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Let's cut to the chase. At under $3,000/pr, there's Anthony Gallo's Reference 3. It's packed to the proverbial gills with radical out-of-the-box thinking, very clever applications of existing technologies and a unique tweeter. It consequently garnered our first-ever Lunar Eclipse Award because all that revolutionary technology saw itself packaged for a very reasonable $2,590/pr. Now there's the Zu Cable Druid. It's also packed to the gills. However, it goes about its revolution in a visually less obvious manner. Just like the Ref 3, it uses a unique and proprietary driver, albeit in a more comprehensive wide bandwidth fashion than the CDT tweeter. It here becomes the core attraction rather than just one part of the design's overall elements. Like the Gallos, it's a phase-time-coherent affair but truly pushes that concept against the fence by avoiding a crossover altogether (except for the 12kHz+ range). Like the Gallos, it's within reach of many. It's $2,800/pr. Like the Gallos, it's of modest proportions and thus friendly to place in ordinary living rooms. And again like the Gallos, it offers a logical upgrade path to extend bass response to 20Hz, here via the optional but truly tailor-made Method subwoofer rather than Anthony Gallo's unconventional 2nd voice coil bass drive. Where the Gallos offer 6 different cosmetic detail options, the Druids come in two standard finishes and, for a surcharge, any imaginable automotive lacquer.


In short, the Zu Druid competes fair and square against the Gallo Reference 3 on all counts. Still, competition really denotes the wrong spirit of this encounter. The two speakers are simply too different. They race towards alternate goals. From the very beginning and in the end, it's all about choices here, of equal yet opposing merit. For example, image specificity is a function of high-frequency focus. There the Gallos rule with their 330º large-diaphragm tweeter. You want holography and imaging well beyond the speakers' boundaries and through the walls? The Gallos are plain eerie. They are true intergalactic space meisters. Bass extension prior to upgrades on either is very similar. Then characters diverge. The Gallos are the more transparent and lit up, with a faint nod toward electrostat land. They aren't lean but definitely fast in a very obvious and sparkly fashion.
The Druids disguise their innate speed behind image density, flesh & blood and concomitant tone. The Druids are also more dynamic. While the Gallos are already very potent in that regard, the Zu's jump factor scales even higher hurdles. The Druids also wake up sooner at low volumes to sound fuller quicker. Where the Gallos are audiophile speakers in the best sense of that word, the Zus are completely non-audiophile speakers. Both are for music lovers but their emphasis is different. The Gallos are more spectacular, the Zus more organic (especially noteworthy in the all-important midrange). The Gallos are direct, the Zus immediacy incarnate. If the following makes sense without actually hearing either, the Gallos do all the audiophile firework things and make music. The Zus sidestep the fireworks altogether and head straight for the stage. Last but not least, the Zus are unconditionally perfect for micro-power amps. The Ref 3s need current to show off what their bass alignment is really capable of. It's not so much power the 3s thrive on but current. The Druids meanwhile turn 2 watts into Popeye's spinach but also chow down 300 watts without hiccups or burps.


Mulling over everything the Druids do; what kind of money is charged (what's the polar opposite of silly money - earnest?); how they truly don't suffer compromises to make the single-driver genre finally and fully legit without any qualifications; I herewith bestow our very rare Lunar Eclipse Award. It's only the second one ever since we launched exactly three years ago. Granted, everyone in their right mind would expect that the Druid's big brother called the Definition -- with its d'Appolito array, four actively powered 10 inchers below 40Hz and $9K of financial heft -- must be better yet. I'm reviewing that next. Based on the Druid's phenomenal showing, I fully do expect that the Definitions will teleport me straight to Nibiru's charms. But back on planet earth? It's where the Druid sits that price and performance clash with the biggest splash.


That's why it's the Druid and not the Definition's promise that warrants our most special recognition. To win this award, a product must be affordable, truly smartly engineered (no me-too entries in this category no matter how well executed), decor-friendly, perform without compromises and embody unique traits that you won't find elsewhere. The Zu Cable Druid Mk4 fulfills all of these requirements to a 't'. Congratulations to Sean Casey and his design team. They've successfully charted the paths less travelled and returned from their experiments with a real-world product. Although clearly esoteric in its own right, it does not -- and this is vitally important! -- does not make any stipulations about certain tastes, certain electronics, certain music, certain conditions of any nature that must first be met before you can enjoy 'em. This is the Druid's greatest achievement. It stands the single-driver genre on its collective head without in the process diluting its special appeal of nearly hardwiring the listener's ear/brain/heart trinity to the music reproduced. From the bombast of Bruckner's 9th at full boogie to the upright bass magic of Renaud Garcia-Fons or Charlie Haden; from the Tord Gustavsen Trio at whisper background levels to Stevie Wonder's funk at workout levels; the Druids are equal-opportunity employers.
With the ceremonials out of the way, let's cover how the Druid responds to various diets of preceding hardware. One cost-effective system consists of the Red Wine Audio Clari-T custom preceded by ModWright's SLW 9.0SE. The Clari-T's gain thus far has been 26dB, its input sensitivity 0.5V, both fixed by resistor values attached directly to the Tripath chip. Upon my request, Vinnie Rossie altered one resistor value and lowered the gain to 17dB, something that is henceforth available as part of Vinnie's customization approach. Tell him what preamp you want to use and he'll match his amp's gain accordingly. Lowering gain makes teaming up with active preamps both quieter and increases the latter's practical volume range. Even pre-op (with the original 26dB setting), this combo was very impressive but post-op, the last vestiges of system noise evaporated entirely and the ModWright pre responded by significantly raising the exact volume setting at which desired playback levels were finally reached. At $2,900 for these electronics minus a source, this is a setup that majors in speed, impact, PRaT and fun factor while being accompanied by modest valve-inspired harmonic enhancements.


