consequences of all the things Jim thinks people do wrong.

So, on a relative basis, with the exception of Druid's fussy gap height, it's very hard to get bad sound through inexact-but-reasonable placement of a Zu speaker, and this is especially true of Soul. They did a great job of making it "drop-and-play." Dial it in if you're interested enough, but if you're a music lover who cares about room function and aesthetics over sonic bliss, and you plop your Souls where you planned to put speakers and nowhere else, you're still going to get good sound. THIS audience is more obsessive, but Zu's whole point in life is to make it easy for THAT audience that isn't.

Phil

Phil:

LOL! I agree! I very much like Zu's philosophy of HiFi being something that lives where you do. My Zu's live in my living room, with TV in between. But it means the whole family listens to them ALL THE TIME and we keep the TV off. It is a better life.

Still, I would recommend Jeff's book. For one thing, it helped me get alignment and toe-in perfect, and there is one spot on the couch that has the best presentation, although it is OK in the rest of the room as well (but the sweet spot is much sweeter). Given how directional Zu's are, the toe in and alignment really does matter. I think people who are dissappointed by Zu sound have not spent enough time on this element of placement.

Secondly, and more importantly, Jeff's book helped me understand how much of my sound is because of my room and how much is because of the speaker, and how the two are interconnected. It got me off the "upgrade" treadmill, I am not seeking "better" because I understand and accept very well the limitations of my system and know that new speakers, amps, or cables is not the weak component.

Phil:

What did you end up finding for amps for your friend? And what do you like with your Zu's? Put my order in yesterday for a batch 2 august ship.

Tim

I too have the superfly on order and have appreciated your comments. What can you say about the cosmic carbon? I am wondering if I'd prefer a different finish.