Thank You Steve! On Jan. 30 I asked your opinion between a RR2160 Mk2 and a Rouge Audio V3 to best drive my .7 Maggie’s. Sir I could not be more happy with your nod to the Outlaw product. Very transparent sound, lots of great features and the sound seems to emanate out in the room more, and less from the speakers. The journey continues and it is people like you who make it more enjoyable! Again many thanks. Fred Krause
@@JohnJohn-lk4lq Lol! Not sure who hides behind that Kepler handle, but they constantly put out useless information. Must be some completely bored troll who lives in their parent's basement.
This is a truly great review! It's refreshing to hear an honest opinion like this from a sober, experienced audiophiliac and it's not a slight to ZU- they make beautiful, pin-up worthy products
@@keplermission4947 I have no doubt that you're right about that but, if that is indeed the case, I do think the speaker manufacturer has a responsibility to share that information with potential buyers. I find it frustrating at times that we audio nerds are often left guessing about what gear will and won't work. When I bought a pair of KEF ls50s years ago, the HIFI store that sold them to me was adamant about ensuring that I also had some solid electronics (like Hegel) in place with a high damping factor to wring the most performance of the lil Kefs. I've noticed that Zu sells Rogue Audio integrated amps on their site so I do think it would have been interesting to hear how the Rogue Audio Sphinx 3 or Pharaoh II might pair with the ZUs.
I truthfully had a very very very similar ride with my Omen DWs (also with Jupiter caps) when they brand-spanking new. Much of your description of these Souls matches entirely (except for placement difficulties - never had any with these).... incredibly lively, great imaging, and very mid-forward (depending on recording almost too much for certain brief moments) and a glaring but fast and fresh high-end. All of this melted away over time, but very slowly. Never had a set of loudspeakers that took so long a time of *heavy* play to work themselves out. But at the end of the day, now well over a year on since, I can say none of those descriptions apply, and I've absolutely no plan to let go of them. I still mutter to my wife, once a week, an impromptu "my god these are great speakers".... But it was a full 6-8 weeks before I even began to have those thoughts. I swapped in other speakers occasionally and every time (after those initial weeks) I kept the Zus in place for longer and longer periods. Now they have not moved since last February, and they aren't going to.
I really don't like the sound of ZU speakers but I admire the fact that they do their thing and let the chips fall where they may. So many copy cat products out there that I almost feel like owning at least one pair of ZU's would be worth it just to have something different!
Hi Steve, I just finished your review of the Soul 6 and found it interesting especially the comparison to your Cornwalls and would like to as usually agree with your take especially the comparison to Cornwalls. I,too, am using Cornwalls driven by a type 45 amp of less than 2 watts out put that does a fine job with the Cornwalls. After over 50 years of being an audiophile who until recently avoided Klipsch products like the plague because of misinformation from high end dealers. Anyway the point of this diatribe is to make a comment. I have found that my Cornwall based system closer to live music than the myriad of high end speakers that I have bought and used. No, they don’t project a razor edged not terribly deep soundstage but neither does live music in most venues. I have probably heard more live jazz than hundreds of your readers. I live in New Orleans and have been here for over 80 years and have day and night had live music exposure practically 24/7 for all these years and have never heard live music so well delineated as a really good system can deliver. Live music in a real space indoors and out never sounds so etched and lifeless as most high end listeners strive for. Live music just isn’t that way. Live music has rhythm, dynamics and tone that I haven’t enjoyed in my music room until it was presented by the Top three speakers that Klipsch produces. Live music is fun and not stiff and tight assed.
Definitely familiar with having to elevate ZU speakers to get the most out of them. Tilting my Dirty Weekend's was okay, but not super satisfying. Then I bought a used pair of Harbeth 40 speaker stands. Now my Dirty Weekends sing!
Thanks for your honest review. I like some of the Zu speakers and I think the DW speakers are a steal for the price. 6k is a bit much for a small coaxial. I think for 6 k you can find many speakers that can out class the Zu soul 6. Sorry, hate to say it, but it's true...
The sound of Jim Keltner's drumming on John Hiatt's Bring The Family is pretty amazing. He was into some really creative approaches to rock drumming at that time and it all sounds very live. That album was made over a couple of days with no budget. Also, Nick Lowe was a lot more than Elvis Costello's producer. A handful of his solo albums are pretty essential. Thanks for mentioning the album.
This thread evolved quickly! You're right the drums are ridiculously good on the bring the family album. The short recording timeframe is very interesting, some of the best albums ever are 'of the moment' and massively creative. Another great recommendation from Stevie G:) And to this dude talkin realistic... Yep they were actually really good. I'm in Ireland and jump on realistic stuff on the rate occasion it comes up. There's loads of brands like that.
@@peterlarkin762 Thanks Peter. I had some little Realistic Minimus 7s on a spare system about 25 years ago. I liked visiting their stores but I'd never ventured into their electronics other than a passive switchbox for 3 tape decks.
Agreed Great Review!, **UPDATE After 200+ hours of additional burn in and the angle up mod I'm happy again! These ZUs do ROCK!!** I thought it was only me...Treble is lively and there IS tweeter glare which drove me crazy, certain recordings sounded strange. I ran them side by side with VR4 Gen 3s and 2002 AADs using different combinations of 519/332/526/31.5 Levinson gear. Beautiful cabinet BUT I will only use them for my AV system. They are flashy kid speakers and remind me when I had inferior equipment and wanted to just turn it up...I got caught up in the ZU (Great Branding) Hype. I'm going Focal next
I have the Zu Omen DW's... The Venus II 12th DAC really sounded veiled, as did their Athena preamp. My buddy has been through this, as I bought these speakers from him. He has as much gear in his house as Steve here does. He has multiple $10,000+ amps and preamps on furniture dollies, and multiple everything. His entire house is like a HiFi shop. Well, all of this gear, and he runs these Zu's on a PS Audio Gaincell DAC/Pre and the Parasound A23+ amp, that is it. When I brought those Zu's to my house, they sounded off. I wound up having to lift the front of the speakers a good 1 1/4 inches. It worked. Then I bought a Gaincell and a A23+ amp. The sound is incredible. The KLH Model 5's are going on the block. I am seriously looking at purchasing a pair of their Union 6's.
When you say "these Zu's" that your friend has that he is running with the Parasound, are you referring to the soul 6's? I'm considering getting a pair. As much as I respect Steve's opinion, I don't think he had them fully broken in, as I understand it can take quite sometime.
Hey!,Steve;this what my wife,a math professor ,had to say about your review.Actually about the view.You have circles and squares in your glasses,the speakers,the turntable ,the sound treatments,and your shirt.10 out 10 on continuity!Congrats,I usually get a 1. Doc BC
I think its fair to compare the Zu with the Corwall. They both are high end speakers that are trying to reach the same conclusion of delivering high fidelity audio. However, they employ different design philosophies in getting there. So, as a consumer of hifi products, I find the comparison a very fair deal indeed. Thanks!
Seen John play live more than anyone but GD. Slow Turning is the other full on masterpiece I hope you have discovered, there are at least 6 others that showcase great songwriting.
I'm one of the type of people who you talk about in the intro. I have way too many speakers, but my main desktop speakers are Zu Druid Credenzas that I got in 2010, and have upgraded the drivers in. I also have Zu Cubes above the big screen in my living room. The Zus are here to stay. I've talked to you at RMAF BTW. Cheers.
