If I was buying these speakers brand new from the company itself, along with the larger driver size and a significantly larger cabinet, for the money spent, I would have expected a noticeably greater bass response.
I was thinking the same thing, Casey. It is apparently a very different - perhaps even unique - approach to bass enclosures. I haven't spent enough time trying to study it, but I am intrigued. I thought that - between horns, acoustic reflex (sealed), ported and transmission-line - there wasn't anything new under the sun relative to tuning boxes for bass response. I am constantly amazed by other people's creativity.
There seems to be a whole sub-culture of folks (mostly tube-heads?) seeking extraordinarily efficient speakers. Likewise, there are a lot of folks who believe that single, full-range drivers have a lot to offer relative to phase coherence and imaging. The Zu designs seem to execute both of these ideas. Sometimes, I do wish I both had the money and felt comfortable spending it on such things.
I had quite an epiphany a few years ago when I heard Salk speakers for the first time. Likewise, hearing Sean's Odyssey Lorelei's was a wonderful revelation regarding just how good a two-channel music system can sound.
I do sometimes wonder whether two-channel is really "better sounding" than multichannel reproduction, or whether it's just more amazing to create such a big sonic image with so few drivers.
At any rate, Dana, thanks very much for the good review. I enjoyed reading it and especially learning from you. So glad that you have some new excitement in your listening routine. Enjoy!
