I auditioned a set of Dirty Weekend MkII when they were available, and while I couldn't get them to do what I wanted (ended up keeping a pair of Buchardt S300 mkII that I had in at the same time instead) I have to shout out Zack and the team at Zu; they worked day after day with me during my audition period trying positioning, treatment, gear synergies, every solution we could think of to get them to sing the way I wanted them to. When it came time to return them, they were completely amicable and made it painless from start to finish. Say what you want about their design philosophies, but as a company and in customer service, they are top-tier. Danny and the team at GR Research are no slouches either...
Seems strange that experienced reviewers and audiophiles really like the sound of this and other Zu's. I do not own Zu's and have never heard them. What i do know is that danny seems to be all about "FLAT" with everything. Again being longtime audiophile I understand that that is an engineering goal based on theory. BUT I also know that some of my favorite speakers were definitely not flat and that Danny would rail against for that reason. Like Acoustats, Magnepans, etc. No way Flat but very enjoyable to listen too. I have watched alot of dannys work and very impressed with him as an audio engineer, quite impressive. What I would really like to see him add to his reviews would be a separate listener review. Not from him but others. Maybe even a before and after. That would go along way to verify that the changes he makes are subjectively improved or did he make a technical improvement but now you have a speaker that is lifeless and boring. Please do not take this as a dig on Danny. What he is teaching for free is invaluable.
This reminds me of a time I was eating lunch at my favorite restaurant. They didn't serve real maple syrup with their pancakes. So I bought some and let some of the staff taste it (who had never had real maple syrup). They preferred the fake syrup over the real stuff! They were happy/content with a much less 'tasteful' experience (but one that give them that sugar zing) then the rich palette of flavor real maple syrup gives. I was shocked. Another memory: Long ago i was shopping for a piano...a grand piano. We're talking car money here....I ended up with a 1926 Steinway..it had what was described to me as a 'woody mid-range'. The 2 octaves around middle C just anchored the sound (I really don't know how to describe it) with a 'living' voice. And the overtones on the piano were gorgeous - the bass overtones would sweep up the harp from left to right sending shivers down my spine. The pianos I auditioned from Asia (including a very famous brand that makes speakers you've all heard of) made me want to cover my ears due to their amped up / 'tin can' treble. Up until I played that Steinway I had no idea how far the gap between 'good enough' and excellence could be. Yet some folks just like that bright sound...
Being an audiophile for 50 years sometimes I just look at a speaker and I say boy that's never going to work and this brand was one of them and the other one is tecton with the 20 tweeters
I purchased a set of LCR Tecton and it was as natural as my bird calls. They guarantee satisfaction so I returned them (No finger prints allowed! and you pay the freight.) and was informed by them that they measured perfectly. So it must be me.
@@MichelLinschotenthe Tekton Lore is very similar to this speaker…Lore has a better tweeter but it’s an empty box and doesn’t have baffle step correction so a rising response defines it.
Tekton has a huge lineup... During the period where I bought/auditioned the Zu DW, II, I also bought a pair of Tekton speakers, inclusive of the array you hint about. Frankly, they are absolutely amazing, not a hint of harshness, and a deeply revealing midrange. The concept that gave rise to the tweeter "array" you claim is never going to work is the fact that tweeters move with very low moving mass, which stands in contrast to the much heavier driver complement found in most MIDRANGE configurations. The lightness of the midrange in the "array" allows for effortless expression of all of the signal/frequency range covered by the midrange. It's an absolutely delightful presentation, which is why you see the Tekton Moab receiving so many awards and accolades. For the money they are seemingly unbeatable. I had though the Zu could be another giant killer, but I was mistaken, although I do think in a much more heavily dampened space that the Zu would open up.
What is most disheartening about this information is not how this speaker sounded, but how many trusted audio equipment reviewers gave this speaker very high praise. This now puts into question all of the other products they have reviewed over the years. With a 'no-negative' review policy; how bad does something have be, before these reviewers will just be honest with us viewers and tell us "I just could not review this piece and had to send it back", instead of asking us to please like and subscribe? Sorry, but this truly exposes a major let down for this hobby.
