To learn more 6-it, I asked Sean to in particular explain his choice of now tweeter-carrying widebanders; and how the 3rd standalone tweeter integrates relative to high pass and slope. To show a natural wood finish for those not into lacquers, I found this photo of a DWX setup with silver trim rings and tweeter lenses on their blog. These newer veneer options really open up living with Zu speakers to a still broader audience. Most brands abhor the logistics involved in too many finish options. Sean Casey & crew embrace the custom-shop concept with a vengeance.
Here's my review pair of DWX in stained Okoumé which afterwards travelled to Dawid Grzyb in Warsaw for his own review.
Below comes our Soul 6 in its natural habitat during a past Xmas season.
Colours can make any environment. As sonic furniture or Tonmöbel, speakers tend to be the largest visually most dominant parts of a hifi. Getting that furniture 'in tune' with our décor is a very real feature not to be underestimated. That Zu's custom lacquers take two months to cure is simply part of a process that won't be rushed. I expect to have our suspects in custody by November. Then I'll play good and bad cop to put them through the wringer. For now we know that without active sub but with a simpler cab and original widebanders sans throat tweeters, $5'899 already buys us a pair of Omen Def Supreme to secure today's head array. At $25K and up depending on finish, Definition 6 of course is far more ambitious. That warrants a deep dive into its tech. So let's put Sean in the confessional. "Father, I have sinned." "Details, son. Details." "I've done it with three different tweeters, father; at the same time." "Pray tell. I've got all day. How did you satisfy them all?"
Here's what Sean told Steve Guttenberg for his YouTube review. It's our jumping-off point of prior facts: "Our first Druid arrived in 2001, the first Definition in 2003. 2010 saw the Definition IV with its billet-base downfiring 12" woofer. For Definition 6 we're essentially using Soul 6's coax doubled up while the separate tweeter uses parts from the Druid 6's Radian-based compression tweeter and parts exclusive to this model. The woofer electronics behind Lundahl isolation transformers are purely analogue and the power supply we use is linear not switching. 8Ω sensitivity for the passive array is a high 101dB/1W."
FirstWatt SIT3 and SAEQ Hyperion in standby, SIT4 in action.
To really deep-six it, we need more of course; things like, what do the twinned widebanders aim at when with an active woofer, we're not shy of bandwidth? Why do we still want a 3rd tweeter? What about mutual interference, comb filtering and all the rest of it? How does this particular head array address dispersion? With the very limited depth behind the widebanders, how can Zu's Griewe loading now work horizontally?
… to be continued…