Zu Dirty Weekend 6 went on sale today

One of the questions I'd like to ask is do they play big?  I know they will play loud but when you are in your listening position playing at a reasonable volume....say under 85 db, do they project a big sound, which for me, help music to sound more lifelike.

@snapsc Zus are fantastic at imaging and sounding bigger than they are.

@bourbonkernel

Played some more with them today.

The Zu house sound is all there. The dynamic sound is there. That live attack is there. There ability to be spatial is there. I went through everything and they handle all music pretty well.

There’s something that just isn’t connected down low very well. The bass is marginally better than my Polk RTi6’s bookshelves that are mounted in the corner. Yes, the polks are cheating because they have the walls that help them "beat" but for some reason the Zu’s low end isn’t extending to the ground as much as I would like.

Maybe it’s false expectations, but I was expecting to have to dial BACK the bass on my PMA800NE amp. What I’m wanting to do is to dial UP the bass. So something isn’t quite right. I’m not a believer in EQ because it always seems to color the sound in ways I don’t like.

Depending on the cartridge, my volume knob is 35-40%, listening at 92db peaks. So listening fairly loud.

I moved them out into the room several feet and bass response didn’t improve. I have them backed up to front wall (a few inches away) and they seem to like that. Of coarse placing them in the corners improves bass, but the imaging gets affected. So about 2’ from the side walls is about what they like with some slight toe-in. They like to be wide apart rather than narrow.

I brought out my little Class D amp just to take the Denon out of the equation. Didn’t improve bass response, so it’s not the Denon being weird.

I’m definitely happy with them, but the low end and connectiveness feels underwhelming. It’s strange feeling like I need a sub, when many of the reviews I’ve been reading counter that.

My listening area is about 18’ wide and about 25’ deep. So nothing out of the ordinary there.

You can click here to see where I’m at right now:

I’ve been A/Bing my Polks (you can see them on the photo) and definitelly the Zus are more fun to listen to. Comparing Zus and Polk RTi6s is pretty silly, but it’s amazing how much the Zus all of sudden make it feel like I have a tube sound (the sound is far warmer and organic) where the Polks sound flat. Everything about the Polks now sound flat, the imaging, the depth, the highs, etc.

The Zus are definitely "live" speakers. They "attack" very well. Definitely no issue with harshness at all. They are NOT "background sound" speakers. You wouldn't want to play them at higher volumes and be able to hold conversations with people, lol 

@snapsc 

I agree with @fendersrule in sounding like a large speaker. Especially once you get the peaks up over 80db. The play softly well enough but seem to come alive in my system at that volume.  Good recordings can have a very wall of sound effect. This also happens to be about where I listen most of the time.  These speakers will definitely play LOUD  

Perhaps I’m getting better bass from mine due to my listening space being small (about 12x17 and just a simple rectangle in shape with 8’ ceilings and area rug on hardwood).  I think I found a good balance for mine about 8” from back wall and about ~2/2.5’ from sidewalls.  You may be correct about them imagining better in less bass friendly positions. I haven’t done much super critical listening for sound staging. I certainly prioritized balanced bass and treble response over staging in the short time I spent positioning these speakers. 
 

Also I’d just give them some time to play in. Like we already talked these seem to take some time to really bloom. 

We have our speakers in the same place! Mine is about 8" from the back wall and about 26"-28" from the side wall. They seem to be very happy there!

Yep, the more I listen to them the more I am really really loving them. As far as I’m concerned, those polks can come down. :)

I think you’re right about the break in. I feel like they’re already kicking off more low end the more I play them.

Zu was really cool. They took me through the facility. Like I mentioned I almost ran over Sean as I was backing in, lol. We chatted for awhile. Really awesome small-family place. Everyone that worked there loved what they were doing. So friendly and awesome to talk with. They had me inspect my speakers before and boxed them in-front of me. I saw their break-in room. They don’t break in completed speakers, they break in drivers only. So once those are broken in they assemble and package. This is possibly why as a complete assembled unit they could use a few hundred hours to really settle in.

They also surprised me and had some left over rustic hickory as I mentioned. They don’t build the cabs onsite as some other facility locally does that. To my understanding they finish and assemble.