Zu Audio and every other Hifi company have 30-60 day in home trial. Try it. If you don’t like return it. Simple. Reviewers like it. You might not. It’s not a big deal it just Hifi
The Stereophile review measurements on the Zu Audio Essence look pretty similar. Lots of resonance. Enough for me to decline. Yeah the review text slimes it up ... but the graphs speak for themselves
Have you noticed that a lot of reviewers take no measurements whatsoever? I've said it before and I'll say it again. I've seen equipment that measures good but sounded bad. But I've *NEVER* had anything measure bad that sounded good.
@@jdlech many people say that about Klipsch, and other companies but many many people love what those speakers sound like. Many vintage speakers out there that don’t measure well but folks love them. Most people don’t have a well treated well room, and have speakers pushed up against the wall and expect their speakers to sound amazing…
Well done Danny as usual and Maybe ZU should pinpoint their customers to Men over 60 with a natural rolloff in the high FreQ - thats me im 63 and I cant hear anything above 10 K. Im following a well known audiofil on RU-vid whos has come to love ZU speakers and horn loaded Klipsch and he isnt young either . Every speaker should have an "age compensating" filter 🙂
All speakers are designed to a specific taste in sound. I assume that the dynamic swing, wow factor is what the buyers love about Zu Audio, and they don't care about accuracy or refinement.
I like the way mine sound. It is a natural, musical sound. If you like a different sound, then listen to whatever that is. I like many genres of music, but there's a couple of genres I don't like. So I don't listen to those genres. It doesn't mean those genres I personally don't like are bad. Other people may like them. To each their own. Lots of people have listened to my Zu's and complimented the sound. I never pass out a spec sheet to my listeners. You can't listen to specs.
Now I feel even better about returning them after the 60-day trial! 🙂 I did everything I could including getting footers and tilting them to keep my house from shaking and get a little clarity to the sound stage. Now they do have a big bass response under the 200 HZ limit of your testing. Perhaps too much as I thought overall the sound was a bit muddy and lacked resolution. Now my hearing falls off well before that 18K bump so I did not find them bright at all. Which is explained by the fall off in your graph in the upper mid lower treble region.
When I got my dirty weekend V2s from Zu I could not understand what all the hype was about. They sounded grainy sometimes and pleasant a few minutes later. After they broke in I started to realize they were fun speakers. We each have our own wants and desires when it comes to audio. Some love certain speakers and some hate that same speaker. I really enjoyed Danny's video and hope that some of the upgrades will translate to my dirty weekend V2s. Thanks Danny
I've owned the Zu DW MK II for a few years. It's one of the most musical and natural sounding speakers to me. I'm 60. I've been around music for decades. Many speakers that measure well don't sound good to me. I go with what my ears tell me. I can't listen to measurements. If that's what you like, good for you. This is why there are hundreds of companies making speakers. There's no one size fits all for everyone. Choose a speaker that you like based on what your ears tell you, not because somebody else tells you it's good or measures good.
I agree. I've had DWs and now own the Omen mk2 speakers. I will agree about several points Danny made. The horizontal off axis is very noticeable, even without measuring tools. I use them in a small room for NFL so they are about 7 ft away and pointed (as Danny says) at ear level and right at my head. I like these speakers, but might consider this kit. I'm not adverse to change or mods.
@vcp93 Yes, everyone's tastes are different. If you can modify something to customize to your taste, more power to you. I used to sell audio back in the late 80s. Never been much of a specs and measurements guy. Sometimes specs and measurements can cover up for deficiencies that aren't being measured. But our ears are the best measurement tools for what we like best.
Agreed. I own Dw 2s and sometimes it is frustrating. but I knew full well that they dont measure well going in. and I really dont care. as i dont listen in a nice little space searching for the last little thing.I do like to rock. not very audiophile of me i am sure but damm I cant imagine not having these things!To each their own for sure.
@Ian-wh8ut There's an awful lot of speaker companies who've been around for a long time that people like, and they don't necessarily have great "measurements." The greatest measurement tool on the planet is your own 2 ears. No scope, machine, or computer can replace your ears. Here's another analogy. Imagine going to a concert and the musicians passed out the sheet music to the audience. Not a note was played. They just asked everyone to read the music together and Imagine how it sounded. Perfect music. Right? No distortion, no worries about frequency response, or off axis listening. But what did you hear? Nothing. Listen to the music instead of analyzing it. You'll get more enjoyment that way.