Oh, because it's relevant to the review... I run my Zus with a subwoofer. With the Druids I have a stereo pair of Scanspeak Revelators. With the cubes I have a single Scanspeak pointed at the back wall behind the couch. I think a sub really helps balance the sound and improve the perception of fidelity.
Steve, to tame the mids centered around 2.5KHz you could get a half a milli Henry inductor, a 7 ohm resistor, and a 1.5uF non polar capacitor (in series with a 5 ohm resistor), and tie 'em all in parallel to make a mild midband suppression filter. The 5 ohm resistor damps ranging above 7 KHz. The filter is placed between the + terminal of the speaker cable and the + input terminal of the speaker. I've designed the filters for quite a few single full range drivers :)
Love to see a Milk Carton Kids record make it into your review! Their ‘Monterey’ recording is simply gorgeous and a staple in my rotation. Like most of their records, it’s just their two voices and guitars blending together beautifully, but such great ambience on Monterey in particular. Live from Lincoln Center is a blast to listen to… for the great music, of course, but also for Joey’s deadpan humor in between songs.
Neil Young's Cinnamon Girl was unlistenable, but "I was never bored". This review performed it's #1 job of letting me know if these speakers might have a place in my system and my life. It was entertaining. Thanks.
Great review - and these speakers sound as fussy for placement, elevation and amp pairing as my Klipsch Forte. While I loved the Forte sound, finding the sweet spot in my room (on 7 inch stands, placed far apart in room corners and pairing the Zen Triode UFO2) took months of experimenting to finally enjoy beautiful long listening non-fatiguing sessions. Lessons learned; I love the set-up, but takes work to get there, and there’s no guarantee you’ll actually get there…
This shows how important the speaker placement and room acoustics are, Steve preferred the sound of the Zu speakers at the other side of the room, with much cheaper electronics (amps, turntable, cd player), but worked better with the speakers, great review, thanks.
@@keplermission4947 I know the Decca recording curve is 8dB @10KHz and RIAA is 13.7dB, that meaning a Decca record will sound wee muddy played through RIAA preamps, I don't agree with CD being used as a vinyl master, the 44 sampling messes with the original timbre of the music, I'm all for R-R to vinyl, 80dB DR is still quite darn good
Sounds like a seriously compromised speaker in too many ways. If you are going to design a short floorstander it needs to have good vertical off-axis performance and it shouldn't be so room sensitive and unbalanced. Certainly not for that price. Many thanks for the honest, nuanced and fair review.
Excellent review! You explained your experiments and the pros and cons of this speaker very well. If I had to guess, I’d say that the wideband woofer beams in the upper midrange and this makes it sound midrange dominant when listening on axis.
Agreed - I just can't love these: especially for the price. In this range, there are so many traditional, and entry esoteric, offerings that just do most things better. And some cost a fraction of what these cost (heck - including the Zu's own Soul Supreme). Ugh.
Exactly. Which also explains the lack of depth as the balance of direct and ambient sounds is not correct when you get that 2-4kHz plateau. Also, just looking at it you know it's going to sound lean as the cabinet is too small for such a large full range speaker to go low enough.
@@carlitomelon4610 I do have extensive and ongoing experience with full range drivers (Audio Nirvanas - with and without whizzer cones) in bass reflex cabinets and they sound truly impressive in the right size box and with a filter to tame the upper mid glare.
Thanks for the review, Steve. I had high hopes for this speaker. It was on my short list of speakers but I ultimately went with the Spatial Sapphire M3s. I’m not willing to compromise on low end response. Dropping $6k on a speaker that requires the purchase of a sub is a deal breaker for me.
Great review. Thanks Steve. Super interesting re your thoughts on the characteristics of the Zu speakers. Pairing the speaker to the right amp, room placement and listening angle is important for certain designs.
WHAT DID ROBERT THINK, overall??? I need a more forgiving speaker, myself…. Thanks for the honesty. I'll keep my DynAudio Contour 20s 😍…but THANKS for the music, as always!
I almost bought a set of Klipsch RP600’s (on sale) but decided they looked cheap and nasty and would wait until I could afford some Zus. Totally a different animal but both high sensitivity. Imagine my surprise when the Souls didn’t get a great review! I’d hoped for better but as someone else has mentioned one must hear things for ones self. I think it’s going to be a very long time before I can audition some Zus, so perhaps there’s another 100+ sensitivity speaker waiting to be discovered. Thanks Steve for your unbiased viewpoint.
I recently got my Omen DWs. They are simply awesome! In my room they measured nearly exactly to the Harman curve, and were flat to 35hz. As I listened, I kept thinking that you couldn’t do better for $1200. They are very pleasant sounding, and might have just a touch of the “covered with a thin veil” effect. But that veil is thin, indeed.
@@michaeltuohy1249 Nice! I would actually prefer that situation, " a thin veil" rather than too many veils taken away, and what was under turned out to be slightly ugly and ear piercing...
I do like your videos & relate to your descriptions of sound. We are of similar age & grew up with the same hi-fi around us. I'm 65 now & got into hi-fi through love of music since i left school in 1973 & before with some hand-down gear, a Goldring Lenco idler drive playing through a large valved table radio with "gram" 5 pin Din input, sounded gr8 to me as a s/h 7 inch singles buying kid. As a young low earner when i left school, i relied on s/h speakers & s/h vintage valve amps which were cheap & plentiful in ad listings & slightly more costly in hi-fi shop that did s/h gear. My top favourites were a Radford STA25 (4× EL34 for 25watts per channel for about £80 G.B. A Leak TS50 (4xEL34s again) for £100 & Quad II monos (2xKT66 each) which sounded great via Quad ELS 57's which i still have stashed, they cost me £200 for the whole Quad set of amps & ELS 57s but they were just too good to sell for what they went for in early 1980's so i kept them stashed to this day. My s/h Thorens TD 150 with Alphason arm bettered the Goldring t/t & stayed unbeaten for about 10 or 15 years. All those vintage amps & decks now shock me for what prices they fetch on eBay today. £1000 for slightly rusty Quad II's?! Those vintage amps i bought all sounded far better than vintage solid state i tried back then. I ran KEF 3-way Concertos for 20 years. After owning Tannoy 15" DC speakers (stashed now with 1 driver suffering from a concophonous magnet rubbing, i hope to get it fixed some how but spare cones are rare to non existant now. But these Zu speakers look appealing & i long to hear a pair. We had 3 different hi-fi dealerships in the late 70's & onwards & they have all but gone, 1 remains & only does home cinema stuff while the s/h gear i thrived on fetches humongous prices on eBay today so i have stuff to help buy new speakers. All the hi-fi shops that included s/h gear hsve all gone in my nearest city0. They were good days for s/h quality gear until the internet came about. Love your videos, keep up the good work.
Thanks for this public service announcement Steve. Looks like you bent over backwards to like these. For the price there are some more refined contenders. I hope you can review the Pearl Acoustics Sebelius. It's a full range driver in a solid oak voight horn... Designer Harley Lovegrove has a charming RUclips channel. 🎶🙂🎶
Caveat emptor: I ordered a pair of Omen Dirty Weekends in March but still don’t have them. At first it was because Covid created a shortage of MDF(Medium Density Fiberboard), now it’s because of not having the paint. At this point I would take any color, but my understanding is they don’t have a shortage problem with the Soul, so order them if you can!
I suppose my ears are getting trained because I heard the same thing in the mids around 700hrz that hurt my head a bit. I have a small room and was able to get great bass from them. They only weigh 37lbs which is soooo nice to carry upstairs and move them around. I did speak with Zu who said they are going to burn them in longer than 200 hours going forward.
