[LordCloud]

I hear people taling about phase correctness with these speakers, but how is that possible without the drivers being in te same acoustic plane, and first order filters?

[213Cobra]

A few comments pertinent to your questions:

The Druids are 50" tall and just under a foot wide, so there's no getting away from their standing profile. However Druid's visual weight on the room is moderated by the slender depth. This makes the speaker seem smaller than it is, and its lack of bulk translates to comparative elegance that has a much higher spouse acceptance factor than I would have imagined.  Women or men who prioritize style & aesthetics over function tend to love the Druid's design, and then appreciate its rewards sonically. It's the perceptually smallest "big" speaker around.  If budget allows, color can have a big influence on perceived size in the context of your decor.

While the Druid isn't as placement insensitive as the more expensive Definition, it is among the least room and placement sensitive speakers I've heard. You can stuff it into a corner and you will get only a fraction of the bass exaggeration experience has taught you to expect.  And they do well close to walls, keeping in mind that the aluminum base plate ensures that even if pushed against the base of a wall, the speaker itself will be positioned a few inches out from the wall surface.

Toe-in warrants experimentation as small angular changes relative to the listening chair have noticeable effects on soundstaging and imaging focus or precision.  My Druids are placed close to a wall, with the right speaker about 30" from a corner point, and both sitting 16" from the back wall surface to the box edge closest to that wall on toe-in.

My experience with the Druid is that bass is much more affected by tuning the height of the floor-to-base-plate gap than by standing them near a corner. The qualitative adjustments to the bass performance and bass detail quality are a big influence on the overall performance of the Druid. Sean Casey recommends adjusting the floor gap to the thickness of 2 CD jewelboxes if the Druids are used directly on a hardwood floor.  He's right, by the way. Carpet and other floor types bear some experimentation. Clearly, for me, getting the Grieve model to perform as intended is considerably more important to tonal character than proximity to walls.

The Druid isn't just a solo performer or chamber music or jazz trio speaker. While it does a great job of communicating the emotion and intimacy of such performances, it is easily just as noteworthy for its ability to pour acoustic power in the room. The dynamic range is real, against modest power requirements to do it. And more important, dynamics come with an exceptional trait for maintaining clarity of details and transient events no matter how much complexity and crescendo is introduced. Play something you know that begins simply and builds to dense, intense complexity. If the simple line of the first one or two instruments or voices persist in the performance, you hear it present and accounted for irrespective of accumulating density, volume and complexity.

Phil

Three questions for Druid owners (thank you in advance!!):

- How big/massive do they appear?  I'm having a problem with an overcrowded living room (from a certain person's perspective, you can guess who.)    My current speakers are walnut-finished B&Ws, pretty boxy looking, 35" high x 11" wide, 16" deep.  The Druids are 15" higher, and the same width, but much less deep.  Do they seem like they could appear less massive, or is this just wishful thinking?

- Another solution to the overcrowding probl ...

[Russell Dawkins]

I have been looking for a system for about 3 months now to replace the Tannoy Ardens (modded and improved) that I have been using for about 10 years as mid field monitors in a mixing and mastering studio.  I have been thinking I needed to go open baffle to get what I was looking for as an improvement, which was more open sound with as accurate or more accurate midrange and bass timbre as the Tannoys but without the coarse sounding highs.
 My short list included the PHY, Fertin, Visaton 8", Bastanis, Linkwitz Orion, all open baffle, and the Zu Druids, even though these are boxes. Not knowing any better, I was afraid the Zu's would be rough and irregular in the mids, but from what I read here, this is not true and it looks like I may have found my speaker. I have Hsu subs that I use from 40Hz down with the Tannoys and which would probably work for now. I like the relatively effortless dynamics from the Tannoys, but would enjoy more of the same and it sounds like these would do that. I wonder how the Transcendent SE OTL tube amp would work with them - it would seem like a natural match. I need to be able to reproduce the dynamics of a large orchestra playing ffff without strain - about 110dB absolute peaks - when listened to at a distance of 6 feet (my distance at the mixing position).
 I record mostly acoustic music of the classical and jazz variety and have a killer recording of a 95 piece orchestra playing Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet Suites that I could mail out to anyone interested. $10 to cover costs and hassle. It was recorded in 1994 in Kiev with a Speiden stereo ribbon microphone ONLY (NO spot mics) and was released on the Russian Disc label, now defunct, as the first release of their "Audiophile Series", so this is legal, and I have the approval of the conductor to do this, at least until it is re-released. This is a true Blumlein recording and has impressed more than one seasoned professional with what "stereo" really means! Featured on the Royer demo CD.
Russell Dawkins

