Another Zu Thread


Sorry - I'm sure this is in the archives, but I've been reading them for several hours and haven't come up with anything super definitive.

Can anybody comment on what setup works best with the Druids and/or the Definitions? I have read >10ft to the listener for the Definitions.

Does the floor material matter? I have read that they need to be placed on hard surfaces, not carpet - true?

They appear to work in a fairly standard triangle pattern - separated by X feet, user seated Y feet away.

Toe in? Do these speakers do the "head in a clamp thing" or does it support multiple listeners reasonably well?

Distance from back / side walls?

Any help would be appreciated, either in direct answers or point me to a thread that discusses all the physical setup issues.

-Kirk
kthomas
Ron,
As I understand it, the full range drivers roll off naturally in the range of 40 hz.in both models. With the 1.5, there is a choke which prevents the rear firing woofers from reproducing anything above 40 hz. With the Pros. you have the option of setting the upper reach of the rear woofers at any frequency that works for you in your room. Mike posted at one point that he crosses his over at 65 hz. so as to unburden his low output triodes and put more responsibility on the woofer amp. I can definitely imagine the benefits in such a decision.
In my case, I have experimented but always return my upper shelf to the 50 hz. range.
This has got to be the world's best reggae speaker.
With the 1.5's, natural response of the rear drivers is flat-ish in response and does not need EQ. I don't think flat-to-20 hz is an expectation with the 1.5's but most folks aren't too concerned with that. They are crossed steeply above 40 hz and only an attenuator is available to adjust their output. A person could probably dig into the speakers and change that XO point/slope but I'm not adept enough to try it.

The Pro subwoofers are professional drivers, capable of significantly more output than the 1.5 drivers. However, their response curve is ragged and must be EQed. Without EQ, they run to 1 khz and fall off sharply from there.

With my TacT I can adjust the main XO point/slope as well as that for the subs. While a certain amount of shared output (bipole) is useful, i.e. shallow XO slopes, doing too much like running the mains down to 40 hz will muddy the sound. Further, getting the little main amp out of the bass zone makes it perform even better higher up.
I found butterworth 6 db set at 47.5 hz excellent in one room... and in my other room linkwitz 12 db set at 50 or 53 hz very good.. So in this case you have much more room tuning flexability with the pros no doubt.
Thanks All, the info has cleared up some questions regrading the effectiveness of the Definition Pros.

Good stuff!

Ron
This is good stuff - thanks!

The Zu website doesn't really detail the Def Pros much - am I missing something, or does a potential purchaser just discuss it with them on the phone?