I have to work almost that hard to get my 30 year old Infinity Speakers to do their thing, but the result is uniquely sublime, something unobtainable from anything else. I’m not hearing that the reward is worth the effort here - but I bet a true blue ZU fan would state otherwise.
I can relate to the guy who experienced long delays in obtaining a set of Zu speakers being made for him. Same thing happened to me after ordering the Soul Supremes last year. Was taking sooo long, I got of a pair of Magnepan LRS to use in the interim. Was so impressed with the Maggies-at 1/10 the price of the Zu’s-I cancelled the Zu order. Now only issue is, I am going through progressively more expen$ive amps to take them to the highest echelon!-currently a Hegel H20. Seems there is no end to how good those little Maggies can sound with quality electronics upstream.
By the way, That spike pictured is an off the shelf hardware store item I used for years. It is deigned to be driven into something like a cinderblock wall with a gun to add a threaded bolt to the wall or floor. Looks like a 1/4" with 20 TPI but I could be off. If you need cheap spikes they are fine but, they are probably not metric so check and if you want to add spikes to your existing speakers that lack spikes, you will need the appropriate threaded nut inserts. Those inserts are not capped so if you install them on your speakers and take the spikes off, you will need to thread something inside like a large set screw to prevent air leaks. DIY Lives!.
Wow - this is the closest to a negative review I've seen from Steve in a long time. Thanks for this. Surprised about the poor results with the Decware. Wonder how it would sound with the Elekit TU-8600 (9 wpc 300b amp)??
Thank you for one more detailed review. Even though for Europeans Zu Audio is for the most die-hard aficionados only as it's simply not price-competitive over here. Distribution has always been a continual coming and going, right now consumer direct import would be the way to go if wou really wanted them.
I dont get why they made them so short unless they intended the listener to be above the tweeter, vs forcing you to put super long spikes on it and such.
I have listened to Zu speakers at 2 major audio shows. I found them to be average sounding and muddy at times. Some of that was the music chosen by Zu founder. I can’t imagine paying $6000 for these speakers
Thanks Steve, I'm a big fan of your show. I'm familiar with the positioning issues of smaller floorstanding speakers. I use Tannoy DC-2000 speakers in my system which also have the dual concentric tweeter-woofer driver and are about the same height of the Zu Soul VI. It also took me some time to optimise the speaker settings, but once in position they we're so very musical...
Steve appreciate your honesty..Had the DW's for about 3 months know. to me sound better the my JBL's and Wharfedale's. More detail and alive sounding. totally get there heavy on the mod-range. i dialed 960 and 1.6K back 1 1/2 db and it took the voices from being in front to behind the speakers definitely improved the depth of the soundstage. the width is better then both speaker past. Still working on the Bass. i have a sub but want to dial in the Zu's first been playing with the footers currently around 3/8 with a little tilt back down to 1/4. seems to be the best so far. and yes my couch is on the low side. If anyone else has suggestions on the footers? My understanding the higher you go Bass starts getting muddy around the lower mid-range and you lose details which I cant part with.
Yeah, it turns out that compared to the older models, all they did was make the ports at the bottom wider, which Supposedly helped bass a lot. But still, for a 10" full range, it should be enough to fill a room with a low bottom end. 32 " is just a little too short, in my opinion. Yes, tilting with make a difference, but they aren't designed to have one side of the port shut off due to the speaker touching the floor on a tilt. I was going to pull the plug on them in the DMX range for some £1500 but is hard to find an honest review on them as most were around the time of launch and all seemed to only be saying good things It's my opinion. Every speaker has got its negative or can do better. I know a great deal of channels do get paid or leant or given items to promote or even links to sell taking a small cut. This channel seems very different on the matter, big positive for me I was only going to buy the DMX because of the good full range and lows. I expect more from two 10" large-ish boxes. But I guess it's a lot for one driver to handle. Guess I'm going to have to demo, which in Britain means travelling, as there aren't many dealers and none of sale second hand at all here
I have had the same ADS M12s for decades and want to finally upgrade and that is not easy thing to figure out in this day and age... Zu sounds like an interesting brand though, just not sure they would be for me. I should try to hunt a set down to listen to. Even with a 100% return policy that can still be a bit of work.
I have the MKII DWs and really like the Zu sound esp. with Pass Labs amp (INT-25) and CD front end similar to Steve's (Jay's + Pontus II), as well as high end vinyl. I prefer the form factor of the DWs so would probably go with Union 6s if I decide to upgrade. I have no issue with the treble and in my room I get ample bass down to the high 30Hz. If anyone reading this has done the DW to Union 6 upgrade I'd appreciate your views.
At the price point of 6K for the Soul VI speakers, I’m not sure it’s good value compared to many speakers at around the same price point. The finish on the cabinets is beautiful. Seeing the spikes fully extended on the front looked odd to achieve some bass which gives the impression the speaker design didn’t make it’s mark. They are a nice looking speaker, however, it’s not the right sound for me. Excellent truthful review.
I have a pair of Zu Omen Dirty Weekends and am happily driving them with an single, stereo-mode, Nelson Pass Amp Camp Amp I built to fill the gap until my Decware SE84UFO order filters to the top of their huge backlog. I hope Steve’s poor experience with the Zen Triode/Soul VIs does not extend to the Dirty Weekends.
Thanks, Steve. As always a quality review. This time I especially appreciated it because I’m eager to try the Omen Dirty Weekends. Too bad about supply-chain though, for now. Capital Audio Fest?
You will love the DW’s. I have 5 pairs of speakers including Magnepan’s, B&W, Klipsch, Infinity, and DW’s. It’s fun having the DW’s… very lively and amazingly well crafted.
When I swapped in the ZU rubber footers from the metal ones the Dirty Weekends ship with the base improved exponentially for me on wood floors. I t was mind blowing for me. I would be interested to hear your opinion after using the their rubber footers
@@keplermission4947 haha brand new, and actually have nothing to prove. But you should take the time to review zu’s claims about the footers. Perhaps even try them yourself, in certain spaces they make a huge difference.
@@mckinleyparkbikes things like that can make a huge difference. It's called coupling. For the love of hifi gods never listen to anyone else's opinions, they don't posses your ears.
Hi Steve, Could you please compare the Soul VI to the Dirty Weekends. I have had my DWs for about 3 months and can say the more I listen to them the more I enjoy them. Do you think an upgrade to the Soul VI is worth all the trouble of returning the DW and the cost ? FYI, I have a McIntosh C-49 and MC-152 with a Denafraps DAC to power the DW Thanks, Gary
Ill help you out here steve, i believe your tryin to say the dirty weekends or earlier omens are a better speaker, which i could probably understand having owned those before.
I was at that The National concert. The reason they played Boxer completely is they wanted to give something special to the Belgian fans because they cancelled 2 concerts a year before to go and play an event for Barrack Obama. They even mention Michele between songs. I like their albums, but I love seeing them play live.. so that was a great night!😀
Thanks for the video! Full range drivers are great for solo saxophone or solo female vocals. If you are interested in more complex sounds, especially classical music, good luck with the intermodulation distortion when playing a tuba and a violin with the same membrane. I can recognize the sound of such speakers of any brand before I enter the room. The comments in the end just confirm my suspicions about these ones, too.
