Zu Omen or Tekton Lore

Hi,

Just want to make one observation regarding the Omens. BTW..thanks for the review on the Lores, they sound like great speakers!

First, when I had the regular Omens ( I now have Omen Defs)
I found that the height of the spikes made a difference in the sound of the speaker (mostly in the bass) in that if to low or to high, it could make the bass less solid, and a
tad ragged sounding, and it could sound a bit congested.
Once I got that right, no problems.

Also, I played with tilt, but also found that they sounded best "level". Not sure why, but
maybe something to do with the finger ports at the bottom
loading the speaker differently from front to back?? Again
not sure why, but that is what I heard. They are not a plop
& play speaker for sure and require a little experimentation
to get just right. I have solid tight & deep bass, but have
heard them "not at their best also".

Anyway, I have never heard the Lores so cannot compare but
may have a buddy who expressed interest in a pair of Lores
and if he gets them, I will check them out.

BTW...It would be nice to see Tekton come out with a version
similiar to the Omen Defs. The change from my reg Omens to the Defs was ....WOW!!!!

05-07-11: Gpowered
Now, from your “to the point” review, it is obvious that the Lore gets the edge, but can you tell me, is the differences you are talking about extremely obvious, or subtle?"

In my small room with 'mellow' music, the differences were what I would call subtle. But even in my room when I started to rock out a bit the differences became more pronounced. In the larger room as we pushed the speakers harder I would call them obvious.

"Also, interesting there are these differences, since both speakers use the SAME Eminence driver! Zu modifies it by cutting out the whizzer cone and installing its proprietary phase plug. Were you aware of this???"

You mean the big silver thing hanging off the front? Yeah, I was aware LOL!
The fact that they use the same driver and they sound so different was a surprise to me. What do I know about speaker design? Not much because I didn't realize that the cabinet would make such a total difference.

The other thing I didn't hit on was the highs. One of the guys that was there has a music background (played in numerous bands) and commented on the highs a lot. He said that with the Lores he could tell how close to the bell the drummer was hitting the cymbal or high hat, and that he could hear differences in each strike. He said with the Omens it just sounded like a stick hitting a cymbal.

As I have them back in my room, back in familiar environment, I'm also hearing a lot more imaging. The Katz are probably the best speakers I've had in here for projecting a holographic image, and I'm getting some of that with the Lores. Keep in mind that I've only had the Lores for about a week and I have only started to fine tune positioning so I'm hopeful that that will come. It took me a few weeks to get the Katz dialed in (I got a job and a family you know).

"Also, interesting there are these differences, since both speakers use the SAME Eminence driver!"

Actually I think we need to be careful here. My understanding is that there are in fact differences between the main driver on the Lore and the main driver on the Omen. What the exact differences are and how significant they are I don't know, but per the Zu website they use a Zu260FRD/G4 on the Omen. When I spoke to Eric he did say that the drivers were not the same. I am looking at them both and there may be other differences besides the color.
I think it's safe to say they are similar but not the same.

Hi to all, I'm the guy with the room and bad sounding amp that Sebrof and Slowgeezr commented on for the Zu Omen vs Tekton Lore shootout! Maybe it's time for a tube amp? ;-)

Not too much to say here since their comments mirror my sentiments, but here's my 2 cents for what its worth.

Lows: The Lores didn't quite capture the lowest lows as did the Omens, but what they did on the bottom end, they did exquisitely. And while the Omens went a bit lower, I believe they sacrificed lower and mid-low end clarity in the process, almost as if the driver was too busy to manage it all. Maybe there is only so much freq range you can cover effectively with a full range driver?

Highs: For the highs, the Omens sounded great, but could not match the little nuances portrayed beautifully via the Lores. For example, with the Lores, I could easily tell where on the ride cymbal the drummer was playing. With the Omens, you just couldn't hear that level of detail - another point for the Lores.

Sounds stage: Wont go into it here, both Sebrof and Slowgeezr covered it perfectly.

Net: Lores win handily - highs, lows and everything in between. It's quite refreshing to see that you can still get fantastic sounding AND very efficient speakers without breaking the bank. Kudos to both companies. Sebrof - Feel free to drop off the either pair, but if I could decide, make it the Lores! :-)