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Finally in my opinion these speakers require really powerful amps to drive. It’s not obvious when you check their technical specifications as both sensitivity and impedance seem reasonable but my time with them proved otherwise. I would recommend powerful tube amps from CAT, VTL or ARC. The Tenor Audio 175S would be a perfect match too as should certain transistor amps by Soulution and Spectral.
Description The ZF3 SE is a Special Edition iteration of the ZF3. It's a modular design with a separate small enclosure for the ribbon tweeter/midrange and a much larger one for the two woofers. These modules are separated by four Ceraballs from German manufacturer Finite Elemente. The same bits are used under the bass module which gets placed on a spiked MDF plinth. At the back of each module sits an aluminum plate equipped with what I think are the best binding posts currently available, Furutech FT-818s. These are made of rhodium-plated brass and equipped with large tear-shaped nuts covered in carbon fiber to quickly dampen vibrations. The unique patent-pending Torque Guard prevents over tightening, allowing each post to be evenly torqued for improved channel balance and signal transfer. There are two sets of these posts on the bass module and one on the head module. With the speakers you also get wired jumpers with one set of bananas on one end and two sets at the other. The plugs of these jumpers aren't even gold plated and with their plastic elements look to be of quite poor quality.
The high/mid driver is a large 120mm ribbon inside a cast aluminum mounting flange with flared wave guide that controls frequency response and directivity. It is slightly dampened with a piece of felt. This seems to be an isodynamic driver whose key element is a Kapton membrane with a pattern of aluminum voice-coil conductors. The membrane assembly is wedged precisely between two rows of Neodymium and Barium Ferrite bar magnets. On the back the symbol RT2H-A leads back to HiVi/Swans Speaker Systems as the supplier. With its purely resistive impedance in the audio range this driver presents a friendly amplifier load and facilitates a non-complex crossover design. The latter is fixed to the upper slanted panel of the ribbon module and employs high-quality parts like air coils and beautiful MKP capacitors made by Audyn-Cap (their model TryeSilver).
There is a 210mm woofer on the front of the bass module with a paper diaphragm and stationary copper phase plug. I was unable to remove it. It’s most likely glued or sealed with a very powerful gasket. Below it sits the bass-reflex port. It also vents a hidden inside woofer of the same diameter but with a Kevlar diaphragm. This proprietary compound solution is called S.A.S.B. Using a shorter bass-reflex tube extends the bass, a longer one reduces it. The company suggests to experiment with that in the listening room.
Two switches allow tailoring of the treble and upper bass balance. You can add 2dB above 2kHz and depress the upper bass between 120Hz and 310Hz by minus 3dB at 120dB. There are separate crossovers for each module mounted inside each. The bass crossover contains large air coils and huge polypropylene Audyn-Cap capacitors from their Q4 and Q6 series. The crossover design is quite unique. The main features are a linear-phase 18dB slope with constant-voltage kernel; adjustable impedance for power-amp damping factor; and triwire/tri-amp options. These solutions offer great time and phase coherence with significant damping over the audible range.
A main focus with Ascendo’s SE version was vibrational attenuation in the mechanical realm. I already mentioned the Ceraballs and special plates with the binding posts but I need to also add the sandwich-type cabinets which contain stainless steel and MDF plates with a central bitumen layer for applied constrained damping. The same resonance optimisation also led to separate decoupled chassis modules. In Ascendo’s costlier models the head units are fully separated and placed on steel rods.
opinia @ highfidelity.pl
Technical specifications:
Principle: Three-way SASB technology (dynamic current-damped woofer and semi-symmetrical band pass)
Cabinet: Low-magnetic stainless-steel sandwich construction of bitumen and MDF
Max power handling: 500W
Impedance: 5Ω
Sensitivity: 89.5dB/1W/1m
Drivers: 1 x ribbon-tweeter, woofers: 1 x 210mm paper diaphragm with copper phase plug, 1 x 210mm Kevlar diaphragm
Dimensions: 270 x 1180 x 43mm
Weight : 53kg/ea. with plinth
