Zu Dirty Weekend 6 went on sale today

Well hello from the US!  It’s a bit of a small world as my good friend who owns the studio my Zu Omen MKII live at was in the latest season of Alt for Sverige. Sucks it makes taking the dive for a pair of Zu a pain and expensive. 
 

I will have to do some more critical listening for sound staging. I’ve just been in joying the music and working between my laptop and phone.  Having said that, a good deal of Zu owners run tubes or specialty class A solid state with tube like character. As we speak I’m running them with my Benchmark Dac3 balanced to Rogue Audio Stereo 100 in triode mode. It’s certainly more power than your tube amp but a couple watts will play these to near rock concert levels. These speakers love tubes. 
 

I don’t have any experience the the Tannoy you run so unfortunate no notes there for comparison. 

@bourbonkernel

Congrats on having the first "regular person" review on the internet on the new DW6s. You also have had the Omen IIs, which is the speaker I have spent lots of time listening to at a friends house (he runs a tube setup).

I ordered DW6s with the Superfly upgrade (hickory) and I pick them up next Friday. I’m hoping to get Omen II sound, if not even better, than my friend’s Omen MK II speakers w/ the cap upgrade.

One of the things that surprised me about Zu speakers is their ability to put ample amount of sound off-axis. I could stand 180 degrees off to the side of my friend’s Omen IIs and feel like I’m not losing any fidelity at all. I know they’re considered directional, but jeeze...that’s just awesome. The only thing directional I’ve noticed is the tweeter. I feel like there’s a "silky" effect that they have when you are seated directly facing it, but once you stand up you lose that effect (being about 6-8 feet away). It’s a really minor change (still sounds great) but I’m curious on your thoughts of that. I’m wondering if I need to slightly add some angle to the DW6s because I’d like to have that same "sparkle" effect both seated and standing positions. Then again, my room setup is where these DW6s are going is a much longer room than my friends setup (I’ll be sitting further back) so maybe no tilt is needed.

My room is about 22’ wide, and about 50’ deep. I’m hoping the DW6s will perform well in my corners with a slight toe-in.

Right now they will be replacing Polk RTi6 bookies that are mounted higher in the corners. I think I’m in for a real treat.

Even the Omen MK2 throws out clean, solid, musical bass. Listening to my friend’s setup, I would never even consider getting a sub!

Zu is basically marketing the DW6s as being the best Omen or Dirty Weekend speaker ever at this point. The bass and midrange is said to be better (more resolved and articulate).

To others, the Zu House sound is a "live" sound. The speakers literally disappear and the music is appearing to sound as if were being played live in your living room. It’s punchy, articulate, and IMO the speakers are able to project sound out in a way where every void just sounds great.

Lots of people say you they’re best for Jazz and classical, but honestly I enjoyed playing rock and metal records. To my ears at least, the Omens/DWs make everything sound good.

My opinion on Zu speakers is that they are not a 100% accurate speaker, nor really care to be. But IMO, they are JUST "live" enough to be musically awesome, but still allow for analytical listening if you are comparing vinyl pressings or whatever.

I’ll be powering them using my Denon PMA800NE w/ Cambridge Solo Pre-amp.

A friend has the Dirty Weekends, not sure what model number. I don't consider it a high-end speaker. It does some things fine.

@fendersrule 

I appreciate the feedback and input. I am definitely a regular person not a pro. I’ve been hanging around these forums just reading since about 2016. I finally feel like I have enough experience to not sound like a compete idiot. 
 

Whole hearted second on the off axis. ESP if you give these speakers a few degrees of rake (tip them back a bit). I have them in a buddies very well treated recording space. It was designed and constructed by a very talented acoustic engineer…holy crap do my MKII stereo in that room. You can sit a few feet from the right or left speaker and get crazy image. A very controlled environment, but I digress. 
 

These are different. I would say more of a hifi speaker (in detail retrieval for sure). The bass is so different from the bottom loading. Def digs deeper and is more musical. But after listening to my MKII again for awhile the other day, it’s just different with the back port.

I can say with confidence that the benchmark Dac 3 balanced to rogue audio stereo 100 is a killer combo. I’m still deciding how much I like my Arcam SA20 but that’s not really a fair fight…

@slaw to each their own. If any hobby is an eye of the beholder, it is ours. 

Would you say that the DW6 is the better speaker vs the Omen II, or just different?

zu considers them superior I would think being that bad believe that the omen cab design is scrapped