Steve, really enjoyed the video and your input. I was originally excited when Zu released the Souls VI. However, after watching your video, I'm not sure they would be a good match for my system. I am also considering the Klipsch Forte IV. I currently have two Decware UFO2's set up as mono blocks. So double the power to about 6 watts per channel. My room is mid-size 19'x13x12 (LxwxH). So I think I would avoid the bass issues you encountered before you moved the Zu's. However, based on your comments about the Decware/Zu combo, thinking the Fortes may be the way to go. You also tested the Fortes. What do think would be the better speaker-amp marriage with the Decware UFO2?
I HATE when companies price things at, for example, "$5999.00/pr". Every time I see pricing like that, I feel like companies are saying, "Hey you...ya' big, gullible dummy! It's not 6 grand...it's closer to 5 grand!". I mean c'mon...just price them at 6 grand and be done with it.
There's been much research done on this human quirk. Those of us retailers that reviewed said research came to a different conclusion than yours: We appreciated that they valued every penny they spent!
I own a pair of the Omen 2 bookshelf speakers AND Omen 2 floorstanding speakers. My experience: incredible build quality, incredible midrange and upper range and lively sounding. However, my experience is that these speakers do not have enough low end bass to satisfy listeners like me. However, I own 2 different pairs of speakers, why? When I was reading + watching reviews, no one reviewer mentioned the real lack of bass (my opinion). So I bought the bookshelf and quite liked it but wanted bass so bought the floorstander and there was maybe 20% more bass. It still wasn't much bass. The Omen 2 is an entry level model, so it is possible that Soul VI has more bass (and I have not heard Soul VI). I simply wanted to bring up the lack of low-end heft in my experience. Again, this speaker is premium (and I purchased mine custom with a beautiful glossy automotive finish) and performs well overall. I'm not selling my Zu's! I have just come to accept that I am going to buy a sub to go with them. Thanks Steve!
I have to stop you ten minutes in. Aphex is a legend. I’m so pleased and happy to hear you mention him and his work on a review. God I’ve been listening to him for about 20 years now. Isn’t aisatsana just such a beautiful track. I don’t have as much experience with his newer stuff than I do with some of his older material but wow I’m my books he’s a legend. Also, amazing review I love your honesty and the way you describe everything and I also love your cornwalls. Man it would be pretty awesome if you did a review or even just a listen and a how you feel about the rf7iiis my personal speaker. Cheers!!!
Steve keeps on showing his fine taste in music! Aphex twin must be tried by anyone with a good hifi. What that syro album can do to speakers is ridiculous. Also check out early 'ambient works' albums.
Yes tilting back is always a good thing generally, what degree of angle did you tell that up it looks quite severe? another thing you could try putting it on a crate lined with foam with foam baffles increase the bass output I think better approach would have been a bass driver in the bottom and the main driver in a closed chamber. Anybody in the UK south east got a pair would like to listen. Did you say $9,000 just way too much $2000 maybe and that's pricey! you better off buying the seas CX871 for $1,600 much better speaker being a coaxial transmission line three-way from midisound .
Steve, is that an IKEA chopping board under your Technics? It does work wonders as a decoupling platform, doesn’t it. I painted mine gloss white and added damping feet. 😊
I recently had the same revelation about John Hiatt's Bring the Family. Not a bad cut cut on it. This group of musicians worked so well that they became Little Village for one album.
I love these videos but, MY GOD, what we hear is SO subjective. It’s only fair to hear these things for yourself...or buy on instinct. The content is the hook for me.
The only way these could sound as "reviewed" is if they were wired out of phase. Yes I do own a pair of them and have Soul Supreme's currently. Surely Steve should have contacted the manufacturer to take professional advice.
The thing about the ports on the bottom of Zu speakers is that they are not really bass reflex speakers. The ports are designed to be aperiodic vents, and the net effect is that the sound that comes from the main driver is that of a sealed speaker that does not have pressure variations vacillating between low and high depending on the position of the cone relative to the neutral at rest position. So they are even more natural and neutral sounding than sealed speakers or bass reflex. Like your friend, I do not see me trading mine in the near future, maybe not even the far?
I disagree. Check the impedance graphs published by Zu themselves. It clearly says they behave like bass reflex and not at all like aperiodic. I know Zu says otherwise in product description, which is misleading.
@@super-z8943 I agree after working with them for quite a while now. The bass performance is improved by adding a foot under the speaker and using that to tune the port. This is what Zu has done with the new Omen Def.
Thank You Steve! On Jan. 30 I asked your opinion between a RR2160 Mk2 and a Rouge Audio V3 to best drive my .7 Maggie’s.
Sir I could not be more happy with your nod to the Outlaw product. Very transparent sound, lots of great features and the sound
seems to emanate out in the room more, and less from the speakers.
The journey continues and it is people like you who make it more enjoyable!
Again many thanks.
Fred Krause
Thanks Fred!
@@keplermission4947 no one cares
@@JohnJohn-lk4lq Lol! Not sure who hides behind that Kepler handle, but they constantly put out useless information. Must be some completely bored troll who lives in their parent's basement.
This is a truly great review! It's refreshing to hear an honest opinion like this from a sober, experienced audiophiliac and it's not a slight to ZU- they make beautiful, pin-up worthy products
@@keplermission4947 I have no doubt that you're right about that but, if that is indeed the case, I do think the speaker manufacturer has a responsibility to share that information with potential buyers. I find it frustrating at times that we audio nerds are often left guessing about what gear will and won't work. When I bought a pair of KEF ls50s years ago, the HIFI store that sold them to me was adamant about ensuring that I also had some solid electronics (like Hegel) in place with a high damping factor to wring the most performance of the lil Kefs.
I've noticed that Zu sells Rogue Audio integrated amps on their site so I do think it would have been interesting to hear how the Rogue Audio Sphinx 3 or Pharaoh II might pair with the ZUs.
I truthfully had a very very very similar ride with my Omen DWs (also with Jupiter caps) when they brand-spanking new. Much of your description of these Souls matches entirely (except for placement difficulties - never had any with these).... incredibly lively, great imaging, and very mid-forward (depending on recording almost too much for certain brief moments) and a glaring but fast and fresh high-end. All of this melted away over time, but very slowly. Never had a set of loudspeakers that took so long a time of *heavy* play to work themselves out. But at the end of the day, now well over a year on since, I can say none of those descriptions apply, and I've absolutely no plan to let go of them. I still mutter to my wife, once a week, an impromptu "my god these are great speakers".... But it was a full 6-8 weeks before I even began to have those thoughts. I swapped in other speakers occasionally and every time (after those initial weeks) I kept the Zus in place for longer and longer periods. Now they have not moved since last February, and they aren't going to.
This review just improved the credibility of the channel. Great job.
I couldn't agree with you more
A very honest review of all the pluses AND flaws of a speaker from a brand I know you have been a fan of.
I really don't like the sound of ZU speakers but I admire the fact that they do their thing and let the chips fall where they may. So many copy cat products out there that I almost feel like owning at least one pair of ZU's would be worth it just to have something different!
I had the same experience with my Omen Defs. They needed a bunch of setup, and in the end, I loved them.
For me it was break-in. Zus need more than any other new loudspeaker I've ever had. Hours on hours.
