JansZen Z A2.1 Loudspeakers?

Hi Seadogs1, I've been in this hobby for decades. I never counted the number of speakers I've owned but there have been many, and of various design configurations. That included Acoustat 2+2 and M-L CLS full range ESL and Infinity and RTR with electrostatic tweeters.

I recently bought a pair of zA2.1s and am going through the break-in. I will also be searching for a matching amp within certain criteria important to me.

They were over my budget so here is why I bought them. Our local audio club arranged for a pair to audition. During that demo I could hear great promise but was not fully satisfied. Fortunately I was able to bring the demo pair home for a few days and a personal audition. Whether it was the room or the matching components (or both) I'm not certain but I was hugely impressed. Several friends came by to hear them and the raves were universal. One friend with years of experience as an audio hobbyist plus recording both classical and jazz came by and offered the most succinct review I've ever heard. After only a couple of minutes listening he paused the music and said, "Just get out your checkbook." That was encouraging but I'd already made up my mind.

I will not go into my impressions of their sonic details now, that will await their full burn-in and set up adjustments, at which time I'll post a review here.

At this point I'll simply encourage you to hear them for yourself.

Mrbill, Pryso (or anyone else), any further follow-up thoughts on these speakers after break-in? Heard them at RMAF and remain intrigued......and I really miss my Acoustats but room is a bit too small for these. Would welcome any further comments and/or bang-for-buck impressions on these stats.

Hi Butler,

I wrote more detailed comments on Speaker Asylum, linked here by my alternate moniker M3 lover -

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/speakers/messages/32/329558.html

The longer I own them the more my musical enjoyment grows and the more I'm impressed with David Janszen's design. And not that they won't reward top quality component matching, but you don't need to spend top dollar on an amp. Just find reasonable quality.

I consider the zA2.1 to be a "cornerstone" product.

Hi, Seadogs1, like Pryso I also consider the zA2.1 a cornerstone product, and for me, likely my last speakers. I've evolved from a few traditional box cone designs to planar magnetics (Magnepan), to now these fine ESLs. Going to an ESL wasn't the question, but which one was. I quickly decided to move away from large dipole panels and that eliminated all ESLs except a very few. David's hybrid design is flawless in cohesive blending of the woofers and ESL panels. The smaller design fits perfectly in any room. Don't be fooled by the size however, as they can play big and don't change their character as the volume raises.

That last and almost unique aspect was correctly highlighted by Robert Greene in the January issue of the absolute sound. Robert has a very complete 5 page review of the speakers, but read through it fully because he starts out saying they are fussy to set up. That part is bull, and I've already sent a letter to the editor which will be printed in March.

If you are a serious buyer, do so before the end of the year. The price is going up. Amazing speakers.

Thanks for the additional input, Pryso. I actually read your Speaker Asylum comments a while ago when I started researching these speakers, and appreciate the additional comments here. Now trying to decide between the JansZen and the Magico S1, will come down to which is the best in terms of my definition of musicality, though both are pretty sweet.