Compare: Salk Sound, Silverline, Tyler, Zu

Drseid: (1) I think Tyler uses dome and Salk ribbon tweeters. Did you feel any difference in the high end due to this?

DRS: Not really... I like both tweeters about the same quite frankly. The Millenium dome used by the Linbrooks is one of the best on the market IMO, and holds its own to any ribbon tweeter I have heard.

(2) What else was your personal short list before finally choosing the Tylers?

DRS: Von Schwekert DB99 mkII (excellent all-around performer and highly recommended), Dali Helicon 800 (also quite good and recommended, but a bit pricey, IMO). Ayon Butterfly (tremendous midrange and superb balance, but a hair light on the bottom end)...

Did you get a chance to compare Tyler with Silverline and Zu as well?

DRS: Silverline yes, Zu no. Quite frankly I did not even hear *of* Zu until long after my Tyler purchase. Silverline I have heard of and like... I just liked some others a bit more (again, personal preferences -- not to imply others won't feel differently).

---Dave

Dave, do you have the 1 or 2 piece Linbrook Sig. system?

DRS: I have the two piece.

---Dave

I would guess there are two reasons why you are not hearing about Zu. One is the fact that wood veneer is not an option with Zu. And secondly, nothing which has a crossover in the vocal range will compare. Check out the reviews of the Definition and the Druid on www.6moons.com and look at the many pictures to determine whether Zu will pass the visual test. There is no question about sonic superiority. If you need further help, you may email me.

Macrojack: "nothing which has a crossover in the vocal range will compare".

What frequencies qualify as vocal range? Do Salk, Tyler, Silverline etc. have a problem there?

Which speakers have you compared Zu's against and which one was superior outside vocals?

I must say Zu's look a little less attractive. But if a speaker has the best sound, we can get over its looks.

In one of my systems, Zu Druids replaced Silverline speakers, and I had heard the entire Silverline range before making that change. The Silverline speakers each are voiced and hence while there is a family semblance in sound up and down the line, the model-to-model variations are considerable and deliberate. Until I bought my Zu Druids and then also Zu Definitions, I considered Silverline exceptional dynamic driver speakers, with excellent transient consistency, natural tone with good continuity between the drivers, and capable of focused, coherent presentation.

After hearing Zu, all that changed and I couldn't possibly go back to them or any other conventional multi-way speaker with crossovers in the meat of the music.

It's hard to appreciate until you hear the difference, but getting a full-range driver with a signal not passing through a crossover, in a design that avoids the shout and frequency anomalies of prior FRD high efficiency designs, lays bare how much a crossover mangles sound. Also how poorly even well-matched quality drivers mate in terms of tone and uniformity of transient behavior. Zu puts no crossover in the path of the signal from 38 Hz - 12kHz, and of course the main driver is dynamically uniform in its transient behavior through that range. In the Druid, the FRD rolls off naturally and the supertweeter rolls in on a high-pass filter. On the Defintion, the FRDs roll off naturally on the bottom and the active sub-bass array is rolled in on a low pass filter, while the supertweeter rolls in on a simpler network than the Druid. Now, by comparison, even excellent Silverline speakers sound choked, dynamically disjointed, faux-fidelity, untonal and spatially incorrect by comparison.

Every other conventional multi-way speaker suffers the same comparison. It's a one-way street. Once you make the transition to Zu and assimilate the holistic delivery of a music signal through a tonally natural FRD, you cannot go back. You can only move forward when you find something that retains the phase-coherent, frequency accurate, high sensitivity, sparky aliveness of Zu and makes it more accurate and natural still. I haven't heard that from anyone else yet.

So, I can't say about Salk and Tyler. But if they have crossovers in the midrange, where Zu has none, I'd have little hope. On the other hand, if you never hear Zu, the right Silverline will seem to make beautiful music in energetic fashion.

Phil