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Zu or Totem or ProAc?

I upgraded my front end to a Rogue Cronus Magnum about a year ago and it's time to upgrade my speakers and would love some advice from people that understand my plight.

My sources are a Project Xpression III turntable and streaming via the Audioengine D2 wireless transmitter/receiver from laptop. Then, as I said, I have the Rogue Cronus Magnum, which I'm a big fan of. That feeds my old Advent 1 speakers and the variable output feeds a Hsu Research subwoofer.

My room is 12' wide by 21' long with 24' ceilings, so it's a bit cavernous. My speakers sit on one end of the 21' long dimension, about 10' apart from each other, facing the 21' distance.

I primarily listen to rock, with blues and jazz mixed in on occasion.

As fanatical as I can be about good sound, I'm also a sucker for design. For that reason, I love the look of the Zu Audio Soul Superfly's. However I have never heard them and I'm not sure if, at 16 ohms, the 100 WPC Rogue Cronus Magnum is too much for them.
I am also very intrigued by ProAc and my trusted local retailer in Phoenix is a ProAc dealer so that's helpful.
And then, there is Totem, which a reliable source has strongly suggested.
Not to mention, countless other manufacturers that I have read about.

My price range is $2000 - $3000.

I REALLY appreciate any thoughts. I'm going dizzy reading as much as I can about these but I want to have as much info as possible before taking the step of auditioning them in my home. Thanks all.

Brian.
bboring
jperry
2,448 posts
 
ProAc makes a great speaker IMO. See if your local dealer will give you a home trial.

What ProAc speakers are you considering?
dayglow
1,893 posts
 
First of all i've never heard a Zu loudspeaker. From everything i've read there basically a rock speaker. Have heard several Totem's and they made a good first impression but had an "over the top" hifi/ish presentation. This was many years ago maybe Totem has toned down the hifi gymnastics? IMO ProAc will be able to present the most honest reproduction of the recording.
gsm18439
895 posts
 
Dayglow, I beg to differ. I have owned Zu Def 4s for a couple of years and play much more jazz and classical - of all scales - and female vocals than rock; and the speakers are outstanding regardless of what I play. While you may or may not like the sound and while I have never heard other Zu speakers, my Zu Def 4s are not "basically a rock speaker" although they do rock. My space is even more cavernous than Brian's, and two of my criteria were that I wanted full range speakers that could fill all or part of a 45' x 21' x 16' (high) space (the speakers are on one of the 21' walls).
jspar
16 posts
 
I have heard Zu speakers and Proac. I prefer the proacs which sound great with tubes. They just hit all the sounds right with no artifact.
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