@@therealchickentender i left mine on for 3 weeks while I was at work lol
Hi Steve,
I just finished your review of the Soul 6 and found it interesting especially the comparison to your Cornwalls and would like to as usually agree with your take especially the comparison to Cornwalls. I,too, am using Cornwalls driven by a type 45 amp of less than 2 watts out put that does a fine job with the Cornwalls. After over 50 years of being an audiophile who until recently avoided Klipsch products like the plague because of misinformation from high end dealers. Anyway the point of this diatribe is to make a comment. I have found that my Cornwall based system closer to live music than the myriad of high end speakers that I have bought and used. No, they don’t project a razor edged not terribly deep soundstage but neither does live music in most venues. I have probably heard more live jazz than hundreds of your readers. I live in New Orleans and have been here for over 80 years and have day and night had live music exposure practically 24/7 for all these years and have never heard live music so well delineated as a really good system can deliver. Live music in a real space indoors and out never sounds so etched and lifeless as most high end listeners strive for. Live music just isn’t that way. Live music has rhythm, dynamics and tone that I haven’t enjoyed in my music room until it was presented by the Top three speakers that Klipsch produces. Live music is fun and not stiff and tight assed.
Definitely familiar with having to elevate ZU speakers to get the most out of them. Tilting my Dirty Weekend's was okay, but not super satisfying. Then I bought a used pair of Harbeth 40 speaker stands. Now my Dirty Weekends sing!
Thanks for your honest review. I like some of the Zu speakers and I think the DW speakers are a steal for the price. 6k is a bit much for a small coaxial. I think for 6 k you can find many speakers that can out class the Zu soul 6. Sorry, hate to say it, but it's true...
Very honest review. Yet another reason why you’re the best reviewer in the RUclips HiFi space. Thank you Steve!!!
Thanks
The sound of Jim Keltner's drumming on John Hiatt's Bring The Family is pretty amazing. He was into some really creative approaches to rock drumming at that time and it all sounds very live. That album was made over a couple of days with no budget. Also, Nick Lowe was a lot more than Elvis Costello's producer. A handful of his solo albums are pretty essential. Thanks for mentioning the album.
@@keplermission4947 What comment are you replying to? You're on the wrong thread.
@@keplermission4947 I'm talking about musicians and the music they make. Does that even factor into how you feel about listening to your stereo?
This thread evolved quickly!
You're right the drums are ridiculously good on the bring the family album. The short recording timeframe is very interesting, some of the best albums ever are 'of the moment' and massively creative. Another great recommendation from Stevie G:)
And to this dude talkin realistic... Yep they were actually really good. I'm in Ireland and jump on realistic stuff on the rate occasion it comes up. There's loads of brands like that.
@@keplermission4947 also, my neighbor has made loads of albums, only listens to Mission speakers. Has other dubious hifi tastes.
@@peterlarkin762 Thanks Peter. I had some little Realistic Minimus 7s on a spare system about 25 years ago. I liked visiting their stores but I'd never ventured into their electronics other than a passive switchbox for 3 tape decks.
Agreed Great Review!, **UPDATE After 200+ hours of additional burn in and the angle up mod I'm happy again! These ZUs do ROCK!!** I thought it was only me...Treble is lively and there IS tweeter glare which drove me crazy, certain recordings sounded strange. I ran them side by side with VR4 Gen 3s and 2002 AADs using different combinations of 519/332/526/31.5 Levinson gear. Beautiful cabinet BUT I will only use them for my AV system. They are flashy kid speakers and remind me when I had inferior equipment and wanted to just turn it up...I got caught up in the ZU (Great Branding) Hype. I'm going Focal next
So you're sticking with the Zu'w after all? :)
I have the Zu Omen DW's... The Venus II 12th DAC really sounded veiled, as did their Athena preamp. My buddy has been through this, as I bought these speakers from him. He has as much gear in his house as Steve here does. He has multiple $10,000+ amps and preamps on furniture dollies, and multiple everything. His entire house is like a HiFi shop. Well, all of this gear, and he runs these Zu's on a PS Audio Gaincell DAC/Pre and the Parasound A23+ amp, that is it. When I brought those Zu's to my house, they sounded off. I wound up having to lift the front of the speakers a good 1 1/4 inches. It worked. Then I bought a Gaincell and a A23+ amp. The sound is incredible. The KLH Model 5's are going on the block. I am seriously looking at purchasing a pair of their Union 6's.
When you say "these Zu's" that your friend has that he is running with the Parasound, are you referring to the soul 6's? I'm considering getting a pair. As much as I respect Steve's opinion, I don't think he had them fully broken in, as I understand it can take quite sometime.
Hey!,Steve;this what my wife,a math professor ,had to say about your review.Actually about the view.You have circles and squares in your glasses,the speakers,the turntable ,the sound treatments,and your shirt.10 out 10 on continuity!Congrats,I usually get a 1. Doc BC
I think its fair to compare the Zu with the Corwall. They both are high end speakers that are trying to reach the same conclusion of delivering high fidelity audio. However, they employ different design philosophies in getting there. So, as a consumer of hifi products, I find the comparison a very fair deal indeed. Thanks!
Good review.
This speaker is probably not for me but fun to hear about.
Great review 🙂 Thanks for the John Hiatt recommendation. Beautiful album! .. well recorded, not overly produced, good vibes 🎧
Seen John play live more than anyone but GD. Slow Turning is the other full on masterpiece I hope you have discovered, there are at least 6 others that showcase great songwriting.
I'm one of the type of people who you talk about in the intro. I have way too many speakers, but my main desktop speakers are Zu Druid Credenzas that I got in 2010, and have upgraded the drivers in. I also have Zu Cubes above the big screen in my living room. The Zus are here to stay.
I've talked to you at RMAF BTW. Cheers.
Oh, because it's relevant to the review... I run my Zus with a subwoofer. With the Druids I have a stereo pair of Scanspeak Revelators. With the cubes I have a single Scanspeak pointed at the back wall behind the couch. I think a sub really helps balance the sound and improve the perception of fidelity.
Steve, to tame the mids centered around 2.5KHz you could get a half a milli Henry inductor, a 7 ohm resistor, and a 1.5uF non polar capacitor (in series with a 5 ohm resistor), and tie 'em all in parallel to make a mild midband suppression filter. The 5 ohm resistor damps ranging above 7 KHz. The filter is placed between the + terminal of the speaker cable and the + input terminal of the speaker. I've designed the filters for quite a few single full range drivers :)
Love to see a Milk Carton Kids record make it into your review! Their ‘Monterey’ recording is simply gorgeous and a staple in my rotation. Like most of their records, it’s just their two voices and guitars blending together beautifully, but such great ambience on Monterey in particular. Live from Lincoln Center is a blast to listen to… for the great music, of course, but also for Joey’s deadpan humor in between songs.
hey I think I've seen those guys
Awesome suggestion. Love the album. Thanks.
Neil Young's Cinnamon Girl was unlistenable, but "I was never bored".
This review performed it's #1 job of letting me know if these speakers might have a place in my system and my life. It was entertaining. Thanks.
These speakers will disappoint you
Great review - and these speakers sound as fussy for placement, elevation and amp pairing as my Klipsch Forte. While I loved the Forte sound, finding the sweet spot in my room (on 7 inch stands, placed far apart in room corners and pairing the Zen Triode UFO2) took months of experimenting to finally enjoy beautiful long listening non-fatiguing sessions. Lessons learned; I love the set-up, but takes work to get there, and there’s no guarantee you’ll actually get there…
Glad you made it!
This shows how important the speaker placement and room acoustics are, Steve preferred the sound of the Zu speakers at the other side of the room, with much cheaper electronics (amps, turntable, cd player), but worked better with the speakers, great review, thanks.
no actually, the speakers polar response is whats important. and any Zu speaker suck ass at that. they beam like crazy and are very colored overall.
@@keplermission4947 What record company run CD - vinyl dubs?