@@Ian-wh8ut Same here, simply a fun speaker, I have the DW6 Supremes and a pair of Omen Dirty Weekends. Both are a blast to listen to. I trust Danny and his findings, and may even purchase one of the kits, but not something I have on my top 100 things to do this year list.
We auditioned a set of Omen Def supremes. They definitely was not a $6000.00 set of speakers. Very difficult to get lined up and if you moved around in your listening chair any at all then sound stage went to hell. Cranked them up and the cabinets vibrated better than the wife’s little pocket rocket. Returned them. They need to go back to the drawing board
I'm actually really surprised about this one. I've built Danny's XLS's, and X-statik which Iove, but listened to a buddy's pair of Zu speakers, which sounded amazing. Very interesting! great work as always!
@@dougdavis8986 of course measurements matter. danny clearly showed that how bad the dispersion of the DW is, how can anyone achieve any semblence of a soundstage with that, its nigh impossible. also some people just have tin canned ears, idk how anyone cant hear those sharp treble and not hear the speaker screams at you.
@@dougdavis8986 nope and i dont need to. im a hobbyist speaker designer and i've dabbled in enough speaker designs to know how bad those would sound like.
So Danny, I've got a question. In this video you show you have the capability to shoot nearfield below 200hz - why not include that regularly? Doing a nearfield stitch might let you reduce the smoothing from 1/3 to say 1/6 octave - 1/3 octave smoothing hides audible things in the "noise" of the smoothing.
Having watched maybe 100 of these videos over the years I can't recall a modern mass-produced speaker with this many issues. I mean completely abandoning the stock tweeter should be a shot in the gut for the guys making these speakers.
A good example showing you can't EQ every issue out of a speaker. Only thing is now the "Dirty" was taken out of the speaker. Not sure Zu Audio fans would like this new sound. ( there are people who love mid-frequency centric tonality)
Hello, I have seen and heard many speakers. This is the worst I've ever seen. after dani measured it, I would never have spent money on upgrading such an extremely bad speaker! if you are a carpenter, you could stiffen up the box
Is that an older model? According to the Zu website and other reviewers, the tweeter crosses at 12khz. Certainly doesn’t match Danny’s findings. BTW- I built a pair of XLS Encore towers that I love - so, no hate here, just curious if Zu has addressed some of the concerns mentioned.
The Zu uses a high pass filter, but I believe it's a first order and has a 6dB/octave slope, so it does reach down a bit below 12k. IIRC, Sean's commented that ~90% of the sound you hear comes from the 10 inch driver.
without the science you just shoot in the dark. What I can tell is that I don´t like cabs with their own resonance. It's uncontrolled and the music gets distorted. I think Danny does a great job debunking myths and speakers at the same time. There's always gonna be people complaining on that for whatever reason. I learn a TON on this channel. Which I use improving on my stuff. Thanks!
Try them, play music for a month or three. Dance. Listen to it all. Trust your ears. Buy stuff you love. Ignore the haters. But also ignore the fanboys. People like Danny enjoy measuring music. I enjoy music. We are not the same.
Music is what’s in the recording. The playback system should accurately reflect the source. It’s a scientific apparatus, subject to rational analysis and measurement. I am not saying subjectivity plays no role, but awful performance like this should be seen for what it is.
The friend of mine that has the Klipsch Cornwalls I mentioned before also purchased a second hand set of Zus. I don't know the model. But, they look very similar to this speaker. He seems to think playing his music hot is the same as having it live (he has a pair of Crown amps for that reason). Knowing this and having read a few articles about them I sat down expecting Cerwin Vega's high priced cousin to start shouting at me through a paper towel tube: I wasn't disappointed. Even on 80's Whitesnake the effect was screaming and I had to keep adjusting my head to understand what was being played. These stock are a garage band. Sure, you could spend the $2,300 on a pair of these and then buy your kit. However, your pal over at Tyler Acoustics offers the U2 bookshelf. 90db at 35hz for $2,400 and great parts out of the box. They look great in my front room.
I noticed that the upgrade knocked the efficiency down slightly but still at around 92db which would make the upgraded speaker a very good candidate for low powered amps. The impedance levels look very suitable too - very easy load to drive. In my view a great upgrade!
