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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
dcr OP
10 posts
 
Thank you for the information . That explains why the speakers sound cleaner/clearer now as the distortion has been reduced. Checked the resistors for heat and did not seem even warm to the touch after 1.5 hours of listening. I am happy with the amplifier,although with a fixed output it may not be as versatile as i like. Agree that the resistor is not an ideal solution and hope that an 8 ohm driver will be added to the Zu lineup
gauchowino
2 posts
 
I'm interested in this topic, but I have to admit, as a newbie it's a bit over my head. Phil, I looked at the anticable site, but it seemed like the autoformers were made for dividing the ohms to a smaller number...8 ohm tap on an amp to 4 ohm speakers...the issue with the super fly's is they are designed for 16 ohm taps and my amp has 8 ohm taps, in this scenario is the autoformer still an option? Sorry if I am totally misunderstanding the concept here...

Dcr...for the resister route, do they come with instructions or is there a resource that shows how to do it...sounds simple based on your description, but still would like to see how it's supposed to work...
dcr OP
10 posts
 
Purchased the Mills 15 ohm resisitors from parts express . they are rated @ 12 watts so may not be suitable if your amp is high powered. consider that the output from the amp will be halved by the reisistor meaning half will go to the speaker and half to the resisitor. my amp is 15 watts so half will be about 7.5 watts . the resistor is not noticeably warm or hot after playing the amp.
there are higher rated vishay resisitors (50 watts ) available from mouser.com but the mills resistors are working fine.

the resistor has a wire lead at either end - there is no positive or negative . with needle nose pliers gently bend the wire to form 90 degree angle @ the barrel of the resistor. at the far end of the wire - bend in to circular shape to fit around the terminal posts on the speaker. remove the cardas clamp and fit the circled ends around the posts and place the spade lugs over them before tightening down the clamps.
if you like email me, and i would be happy to forward pics
gauchowino
2 posts
 
Thanks...sounds super easy, I'm going to give it a try.
213cobra
885 posts
 
>>I looked at the anticable site, but it seemed like the autoformers were made for dividing the ohms to a smaller number...8 ohm tap on an amp to 4 ohm speakers...the issue with the super fly's is they are designed for 16 ohm taps and my amp has 8 ohm taps, in this scenario is the autoformer still an option?<<

Gauchowino,

You're right that the autoformers are intended to multiply the speaker impedance that an amp sees. But if you wire them "backwards," your amp will see 1/2 the Superfly's rated impedance. From Paul Speltz' web site FAQ:

"10) What happens if I run them backwards?

Most everybody uses the ZEROs to MULTIPLY the speaker's impedance by connect the BLACK and WHITE leads to the speaker, and connecting two of the other four leads to the amplifier. In contrast, you can use the ZEROs to DIVIDE the speaker's impedance. This can be used to optimize your speaker's impedance to the rare amplifier that prefers a low impedance speaker, like the Decware Zen tube amplifier that has only a 2 ohm output tap. This can be done by connecting the BLACK(-) and WHITE(+) leads to the AMPLIFIER, and connecting two of the other four leads to the SPEAKER.

-Divide speaker's impedance by 2 = YELLOW (+) & BLUE (-) to Speaker (ie. 8 ohm speaker becomes 4 ohms)

-Divide speaker's impedance by 3 = YELLOW (+) & BROWN (-) to Speaker

-Divide speaker's impedance by 4 = GRAY (+) & BROWN (-) to Speaker

You will notice the only thing that changed is that the connections to the speaker and to the amp are FLIP-FLOPPED...thus making it an impedance DIVIDING autoformer, instead of an impedance MULTIPLYING autoformer.

Please experiment for best sound. As your speaker's impedance is reduced, the Zen amplifier will be able to source more and more power into the speaker down to the maximum power point of 2 ohms (Zen amp). Best sound will be achieved when a balance between most power and "critically" damping the speaker is achieved. Reducing the speaker's impedance to low will under damp the drivers causing an overly blooming bass. Trust your ears, and when you achieve the best sound possible, you are done. An interesting article on critically damping your speakers can be found here: www.otlamp.com/articles/tomcik/index.html"

Phil
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