Zu Druid IV - the real deal?

although i have not had the experience that you are describing, drubin, i think i know what you mean. almost like newly weds, right? things are great at first, but after a few months of being together 24/7 you start to notice the shortcoming of your partner a lot more!

Drubin and Reubent have a good point. First off I don't believe in the breatin idea at all. Everything electroic I own works just as it did the day I turned it on.
What I think Drubin and Reu is getting at is the initial impression may 'fool" us into hearing the best qualities and ignoring the downside. After a few hrs, the weaknesses become apparent, maybe even days. I had a old pr of philips 2 ways, that a few DIYers said that speaker was first class in its day, back in 1980's. I got a pr of B&W's for my wife, and could haer the issues with the Philips, still I could also compare the philips to the B&W's 602's and hear their waeknesses also. My Seas Thor's reveal all the many weaknesses in both. The Philips served its useful purpose, as it was the best thing in those days going. The B&W's were a step horizontal.
Initial listenings can be deceiving. But who knows I had a friend who loved his highly colored, grainy, distorted musical sound image comming from his $20K(new $40K) used priced system.
Just give us another review in a yr from now, to see how things turn out.
It is possible this is your ideal speaker. We all have slightly different expectations.

Warren: Should I say anything or not? I know it will get me burnt to a crisp but I have actually heard tthese several times sans the sub. Maybe I should let these happy people celebrate without my impressions.-Steve
P.S. I have stayed out of the daily Zu threads if you noticed.

Steve, this thread won't need you or me to keep it going. I may not agree with you, but I'll defend your write to say it, even if it's ridiculous...lol..

Chazzbo,

The appeal of Zu speakers is in their holistic representation of music. Frequency accuray is sensational on Definitions, and very good on Druids. Phase coherence is about as good as you have experienced and far better than most speakers. Top-top-bottom consistency of transient behavior is uniform. And detail is revealed without sacrificing body in the tone. Add to that the ease of driving 101db/w/m speakers with relatively benign impedance curves and you have speakers that are unusually communicative of expression and intimate, but which scale spatially and dynamically to ambitious music.

I have two systems, one built around Druids and the other centered on Definitions. After over 30 years of serious involvement in hifi as hobby, and the music interests behind that, Zu speakers are among the top handful of genuine advances in fidelity I've heard in that time.

A key characteristic that drives the unusual tonal excellents and coherence to the Zu sound is absence of crossovers. You don't have to accept the tonally disruptive effects of crossovers, and the dynamic constriction they inevitably cause. Being free of crossovers can take some getting used to, as can the phase linearity of the full-range driver design, but the behavior of these design attributes is startlingly reinforcing of your illusion of musical reality from recorded performances. The jump factor of very high efficiency combined with a strong-motor driver that is as dynamically engaging as real instruments only adds to the value of Zu's speakers in an overhyped market.

Last, don't discount the contribution made by having speakers able to be driven forcefully by modest output amplifiers. Able to choose power amplifers on the strict merits of sonic signature and not on power, Zu owners have unusual latitude to find their sound.

Phil