If you own these speakers and you are enjoying them just be aware that even though you're enjoying what you're listening to you're not hearing the truth
I enjoyed the video, he is an engineer who likes to fix issues, and he knows what’s going on. Compression drivers usually can be harsh, this tweeter might have been better with a folded horn 15 inch JBL! Zu could have spent more time, trying out different tweeters and at least filter out some issues…….Putting in no-rez in the cabinet also helped….
I waited for Danny's comment, "this is going to to take your head off" because that was my experience when I auditioned a pair of Zu DW for sixty days. I so much wanted this speaker to work. I made endless changes to positioning and I felt like I was injuring my ears and head in the process of listening to what is the hardest, harshest set of speakers I've had in my home. In the end, I thought my room was the problem. So glad to see there is a rational explanation, tied to the Zu DW design.
Your room probably is the issue, so find a set of speakers that sound good in your room, I own the union 6 from zu and they are great in my listening space.
never sound "hardest, harshest" my pair. Even the opposite: super silky and pleasant (and detailed) high frequencies. My problem was that I could never solve a suction of a certain sector of the low/high (or mid/low) frequencies. They even had tremendous bass extension, but not tight.
My union 6 needed hundreds of hours to break in, I don’t think one can make a judgment about Zu speakers without taking break-in into consideration. Also, Danny like all RU-vid hifi folks is selling a product and managing an image. Many of his criticisms of these speakers apply to every speaker on the market. This video leaves me with the impression that he came into this review with an agenda - maybe just the way he presents his findings…
There are no crossover components on that 10" driver. Normally they have an inductor on the woofer to soften the harsh sound. And that is what Danny did.
Almost everything he pointed out was covered in Vance Dickason's Loudspeaker Design Cookbook over 3 decades ago. I'm surprised some of this stuff is still done.
The Zu's sound is inherent to the type of speakers their customer base likes and enjoys, most likely due to their inherent deficiencies, e.g. cabinet resonance, etc. The speakers sound appeal to them at the first hearing of them at studio, hifi show etc, after extensive listening they may find they cannot live with some of these deficiencies, hence modifications maybe necessary. Other owners may think they are the best speakers they have heard for the price bracket. So, I believe Voicing the speakers is particularly important and it varies from person to person. So, Danny. you should say something about the voicing of your speakers and those of your competitors and your voicing philosophy. Voicing I mean mainly the freq. response, many speakers' owners reported really flat response does NOT sound good.
Accurate speakers with flat responses usually don't sound good to many people. Because....they have been listening to speakers for years with a frequency response like Zu's. Unfortunately, they use badly designed speakers as reference. So, naturally when they hear high quality and fine engineered designs. It doesn't sound like the "Bull Horns" they have come to know and love.
Steve the Audiophiliac seems to love Zu speakers and had me considering giving them a try. Then I read another comment that stated that they sounded like cheap car speakers and are basically for hipsters that want cool looking gear. I decided to hold off and in case I have a feeling my girlfriend wouldn't have been too fond of the ''in your face'' design especially if their sound was also ''in your face''
thanks a lot Danny for this explanation. I had Zu's (essence) and it was like love and hate relationships..they had some "magic" with some type of the music.. which I understand now was mainly bcause of the reconances issues you describe here..but I never heard with anoth other speakers such excitement..but had all issues you nicely and kindly describe to us. many thanks for that..very educational :) thubms up!
How does a compression driver like that even make it to market? Let alone beat other options when doing testing to determine the best tweeter for a speaker???
I have the Zu Soul Superfly Mk1a. Paired with a vintage Sansui Aux 666 from 1970 it's a match made in heaven. I leave the Loudness button alsays on and I get get exactly the sound I was looking for: a rich,full bodied sound with lots of slam and dynamics. The Sansui gives a lot of weight to the music and has great tube - like transparence. Absolutely no high frequency sharpness!. I also heard a Soul Supreme paired with a vintage Marantz Receiver from the Seventies and I was amazed too. I once tried my Soul Superfly with a modern Hybrid Amp ( Mosfet with tube)...The music was much more thin sounding, I missed the fullness to the sound,the weight to the music......so Amp - harmony with Zus is immensly important.