Here’s a couple pics of the finish. It’s flawless and possibly the best finishing work Zu has ever done.

https://ibb.co/tBvfqnY

https://ibb.co/Jc427v5

Been listening all day. Threw on Synchronicity and man...I feel like the bass is starting to extend deeper.

So yea, I think break-in really is a thing....and this is only the first day!

25 x 18 is a pretty large space. I’m not surprised you are slightly underwhelmed with the bass extension. Makes perfect sense to me.

@fendersrule ​​​​​​

Everybody talks about how Zu speakers  sounds "live" and "being there" . Guess I'm stupid,  but sounds live how?  As being at a rock concert where they are using PA-speakers,  or a acoustic gitarr and song without amplification in a church,  or like listning to a jazzband in a small club or a symphonic orchestra in a concert hall...?
Please enlighten me. 

@fendersrule 

What @ozzy62 said. Your vaulted ceiling and large room makes it a tougher space for the low frequencies to fill. Your listening area volume is waaaay more than mine. 
 

Here’s a quick shot. These speakers have plenty of low end in my small space.  You’re a good candidate for a sub.  I’d love to add a Zu sub eventually just for silly bass but I don’t need one. I’ve considered getting a sealed SVS as well.

@fendersrule ​​​​​​

They look very nice. How much for that finish? 

Also @fendersrule thats a very solid record collection. Mad props. 

@simna It’s like $299 or whatever for the hickory. It used to come standard but now Zu is charging for it. Perhaps there some more sanding involved in the finish between coats vs the black.

@bourbonkernel Yea, the damn record collection keeps growing. I’ll need to build another shelf soon. I’ve already had to store many records in other rooms (not pictured).

Yeah, my space is a tough space for low frequencies. As mentioned, I was cheating with my polks by having them up in the corners (as pictured). This created kind of a "boombox" bass sound that wasn’t necessarily bad. Now that "boombox" sound is away and I’m left with perceptively "different" bass. Cleaner, more refined bass, but perceptually I suppose I was expecting a bit more.

Yea, I may have to do the sub thing. I built a sub for my home theater room...could probably build another. They are honestly the most easiest and forgiving speaker to build.

Either way, this is a keeper purchase! Really happy with them. So much more depth and "analogue-ish" sound that comes out of them. 

It’s now making me wonder if my PMA-800NE is the best solid state amp to use. Denon makes a PMA 1700/1800 model that has MOSFET stuff in it that probably will sound better. But that's for the future. 

@fendersrule Hell yeah!  Do it yourself subs are awesome and affordable.  I’m not familiar with the Denon sound signature. However, if I don’t like my Cambridge Audio CXA61, I may just give your Integrated a shot.   I’m looking for something solid state that’s affordable and fun for non critical listening.  Tubes certainly aren’t getting any cheaper these days and I’m not someone with a stockpile laying around.  I’m also thinking about spending way more than I should on a bunch of well known solid state amps (Pass, First Watt, McIntosh, Benchmark, Simaudio, and LTA).  Yeah LTA isn’t solid state but they’re said to have redic tube life being driven at 1/3 or so operating spec max. And I’m super curious about the output transformer-less sound that seems to be pretty universally well reviewed. I’m gonna check out some reviews of PMA series because I enjoy obsessively reading audio reviews. 
 

I’m also going to do a DIY tube amp kit once work settles down a bit. I’ve really been lusting after an Analog Ethos kit that looks simple enough to tackle in a weekend or two.  And should be a great match for the DW6. 
 

I agree the finish looks awesome in general and in your space. Supposed to be another area that they have improved.

Awesome.

Also to note I’ve been listening flat EQ the whole time. Kind of a purist.

I jus added about 35% bass on Denon’s 2-band system

my gawd. I mean…I might leave it and forgo a sub. Now to go through all my test records and listen again  I prefer not using EQ but these really come alive in my environment with just a little. I’ll find an optimal setting.

Denon has a muscular sound signature. Perhaps the higher end stuff is really neutral. Love my Cambridge solos. Have two of them.

@simna 

It's the famous flat speaker (think of most modern speakers) vs a "live" speaker (klipsch, zu, etc).

