Zingali Acoustics Client Evo 3.18 - using Omniray technology

spiritofmusic · Apr 1, 2015

Guys, another day, another thread.
I'm looking at a possible last spkr move, and am seriously tempted to go horns, and this one is right on my radar.
I'm devoted to my SETs, and when horns come together I'm smitten by the involvement, mids vibrancy and tonal impact etc etc.
But I'm often left disappointed by discontinuities, esp from mids into bass, nasal/honk colourations, and inability to fully engage on rock music, esp w/bass lagging behind mids.
I've loved Avantgarde Trios w/subs, but felt soundstage artificially bloated.
I've loved Cessaro Liszts, but felt bass-mids integration lacking.
Tannoy Westminster Royal SEs are great, but cabinet colourations break the spell.
Tune Audio Animas leave me a little cold tonally.
I was starting to give up on finding horns that marry mids seductiveness w/bass continuity and the ability to be both delicate and rock out, but i may have found a candidate...
...the Zingali Acoustics Client Evo 3.18.
It utilises proprietary Omniray tech that apparently eradicates a lot of mids/highs horn discontinuities and colourations, creating a wider sweet spot, full horns seductiveness, just a lot more linear, and bass is said to be kick ass, using an 18" driver.
Additionally I'm a total sucker for the sexy curved cabinet design and second to none paint finishes. Pure Italian audio porn.
My next aim is to listen to a pair, but in the meantime, does anyone have an opinion?

Whatmore · Apr 2, 2015

I owned a pair of Zingali Twenty 1.12s until quite recently

They are an amazingly musical speaker and to my ears anyway, don't have any of the honkiness traditionally associated with horns.
They keep a lot of the dynamics of horns (but not as startling dynamic as Avantgardes).

The one thing I did find though was that despite their sensitivity (97dB for mine), they actually didn't sound great to me with low powered SET amps. I felt that they really sang with a high current amp - the distributor I bought them from used ASR Emitters, I used a Sanders Magtech (yep 500w into a 97dB speaker!)

These were my initial impressions
http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/topic/26803-my-new-zingalis-an-epic-tale/

spiritofmusic · Apr 2, 2015

Whatmore, interesting read. I'm planning to audition the second from top 3.18's, and would run them off 75W/ch 211 SETs. It seems pointless to go for horns if you can't use tubes. I'm sure 75W/ch into 97dB/m eff would work.
For me the critical area is whether there is any speed/tone mismatch btwn the OmniRay mids/highs horn, and the 18" woofer/12" mid woofer. If there is, the Zingalis will be part of a big rejected group of horns that flatter to deceive.

Whatmore · Apr 2, 2015

I'm sure 75W SETs would be more than adequate. I tried mine with 12W SETs and found they lacked dynamics and the bass was a bit woolly.

As for the way the bass driver(s) integrate with the horn, because mine crossed over quite high (800Hz I think?) I found that if I was sitting close I could localise the sounds of the drivers. This completely disappeared when I had a bit of room. I also found the imaging and overall bass presentation was improved when the speakers had a bit of room to breathe.

I'd be interested in your thoughts once you audition them

The other thing to bear in mind is that not many people know these speakers (at least not in Australia) and there is very little information to be found online. This made it a bit tricky when I came to sell them. Eventually I found someone who was happy to buy based on their sound (and looks) rather than what reviews say

spiritofmusic · Apr 3, 2015

Whatmore, I'm actually looking at an ex demo pair of Client Name Evo 1.15s at a good price (£16.5k/AUS $30k-$35k). Here the Omniray horn reaches to 20kHz and crosses over at c.500Hz to a 15" woofer which goes down to 32Hz. I'm a little skeptical a horn and 15" driver can really work, evidenced by the fact that models higher up the range incorporate a 12" upper bass driver in conjunction.
But I'm intrigued, and as I've found in this hobby, incongruous things can often really work.
I'm actually pretty happy w/my Zus, why did you switch away to Sanders?

Whatmore · Apr 6, 2015

spiritofmusic said:
Whatmore, I'm actually looking at an ex demo pair of Client Name Evo 1.15s at a good price (£16.5k/AUS $30k-$35k). Here the Omniray horn reaches to 20kHz and crosses over at c.500Hz to a 15" woofer which goes down to 32Hz. I'm a little skeptical a horn and 15" driver can really work, evidenced by the fact that models higher up the range incorporate a 12" upper bass driver in conjunction.
But I'm intrigued, and as I've found in this hobby, incongruous things can often really work.
I'm actually pretty happy w/my Zus, why did you switch away to Sanders?

The reason I switched to Sanders is a bit of a long story: About 5 years ago, after listening to some well sorted horn, panels and open baffle systems I decided that I couldn't live with traditional "box speakers". All of the non-box systems had compromises. The horns that I loved, I either couldn't afford or couldn't sneak into my living room without a divorce. The panels I heard were brilliant but didn't go deep enough or dynamic enough for my music and the open baffles just seemed all too hard.
The Zingalis were a compromise (and a damn good one at that) but I never lost that love of the openness and ease of panels. So when I got the chance to hear the Sanders it was a no brainer for me. Properly integrated transmission line bass - I can't hear two different speakers in the room like I can with say Martin Logans - dynamic, slam in spades if you need it and that delicacy, oh that delicacy of panels

Having said all that, every time I switched the Zingers back in for someone to audition, I was tempted to keep them for a second system. If only I had the readies to do so... sadly I had to sell them

Whatmore · May 2, 2015

Hey sprititofmusic, any update on the Zingers?

spiritofmusic · May 3, 2015

Off the agenda, for the time being. Just don't have the time to travel 1k miles roundtrip to hear it, and I'm getting continued impvt w/my Zu Def 4s re recent changes, which is where I'm likely to concentrate on for a while.

Search

Search

Zingali Acoustics Client Evo 3.18 - using Omniray technology

spiritofmusic

Well-Known Member

Whatmore

Well-Known Member

spiritofmusic

Well-Known Member

Whatmore

Well-Known Member

spiritofmusic

Well-Known Member

Whatmore

Well-Known Member

Whatmore

Well-Known Member

spiritofmusic

Well-Known Member

Similar threads

Members online