Thank you so much for explaining a waterfall plot. Its the first time I actually could understand what it meant. I could never understand it. Even my wife understood it. We had such a laugh because she doesn't really care about audio, just as long as it can play loud and clear she's happy!
It ideally should look like a wide even height hill that gently rolls forwards towards the viewer & evenly down to the ground with no protrusions or extrnding section looking different from another section along it's smooth width. It's a guess but that's what I instantly thought when I first saw these 3 dimensional representations while only used to 2 dimensional graphs of sonic traits. But, many folk like a lift in the low end, some like bright sparkle in the hi mids & treble, speakers near perfectly even across their whole frequency response may bore some people, if we heard a speaker with a perfect spectral 3'd graph, would we like it? without room gain? I dunno but would love to hear such a perfectly flat speaker as I've no idea how they would sound. It's a fascinating subject to me at least. Maybe in the future, some hi' tech' will allow someone to draw the perfect spectral graph & some multi-msterial 3'D printer will make them, & many might say "I preferred my old imperfect speakers, we wouldn't be around if it happened. P.S. my love of music alone drives my interest, I don't buy L.P.s (yes, still rare s/h not re-done in the age of the Crossley Suitcase systems sold in the same shops as L.P.s) to listen to my system or I'd probably only need less than 10 or albums for that purpose. Hearing Lightning Hopkins on a good system really moves me, he's dead by now but my latest discovery.
What people should do is buy audio gear based on their personal taste, use and love, and stick to it, and enjoy their favorite music. What they should NOT do is buy based purely on objective data (measurements) or the subjective opinion of others (reviewers, critics). Not to mention, what they should NOT do is second-guess their preferences reading or watching negative reviews of their favorite product, and pick a fight. If you're happy, more power to you!
I’ve tried and wanted to like Zu, listened multiple times at friends as well as shows, never heard a model that captured my attention (and I’m choosing my words carefully)
I have a pair of DW6’s, I think they sound great. Many agree with me, that’s why they sell them. Some people don’t like them, that’s why they don’t buy them. I don’t like sugar in my coffee… I never take sugar and wouldn’t finish a cup if it had sugar in it. Some people like sugar in their coffee, and that’s okay too. They aren’t wrong if they say, “boy this coffee with sugar sure is great”. They are right. I am right. Both can be true with something like that, there is not a conspiracy… the coffee reviewers are not idiots, they just like a thing.
Brilliant analogy! I’d love to hear a pair of Zu speakers. I bet the people who say they like them actually, genuinely like them. A thing also doesn’t have to measure perfectly to sound “good”.
@@dannyfannyfoodle I own two pair, and have been waiting for Danny to do this video, and Danny did not disappoint. I knew they would measure like crap, which was just a hunch. Mine aren't going anywhere, they sound great, mainly Jazz and R&B on tube or Class A gear. I do use an inexpensive active crossover, which I use on my Maggies too. But, I would do the same with virtually any speaker I have in the house. They are really a fun and enjoyable speaker, at least in my room. No fatigue, get you tapping your toe and bobbing your head, fun stuff.
You are correct. Some people don't mind the uneven response, the cabinet resonance issues, the driver break up, the phase issues, or the beaming issue. However, some people want a little better performance than that.
People love these speakers, they have a legion of fans and even some experienced people in the industry seem to genuinely admire them... what do you think it is that they hearing that has them so enamoured? My theory would be that, despite all their faults, their lack of parts delivers a sound that is refreshing compared to most other speakers we get to hear with signals that are forced through a meat grinder of cheap crossover parts.
I own a pair of the DW6 Supremes and love them. And I kind of figured when I saw this video it was not going to bode well for the Zu's... Thanks Danny! I will probaly get this kit.
Lots of opinions here in the comment section on both sides of this, including my own. So I'm going to make one last stab at this. First off, I think what Danny does is perfectly fine, and he certainly has the credentials to do what he does and say what he says. I own a Porsche. It is completely stock, and I am happy with it that way. There are quite a few Porsche "Tuners" that have great reputations making a nice living doing tweaks, mods and upgrades on Porsche cars. These tuners make the Porsche "better" than the original factory spec vehicle. Better? Well, that is completely subjective. To the many people who pay the money to have the changes made it is definitely better. To the business who makes their living making the changes it is definitely better as well. Nothing wrong with any of this whatsoever. It is capitalism. There is a market for "Tuners" of automobiles and there is a market for tuners of audio equipment as well. These car tuners can make the car faster in a straight line and around curves. But it changes the original essence of the vehicle. If that is what you like and what you want, fantastic! Some people prefer the "flaws" of the original product, as crazy as that may sound to others, because that is what they like. Does that mean that one group of people is wrong and the other is right? I don't think so. I hope GR-Research continues to have great success providing a service to people who are looking for what they do. I like my Zu speakers just like the factory made them. Call me crazy if you want. And I'm sure some folks will.
