I almost bought a pair of Zu Omen speakers

SETs are great for rock music as long as you have them paired with the right and efficient enough speakers. That "no audiophile" guy does hate just about everything, though most of the stuff he reviews are super cheap desktop speakers so that's to be expected ... he even bagged on everybody's sweetheart the ELAC designed by Andrew Jones . Interestingly enough he did really like the JBL LSR305.

The Zu and Tekton are plenty efficient to play rock on a SET amp, though I've never heard either brand long enough to form a definitive opinion on them.

 

[QUOTE="
That "no audiophile" guy does hate just about everything, though most of the stuff he reviews are super cheap desktop speakers so that's to be expected ... he even bagged on everybody's sweetheart the ELAC designed by Andrew Jones . Interestingly enough he did really like the JBL LSR305.[/QUOTE]


He makes me laugh. His attitude is funny.

 

for the Zu Omens, i was thinkking if a change in the front end would help them to play rock well
the specs say max power handling is 200W but yet i have read the comment "you can never have enough power"
so does that means i can feed the Zu Omens with say my Classe CA400 (400W x 2) n not damage the drivers by over loading them?

 

With the exception of playing the speakers at extremely high SPLs, there isn't really any risk to damaging the drivers with a very high power amp. It is under-powering speakers that is the real danger.

 

lol.... in tis case, i shd buy the Zu Omens n get them to rock with my Classe pushing them.......
guy is selling 1/2 price he got for them n in very good condition, so its a pretty attractive offer.

 

Of course one downside of high powered amps and highly sensitive speakers is that you will likely have to run your volume control near the bottom of its travel. Most analog volume controls (potentiometers, excepting very expensive ones) do not work their best at the lowest settings -- L/R balance begins to suffer for example. You might have trouble finding a comfortable listening level.

 

ok, thanks for the note of caution. for my case, when i had the PMC OB1s, i could drive them hard with my Classe amp
and volume can go to 11 oclock (zero at 7 oclock). but now with the Dali Ikon 6 Mk2s as they are 90dB sensv,
the volume knob is never beyond 9 oclcok. if i push the volume beyond this level, i found the sound becomes "shouty" from the Dalis.
is tis a case of the speakers being over driven?

 

I've got the Omen Defs and use a B$k st 140. The speakers are great for well recorded rock music. The omens, imo, really reveal poor recordings. The Scorpians Blackout is well recorded however their late 80's and 90's stuff sounds sqauashed.

Bass is great imo opinion. However, my amp is a bit more bassy than some others. I do have an eq to help with poorly recorded tracks.

 

the Omens original is priced at US999 while the rest of the models range from $2k-4k+
i remember reading in one forum, someone mentioned not to bother with the Omens
as they do not adequately give a good representation of the Zu house sound. is this a fair statement?

 

He makes me laugh. His attitude is funny.[/QUOTE]

His attitude is ridiculous - I think the one speaker he liked was the BOSE 901 and that was surely to thumb his nose at everyone else. but I do like his reviews as they are involved.

Beowulf - I have not heard a pair of highly efficient speakers with a SET amp for rock, I assumed they would not be that good but I could easily be wrong, will have to add that to my list of things I need to hear.

 

I have two pair of Zu's (neither are Omens). Rock is not a problem. At all.

That said, being a Zu owner has made me a big believer in synergy, and from unlikely sources. I'm not familiar with the amp/preamp the OP auditioned with, but if you have the ability to audition a few different amps (and they need not be pricey) with the Omens, I think you will be surprised in a good way.

 

Googled that term. Now my skin's crawling

 

Hi John.

Yes, they're a bit special, and respond well to first-rate electronics upstream. It's unlikely you'll hear T-Bone Walker's guitar or John Lennon's voice sound better at anywhere near this price point.

Best regards,

Robert Martellaro

 

One would think low power tube amps + high efficiency speakers = bliss. None the less I found Tektons being discussed a lot in threads about the Crown XLS series amplifiers with their prodigious power output, especially if bridged. Some folks really want to party out and break windows. The Zu Omen isn't for a wide range of listeners. A few will fall in love with it, but it will never see widespread distribution.

 

If I was gong for a pair of Zu speakers I would not start out at anything less than the Souls and then go up from there. If you can find a used pair I think they are the in the sweet spot of their lineup and offer the best bang.

The Omens are a 2 way with a cap on the tweeter and the Souls (basic Souls) are coaxial with a cap on the tweeter as well. I'm not sure if Omega Loudspeakers or Lamhorns ever pop up where you're at, but those would be some competitive alternatives to the Zu's and give that very coherent sound you mentioned with the Fostex.

 

Not true

 

could be those few i heard so far did not do well as a preamp and the sound was rather bland n lifeless.
there may be better passive preamps out there, perhaps some can share about these.

 

agree about the Zu series... some gut feel also tells me not to proceed with the Omens but to look for the higher models in the series. Singapore has no agent for Zu speakers, the next are Malaysia, Vietnam and Hong Kong, and all three i have wrote to them about Zu speakers and what they stock but none replied till date.

i have also done some read into the Tekton speakers, they are also quite a draw, especially the Double Impact receiving raving reviews in various forums. i have also written to Tekton US to check for shipping charges for 1 pair to Singapore. based on their weight, 102 lbs, i forseee shipping will not be cheap.

 

The Tekton, while I'm sure they have their strengths, but with that many drivers are a totally different animal altogether.

Just a thought but there are Australian dealers for Omega Loudspeakers and possibly Zu as well. Quite a bit closer to you thanUSA dealers.

 

yes, if i may say, the Tekton Double Impacts with the 7 tweeter array look ususual, for looks the Impact is much more appealing
with the grille off.

u will be surprised shipping charges from Australia is many a time more costly than that from US. maybe
there are less freighters over there n they set the prices??

 

And the Pens with their two woofers and three tweeters look almost normal as compared with Double Impacts. Having a dog the notion of a driver near the floor freaks me out. I use the grills for protection and remove them for serious listening. I imagine I can hear a difference. I may be wrong, though. I also imagine I hear differences between weight and no weight on the TT. But the peace of mind the grills provide around a 75 pound dog is very real!

 

when i had the Yamaha NS1000Ms, the 12 inch woofers were about 3 inches from the floor. i tried to put them on higher stands
but i found the bass thined out... so they were back to 3inches from floor level. grills are a must as i hv a 3yr toddler running
around in the house with very inquistive fingers.

 

According to Eric the Pendragons sound best with 100-200W/RMS per channel. That gives you the "jump Factor" while playing rock music. SET amps probably good for classical, folk and jazz at lower SPL.

Yes, Tektons are high efficiency but system matching needs to address the type of music you listen to.

 

I have Omen 1Bs and Definition 4s. Zu speakers are amp dependent or should I say dependent on the upstream components. My Def 4s changed character for the better with some NOS Tungsol 6550s in a McIntosh MC60 setup. Went from punchy and a little forward to very well balanced, very musical.
But to address the OPs matter, the Omens will rock. I run a Peachtree integrated with a NAD M55 CD player as source. Sean Casey at Zu makes no claim for the Omens being an audiophile speaker, but to say they will rock would be accurate.
The Def4s are obviously in another league. They have a good bit more charm and their capabilities to rock are limited only by the ability of the room to handle them or the degree of isolation you have achieved for your turntable.

 

the Zu agent in Malaysia has responded that they have only the Zu Soul Supreme in stock n sells for US3380
and will do a land delivery for US98. i have not read into this model yet, so i cannot say if these will be a good one
to go for and also if the ask price is reasonable.