@@keplermission4947 I know the Decca recording curve is 8dB @10KHz and RIAA is 13.7dB, that meaning a Decca record will sound wee muddy played through RIAA preamps, I don't agree with CD being used as a vinyl master, the 44 sampling messes with the original timbre of the music, I'm all for R-R to vinyl, 80dB DR is still quite darn good
Sounds like a seriously compromised speaker in too many ways. If you are going to design a short floorstander it needs to have good vertical off-axis performance and it shouldn't be so room sensitive and unbalanced. Certainly not for that price.
Many thanks for the honest, nuanced and fair review.
Excellent review! You explained your experiments and the pros and cons of this speaker very well.
If I had to guess, I’d say that the wideband woofer beams in the upper midrange and this makes it sound midrange dominant when listening on axis.
Agreed - I just can't love these: especially for the price. In this range, there are so many traditional, and entry esoteric, offerings that just do most things better. And some cost a fraction of what these cost (heck - including the Zu's own Soul Supreme). Ugh.
Exactly. Which also explains the lack of depth as the balance of direct and ambient sounds is not correct when you get that 2-4kHz plateau. Also, just looking at it you know it's going to sound lean as the cabinet is too small for such a large full range speaker to go low enough.
What should we expect from a whizzer cone and a shiny bass reflex cab?
@@carlitomelon4610 I do have extensive and ongoing experience with full range drivers (Audio Nirvanas - with and without whizzer cones) in bass reflex cabinets and they sound truly impressive in the right size box and with a filter to tame the upper mid glare.
@@gaborozorai3714
Upper mid glare, weak bass and a lack of depth will have me running for the door!
My JBL studio 570s are short for a floor stander and tilting them back improves the soundstage and imaging greatly.
Thanks for the review, Steve. I had high hopes for this speaker. It was on my short list of speakers but I ultimately went with the Spatial Sapphire M3s. I’m not willing to compromise on low end response. Dropping $6k on a speaker that requires the purchase of a sub is a deal breaker for me.
Funny thing is some will argue it is a bargain and performs way above its asking price lol
@@pedrocols I almost bought them. Glad for the almost part.
Great review. Thanks Steve. Super interesting re your thoughts on the characteristics of the Zu speakers. Pairing the speaker to the right amp, room placement and listening angle is important for certain designs.
WHAT DID ROBERT THINK, overall??? I need a more forgiving speaker, myself….
Thanks for the honesty. I'll keep my DynAudio Contour 20s 😍…but THANKS for the music, as always!
Zu knew?
Not sure I would ever tilt my speakers but the finish is beautiful.
Best looking ZU product I have seen. I bought the same REL T5X sub last week. Never heard a ZU that thrilled me.
I almost bought a set of Klipsch RP600’s (on sale) but decided they looked cheap and nasty and would wait until I could afford some Zus. Totally a different animal but both high sensitivity. Imagine my surprise when the Souls didn’t get a great review! I’d hoped for better but as someone else has mentioned one must hear things for ones self. I think it’s going to be a very long time before I can audition some Zus, so perhaps there’s another 100+ sensitivity speaker waiting to be discovered. Thanks Steve for your unbiased viewpoint.
RP600 though, does not have a comparable sensitivity. The claimed 96 dB/W*m is a marketing trick. Real value: 87-88 dB/W*m........
I recently got my Omen DWs. They are simply awesome! In my room they measured nearly exactly to the Harman curve, and were flat to 35hz.
As I listened, I kept thinking that you couldn’t do better for $1200. They are very pleasant sounding, and might have just a touch of the “covered with a thin veil” effect. But that veil is thin, indeed.
@@michaeltuohy1249 Nice! I would actually prefer that situation, " a thin veil" rather than too many veils taken away, and what was under turned out to be slightly ugly and ear piercing...
I do like your videos & relate to your descriptions of sound. We are of similar age & grew up with the same hi-fi around us. I'm 65 now & got into hi-fi through love of music since i left school in 1973 & before with some hand-down gear, a Goldring Lenco idler drive playing through a large valved table radio with "gram" 5 pin Din input, sounded gr8 to me as a s/h 7 inch singles buying kid.
As a young low earner when i left school, i relied on s/h speakers & s/h vintage valve amps which were cheap & plentiful in ad listings & slightly more costly in hi-fi shop that did s/h gear.
My top favourites were a Radford STA25 (4× EL34 for 25watts per channel for about £80 G.B. A Leak TS50 (4xEL34s again) for £100 & Quad II monos (2xKT66 each) which sounded great via Quad ELS 57's which i still have stashed, they cost me £200 for the whole Quad set of amps & ELS 57s but they were just too good to sell for what they went for in early 1980's so i kept them stashed to this day. My s/h Thorens TD 150 with Alphason arm bettered the Goldring t/t & stayed unbeaten for about 10 or 15 years. All those vintage amps & decks now shock me for what prices they fetch on eBay today. £1000 for slightly rusty Quad II's?! Those vintage amps i bought all sounded far better than vintage solid state i tried back then. I ran KEF 3-way Concertos for 20 years. After owning Tannoy 15" DC speakers (stashed now with 1 driver suffering from a concophonous magnet rubbing, i hope to get it fixed some how but spare cones are rare to non existant now. But these Zu speakers look appealing & i long to hear a pair. We had 3 different hi-fi dealerships in the late 70's & onwards & they have all but gone, 1 remains & only does home cinema stuff while the s/h gear i thrived on fetches humongous prices on eBay today so i have stuff to help buy new speakers. All the hi-fi shops that included s/h gear hsve all gone in my nearest city0. They were good days for s/h quality gear until the internet came about. Love your videos, keep up the good work.
Really nice review, and love what you've done with your space!
@@keplermission4947 muppet talk
Thanks for this public service announcement Steve.
Looks like you bent over backwards to like these.
For the price there are some more refined contenders.
I hope you can review the Pearl Acoustics Sebelius. It's a full range driver in a solid oak voight horn...
Designer Harley Lovegrove has a charming RUclips channel.
🎶🙂🎶
Beautiful finish, but $6000 for a 32" box with a single driver and no crossover that has less bass than most bookshelf speakers is highway robbery.
Yeah but even though low IQ audiophiles purchase that soon 🤓👌
Sure is pretty, though, lol.
Too much for that amount ,👎IMO ,🤔. 1000.00- 2 Grand maybe?
Sorry, but you're WRONG. :-) The mirror finish adds $3,000.00 to the price, so it's actually $9,000.00 for the speakers in the review.
YIKES.
Quality not Quantity - my girlfriend always reassures me.
Caveat emptor: I ordered a pair of Omen Dirty Weekends in March but still don’t have them. At first it was because Covid created a shortage of MDF(Medium Density Fiberboard), now it’s because of not having the paint. At this point I would take any color, but my understanding is they don’t have a shortage problem with the Soul, so order them if you can!
I ordered mine in March and finally got them at the end of September.
I suppose my ears are getting trained because I heard the same thing in the mids around 700hrz that hurt my head a bit. I have a small room and was able to get great bass from them. They only weigh 37lbs which is soooo nice to carry upstairs and move them around. I did speak with Zu who said they are going to burn them in longer than 200 hours going forward.
Great review Steve. More like this one please!
I have to work almost that hard to get my 30 year old Infinity Speakers to do their thing, but the result is uniquely sublime, something unobtainable from anything else. I’m not hearing that the reward is worth the effort here - but I bet a true blue ZU fan would state otherwise.
I can relate to the guy who experienced long delays in obtaining a set of Zu speakers being made for him. Same thing happened to me after ordering the Soul Supremes last year. Was taking sooo long, I got of a pair of Magnepan LRS to use in the interim.
