Zu Soul Superfly 8 ohm experiment


Have been Zu owner for many years starting with Tone progressing to Druid -then Essence and now Soul with nano tech drivers. Drive the speakers with Unison Research Preludio which is a 15 watt single ended class a amp which utilizes 6 ohm output taps. After reading a review of the speakers which suggested the speakers sounded best when paired with an amp that utilizes 16 ohm output taps i posed the question to Sean. he suggested i could experiment altering the impedance of the speakers by utilizing a 16 ohm resistor to lower the impedance to 8 ohms. I have generally been happy with the sound of my system except for a bit of hardness/glare in the higher frequencies that shows up on some recordings . i attributed this to the recording technique as ell as less than optimal listening environment (10x12 room ) also wondered if perhaps the preludio was not happy with the 16 ohm impedance. Decided to give Seans' suggestion a try and purchased a pair of 15 ohm Mills resistors from parts Express. Wrapped the leads around each of the speaker terminals -placed the spade lugs of the cables over the leads and tightened down the connector. have to admit I did not expect much, but was pleasantly surprised. Thought the speakers sounded cleaner - vocals clearer and a definite decrease in the high end glare/hardness . After changing speaker cables I had been bothered by what seemed to be an exaggeration of sibilance . but noticed that it now sounded much more natural and the hardness associated with it improved. wonder if any other Zu owners have had a similar experience ?
dcr

Showing 1 response by giantbunnyhead

I have a pair of Zu Druids MK IV 08 and added a 51 ohm Mills resistor across the terminals of the tweeter. The overall impedance (technically just resistance as measured by my ohm-meter) was 7.9 ohms on each side.

The harshness was definitely removed and sound level was altered given the same volume position on the control amp. The things is that I also replaced the Kimber Kap with a Mundorf silver oil cap, which would have helped soften some of the high end bite. Overall though, it's a more pleasant sound to my ears than before the mods. It's also a pretty easy mod to reverse.