Heresy IV vs Zu DW6/Soul mk2

Lack of deep bass is actually a plus, I’m in a townhouse and those lower notes seem to slip past walls more easily. I have a 45watt push pull tube integrated so all set there as well.  I’ll check out the Volti’s never heard of them, they seem to resemble the Forte.  I definitely don’t want listener fatigue though. I’ve heard conflicting reports on Klipsch.  I have hard wood floors with a large area rug, coffee table and sectional leather couch to soak up extra treble, but my current speakers are soft domes so fatigue was never an issue, I’m not sure how other speakers will respond 

I heard the Zu’s and was kinda disappointed.  I loved the way they looked but they sounded much different then I was expecting.  Very raw and lacking in refinement. Almost like older car speakers from the 80’s/90’s. I’m going to see if I can test the Heresy’s this weekend but my expectations aren’t too high now. I’m not sure if I’m a high sensitivity speaker fan.  It’s probably just a negative first impression, and I’m not sure I gave the Zu’s enough time but I tried several types of music and nothing hit home. Oh well it was still fun trying new stuff. Hopefully I’ll come across another pair at some point but as for now they are out. 

I was able to audition the Heresy IVs and was pleasantly surprised. I had it in my head at the time for some reason that high sensitivity speakers would sound similar to each other and that is definitely not the case. The Heresys are nothing like the Zu’s aside from both being efficient. The Heresys are much more detailed and refined and closer to what I was looking for. I think if you described the Zu’s as presenting an A shaped response curve, focusing on the midrange while rolling off the highs and lows, the Klipsch would be more like a hockey stick, with a flatter response across the mids and highs and rolled off bass. I guess the difference comes down to how they gain efficiency, with the Zu’s not needing crossovers and the Klipschs using horn loading. I think I greatly prefer the horn approach, but I can appreciate how some people prefer the simplicity of a single driver design (I know the Zu has a tweeter but the driver is full range). It’s a bit like SET vs Push Pull tubes. There Heresy’s are not a perfect speaker by any means, but I feel that’s covered by the Dynaudio Heritage. The Heresys should be a perfect compliment for when I’m looking for something different. Hopefully the attributes of one will help me appreciate the attributes of the other and vice versa.

So a bit of an update- I was able to find a pair of Forte IV’s locally and so far they are absolutely amazing, except for one issue. I’ll get the bad news out of the way- I got my first neighbor sound complaint in over two years within the first 5 minutes of turning them on. I’m a little gun shy now on their dynamic range, its truly impressive and nothing like traditional speakers. Other then that they are exactly what I was looking for. They were too overpowering in the office, but perfect for my living room, and still great for HT despite no longer having a center channel. I don’t think I’ll miss it though, these have terrific imaging. I’m thrilled with these horns and the Forte IV. Its a different approach to high sensitivity compared to Zu with a very different result.