Anyone listen to Zu Audio's Definition Mk3?

With the ( I believe permanent) world economic downturn, the new sustainable paradigm needs to be looking for excellence in engineering in real world priced packages.
Not looking for untenable 'bargains' and expecting longevity eg $40 dvd players and $200 plasma tvs, looking for bargains everywhere.
And in audio high end, repelled by $150000 uber speakers/amps/tts.
I SO agree with you Phil, as audio goes off on this dead end tangent, Wall Street brokers/hedge fund retirees/Swiss and Monaco tax exiles can keep their Magico/Kharma/Continuum/Wavac gear, the rest of the world will switch off audio even further.
So the point of this rant is to extol the virtues of newer companies like Zu who put so much innovative thought and quality into their product at prices most in this hobby can afford within a reasonable time frame. I'm sure this applies to Audion and Dave Berning etc. It certainly did with Hovland (RIP).
What's the point of Magico Q7 at $150000, even if trickle down benefits mean their cheapest speaker is twice as expensive as the Def4s with prob only a third ( I'm being generous) of the performance?
As this applies to tts, I'm going to look at well engineered models below $8000. This means the Palmer 2.5 belt drive, fantastic timing for a non DD/idler; Claro Audio Clarity Dual, superb build quality belt drive; Brinkmann Bardo, incisive and detailed DD; Inspire Monarch, excellent use/upgrade of time honoured Technics SL1200 DD technology; and biggest value for money of all, Trans Fi Salvation, idler dynamics/linear tracking neutrality.
Unfortunately 47Labs Koma, EAR Disc Master about twice my price limit, v.hard to get audition in UK, so non-starters.

Hi Glory,
The obvious has been stated severl times in this thread,choose what you like best, plain and simple. Glory you`ve found ultimate satisfaction with theASR Emitter SS amplifier and prefer it(by a wide margin) over any tube(SET or OTL) amp in your system. Others would share your choice, that`s absolutely fine.

Phil auditioned the ASR Emitter and found it lacking compared to his SET amps in the qualities he considers vital. There are those who would reach the same conclusion as he. What on earth is the big deal with pure subjective preferences.

There are enough varieties of amplifer types available to please anyone, Pick what you find to be better and just be done with it. Why does it matter it others agree or not with your choice?

Spiritofmusic, I agree with your sentiments about the need for transducers that transcends our current audio paradigm. I have experienced two. Roger Sanders panels are one. I heard them at Axpona last year, and despite very modest gear, wire and no conditioning, the sound was excellent. This was all for under 15K. The front end was a pro audio Tascam player. I also briefly owned the Emerald Physics CS 2.7s. They were relatively impervious to wire, amps, and the front end. To make a speaker that is truly impervious to upstream components would be an engineering marvel. I have yet to hear it.

The burning question is whether the Def 4s fit into this category? There is an inconsistent witness here. Telling people to drop 13K on a speaker and not to sweat the rest is a good sales pitch. I have no doubt they are excellent speakers. I previously owned Intuitive Design Gamma Summits. The owners of Dale's speakers are often fairly opinionated and felt most other offerings were lackluster. One of the most opinionated from that group felt that Zu was one of the few speakers he heard that was musically true. So bravo to Zu.

Phil, it is not a pernicious gesture on Gary's part to suggest that you can maximize the 4s potential with different gear. It is just his opinion and recent experience. He has not fully elaborated on the secret sauce in his system and maybe should. I am not sure. As for Audion, the person in question demoed them but did not buy. He is not pining away for Audion or some sonic surrogate as you suggested. Obviously we are talking about two different people. His SS has taken the Zus over the top. Phil, I hate to ask but are you a dealer/distributor for Audion? Knowing who bought what and going through the trouble to do repairs on a faulty unit certainly makes it look that way. If so, you need to a issue a disclaimer. If you are not, bravo to you for being a passionate and dedicated end user. We need more of that. I have grown very weary of all the colored testimony on Audiogon by three specific groups: 1) stealth dealers who are in the industry; 2) faux dealers who don't make a living through audio but simply use it as a mechanism to get 50 points off and then endlessly recycle gear at a whim; and 3) end users who get a "special price" on gear and then judiciously wave the companies flag on the forums. It is dishonest and unclean, and the only antidote is transparency. For those of you who don't fit into any of these categories, kudos to you!

Agear,
It does seem that some Zu models could be very special speakers. The fact that the Definitions can please both SS and SET owners at the very least suggests exceptional versatility. At RMAF 2011 I wanted to hear the Zu but they were blasting the music'so loud' I just did`nt bother with their room. It would be nice to hear them in phil`s or glory`s system.

Well, Gary, it was an entanglement. That's not perjorative; it's just descriptive. And isn't every disagreement in an interest like hifi a triviality? relative to the real problems of this world?

Well, for me it is. Don't take it personally, which has been my point.

Phil