[213Cobra]

The Transcendent OTL16 should be an excellent match for the Druids.  Druid impedance is 12 ohms, so you will get a little more power than the 15/15w 8 ohm rating, and that amp has a lot of drive for an amp of its power.  I have a 300B amp at 7/7 w, an SE KT88 amp at 18/18 w, and 845 monoblocks at 26/26 w to use on the Druids.  Even the 300B amp drives symphonic music to satisfying levels in a 22' x 12' x 10' room. I expect that the OTL16 will approach the dynamic reserve of the 845 amps I use.  Seating for my Druids system is mid-field as well, with the listening area using about 40% of a dual-use room. So the Druids are about  8 feet from my ears when seated. The only effect you might have to adjust to that near-to-midfield listening presents is soundfield imaging may seem a bit high compared to a shorter speaker.

Highs will definitely not sound coarse and the Druid has none of the roughness in the midrange that you fear. As long as your sub is quick, rolling it in for a hand-of at 40 Hz is just right for the Druid.

I am definitely interested in taking you up on your offer for the recording. In what format are you delivering it and how would you like to be paid?

Phil

I have been looking for a system to replace my Tannoy Ardens as mid field monitors in a mixing and mastering studio for about 3 months now and thought I needed to go open baffle to get what I was looking for as an improvement, which was more open sound with as accurate or more accurate midrange and bass timbre as the Tannoys but without the coarse sounding highs. My short list included the PHY, Fertin and Visaton 8" in an OB and the Bastanis, Linkwitz Orion and the Zu Druids, even though these are boxes. No ...

[Russell Dawkins]

thanks for your information, Phil.
Note that I did say SE OTL (1.5W into 8 ohms, 3W into 16), not the OTL16.
As to my recording, probably best to communicate by personal email. I have had some responses already and don't want to step over the bounds of what is allowed in these forums.
Russell

[nathanm]

Holy smokes man, Russell Dawkins!?  *checks CD*  YOU did that recording on the Royer CD!? I have that disc, that recording kicks ass!!!   It's heavy as all hell!   I couldn't figure out where to find it and instead bought a different recording  (incidentally the section used on the Royer disc is one of the few really cool bits of music in that otherwise boring symphony in my humble, super-casual classical music fan opinion . Montagues and the Capulets I believe...it's pure doom!)  

Plus the performance on your recording is WAY heavier and ponderous sounding than the Telarc\Cincinati Orch\Jarvi\SACD I have, where they play that part much too fast in comparison. (about twice as fast )  What good is a doomy section of music like that if they're gonna rush through it?  Hmmm.

Anyway, that's an awesome recording, where do I send the money!?  Anyone wanna buy my SACD? Heh!

[213Cobra]

Ooops, I thought that amp was discontinued. I see from the Trans web site it's not. I haven't run anything smaller than a 6/6w PX25 amp on the Druids so can't say how they will perform in a mid-field listening situation on about 2 watts from that amp, but on paper it should be no problem. However I'd expect you will hear the dynamic limits of the SE OTL on some music. Even at 101db/w/m, 2 watts only goes so far though within the dynamic range of the amps, the qualitiative attributes will be communicated well by the Druid.

Phil

thanks for your information, Phil.
Note that I did say SE OTL (1.5W into 8 ohms, 3W into 16), not the OTL16.
As to my recording, probably best to communicate by personal email. I have had some responses already and don't want to step over the bounds of what is allowed in these forums.
Russell

[jcoat007]

Srajan just gave the Druid Mk 4 the second Lunar Eclipse award ever given.

http://www.sixmoons.com/audioreviews/zu/druid_5.html