Onhwy61,
I think you confuse offense and defense. Zu owners are engaging the market with what we've learned, not defending decisions already made.
You presume too much if you think that design preferences determine what I like in audio gear. I approached Zu with skepticism of what the result would be, knowing that prior crossoverless implementations have been unsuccessful. I was willing to buy my first Zu speakers unheard and unseen, because I have the means to risk it, and I have the experience to triangulate what I can expect. Even if the purchase failed, I knew I'd learn something. Despite a disappointing history of attempts to build crossoverless speakers for high-end audio, Zu looked encouraging due to the development of the FRD. However, everything else I've ever owned and enjoyed in a loudspeaker contained crossovers, with many crossoverless alternatives which I rejected.
Similarly, I've owned solid state, push-pull tube, SEP, SET, OTL amplification. I currently use SET amps in both my systems but that doesn't prevent me from admiring, lusting for and considering McIntosh MC1201 transistor, autoformer-output, 1200w monster monoblocks. I wouldn't have expected to like them on paper, but they are sensationally good amps and couldn't be more different than what I own now.
I had a design bias toward belt-drive turntables, but my mainstay Luxman direct drives have outlasted all challengers of the belt-drive kind. I was predisposed to LCD for HDTV but bought plasma instead.
I bought Zu speakers at a penultimate moment before purchase of two systems built around Sonus Faber Cremonas, which are multi-driver and use crossovers. No doubt, if I had not found Zu, I'd be as enthusiastic of SF if mated to the right amplification, and you will find if you research my posts that I have recommended Sonus Faber and Reference 3A to others here, along with Zu.
So your presumptions of me are uninformed and in error. I have in fact practiced what you preach, for nearly 40 years of hifi purchases.
Once again, I and most here do not have any issue with someone who has listened to Zu and does not like them. I have no argument with Boa2, for instance. The people whose credibility has been attacked are those who challenge or attack Zu products while having never heard them themselves. That's almost always the bone of contention here. That is not a matter or expression of zealotry. It's a simple matter of working to keep the facts straight.
I have to ask, because if ever answered, I lost track: Have you ever heard Zu speakers, Onhwy61?
We who own Zu products are not condescending. We don't think we're better than you and I haven't seen any suggestion of such a proposition. We don't care if you hear the speakers and don't like them. We do care about misrepresentation (and by the way this is true for any other little-known product I choose to support) and we reject the doubts of those who undermine the discussion with claims uninformed by actual listening. Questions on the other hand are welcome. You can see a wealth of posts by Zu owners explaining to people considering them, what to expect, how to optimize set-up, and how the speakers work. It's just basic user knowledge-sharing. And if you follow our various postings you can see similar effort put into other products as well. It's not a Zu-specific phenomenon. I and others here are patient in explaining how to get better sound, as our posts should amply indicate.
As for happiness, I haven't noticed any deficiency of it in my life. And the combination of Zu + Audion amplification + the magical Denon DL103D or a good universal disc player like the NAD M55, used as conveyance for putting music in my home, only raises its incidence.
Phil
I think you confuse offense and defense. Zu owners are engaging the market with what we've learned, not defending decisions already made.
You presume too much if you think that design preferences determine what I like in audio gear. I approached Zu with skepticism of what the result would be, knowing that prior crossoverless implementations have been unsuccessful. I was willing to buy my first Zu speakers unheard and unseen, because I have the means to risk it, and I have the experience to triangulate what I can expect. Even if the purchase failed, I knew I'd learn something. Despite a disappointing history of attempts to build crossoverless speakers for high-end audio, Zu looked encouraging due to the development of the FRD. However, everything else I've ever owned and enjoyed in a loudspeaker contained crossovers, with many crossoverless alternatives which I rejected.
Similarly, I've owned solid state, push-pull tube, SEP, SET, OTL amplification. I currently use SET amps in both my systems but that doesn't prevent me from admiring, lusting for and considering McIntosh MC1201 transistor, autoformer-output, 1200w monster monoblocks. I wouldn't have expected to like them on paper, but they are sensationally good amps and couldn't be more different than what I own now.
I had a design bias toward belt-drive turntables, but my mainstay Luxman direct drives have outlasted all challengers of the belt-drive kind. I was predisposed to LCD for HDTV but bought plasma instead.
I bought Zu speakers at a penultimate moment before purchase of two systems built around Sonus Faber Cremonas, which are multi-driver and use crossovers. No doubt, if I had not found Zu, I'd be as enthusiastic of SF if mated to the right amplification, and you will find if you research my posts that I have recommended Sonus Faber and Reference 3A to others here, along with Zu.
So your presumptions of me are uninformed and in error. I have in fact practiced what you preach, for nearly 40 years of hifi purchases.
Once again, I and most here do not have any issue with someone who has listened to Zu and does not like them. I have no argument with Boa2, for instance. The people whose credibility has been attacked are those who challenge or attack Zu products while having never heard them themselves. That's almost always the bone of contention here. That is not a matter or expression of zealotry. It's a simple matter of working to keep the facts straight.
I have to ask, because if ever answered, I lost track: Have you ever heard Zu speakers, Onhwy61?
We who own Zu products are not condescending. We don't think we're better than you and I haven't seen any suggestion of such a proposition. We don't care if you hear the speakers and don't like them. We do care about misrepresentation (and by the way this is true for any other little-known product I choose to support) and we reject the doubts of those who undermine the discussion with claims uninformed by actual listening. Questions on the other hand are welcome. You can see a wealth of posts by Zu owners explaining to people considering them, what to expect, how to optimize set-up, and how the speakers work. It's just basic user knowledge-sharing. And if you follow our various postings you can see similar effort put into other products as well. It's not a Zu-specific phenomenon. I and others here are patient in explaining how to get better sound, as our posts should amply indicate.
As for happiness, I haven't noticed any deficiency of it in my life. And the combination of Zu + Audion amplification + the magical Denon DL103D or a good universal disc player like the NAD M55, used as conveyance for putting music in my home, only raises its incidence.
Phil