Crossover-less Speakers

>>10-02-07: Mrtennis
i have heard zu speakers several times at ces. what is the big deal<<

Good point Mrt.

I read a lot of reviews and for the life of me will never understand the ineptitude of some reviewers.

Know what I mean?

"10-02-07: Mrtennis
i have heard zu speakers several times at ces. what is the big deal ? the overall sound seems to be to emphasize the treble. they are very unforgiving.
Mrtennis (Threads | Answers) "

And you never will get the deal, so what? I owned panels, horns, trans lines, Line arrays, Sub sat systems.. Hi efficiency, Low efficiency.. Whatever.. Guess what your music taste, or what you need does not demand the attributes of a Zu speaker or any other than a low output Electrostat speaker, so be it. But trust me with many of the recordings I have I expect very real, very visceral impact and Zero Breakup with dynamic and low level details. So most of the speakers I hear are veiled, Or are Two thinned out and "Live" sounding, or simply can't keep up.. Here is the exact point where Zu bridges the gap closer than any other from one extreme of Panels or Ribbons, to the other extreme of horns..

A current review below on the new Quad ESL's, and exactly why they might be great for somebody looking to get a recording to sound nice, but not for somebody looking for limitless expectations to cover everything. Just realize your different in that your requirements simply make you different, but that does not mean others don't understand your world, you just don't seem to necessarily understand theirs, so whos at a disadvantage here in the end? Bottom line why the big deal about Zu?

Because when push comes to shove they can run circles in many areas around other " acoustic transducers " I am not putting this in for argument sake, but I am simply answering your question. By the way most people do not require EXTREME extension like a concert venue, so be it, but for those that want that capability in home.. Well thats Zu's market not yours. Their are many fine speakers, but finding the one with as close to everything as possible sometimes is more important to one over the other.

"The ESL 2905 does not like loud music. If you don't either, you're in business. At about 98dB/1 meter, the 2905 thinks it's time to close shop and shut down. As sound pressure builds up towards this 98dB threshold, there's a terrible sonic fallout at first. It's like a damaged CD where samples fail. If you ignore these early warnings and fail to immediately turn down the volume, the Quad protection system will taker over and shut you down. Too bad, you've played too loud. However, a German magazine documented that using 5 ESLs in a surround setting can produce enough SPLs to blow your mind or eardrums."

Eldartford, it would be easier if you had the series II 901s, which were essentially an acoustic suspension design with the rolloff set at about 6db/octave starting at around 200Hz. The boost at 30Hz was about 20dB! I was driving those with a HK Citation 16 in circa 1976. pipe organ recordings drove the HK to 200watts easily and the speakers responded nicely!
The low frequency curve on the newer 901s is more complicated since the design is now a complicated vented design. there is also some high frequency compensation.

in my opinion, the zu speakers are imbalanced, i.e., bright.

if you like headaches, listen to the zu speakers for a while.

as to quads, the current generation is more inaccurate timbrally than the original esl.

again, it is a matter of taste, but zu cable and speakers are bright.

i have auditioned the cable in myn own system, but not the speakers.

i don't like to suffer. for those who do, buy the zu speakers.

Inpepinnovations...Yes..the small sealed box aspect of the original Bose 901 was an important element of the design. Most speaker designers try to get the resonant frequency of their driver/box down as low as possible. Prof. Bose noted that if you push the resonant frequency the other way, up, (and 200 Hz sounds familiar) the roll-off below resonance, although steep, is very smooth and can be effectively corrected by electronics.

The resulting requirement for a high power amp was the downfall of this design. I assume that the present-day 901
which is vented also has a high resonant frequency, although, as you say, this is more complicated than a simple "too small" sealed box.