Was so impressed with the Maggies-at 1/10 the price of the Zu’s-I cancelled the Zu order.
Now only issue is, I am going through progressively more expen$ive amps to take them to the highest echelon!-currently a Hegel H20. Seems there is no end to how good those little Maggies can sound with quality electronics upstream.
By the way, That spike pictured is an off the shelf hardware store item I used for years. It is deigned to be driven into something like a cinderblock wall with a gun to add a threaded bolt to the wall or floor. Looks like a 1/4" with 20 TPI but I could be off. If you need cheap spikes they are fine but, they are probably not metric so check and if you want to add spikes to your existing speakers that lack spikes, you will need the appropriate threaded nut inserts. Those inserts are not capped so if you install them on your speakers and take the spikes off, you will need to thread something inside like a large set screw to prevent air leaks. DIY Lives!.
As a landlord, I disapprove of spikes into my floors.
@@JohnDoe-np3zk When you get older the marks make a nice non slippery surface.
Wow - this is the closest to a negative review I've seen from Steve in a long time. Thanks for this. Surprised about the poor results with the Decware. Wonder how it would sound with the Elekit TU-8600 (9 wpc 300b amp)??
Yet even perhaps a 6 wpc el34 set amp? High sensitivity and all
Thank you for one more detailed review. Even though for Europeans Zu Audio is for the most die-hard aficionados only as it's simply not price-competitive over here. Distribution has always been a continual coming and going, right now consumer direct import would be the way to go if wou really wanted them.
Yes, I remember tilting back my Large Advents back in 1977. Good times.
Better not try titling them if you’ve stacked them…..
It’s perfectly fair to compare speakers of equal price, regardless of the size.
I dont get why they made them so short unless they intended the listener to be above the tweeter, vs forcing you to put super long spikes on it and such.
I have listened to Zu speakers at 2 major audio shows. I found them to be average sounding and muddy at times. Some of that was the music chosen by Zu founder. I can’t imagine paying $6000 for these speakers
I agree.. Proprietary Eminence woofers that cost them about $400 per pair.. ? 😂
Thanks Steve, I'm a big fan of your show. I'm familiar with the positioning issues of smaller floorstanding speakers. I use Tannoy DC-2000 speakers in my system which also have the dual concentric tweeter-woofer driver and are about the same height of the Zu Soul VI. It also took me some time to optimise the speaker settings, but once in position they we're so very musical...
Great job Steve 👍. Living large I just love it. Your reviews are fun. Greg
The speakon is a great Connector, used mostly in pro audio, but has audiophile results. Also it is not that expensive.
For that price...
On another note you should hear the screeching noise that Sean Casey listens to on his own speakers. I just don't get it.
Like the font on outro.
This is the company I have been looking at to replace my Energy Veritas I've had forever.
Woohoo that’s my system. Is what I hope to see as the number one comment when mine may or may not make an appearance lol
Steve appreciate your honesty..Had the DW's for about 3 months know. to me sound better the my JBL's and Wharfedale's. More detail and alive sounding. totally get there heavy on the mod-range. i dialed 960 and 1.6K back 1 1/2 db and it took the voices from being in front to behind the speakers definitely improved the depth of the soundstage. the width is better then both speaker past. Still working on the Bass. i have a sub but want to dial in the Zu's first been playing with the footers currently around 3/8 with a little tilt back down to 1/4. seems to be the best so far. and yes my couch is on the low side. If anyone else has suggestions on the footers? My understanding the higher you go Bass starts getting muddy around the lower mid-range and you lose details which I cant part with.
Yeah, it turns out that compared to the older models, all they did was make the ports at the bottom wider, which Supposedly helped bass a lot.
But still, for a 10" full range, it should be enough to fill a room with a low bottom end. 32 " is just a little too short, in my opinion.
Yes, tilting with make a difference, but they aren't designed to have one side of the port shut off due to the speaker touching the floor on a tilt.
I was going to pull the plug on them in the DMX range for some £1500 but is hard to find an honest review on them as most were around the time of launch and all seemed to only be saying good things It's my opinion. Every speaker has got its negative or can do better.
I know a great deal of channels do get paid or leant or given items to promote or even links to sell taking a small cut.
This channel seems very different on the matter, big positive for me
I was only going to buy the DMX because of the good full range and lows. I expect more from two 10" large-ish boxes.
But I guess it's a lot for one driver to handle.
Guess I'm going to have to demo, which in Britain means travelling, as there aren't many dealers and none of sale second hand at all here
Very cool system of the day!
Thanks for turning me on to John Hiatt and The Milk Carton Kids!!!!!
As I remember there was a Brit speaker that didnt use a crossover either back in the 80s. Epos I believe was the brand.
Correct
Ohhh I want a pair of Zu's sofa king bad! Damn this hobby for being so expensive, lol!
Cant wait for the Zu Dominance, and what ppl gotta say bout em.
is that the sofa king on rte. 6?
My DW6 are epic !🎉❤😊
I have had the same ADS M12s for decades and want to finally upgrade and that is not easy thing to figure out in this day and age... Zu sounds like an interesting brand though, just not sure they would be for me. I should try to hunt a set down to listen to. Even with a 100% return policy that can still be a bit of work.
the price we pay
Thanks for the honesty. Sounds like I’d hate it.
A couple of years ago ya did a piece on hearing protection. My question is do you use them while demoing speakers?
Ok that’s it! I’m going to start visiting Thrift Stores for Speakers 😂
i have the same bass problem with my omen def. i have solved problem with two rel t9i
Be interesting to hear if the Decware worked better as monoblocks.
honest review dude.
I have the MKII DWs and really like the Zu sound esp. with Pass Labs amp (INT-25) and CD front end similar to Steve's (Jay's + Pontus II), as well as high end vinyl. I prefer the form factor of the DWs so would probably go with Union 6s if I decide to upgrade. I have no issue with the treble and in my room I get ample bass down to the high 30Hz. If anyone reading this has done the DW to Union 6 upgrade I'd appreciate your views.
I've "angled down" my Elac FS507 also so the tweeter points stright to my ears.
At the price point of 6K for the Soul VI speakers, I’m not sure it’s good value compared to many speakers at around the same price point. The finish on the cabinets is beautiful. Seeing the spikes fully extended on the front looked odd to achieve some bass which gives the impression the speaker design didn’t make it’s mark. They are a nice looking speaker, however, it’s not the right sound for me. Excellent truthful review.
thanks, The tall spikes weren’t used to produce more/deeper bass; the spikes helped imaging and tonal balance.
I have a pair of Zu Omen Dirty Weekends and am happily driving them with an single, stereo-mode, Nelson Pass Amp Camp Amp I built to fill the gap until my Decware SE84UFO order filters to the top of their huge backlog. I hope Steve’s poor experience with the Zen Triode/Soul VIs does not extend to the Dirty Weekends.
I doubt it, the Soul has a different driver than the dirty weekend. How they react to amplifiers will be different
Thanks, Steve. As always a quality review. This time I especially appreciated it because I’m eager to try the Omen Dirty Weekends. Too bad about supply-chain though, for now. Capital Audio Fest?
You will love the DW’s. I have 5 pairs of speakers including Magnepan’s, B&W, Klipsch, Infinity, and DW’s. It’s fun having the DW’s… very lively and amazingly well crafted.
Do you find the Dirty Weekends very sensitive to placement?
