What amp are you using with your Zu Essences?

FirstWatt J2, M2 and F5 are terrific as are my 25wpc EL84 class A push/pull monos. My 8wpc Yamamoto A-09S or Woo Model 5 work very well too (both 300B) but I personally prefer the 25-watt transistor amps for their better low-level resolution, grippiness in the bass and lower noise.

I had the Essence and they were paired with a Melody I2A3. I bought it based on Zu's recommendations and found it to be a nice pairing, and there was never a question of not enough power.

Audiofeil's comment about OTLs and ZUs is incorrect. There don't seem to be any OTLs that will not drive the 6 ohm ZUs quite well.

02-11-11: Atmasphere wrote:
Audiofeil's comment about OTLs and ZUs is incorrect. There don't seem to be any OTLs that will not drive the 6 ohm ZUs quite well.

No good deed goes unpunished.

In fact my previous statement is correct.

Having had 3 pairs of Definition (6 ohm) here with an Atma-Sphere S-30 for over 2,000 hours of critical listening I'm quite sure of my conclusion.

The only instance in which the S-30 worked properly was on 1 pair of Definitions that had a 30 ohm load option. The bottom end performance was extremely poor using the 6 ohm taps. I suspect the Omen Defs (6 ohm) would perform similiarly.

I did not use the M-60 or MA-1 models so no opinion with them is offered.

Thank you.