An untamed room and a vivid speaker...


I ordered the Zu Omen DW Mk II in February and I've been working with it for about two months after the sets arrive in March. I've run it with two solid-state and one tube amp.

The room is difficult: 

A 46" high, by 71" wide window on the NORTH side

A 7'10" wide triple glass set of closet doors on the WEST side, reaching almost halfway along the wall. 

A fireplace on the EAST wall. 

I have one speaker on each side of the fireplace. 

The ceiling slopes up from the fireplace wall, from 8' to 10.5' on the WEST wall. Gerrit at Zu explained that the ceiling is probably adding a bit of a horn effect to the setup. 

The experience is that piano notes and vocals have much too much edge/glare, making the speaker impossible to comfortably listen to for more than a short time. Actually, I can hear the notes sparking my nerves fairly quickly.

My old Klipsch bookshelf speakers, placed carefully on top of the Zu's have some of this glare, but not nearly as much.

My experiments:

I have covered the opening of the fireplace with a thick blanket. I've placed inexpensive sound insulation panels (these are insulfoam type pieces I bought at the home depot)) behind the speakers. I've played with toe-in, moving them from directly facing the listening to position to straightforward. 

Right now, I've got an old twin mattress up against the middle door of the closet. I've got the left side of the closet exposed so the sound is directed into the clothing. So, there is maybe a two-foot section of the exposed glass door leading into the northwest corner.

I'm just trying to see if I can do anything to cut the glare. I have had very little success. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!
listening99

Showing 2 responses by listening99

I worked with the speakers for several hours this weekend.

I aimed them to cross in front of me, padded the floor, tipped them back a bit. Adjusted them back out a bit, back in, back out, back in, you know how it goes...

Improvement was seemingly in evidence with some songs, but anything with serious textures left me with mud in my ears. A nearfield setup was probably the best. I'm at the end of the sixty-day trial period offered by Zu, so ordering panels and buying software aren't in the cards. 

The speakers do so many things right, so I'm hoping this final setup - nearfield - does the job. I find that I think I've got it figured out only to come back later in the day, or the next morning to find the 'mud' in my ears.

Thanks for the ideas, which taught me a thing or two about how to work with speakers, even if I haven't really achieved the goal with the Dirty Weekends.
@djones51 I appreciate the push. I'm there. I've done everything I can with what I have. Not interested in spending hundreds on professional treatments and the like. The Klipsch bookshelf speakers have never sounded so good in comparison to the head shearing and muddiness I'm experiencing from the Zu's. It's a disappointment because the DW's do so many things right. Amazing soundstage and some of the songs come through so vividly and beautifully, but I (obviously) can't depend on a few standout pieces to carry me. 

I just made yet another adjustment with the same mixed results as before... Wish I had another room where these could work, but I do not...

Thanks, everyone.