Is this speaker as good as they say?

[tom67]

Always suspicious of awkward websites like theirs, but good reports coming out of this company....Looks like an original Advent rebirth with sealed cabinet and 10" driver.....Made in Utah with wood veneer. Like to see an owner review

http://www.zuaudio.com/store/omen/bookshelf/

http://www.zuaudio.com/pdfs/OmenBookshelf_Specs.pdf

 

[highfigh]

Always suspicious of awkward websites like theirs, but good reports coming out of this company....Looks like an original Advent rebirth with sealed cabinet and 10" driver.....Made in Utah with wood veneer. Like to see an owner review

http://www.zuaudio.com/store/omen/bookshelf/

http://www.zuaudio.com/pdfs/OmenBookshelf_Specs.pdf

"Utah, where men are men, women are scarce and sheep are nervous".

Here's what the page for the floor-standing model says- "Omen is the right speaker for every concert fanatic, music junky, skater fool, and snowboarding dirt bag". If you're not one of these, it's not the right speaker for you.


I have to wonder why they chose 12 Ohm for the impedance. This speaker line was the topic of a thread last week (maybe the week before).

 

[Seth=L]

Yeah, I'd steer clear at those prices.

But the above quote drew me into something pretty funny.

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Montana

 

[tom67]

CNET and other experts seem to love the damn things...50lbs, real wood and no silly crossovers, all for $699 , made to last 100 years per spec sheet....could be a cheeky company producing huge bargains...several of us should chip in a few bucks and buy a pair for a serious member here to test and report....Here are reviews from Steve Guttenberg and Adam Decaria, two world renowned audio experts who are impossible to impeach.....

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13645_3-9832249-47.html

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/zu12/presence.html

 

[Seth=L]

Oh cool, they're built by hobbits.

 

[tom67]

Yeah, they involve the end users in development, ulike the effete status quo Gods at the traditional companies......almost the same quality as the Blumenhofers, for a lot less money.....

http://www.blumenhofer-acoustics.com/Loudspeakers/SerieGenuin/GenuinFS1/GenuinFS1.html

 

[yepimonfire]

Yeah, I'd steer clear at those prices.

But the above quote drew me into something pretty funny.

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Montana

thanks seth, by clicking your link i just wasted two hours reading random articles that really didn't make any sense

 

[JerryLove]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13645_3-9832249-47.html

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/zu12/presence.html

6moons is basically an advertising site. CNet seems random in the skill of their reviews.

 

[Swerd]

This speaker line was the topic of a thread last week (maybe the week before).

See the recent Zu Omen thread. There was a Stereophile review of the Zu Essence in 2009, where I found those measurements. Usually Stereophile words their reviews very positively, and if they have anything bad to say, they word it gently or hide it between the lines. The fact that they published those shockingly bad looking frequency response curves, suggests that even Stereophile thought these speakers were awful. Of course, they never said those exact words.

 

[GranteedEV]

*clicks dominance page*

Prices starting in the low 40ks

*walks away*

Btw, looking at those measurements, you'd think these guys never thought to wire their speakers out of phase at crossover

 

[Swerd]

Btw, looking at those measurements, you'd think these guys never thought to wire their speakers out of phase at crossover

The high pass filter to the tweeter in the Zu Essence is at 12 kHz and is 2nd order. That large dip is well within the range of the so-called wide range driver. And worst of all there is no upper frequency low-pass filter for this driver.

The Zu Omen is no better. It has a dome tweeter with a 1st order high pass filter at 18 kHz.

 

[highfigh]

Yeah, I'd steer clear at those prices.

But the above quote drew me into something pretty funny.

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Montana

re: "entrepreneur Frank Zappa, later reincarnated as Donald Trump,", I'm not sure how Frank would react to that.

 

[emorphien]

Another Zu thread? I'm wondering why these guys are coming up so much all of a sudden. Pretty sure I remember hearing about their speakers (and how bad they were and poorly designed) several years ago.