If you want to eliminate the preamp entirely to go with one source and direct, the Consonance Droplet CDP 5.0 at $3,000 puts two Russian super triodes into the signal path and offers remote-controlled variable RCA outputs. Now you're looking at $7K for a complete upper-crust HiFi system including cables.


You'll sacrifice a bit of tone and image density with this setup over inserting an active pre but those compromises are subtle and the gains in minimalism aka reduced box count and happy interior designer shouldn't be underestimated. The Resolution Audio Opus 21 would be another prime candidate for such a scheme. Substituting the Eastern Electric MiniMax pre for the ModWright (depending on how you voice the former) goes a bit more vintage valve i.e. enhances tone, slows down overall speed, raises the noise floor just a bit, emphasizes warmth over ultimate resolution and makes for a very 'musical' setup.


Testosterone junkies will opt for the MiniMax/FirstWatt F-1/F-2 combo by combining leading-edge acuity and hence articulation, ultimate bass control and dynamic verve. Listeners sitting in financial fat city with their sources -- say the overachieving $5,000 Audio Aero Prima SE DAC with intrinsic preamp functionality -- will heighten the Druids' resolving power by delivering to them the most details their CDs hold encoded. Even the full-on Zanden rig which Roy Gregory of HiFi+ recently put on the same pedestal as the very best vinyl won't be wasted on the affordable Celtic shaman called the Druid. By the time I went full hog and dropped the Mk4s into my old reference system of Accustic Arts/Audio Aero source, Audiopax preamp and monoblocks and Stealth Sextet/Indra interconnects (but Zu's own Ibis speaker cable instead of my usual Crystal Cable Reference), I had visions of my Duos except for the lowest bass. Mind you, Duos and Druids do not sound identical. First off, horns couple to the air in a peculiar manner that nothing else duplicates, period. Conversely, even the most cohesive three-way can't compete with the coherence of a single crossover-less driver. Infrasonics do more for spatial realism than people realize until their system does 20Hz - and the Druids sans Method sub do not. If you love ambient/trance with its employ of subterranean synth trickery for example, the Druids will hint at the goings on in the abyss but not bring all of it up into the light of day.


However, talk emotional satisfaction and sheer persuasiveness of involvement and both designs operate on the same exalted level. That more than anything else is what you should take home from this review. Despite being "only" a two-way (or 1.5 way really) in a modestly styled enclosure, with nothing that screams hi-tech or statement, this speaker goes straight for the jugular. That's because the Druids somehow bypass the secondary razzle-dazzle audiophiles enthuse over like holography, air, pinpoint imaging and detail up the ying-yang. From the usual audiophile perspective, the Druid is a spectacularly unspectacular speaker. But it's truly spectacular when you want to forget all about audiophilia, "roll up your pants, wade into the river of music and feel the leaves in the wind make endlessly changing shadow patterns on your arms."


Yes, that's a very poetic description but it's also deliberately ordinary. It doesn't say "catamaran at 25 knots skipping waves". It's a mundane example applicable without considerations for class and income, caste or lifestyle. The whole renaissance of single-ended triodes -- kicked off by Jean Hiraga in France and fellow maniacs in Japan -- revolves around reconnecting with the musical essence beyond attributes and fancy measurements. That's what the Zu Druid Mk4 is about as well - with a critical difference. Where low-power SETs require just the right kind of speakers to complement their power restrictions and high output impedances, the Zus behave completely normal. If what's currently en vogue in speaker land is any indication about what's considered normal, the Zus are anything but normal. No matter how you slice it, that makes them very special indeed. [Ref3 and Druid superimposed on a Michael Parkes print for a sense of comparative scale: two far-out genre-bending speakers, two award winners, two different presentations.]

The looming $20,000 question
I just know how certain readers will ask this one. If one added the $2,500 Method sub, do the Druids now become fully competitive with the world-famous Avantgarde Duos? Frankly, the Zu Cable Method deserves its very own review. It too is cut from a different cloth by offering not only high efficiency but a 40Hz 1st-order low-pass which makes it perfect not just for the Druids but the Gallos (and other nearly full-range speakers that merely lack the full last octave). For today, I will merely say that yes, extending the Druids' bass to 20Hz with the external active subwoofer competes directly with the celebrated Duos in the areas of scale, extension, dynamic jump factor and emotional involvement. So yes, a $5,300 three-piece system can compete with a $20,000 one. That makes them equal but not interchangeable. The Duos offer stereo bass down to 20Hz and will thus load the room differently. They also have more apparent fine detail from the upper midrange on up. The Druid/Method combo is more seamless and coherent. By virtue of their extensive adjustments, the Duos can be voiced from excessively lean, zippy and aggressive to laid-back and fulsome and anywhere in-between. The Druid is pre-voiced at the factory and always fulsome and warm. But if musical conviction is the core qualifier (and high sensitivites are the key that explains why this would be so), it is a meeting of equals. Considering how the Druids' cost differential is assisted, in part, by domestic manufacture without the usual importation/distribution fees and punishing currency exchanges as well as reliance on old-fashioned cabinetry rather than high-pressure injection molding, this makes the Druid/Method combo a unique proposition: Pure method, zero acting and no madness whatsoever. More succinctly, the Druid on its own is a bona fide statement speaker of exceptional balance. If you have any ambitions of jumping off the ol' audiophile hamster mill, the Druid could be your ticket to sanity. I suspect that for many, it'll be the end of a long and often convoluted and expensive journey...
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