Zu Omen Dirty Weekend Setup tips


So the Zu Omen DW are available again and I plunked down my deposit.
Any tips to help make them shine? (When they finally get here, that is.)
This is my first new speaker in a few decades so I'm not sure what to expect besides different. I'm trying to broaden my firsthand experience instead of solely relying on what I can read. A journey that is long overdue. My ears may not be the best, but they are the only ones actually attached to my head.
cat_doorman

Showing 4 responses by whoopycat

Congrats.  DW's are relatively easy to setup but there are some things you can do to dial them in.
1. Floor gap: Zu recommends a quarter inch (CD jewel case width), I like to go larger, about 5/8" for a fuller bass sound.  Start with Zu's guideline and experiment if you are not happy with the bass.
2. I don't find Zu's to be that sensitive to distance from walls in my room.  Yours may be different.
3. Toe in: the more toe in, the more focused images and tone density you get.  But less toe in gives a wider stereo spread and will reduce any potential glare (for example a lot of hard surfaces in your room). I use a slight toe in so that they fire just to the outside of my shoulders.
4. You can also tilt them up slightly if you feel you aren't getting enough treble. I don't do this.
5. Crank 'em up!
One more note about deep bass on the DW.  Zu bass in general is pretty tight and resolving, more so than most speakers, and yes, sometimes the speakers can sound a bit thin and/or lean on rock.  However IMO Zu's respond very well to EQ.  Before investing in subs give your amp's tone controls a try, or think about something like a Schiit Loki.  I use bass EQ with my Zu's and I've never wished for a sub.  
Glad you like 'em.  I'm a big fan of the rustic hickory finish.  I had DW's in rustic and my Druids are also in rustic hickory with a light rub to make the wood grain pop just a little bit more.
Druid V has a much more quieter cabinet as well as the larger 16 ohm driver.  This gives you better tonal resolution with much better attack and more resolving bass.  With the Radian tweeter you also get much more refinement in the high treble.  Whereas Omen DW sounds warmer and fuller.

This is a story for another thread, but the downside is that IMO Druid is much pickier about the amp in order to fully open up and go from good to great.  I needed the loading resistors to get my solid state amps to drive them well, the Omens didn't really need them.  So while Druid is definitely a step up, it was not without some frustration for me in terms of setup and system matching whereas Omen DW sounded pretty great to me right out of the box.