Decision between Zu Definition OR VS DB99

I would very much like to see these wonderful young guys make a go of it with their speakers.

I agree, I purchased a pair of Zu WAX speaker cables when Zu was a very young company, while I hated the cables the guys over there were an absolute pleasure to deal with. They had a great attitude and were helpful, its shame I didn't like there products more.

Tvad - I think its only fair that you share with us who you are, that's right folks we have Gil Grishom posting now ;)

I visited the ZU factory this past Thursday and met with Adam and Sean and will post pictures and opinions later this weekend when I can formulate my thoughts, but I will tell you I was very impressed with the Definitions driven by Audipax mono 30 watt tubes or the all solid state PS audio they had on hand. Listening to both electronics lead me to believe this speaker will sound great with many different types of gear. Two things hit me; effortless, dynamic sound and seamless presentation. Very musical speaker. I wouldn't hesitate in the least to try the Definition. My guess is you won't send them back.

Phil, do you think the Druids combined with the large subwoofer would be an upgrade over my Hale Design T-5's?

Dawgbyte,
My name is Desmond. I am Mr. Phil's factotum. He told me to ask you if your speaker has a crossover. Good Evening, Sir.

I'm a dealer, but sell neither Zu nor Von Schweikert speakers. Not even sure I can spell the latter.

I'm also a longtime amateur speaker builder and shorttime speaker manufacturer. I have some experience with fullrange drivers.

In nearly every case I have found fullrange drivers to benefit from a response-shaping network of some kind, and/or rolling off the bass to allow a dedicated woofer to handle the bottom octaves, and/or augmenting the top octave or so with a supertweeter. Compared with the anomalies and distortions typically present in drivers, in my experience the minor distortions introduced by high quality capacitors, inductors, and resistors is trivial.

In my opinion the relatively un-speakerlike sound of the Zus is related to something other than freedom from capacitors, resistors, and inductors in or parallel to the signal path. I believe it is related to their unusually uniform radiation pattern through the midrange region, where most speakers have severe radiation pattern anomalies. So yes the crossoverlessness is beneficial, but I think for different reasons than are normally put forth.

That being said, I do have some reservations about the Druid and Definition; in my experience they do some things well, and some things not as well as I'd like.

Duke