To me, a flat speaker blends everything together, as if it's all on the same playing field. Level. Flat. And many think, boring. I would agree.

A "live" speaker sounds more layered. A drum cymbal leaves that "flat" space and sounds dynamic. Anything that deserves an "attack" gets an attack.

That's what they mean by "live". Live isn't perfect or accurate. Just like every single live show I've been too...nothing is perfect as it's not intending to replicate the studio.

Instruments are more spatial in nature and are very forward facing. It's a more aggressive speaker type.

That's my non-audiophile explanation. 

I'm a bit late to the bass discussion however I know that with more hours of break-in, the bass response will improve. I purchased my upgraded Omen Dirty Weekend Mk II several years ago and still use them.

Thanks @lak for the info regarding bass response improving.

For now I just EQ'd it a slight bit and am listening very happily. I'll check the EQ setting again (will neutral it) in a month or two.

@bourbonkernel

Free upgrade for you. Tilt your speakers a little bit...I set 3/8" coasters under the front of mine. You want to focus more on the 10" driver (ignore the tweeter). I sit back about 12-15’, and with that 3/8" lift the driver now hits my neck. I could go further, but even that little bit produced a sizable difference! If you sit closer, you may consider going more. I used a laser pointer to verify.

The Zus seem to love that. No impact to anything else. Give it a shot! Doing this also gets the tweeter firing where you can actually hear it better. As I suspected, I believe the tweeter has a pretty narrow cone. If you can get the 10" driver pointed at least to neck level, it puts that tweeter more in line to where you can really hear that sparkle better. It also makes it sound even better standing up.

Day 3 and I’m loving them. Just that little touch of bass EQ really made them CONNECTED to my space! Still waiting on more furniture to arrive, so I’ll be tinkering with them for awhile. Thankfully, I verified that no perceptual color is being added to the mid range or anything--I checked with 15 test records.

Usually EQ colors stuff and I hate it, but these all it did was connect the speakers to the floor and didn’t change anything else. Whew! That usually doesn’t happen in my experience...

@fendersrule 

I’m glad you’re enjoying you DW6 Superfly as much as I am!  
 

I was actually already considering doing something similar using a thin piece of board instead of coasters. I bought the rubber isolation feet and there’s not a way to take with those with stock hardware. Coasters were a good idea. I think I’m gonna cut myself a few circles of hardwood plywood I already have on hand and try that. 
 

I’m glad the eq made the music connect better. I used to turn my nose up at anything but direct but I’m coming full circle on that.  Seems like there is obviously some gear out there with decent eq tech that doesn’t alter music in any ways you don’t want it to. I’m also interested how room correction tech would sound with these Zus. 
 

Anyway thanks for the tip. I’m sure I’ll do it eventually in some form.  

I took a chance on the DW6's with the Superfly upgrade and am very pleased/blown away with the performance. They are replacing Klipsch RP8000F's.

They are placement picky in my room 15x20 with an oblong open extension. They also like my Music Hall tube DAC over the Aries 2 through a Marantz PM8006 amp.

Relistening to my extensive collection.

Awesome @jamesecox 

glad you’re enjoying your new speakers. And definitely an interesting note on the DAC.  These seem to be playing well with quality equipment of relatively reasonable cost as Zu claims. 
 

my Cambridge Audio CXA61 comes tomorrow. I’m very interested to see how it sounds with these speakers. 

I bought a pair of Dirty Weekends a year and a half or so ago and after what I thought was a reasonable break-in period I put my Heresy IIIs (Capitol Records anniversary edition...for whatever that's worth) back in...I was amazed at how much better they sounded than the Zus. More coherent, tonally far more satisfying and seemingly far more accurate (still have 'em and they're excellent)...Zu was very nice about my sending 'em back and they paid for the shipping as they had been dinged when shipped to me. I haven't heard any other Zu speaker so it could be their other stuff is great...but the Heresy IIIs (I also rejected Heresy IVs for bad midrange from the redesigned polyamide diaphragm horns) were much better to my ears. 

@bourbonkernel, new gear day for you soon! The CXA61 should sound pretty neutral. Really interesting though that it doesn’t have a pre-amp built in though as I considered that a pretty standard feature for an integrated. I don’t use built-in pre-amps so it wouldn’t be a big deal for me (I use my Cambridge solos), but just making sure you’re aware of that!