If that car had wheel bearing rumble, unstable alignment and a high pitched squealing coming from the brakes from the factory youd never fix it? Just turn up the stereo, right?
Super interesting! I am glad that I didn’t purchased a pair of DW6 a year ago at a spanish dealer. I am very very treble sensitive and this sounds like the absolutely wrong speaker for me. Glad that I followed my instinct. Thanks Danny.
I know you'll laugh. But the beaming thing. When I was 15, I bought my first stereo. A Technics SA-GX290 with a a set of Jensen CS-315's. These speakers cost $99.99 at Sears because the add was distributed wrong. It was supposed to say Each. Well, as a 15yo boy. It didn't matter that they sounded like dog food. I still have said speakers. Instead of throwing them away like I probably should have. I hooked them up in the living room. All I can say is, WHAT WAS I THINKING!!! These things didn't just ring. They kicked the back so hard it sounded like someone trying to bust my door down. You ever hear a speaker where the mid-range isn't really a mid-range? At low volumes they were there. But turn them up on anything capeable of 10 watts. And the beaming starts. Now initially I thought the beaming was the mid-range. Nope, It was the port. The lower mid-range frequencies were coming out the port... I did my own tests and found the 15" woofer had a frequency response of 27Hz to 5700Hz. Ahhh, the beaming was like a nife cutting through your skull it was so bad. Running full range. Great stuff. The mid-range was running 5800 to 13,000Hz. The tweeter was crossed at 11,000Hz. There was no control at all. I set out to see if I could tame them, learned a lot on here between you and others. I decided to play with them. Built a x-over out of spare parts, Improperly, but effectively braced the box (Not worth going further than scrap 1x1 I had in the shed. Sealed the enclosures and used some old pillow stuffing to fill the box. I know you don't want to hear or care much. But they actually sound pretty darn good. I was surprised. But if I ever hear another beaming speaker ever again, I will put them in the wood chipper. I don't know how much those Zu's are. But anything over 350 sounds like a ripoff from what you just said in this video.
But do the speakers sound good? Cause who wants to buy a $2500 pair of speakers just to buy a $600 upgrade kit LOL. I just want to chill and listen to my Meshuggah records after work and not have to worry about any of this. This whole Audiophile community seems like a scam 🤣
I had a dirty weekend pair and I never, ever found the tweeter to be annoying. On the contrary, they were soft and pleasant to the ear. The problem I found, because in the previous version, the low frequency output was regulated with the distance of the cabinet from the floor and I was never able to solve a suck in the mid/low frequencies (or the upper part of the low frequencies). In any case, uses a capacitor for integration with the tweeter /10" woofer/fullrange. Looking at the graph after the modification, the extension of high frequencies is reduced and also those of low frequencies, but the latter are not seen when the roll off begins. What is the new frequency extension?
In my speaker building travels I have experienced many wildly cool results... that are the results of bad acoustics, bad whatevers (the list of bad things is long) and I now very much have 2 categories of cool sounding results, results from everything being right and results from bad things that sound cool... These speakers are loved by many, which confirms my working thesis that some bad acoustics make cool results, but correct acoustics are always better... Thanks for this video, definitely explains my response to hearing these at eh capitol audio festival a few years back.
The establishment "reviewer" network is clearly not trustworthy. This reminds me of something else. Oh the "news". That was it. Zu Audio speaker designer must like crap, because the music he listens to is unbearable too. A band where nobody in it is any good so it's a bunch of blatantly poor musicianship, played out of tune, that ends up just sounding like some 5 year olds making a bunch of noise. That's what it sounds like to me when I tried listening. I couldn't get beyond 10 seconds.
