Zu Druid questions

I had all zu cables at this point, on the definition the Libtec was the most rounded and smooth sounding.. The wax was nothing too special honestly.. The Ibis for much more money can be a bit sharper, but over time they might be the best, but again at way more money.

Thanks so much for your cable opinions. They are very helpful. BTW, I just picked up a pair of Cornwall II's. Haven't heard them in years, but they are of my all time favorites. I can't wait to see how they match up with the Zu's.

Jack, I can hardly imagine two more opposite sounding speakers than Druids and heritage Klipsch. I've used/owned La Scala, Heresy, and KHorns, and those compression squawkers and squreamers always gave me a case of 'icepicks in the ears' with most modern recordings, especially since the bass is so subdued/out-of-proportion at normal listening levels. I always ended up wiring up my own crossovers and bi/tri-amping to try to get some bass into them without having to run at 100 dB.

Maybe the Cornwall is different. Just curious why/how you are trying to mate them with Druids? But I know about dragging up old favorites from years gone by. I have tried a few times to resurrect my old Celestion Dittons and get them to fit into current systems -- with no luck.

Steve

Squeegybug, the CW's are indeed very different. I've also owned the LaScalla's and they're exactly as you described. Everyone I know replaced the stock crossover's to tame these and they had very little bass, if any, below ~ 50Hz or so. I consider a sub essential with these speakers, but not so for my Zu's. I did like my LaScalla's very much though when played loud.

The K-Horns to me sounded just like the LaScalla's with better bass when positioned properly in a corner, but I never owned these.

The Corwall's on the other hand have a much more subdued mid-range and bass is one of their strengths. They don't have great bass extension, but it's much better than the LaScalla's and is very strong to at least what the Zu's are capable of. Just a much more balanced sound (compared to the LS that is, not the Zu's).

I have a large room with open floor plan and vaulted ceilings. This space just gobbles up everything my SVS 20-39 sub can throw out. Even with the sub I have a suck out at ~ 90-120Hz range. The CW's filled the room with all the bass one could ask for and put my sub to shame down to ~ 40Hz. Kick drums and the like are handled with total authority and sound as lifelike as I've heard from any speaker. If ever there was a rock speaker, these are it.

The CW's are also very efficient and for this reason many use small tube amps with very little power to drive them, which I think is a big mistake. It take's some good power to get those 15's pounding like they should and in my experience the more power you feed them, the better.

BTW, the Zu's and CW's have identical efficiency ratings, yet when I measured them it wasn't even close. I had the output level of my processor set to +1 to acheive 75dB at my listening positon with my Zu's, but for Klipsch it was set a -6 to achieve the same level.

I said from the begining that Zu's efficieny ratings are hyped and I stand by this statement. The output levels were set just 1 click less to obtain the same output as my old Usher's which were rated 87dB @ 1W.

Don't get me wrong, the CW's will not be replacing my Zu's and are not gonig to be used with them. My Zu's are used in my main system which I use for HT as well as two channel audio. I also bought the Zu center.

They're going to be used in a 2nd two channel system I'm putting together in another room. I always considered the Klipsch to be one of the most revealing speakers I've heard, but they just don't match the Zu's. The Zu's are just in another league when it comes to tonal accuracy. As discussed, they just sound right and have a balance few speakers can match. My Zu's are here to stay. :0) I enjoy both, but in very different ways.

BTW, my wife loves the Klipsch. She rarely comments on my audio changes and generally could care less. However, when she came in from work and saw the CW's, she said "see, these sound the best." The only time she ever played my stereo was back when I had the CW's before. I would come home and she would have the stereo cranked while doing her house work. She never turned it on again after I sold the CW's, even to this day. However, when I asked if she wanted me to move these into the main room, she just smiled and said "I don't think so. Too big!".

Now I just have to figure out what gear works well with the big guys. I used Adcom before, but it wasn't really a great match, just available where I was stationed.

" I said from the begining that Zu's efficieny ratings are hyped and I stand by this statement. The output levels were set just 1 click less to obtain the same output as my old Usher's which were rated 87dB @ 1W. "

The Zu's are a 12 ohm load, ushers are probably 6 ohm even dipping down to 4 and below... With the mid line solid state amp you are using this makes sense with 1 click less.. The Zu's demand a well rounded tube or Hybrid amp to acheive the best effiency results I belive with your 12 ohm load. Also depending on the power amp the ushers probaly doubled the output power of the amps automatically, the Zu's will be only drawing probaly 1 watt to every 10 watts the ushers were, the amps just did not drive them louder because it had no reason too with such a light load..

So if you took a 1 watt tube amp and used it on the druid and the same 1 watt on the usher, you will than find out 1 click up would not do it to push the usher comparably. Problem is your solid state amp is automatically putting out more power to the input gain from your processor, you just dont know it... Push the usher for about 15 min at 100 DB and the amp would probably be nice and toasty doubling down power compared to the easy 12 ohm load of the Druid, which would keep it cold.. I know you had the odyssey, it would run warmer for sure with the usher vs. the druid...

So your comparison is flawed, also as for the cornwalls, the Horns are Simply Louder, this is because they Are amplified by the HORN in mids and Tweets.. That has nothing to do with the efficiency of the speaker, the Compression drivers are 98 or 99 db I believe in the cornwall, I use to own them, and then are Horn loaded which increases volume a lot compared to a 101 db straight paper driver.