At this point since I finally have sensitive speakers, I would probably order multiple amps in the future and audition them and pick the best one when it’s time to upgrade! My PMA-800NE is a non-mosfet amp (was only a $700 amp). The PMA-1800NE has mosfet components, so that would be interesting to audition. I’d probably pick a Cambridge and a NAD and find a seller with a fantastic return policy.

@jamesecox Keep us updated on what you think as time goes on. You have a similar size room to me, but mine is a little bigger (plus vaulted ceilings) and I had add a little EQ "oompf" to them to get a feeling that they are connected to the ground. They don't seem to be too punishing on subpar pressings which is nice. vinyl scratches/imperfections are a bit more frontward compared to my cheapies, but not overly so. Compared to my cheapy polks, the Zus kinda "unstitch" music and allow each component/instrument to expand as it wishes were my Polks had a "mesh" sound that kinda made everything sound good, but boring without depth. I wouldn't say the Zus make bad records worse, but they let you know that the recording has more easily detectable faults. Pretty cool! For superb recordings I feel like I'm experiencing music completely differently and hearing things I never heard before.

@wolf_garcia Zu is very good about buy and try. They make it pretty accessible and have no problem if people don’t really like what they hear! You had the DWMk2’s probably which was a pretty good speaker for the price. The DWMK1’s were lackluster according to a couple reviews I’ve read (mainly because they had cost reduced parts). An upgraded DW MK2 and MK6 is basically an Omen II MK2 which is tried and true Zu speaker. The MK6 just takes it further with a redesigned cabinet that is supposedly superior to the finger ports of the past where you had to play a lot with the height of the speaker. There’s probably a good chunk of people that don’t spend enough time playing with the finger port heights and placement that send them back. The finger port height is critical for getting that full/lower sound. But it’s inferior IMO because it comes at the cost of not being able to tilt the speaker. Let’s be honest, while the Zu speakers look sexy as hell, a full range driver being placed that’s centered a little bit below 3’ is pretty low for 90% of listening heights (I have very low MCM couch/chairs) and they really deserve some level tilt-back to really get them at their full potential. Doing that with older Zus would be a no-no cuz of those damn finger ports.

The lesson I learned from that most recent round of new speaker curiosity (Really simply curiosity, as my speakers at the time were working swimmingly) was to absolutely listen to speakers before buying. No amount of hyperbole will match your specific tastes. Previous to the ZU issues I convinced myself that a pair of Sonist Audio speakers might be more efficient and sound better than my Silverline Preludes. Nope. The Preludes were far better in every way...off went the Sonists. Damn. The ZU thing was around the time of the Heresy IV experiment, and man...I was tiring of sending speakers back. This year I improved my rig with a Pass XA-25 and various speaker and signal cables, all with excellent results...until my next bout with unconstrained curiosity...

Ditto on audition if you can. Zu has a generous return policy since they know you can’t just go down to you local hifi store (if you have one) and demo. 
 

And yeah unfortunately the CXA61 lacks a phono preamp. I have a couple but will likely fire up my Schiit!  I don’t spin a ton of vinyl but certainly enjoy it as a source. So far very casually think this Cambridge sounds better with these speakers than the Arcam SA20. 
 

I don’t think it sounds as good as my Benchmark Dac3/Rogue Audio Stereo 100 combo but again not a fair fight. I’ll also get around to some blind sound level matched testing at some point to see if I can put my money where my mouth is. 
 

Happy Listening. 

I'm definitely getting older and must be losing my mind. I posted on this forum earlier and evidently, I posted an incorrect Zu speaker that I own. In 2019 I purchased the Omen MK II.

For the record, I'm blaming those of you that had posted such positive comments about the new Zu speakers ;-) (and I really like my Omen Mk II). I just ordered a pair of the Union 6 Supreme in clear hickory with silver rings, they are supposed to ship today. It will be interesting to compare them to my Union Mk II speakers.

@lak 

Congrats!  Super interested. I was on the fence about springing for the union.  I am loving my DW6 Superfly. Def let us know what you think. 

