Almarg, "If I may ask, what didn't you like about them (Acoustic Zen loudspeakers), and what kinds of speakers do you particularly like? I'm sincerely curious."
If there's one word that epitomizes the AZ speakers, it's "plastic".
In absolute terms, I've nothing against polymer drivers. Aside from my Quad ESL57 which are polyester, one of my reference loudspeakers use polymer drivers. But I will say that the tube renaissance has proven to a lot of us that paper drivers could reside in a bona fide high-end loudspeaker. In fact, it's the naturalness they produce which addressed the fallacy of thinking just because a design/material/though process is newer, it must prove superior. Just that probably no speaker sounds more "plastic" than the Acoustic Zens. In every situation I've encountered them they've proven incapable of making music. Yes, they make sound, but that's an entirely different thing.
To put a finer point on it, the speakers have a haziness and inability to get out of their own way to them that flies in the face of the high-end audio goals of removing veils or seeing through a clearer pane of glass. Now, I'm not a guy who chases resolution, but there's also the other extreme.
While I'm at it, most attempts at producing transmission line loudspeakers over the past several decades, while often worthy of praise in terms of their effort and intent, have yielded worse than mediocre results. For whatever reason, the British designs, and I'll include Bud Fried in that school, are the only ones who've gotten it right. And, when you hear true TL (bass, but even moreso, midrange), it's truly something to behold. The notes simply fly out of the speakers with a sense of ease and life that no sealed or (especially) ported (and I do own some) speaker could dream of.
Tubegroover, you hit the nail on the head when it comes to Legacy speakers, "yawn." What's astonishing is how a speaker advertised with such adjectives power, dynamics, and the like can sound as dull as dishwater. Don't feel bad about not hearing the Whisper, it's probably the worst sounding loudspeaker they've designed. The two huge woofers, at the top and bottom, come off with no cohesion to the rest of the music. What's best is when you hear them in their audio ping-pong. Legacy is the kind of product people used to equate with certain feelings of male inadequacy, and the need for something of awe to compensate for same. As I said, this is the brand that did more for my audio journey than any other. I then learned to stop caring so much about specifications, close my eyes, and open my ears, brain, and heart.
And, for what it's worth, I'm not sure what all the fuss is about Charles1dad's post. Maybe it's me, but I don't see anything wrong with it. Disagreement is fundamental to the meaningful exchange of perspective.
If there's one word that epitomizes the AZ speakers, it's "plastic".
In absolute terms, I've nothing against polymer drivers. Aside from my Quad ESL57 which are polyester, one of my reference loudspeakers use polymer drivers. But I will say that the tube renaissance has proven to a lot of us that paper drivers could reside in a bona fide high-end loudspeaker. In fact, it's the naturalness they produce which addressed the fallacy of thinking just because a design/material/though process is newer, it must prove superior. Just that probably no speaker sounds more "plastic" than the Acoustic Zens. In every situation I've encountered them they've proven incapable of making music. Yes, they make sound, but that's an entirely different thing.
To put a finer point on it, the speakers have a haziness and inability to get out of their own way to them that flies in the face of the high-end audio goals of removing veils or seeing through a clearer pane of glass. Now, I'm not a guy who chases resolution, but there's also the other extreme.
While I'm at it, most attempts at producing transmission line loudspeakers over the past several decades, while often worthy of praise in terms of their effort and intent, have yielded worse than mediocre results. For whatever reason, the British designs, and I'll include Bud Fried in that school, are the only ones who've gotten it right. And, when you hear true TL (bass, but even moreso, midrange), it's truly something to behold. The notes simply fly out of the speakers with a sense of ease and life that no sealed or (especially) ported (and I do own some) speaker could dream of.
Tubegroover, you hit the nail on the head when it comes to Legacy speakers, "yawn." What's astonishing is how a speaker advertised with such adjectives power, dynamics, and the like can sound as dull as dishwater. Don't feel bad about not hearing the Whisper, it's probably the worst sounding loudspeaker they've designed. The two huge woofers, at the top and bottom, come off with no cohesion to the rest of the music. What's best is when you hear them in their audio ping-pong. Legacy is the kind of product people used to equate with certain feelings of male inadequacy, and the need for something of awe to compensate for same. As I said, this is the brand that did more for my audio journey than any other. I then learned to stop caring so much about specifications, close my eyes, and open my ears, brain, and heart.
And, for what it's worth, I'm not sure what all the fuss is about Charles1dad's post. Maybe it's me, but I don't see anything wrong with it. Disagreement is fundamental to the meaningful exchange of perspective.