hi all,
i have had the opportunity to live w/the zu druid monitors for a while & now feel i have a good enuff handle on 'em to post some impressions.
1st, the appearance is striking, in a bright lemon-yellow laquer, w/their big black drivers staring out at ya. my wife wanted to know if we could put 'em in the kitchen, to replace the thiel 3.5's, even before she got to really listen to 'em. and, she *loves* the sound of thiels. i guess that goes to show where *her* priorities are!
anyway, these things are damn efficient - the 100db/1w certainly is no lie. i had to have my marchand x-over dialed down 13 db compared to what my proac ref-8-signatures are set to, in order to get a good blend w/my subs.
these tings are incredibly dynamic - music can really jump out at ya. the soundstage was huge - both wide *and* deep. it took me a while to get this, tho, in my rig. i normally listen either at ~8'-9' or ~12' away from my speakers, depending on my mood, & time of day. i always listen closer so it sounds louder, when i have to keep the wolume down. (i don't live alone!) well, at least in my room, the 8'-9' listening position is not really a viable option w/the zu monitors. i mean ya can obviously hear toons, but the soundstaging suffers. 12' is fine, 15' is really fantastic. great soundstaging combined w/fantastic dynamics, makes for enjoyable listening. it's not that the soundstaging is *bad* when as close as 8', but it sounds *so* much better whan ya get further away!
ok, now for tings i wasn't too thrilled about. the detail was not what i am used to - tings like the sounds of musicians' breathing, & quiet humming; the sound of fingering movements on a guitar's frets... well, these were mia. surprising to me, actually, considering how dynamic the speakers are. and, the air around the treble was also somewhat lacking. then, i was surprised to find out that these are actually woiced this way, per comments of sa-dono, on another thread. and, that this lack of detail & treble air isn't an issue w/zu's rune floorstander... why would a mfr intentionally woice a product this way? to make bad digital less irritating? it's beyond me. if i hadn't heard this detail and treble air stuff in other speakers, mebbe i wouldn't care, & i could live happily ever after w/these zu monitors. but, i *have*, & i want it *all*!
it *does* make me wonder what the less-expensive runes sound like, tho....
one other ting - while i really did enjoy the sound of these in my rig, this was w/active x-over to subs. when my relative was over listening to 'em, he was so impressed, he immediately ran upstairs (he's movin' in for a while), & grabbed his proac 1sc's & manley stingray integrated amp... he *had* to hear the zu's against his second-system speakers, run w/his second-system amp. he was *wery* impressed w/the dynamics & staging of what he was hearing, as was i. well bottom line, is subs are absolutely mandatory w/the zu's, imo. i'd say mebbe not, if not in a big room. (my room, at ~26x38x8.5 is *big*, & opens up to two other spaces at least as big.) but even the 86db/1w efficient proac 1sc's (and my similarly inefficient proac ref-8-sigs), sounded better when run full-range in my room, w/the manley set to 25wpc triode. good enuff, actually, that ya could live w/it long term. w/the zu's, the sound was yust way to thin...
one last point - cabling: i initially wanted to use my cables w/these - i normally run two pairs of tara labs rsc prime 1000's in bi-wire mode. (these cables are normally set to be run bi-wire, w/only one pair, but i ordered 'em doubled-up, w/only one pair of spades per cable.) for initial zu hookup, i ran both pairs, w/the connections doubled-up on the fantastic single-wire cardas spade connector. after a week, i wanted to try the supplied zu ibis w/their special 8-way speakon connector. the sound was almost identical, w/perhaps a smidge more smoothness. absolutely no increased treble air or detail, as i was hoping for. and, whether the percieved improvement in smoothness was due to the supposedly better connector interface gotten w/the speakons, or due to better wire, is anyone's guess...
anyway, i want to thanks adam of zucable, & all the zu gang for the opportunity to hear these. for those who own & love these speakers, i can understand why - the dynamics & soundstaging really are special...
doug s.
