this is a great thread, so far.
@hilde45
Really depends on your priorities. Zu is basically a single driver speaker, and as such has the pros and cons of such a design. they are big sounding, toneful, and coherent. I do feel they are a little "raw" sounding and gruff with male vocals - think Johnny Cash more of a bass than a baritone. But if coherency is your top criteria than I’d hear them or the Cube Audio Nenuphar. I also don’t think classical is their strong suit. But I think Sean is a brilliant designer and would happily own Druid VIs again.
Devores are a more refined sounding Zu in many respects. They have an exceptional tweeter that is extended but doesn’t draw attention. Very dynamic as well, although not quite full bore as Zu. Both are have vibrant midranges that catch the essence of vocals. The Devore weakness (particularly the Os) is in the bass - he tunes his cabinets depending on frequency. You either love it or not. I loved the Gibbon Xs which had the best bass of the bunch, but were more modern sounding (soundstage, imaging, etc.) than Zu.
I leapt to Fyne really as an upgrade to Devore and joke they are Devore on steroids. the F1s are more coherent, bigger sounding (well my F1s at least) and have very very articulate, deep bass for a ported design. they may lose a bit of treble clarity to Devore but not by much. More coherent design than Devore being a 2-way as well. The Fyne is considerably more modern sounding than a Tannoy with far better bass - I actually like modern point source soundstaging and imaging which they do very well. But they do so with tremendous presence and life. The Fyne weakness is they aren’t SET friendly, despite the efficiency. Or at least not compared with Zu or Devore O. I’ve been down the SET path before, tried 16 different amps/topologies on Zu and don’t feel the need for the second harmonic explosion and unacceptable bass. Others feel the opposite which is cool. 20 watts push pull or 50 watts class A SS to me is the best of both worlds.