When I swapped in the ZU rubber footers from the metal ones the Dirty Weekends ship with the base improved exponentially for me on wood floors. I t was mind blowing for me. I would be interested to hear your opinion after using the their rubber footers
@@keplermission4947 your wrong
@@keplermission4947 haha brand new, and actually have nothing to prove. But you should take the time to review zu’s claims about the footers. Perhaps even try them yourself, in certain spaces they make a huge difference.
@@mckinleyparkbikes things like that can make a huge difference. It's called coupling. For the love of hifi gods never listen to anyone else's opinions, they don't posses your ears.
@@peterlarkin762 Yes, and an open mind.
Hi Steve,
Could you please compare the Soul VI to the Dirty Weekends. I have had my DWs for about 3 months and can say the more I listen to them the more I enjoy them. Do you think an upgrade to the Soul VI is worth all the trouble of returning the DW and the cost ?
FYI, I have a McIntosh C-49 and MC-152 with a Denafraps DAC to power the DW
Thanks,
Gary
Ill help you out here steve, i believe your tryin to say the dirty weekends or earlier omens are a better speaker, which i could probably understand having owned those before.
Hey it's the new Zu review, commin' right at you!
Wow.... I hadn't heard THAT tune in my head for like 40 years!!
a proffesional review
I was at that The National concert. The reason they played Boxer completely is they wanted to give something special to the Belgian fans because they cancelled 2 concerts a year before to go and play an event for Barrack Obama. They even mention Michele between songs. I like their albums, but I love seeing them play live.. so that was a great night!😀
Thinking they would sound better in Electric Blue.
They would have to... it's only up from here.
Thanks for the video! Full range drivers are great for solo saxophone or solo female vocals. If you are interested in more complex sounds, especially classical music, good luck with the intermodulation distortion when playing a tuba and a violin with the same membrane. I can recognize the sound of such speakers of any brand before I enter the room. The comments in the end just confirm my suspicions about these ones, too.
VHF radio waves are sometimes affected by an unusual form of ionosphere propagation called "Sporadic E".
Steve, really enjoyed the video and your input. I was originally excited when Zu released the Souls VI. However, after watching your video, I'm not sure they would be a good match for my system. I am also considering the Klipsch Forte IV. I currently have two Decware UFO2's set up as mono blocks. So double the power to about 6 watts per channel. My room is mid-size 19'x13x12 (LxwxH). So I think I would avoid the bass issues you encountered before you moved the Zu's. However, based on your comments about the Decware/Zu combo, thinking the Fortes may be the way to go. You also tested the Fortes. What do think would be the better speaker-amp marriage with the Decware UFO2?
Darko gave the Zu product of the year FYI.
Forte > Zu
I HATE when companies price things at, for example, "$5999.00/pr". Every time I see pricing like that, I feel like companies are saying, "Hey you...ya' big, gullible dummy! It's not 6 grand...it's closer to 5 grand!". I mean c'mon...just price them at 6 grand and be done with it.
There's been much research done on this human quirk. Those of us retailers that reviewed said research came to a different conclusion than yours: We appreciated that they valued every penny they spent!
@@danielwilliams1921 if it was $4.99 or $5 that might be true , but anyone spending $6000 doesnt give a damn.
I too, feel insulted by the xx99 price trick. We should also banish pennies!
@@patthewoodboy Research says you’re wrong. But, whatever.
Pricey little speaker................Looks nice, but, Ill take your Klipsch Heritage Cornwall IV.
I own a pair of the Omen 2 bookshelf speakers AND Omen 2 floorstanding speakers. My experience: incredible build quality, incredible midrange and upper range and lively sounding. However, my experience is that these speakers do not have enough low end bass to satisfy listeners like me. However, I own 2 different pairs of speakers, why? When I was reading + watching reviews, no one reviewer mentioned the real lack of bass (my opinion). So I bought the bookshelf and quite liked it but wanted bass so bought the floorstander and there was maybe 20% more bass. It still wasn't much bass. The Omen 2 is an entry level model, so it is possible that Soul VI has more bass (and I have not heard Soul VI). I simply wanted to bring up the lack of low-end heft in my experience. Again, this speaker is premium (and I purchased mine custom with a beautiful glossy automotive finish) and performs well overall. I'm not selling my Zu's! I have just come to accept that I am going to buy a sub to go with them. Thanks Steve!
That's interesting...... I often thought an ideal pairing would be the Bookshelfs sitting on 12" stereo subs, crossed over at 80-100 Hz.
I have to stop you ten minutes in. Aphex is a legend. I’m so pleased and happy to hear you mention him and his work on a review. God I’ve been listening to him for about 20 years now. Isn’t aisatsana just such a beautiful track. I don’t have as much experience with his newer stuff than I do with some of his older material but wow I’m my books he’s a legend. Also, amazing review I love your honesty and the way you describe everything and I also love your cornwalls. Man it would be pretty awesome if you did a review or even just a listen and a how you feel about the rf7iiis my personal speaker. Cheers!!!
Steve keeps on showing his fine taste in music!
Aphex twin must be tried by anyone with a good hifi. What that syro album can do to speakers is ridiculous.
Also check out early 'ambient works' albums.
@@peterlarkin762 yes I’m more familiar with those works. But anything he makes is god like.
Massive massive legend. Steve should spin some Analord vinyls on his system(s) to hear that organic warmth and punch
Yes tilting back is always a good thing generally, what degree of angle did you tell that up it looks quite severe? another thing you could try putting it on a crate lined with foam with foam baffles increase the bass output
I think better approach would have been a bass driver in the bottom and the main driver in a closed chamber.
Anybody in the UK south east got a pair would like to listen.
Did you say $9,000 just way too much $2000 maybe and that's pricey! you better off buying the seas CX871 for $1,600 much better speaker being a coaxial transmission line three-way from midisound .
Steve, is that an IKEA chopping board under your Technics? It does work wonders as a decoupling platform, doesn’t it. I painted mine gloss white and added damping feet. 😊
Steve, could you please compare everything you review with the equipment I currently have? It would make my life so much easier!
Great idea!
Steve, you need to check the sensitivity spec and then watch John DeVore's rant on sensitivity :)
I recently had the same revelation about John Hiatt's Bring the Family. Not a bad cut cut on it. This group of musicians worked so well that they became Little Village for one album.
thanks Steve
I love these videos but, MY GOD, what we hear is SO subjective. It’s only fair to hear these things for yourself...or buy on instinct. The content is the hook for me.
True, same as it ever was. Too bad consumers just about killed off brick and mortar
Consumers? No. Big tech.
@8 ohms- I would imagine a pair of Aeger Monoblocks would push them nicely.
The only way these could sound as "reviewed" is if they were wired out of phase. Yes I do own a pair of them and have Soul Supreme's currently. Surely Steve should have contacted the manufacturer to take professional advice.
The thing about the ports on the bottom of Zu speakers is that they are not really bass reflex speakers. The ports are designed to be aperiodic vents, and the net effect is that the sound that comes from the main driver is that of a sealed speaker that does not have pressure variations vacillating between low and high depending on the position of the cone relative to the neutral at rest position. So they are even more natural and neutral sounding than sealed speakers or bass reflex. Like your friend, I do not see me trading mine in the near future, maybe not even the far?
I disagree. Check the impedance graphs published by Zu themselves. It clearly says they behave like bass reflex and not at all like aperiodic. I know Zu says otherwise in product description, which is misleading.
@@super-z8943 I agree after working with them for quite a while now. The bass performance is improved by adding a foot under the speaker and using that to tune the port. This is what Zu has done with the new Omen Def.