The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people wrongly overestimate their knowledge or ability in a specific area. This tends to occur because a lack of self-awareness prevents them from accurately assessing their own skills.
Great analysis Danny! I have to agree with other commenters who are now questioning the subjective reviewers who gave this speaker a positive review. What are they hearing?
God some of you guys are just such prima Donnas . You know I’m not sure exactly how old this speaker is or which version, but ZU Has improved greatly from its inception to it current models. Like Totem, which are pretty much universally praised for there sound and tone. The Totem speaker Danny reviewed was a very old model and he did not care for it AT ALL…. Well Totem as Zu ha a HUGE cult following, which goes to show you how subjective reviews work. If Danny could make the one perfect speaker for everyone , then Klipsch, Polk and Kef would be out of business.
Different strokes for different folks! Your type of preferred music, the size/shape/materials of your listening room, and the peculiarities of your particular ears dictate the sound you want. It is hard to find a pair of speakers that make everything sound it's best. A system that sounds great with chamber music may not sound so good playing AC/DC. Some of my boomer friends actually prefer "lesser" speakers with more distortion when playing heavy metal.
I agree that the Zu Audio guys are awesome. They had one of the most fun rooms at RMAF a few years ago. That said - their speakers being driven by a Peachtree stack was excruciating to listen to - sorry, guys.
Heck, bracing is cheap'ish stuff. Compared to the Zu Audio's which generally got good reviews on tube, but even my old s/h bought 1969'made.. (dated on test pass faded cardboard labels glued on their rears) ..Tannoy 15" D.C. speakers had better fronts to back wall 3x3 or 4x4" perpendicular horizontal wood bracing I saw inside, but they needed more with their woody colouration & thin'ish wooden boxed speakers, not audibly offensive but quite noticeable at slightly higher volumes. I loved their sound before 1 driver started "magnet gap / voice coil rubbing, carefully filing down only the very outermost edge of their insulated copper windings gave em a 2 or so more months but alas, it went further from being rub-free so they're stashed & sadly, don't have foam surrounds I could at least attempt to bring back to a linear movement with. From looking at the Zu's full driver & baffe edge, my (ex, or 1 ch') Tannoys must have had same edge-defraction effect too, tho I don't know what that sounds like, not ever having curved edged slim front-baffled speakers. I'd urge anyone to add bracing to higher the resonance & stop the woody sound of thin walled speakers, it's v.cheap DIY & only needs a decent understanding of common sense physics.
DW6 Supremes here, and a pair of the Omen DW's, both sound fantastic to my ear, and others in the house. A fun speaker, both really bring the music to life. And I was able to audition before purchasing, the only reason I bought them. I find they work best on vintage and tube gear, or a class A amp.
@@michaelwright1602 yes, I am using a Sugden Class A and overall pretty happy with the result. Tried a class D just out of curiosity and the pairing was definitely not for me.
@@michaelwright1602 Although I often power them with a pair of Schitt Aegirs running as monoblocks fo mostly class A an sane listening levels, I've also enjoyed them very much with either the 4-5 watt Elekit class A amp I built or the Elekit 34 or so watt push-pull amp I have. Mostly running KT88s or EL34s. These speakers are easy to power.
This video should be classified as PSA (Public Service Announcement) for audiophiles. Reviewers just love recommending these speakers for some reason, but as Danny shows, there are major issues with them. Danny is saving the audiophile world, one speaker at a time!
@@Harrisongrey19 I guess if my hearing was so bad that cabinet resonances, uneven responses, phase issues, off axis beaming, driver break up, or lack of step loss compensation didn't bother me then I would be lucky too?
Yeah but you are going to trust a guy that sells upgrade packages on a speaker you have never heard (he hasnt either, mind you). This is a speaker model that has had consistent love for it's qualities in the hi-fi community for like a decade. It has it's flaws, but it's amazing at what it does right. I should know, I own a pair :-)
@@johnenglishIII So you are now a clairvoyant and know that he hasn't heard them lol he heard them many times, look in the comments, or just look into common sense if you have any
I've listened to a lot of these Zu speakers. Remember the first incredibly hyper glowing review I read and then I rushed to the only dealer, a 2-hour drive, that had them and the instant that I heard them I just felt meh.....