They were much more expensive then, however.

 

[3db]

I'm not suprised they measured poorly. According to TLS, building a full range driver is very difficult to do. Sounds like the measurement problems stem from the full range driver's inability to reproduce the higher frequencies required for a smooth transition to the tweeter..

 

[tom67]

Dont get off the subject

But the experts liked them and you cant get past that......and the thread digressed to more expensive models.....It began with what appears to be a pair of fine speakers that cost $699 and sounded better than Audio Note speakers that cost much more....If 100 of us chipped in $7 each we could buy a set for Swerd, JerryLove or seth and let them audition for two months and report. They have a 60 day return policy....You can throw a blanket over most speakers owned and touted on this site....when something different reveals itself.....give it a chance....

 

[Swerd]

I'm not suprised they measured poorly. According to TLS, building a full range driver is very difficult to do. Sounds like the measurement problems stem from the full range driver's inability to reproduce the higher frequencies required for a smooth transition to the tweeter..

Exactly. Their 10.3" driver did very poorly above 2 kHz yet they were asking it to go above 12 kHz.

...If 100 of us chipped in $7 each we could buy a set for Swerd, JerryLove or seth and let them audition for two months and report...

I haven't heard these speakers, but I really doubt it would take more than two minutes, instead of two months, for me to hear all I would want to hear.

I've heard other speakers that aim for that same goal as Zu does, with one wide range or full range driver accompanied by a super tweeter with a minimal crossover. None of the ones I've heard were worth listening to for longer. Any speaker that is in breakup sounds as obviously bad as someone singing out of tune, it's that noticeable.

 

[GranteedEV]

But the experts liked them and you cant get past that......and the thread digressed to more expensive models.....It began with what appears to be a pair of fine speakers that cost $699 and sounded better than Audio Note speakers that cost much more....If 100 of us chipped in $7 each we could buy a set for Swerd, JerryLove or seth and let them audition for two months and report. They have a 60 day return policy....You can throw a blanket over most speakers owned and touted on this site....when something different reveals itself.....give it a chance....

what experts?

look at the graphs man. Nothing suggests to me these speakers were built with ANY acoustic engineering principles in mind. imagine if you saw an HDTV that's missing the left 30% of screen material in high def, and the right 20% of screen material is all tinted orange. You wouldn't bother to auditon that, even if some retard on CNET said the TV makes him orgasm.

 

[JerryLove]

If 100 of us chipped in $7 each we could buy a set for Swerd, JerryLove or seth and let them audition for two months and report.

Speaking of off-topic. I'm hoping to have up a long, detailed review of the GMA Europas before the end of the year. Right now I'm distracted staring at watches

 

[KEW]

If 100 of us chipped in $7 each we could buy a set for Swerd, JerryLove or seth and let them audition for two months and report. They have a 60 day return policy

I would certainly be game for spending 1/100th of the cost of a speaker to find out if it was any good. However, I would want that speaker to be one I would actually consider owning.

If you believe what you read in those reviews, you need to start saving up, because those high dollar cables, cable risers. etc. will cost you and according to their reviews, they make a night and day difference in the sound quality.

Swerd has provided measurements and valid concerns about their $3500/pair speakers in the link below. If their design approach fares no better than this for a $3500 pair of speakers, why should we expect better for $700?
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=768621&postcount=4

 

[GranteedEV]

I would certainly be game for spending 1/100th of the cost of a speaker to find out if it was any good. However, I would want that speaker to be one I would actually consider owning.

If you believe what you read in those reviews, you need to start saving up, because those high dollar cables, cable risers. etc. will cost you and according to their reviews, they make a night and day difference in the sound quality.

Swerd has provided measurements and valid concerns about their $3500/pair speakers in the link below. If their design approach fares no better than this for a $3500 pair of speakers, why should we expect better for $700?
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=768621&postcount=4

Yeah, I'd be game for say, paying 1/100th of the cost of a Gedlee Harper review.