@lak 

please do post a follow up on the Union 6 Supreme. I am interested in them, thinking they would be a good match with my room and electronics (posted here) Thank you in advance for your time!

@bourbonkernel ​​@moofoo: I'll definitely post my impressions in this forum as soon as I receive the speakers and give them some break-in time. Jim at Zu Audio said although the speakers had 300 hours of break-in time, the silver internal wire will probably need some additional time.

BTW moofoo, your (posted here) above is not working. I did look at your systems, which system are you thinking about using the Union 6 Supreme in?

Sorry I was not clear in my comment. My “posted here” meant posted on Agon, not embedded within the comment. If purchased, the Unions would be used with with the Audio Mirror mono blocks. My cartridge is now the SS Paua. Look forward to your Union comments! Thx!

Don't Forget:

Keep in mind that Zu’s break in times are of the drivers only. They don’t break in the speaker as a whole. Zu posted a blog post awhile ago basically stating that 1-4 weeks of additional break-in time are necessary for pretty much all speakers.

@fendersrule, Good point :-)

What’s good @davidrolon ?  How you liking your speakers/amp pairing?

Im digging the Cambridge CXA61 combo more and more. Their slightly more relaxed but detailed and accurate British sound pairs well with these speakers.  The Arcam SA20 was somewhat fatiguing for me but not at all the case with this Integrated.  Mad good deals on their eBay refurb shop too. 

I received my Union 6 Supreme speakers yesterday and set them up for an audition next to my Omen MK II speakers today.

Let me start by saying I’m very happy with my Omen speakers but curiosity got the better of me and regardless of how hard I tried to fight the urge I eventually gave in and made the purchase.

Directly out of the box the Union 6 Supreme sounds superb to my ears. I hear greater extension, more detail, and a crisper sound. The instruments and voices sound more as if they are in the room with a wider and deeper soundstage and in addition to that it sounds as if I have moved from row 12 to row 6 closer to the stage.

I had such strong deep bass that I had to double-check and make sure that my pair of REL T7i subwoofers were not connected. Very impressive bass ;-)

Equipment used:

Allnic T-1500 Integrated 300B (12.5 watts class A)

Audio Research Reference CD7

Power cords, interconnect, and speaker cables are all Grand Lavricables 5N silver.

Music used: Hugh Masekela Hope cd and The Wonderful World of Three Blind Mice 24K Gold cd which has a great diversity of jazz tracks, Motown 50 Fanthology cd.

So I was reading up on Zu, and found this on their web site:

"Not because of some great googly moogly “climate change” geopolitical power play nonsense"

which sounds like mocking climate change or denying it, not sure, whichever version or half of it is enough to turn me off (besides the generally condescending tone of the section. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, this was written in 2013 and they may have changed their opinion since then - but it’s a very dumb sentence regardless

"

"

@grislybutter, Did you read the entire article that you posted above?

Agreed with @lak. Zu is basically stating they care and agree about environment concerns by building stuff that lasts that won’t end up in landfills and don’t need to fit themselves into any schema in order to promote this idea.

Doesn’t seem against climate change to me. It just means that they don’t feel it necessary to "brand" it as a market play or to get involved into the political nature that it does typically evolve into. 

If you want very safe and non-direct marketing there are plenty of other speaker companies out there. The nice thing about Zu is the direct connection the customer has to the employees and the CEO. You'll notice this sending them an email and also showing up to their business. That can also mean direct communication without a PR team spinning anything. Sean has no problem being super transparent to how he thinks and feels. 

Sean was absolutely nice to me and was really enjoyable to talk to. He seemed like someone that didn't just want to say hi and get back to work, but to actually inquire to know more about you.

I dig it. Not sure of any other major "company" (of probably 8-10 people) or larger gives the same experience like that.

BTW, LOVING my DW6s. I actually considered lowering the bass some last night, so I think they are still working themselves in. 

@lak yes, back and forth 3 times. I *can* read...

@fendersrule You agreed with what? I see nothing to agree with above.

I however disagree with your interpretation but I can be wrong. Most of the time I am. I don’t mean to steer this discussion into politics (climate change is not about politics, but) - it’s just that their articles - several of them - turned me off.

For companies, we vote with our purchases.