Hey Danny, Amazing work! Love learning through your videos. Question: Do you also first listen? Curious how much of these issues you would be able to clearly pinpoint and hear through listening alone, before measuring them.
Very informative and all absolutely right. However I think you are overestimating the damaging effects of diffraction. As I see it diffraction is mostly image smearing effect and not much of a sound damaging effect. Let me try to explain, if we sit absolutely in the middle of a set of low diffraction speakers we have great soundstage and a sound which hopefully is good (provided the dispersion and frequency response is good) Now if now listen to the same set of speakers and move half a meter to the left then we will hear a significant degradation of the imaging and soundstage but hardly any degradation of the sound quantity itself. This is even though the frequency response above 700 Hz is now completely destroyed by comb filtering effects caused by diffraction between left and right speakers. It is also thought provoking that the entire listening room is one giant diffraction distortion device, dwindling even the most badly diffraction speaker by a factor of 20 or more. Beware that I’m not saying that diffraction is a good or non issue, just that it’s effect primarily damages the stereo effects and not so much the sound quality. Greetings from Denmark
@@dabbidaa1547 Personally, I would sell those speakers and put the money towards purchasing one of Danny's kits.But the Zu's were in a desperate state so their resue earned high commendation.
I guess the big ugly aluminum pot in the middle is there to keep the vibration of the center part under control for the midrange and treble of the main speaker must handle. Becomes completely superfluous with your implementation crossing over at a sensible level for a cone this wide. Of course the whole concept of this speaker is gone with your adaptation. Better not to buy it in the first place. You can get much better at the 1600 price point.
@@morlidor maybe not you , but I know a lot of audiophiles that keep there older and less liked for sedimental values, hell I had a pair of klipch kg4 and some early Boston acoustics 7 inch 2 ways until my home burnt and took all my possessions. The fact that those 2 pairs was from my childhood and received as gifts . It hurt as much as the fortune I lost in my collection . But C.V. speakers I have worked with was the pro audio club speakers in the 90s and mid 2000s , those bass horn bins was loud and produced such a ugly gut wrenching blapping farts of augmented fury.
Well, I have not heard the superfly, but I did own the Omen Dirty Weekend mk2 speakers and personally I thought they were great and a great deal. Everyone I had hear them liked them too, but I will admit they broke up at high levels of volume.
I have the DW Omem MK2 with the clarity caps. I think they sound good. I might upgrade my amp but not the speakers. Vinyl doesn't measure good but sounds great. 😉
There was/is no Zu Superfly Dirty Weekend. It was Omen Dirty Weekend. This misconception somehow makes this video less credible. BTW I am an owner of DW and I am satisfied with them for what I paid for.
We quoted the model straight from the printed information on the speaker. If you are satisfied with what you have, that's great. When you are interested in being more than just satisfied let me know. The upgrade takes them to much higher levels across the board.
For me they work spectacularly. I have two vidars singing into them in a large room and I could't be happier. Needs a subwoofer for last octave. I use a big REL
Was thinking of purchasing the DWX speakers. I watched this entire video. I’m curious if this review is related to this particular speaker. Or perhaps the design in general with all of Zu’s speaker offerings. I just sent a request to ZU regarding the DWX Is a high sensitivity speaker and cabinet a hard animal to tame? It would seem that ZU has offered a speaker to appeal to the average high sensitivity crowd. After viewing this video and on a general sense of cabinet bracing, measurements taken in sonic balance through the bandwidth? I guess I’m out. I’ll bet it is a fun speaker. I’ll keep searching through the offerings of Totem, Buchardt, Gershman, Tekton would seem to live in the same world as ZU. Thanks for your thoughts.
I am not a reviewer. This design is consistent with all of their offerings. If you are looking for a well designed high sensitivity speaker then have a look at our Brute and Bully models.
Have you even listened to them? They needed MORE HF not less. Your measurements are a bit wacky i think! This speakers are fine especially for the price.
This guy must have so much fun listening to music! Haha, what a stick in the mud. The exact opposite of the intention of these speakers. Sick graphs bud.
Hey GR (Danny) I have a pair of DWs I purchased 4 years ago? I called you and wound up purchasing the crossover kit, no res, etc and built your cables. Great Results! Question: we did not replace the tweeter , so can I just now buy this tweeter and swap out? Or will the crossover need to be modified?
