Zu Druid questions

In the real world of sound, the druids sound like a superior speaker to many regardless if people are stuck on some crazy thoughts that a guitar will sound like a violin thru or something crazy... They easily exceed real world listening conditions in the application, even over some of the best Altec lansing Computer speakers :) (last part was a sarcastic joke) Try them to learn the truth for yourself..

These are an extremly sucessful speaker so don't get caught up listening to all the static noise coming from behind your computer screen and pool of internet speculation, most companies would be out of business if most of the stuff shown was true or truley effecting performance... Take K-horns till this day people don't believe the design is really any good, and the are still one of the better most popular classics, it was seen as nutty at the time too from reading the history on it. Yep you need Corners to make them work or they are pretty much crap.. same issue applies here, but nowhere near the Requirement to put you speaker on a floor vs. having open corners!!

Bob_reynolds, you are exactly right.. pretty little hardware, big snake like power cables... much is just marketing hype in the audiophile world, that is the good thing about Zu actually as you point out,, They are directly derived from the PRo arena and concepts used in live pro equipment, and the designs use Pro drivers, designed for a purpose period, without all the extra frills and correction circuitry needed with mainstream audio drivers. But of course they had to break down and start adding pretty colors, machined custom plates etc, to look like a hi end product, but all the money is put in the right place with Zu designs, the Performance, reliability, and sound.

Jack don't worry too much about the specifics, just know that a Zu speaker will never drop, and will stay a stable load, and as for 4 or 8 ohm taps thats fine with a 12 ohm speaker, via tubes it is different than solid state, the 8 ohm taps would most likely sound best and run just fine, also most tube amps don't change power output at all between the 4 and 8 ohm taps, if its a 40 tube its 40 at either tap, normally a solid state is 40 w at the 8 ohm for example and 80 w at the 4 ohm...

But even solid state amps like 12 ohm loads, but might not be optimal all the time I would assume cause your not getting the full juice out of it cause it never has a reason to break a sweat, but I don't know, some amps are just better being driven harder, Class A tube amps are full output all the time even not driving a music signal thats why they probably sound the best, but then again thats why they run hotter too.

The mini method sub is one of the fastest in the west, and is of course made by zu to match the speed and powerful raw tone of the druids. It is a little pricey, I believe retail is 1500.00, but if you need the extra power down low its not that hard to get it as long as you stick with Zu's designs along with your druids.

"Welcome to the real world" (Morphius) You have been awakened from the audio matrix :-)
Now I see why you were selling the odyssey, definitely not the amp in the end for those speakers..
Good luck

I had all zu cables at this point, on the definition the Libtec was the most rounded and smooth sounding.. The wax was nothing too special honestly.. The Ibis for much more money can be a bit sharper, but over time they might be the best, but again at way more money.

" I said from the begining that Zu's efficieny ratings are hyped and I stand by this statement. The output levels were set just 1 click less to obtain the same output as my old Usher's which were rated 87dB @ 1W. "

The Zu's are a 12 ohm load, ushers are probably 6 ohm even dipping down to 4 and below... With the mid line solid state amp you are using this makes sense with 1 click less.. The Zu's demand a well rounded tube or Hybrid amp to acheive the best effiency results I belive with your 12 ohm load. Also depending on the power amp the ushers probaly doubled the output power of the amps automatically, the Zu's will be only drawing probaly 1 watt to every 10 watts the ushers were, the amps just did not drive them louder because it had no reason too with such a light load..

So if you took a 1 watt tube amp and used it on the druid and the same 1 watt on the usher, you will than find out 1 click up would not do it to push the usher comparably. Problem is your solid state amp is automatically putting out more power to the input gain from your processor, you just dont know it... Push the usher for about 15 min at 100 DB and the amp would probably be nice and toasty doubling down power compared to the easy 12 ohm load of the Druid, which would keep it cold.. I know you had the odyssey, it would run warmer for sure with the usher vs. the druid...

So your comparison is flawed, also as for the cornwalls, the Horns are Simply Louder, this is because they Are amplified by the HORN in mids and Tweets.. That has nothing to do with the efficiency of the speaker, the Compression drivers are 98 or 99 db I believe in the cornwall, I use to own them, and then are Horn loaded which increases volume a lot compared to a 101 db straight paper driver.