6 Moons Reviews Zu Cable Definition Speaker

Srajan is a good writer IMO, but you have to sift through a tremendous amount of technical hyperbola to get any discription of the sound. Did anyone see any review of music or particular tracks that gave examples of the speakers strengths?

Granted Part deux is on the way, at which time I hope he delves into the musicality of these speakers. I want to hear more about the imaging, soundstage (depth/width), air around the instruments, width and heighth of the sweet spot, transparency, how difficult they were to position and whether they're halographic. How do they handle vocals, piano, drums & guitar? He says they sound like a live performance... on the surface that tells me they are a transparent window into the peformance and instruments; however that's not the full picture, because I've seen live performances that sounded like walls of distortion. See 1980's indoor arena concerts for further details (Omni Atlanta).

Technology is great, so is innovation... but I'm most interested in how they sound in practical applications.

I'm obviously being curmudgeonly today, so one more thing, that Dawgbyte brought up - Everytime someone writes, "These (whatever) sound just like live music..." I want to groan. It's the most overworked, meaningless cliche in all of High End. As Dawgbyte was getting at, live music is generally a fun experience, the performers are interesting to watch and hear, and the communal aspect is nice - BUT THE SOUND QUALITY (from an audiophile perspective) SUCKS. Period! Good recordings at home are vastly superior as a pure Listening experience.
Equipment either reproduce accurately, or they introduce color - that's it. SO what does it mean to say a piece of equipment sounds "just like live"? It's a marketing hook that nobody seems to question, plain and simple. (IMHO, of course).

The main drivers cover 40 hz to 25 khz and are covered by your main amps. The internal amplifiers power only the sub drivers on the back from 40 hz downward to 16 hz. So, they are atypical powered speakers.

I got the Druids before Srajan and own the same pre as him. His reflections on the Druids are spot-on with my experience and what I've gathered from other owners. Thus, I trust if he traded in my favorite speakers on these, there's a sound reason.

Whether anything can be a value at $9k is a personal choice. Somebody looking to spend $20k might think so. And, coming off $20k speakers, Srajan would be qualified to say.

Opalchip, I agree that live music CAN sound like crap and often does( lots of crappy musicians and sound men out there) but when you mix great musicians with a caring, experienced soundman the results will trump recorded music. Musicians feed off each other as well as the crowd in live sets, you generally don't get that in recordings, as most are recorded track by track, as opposed to one live take. Your drawn into that excitment in live venues, but rarely in recordings, where you concentrate more on imaging, bass, treble, midrange, intamacy etc. Live music never invokes those thoughts with me. Recorded music in a studio is generally quieter as they employ noise reduction, and usually more clinical as you have the luxury of punching in and out mistakes and multi-tracking to make things "fuller", along with a plethora of different mic's at hand if one is not giving the desired results. Rarely though do I get that "rush" of a live performance in recorded music. So when someone claims a piece of gear or certian speakers sound like live music, thats what I think of. My GMA speakers certianly have that quality. I think it's a high honor indeed to have someone say your product sounds like real live music.

But back to the actual Zu's themselves - it'll be interesting to hear them. I'm a fan of full range driver based speakers, I'm just curious as to what the Definition actually does better than a pair of Druids and 2 subs don't do at a lower price point.

Unless your head's at perfect ear-level with center of the two main drivers, and doesn't move from that position, it seems to me that having TWO mains in each box is going to introduce slight phase error that at certain frequencies partially negates the coherency of the full range driver concept. Just food for thought.