I've known Spirit for almost 2 years and fondly remember his system in his old loft apartment in Hackney where, to be brutally honest, and I was at the time, very disappointed with his systems sound in his concrete shell of a loft. I may have upset him that day but it proved valuable in setting him on the right path to sonic nirvana, albeit an expensive one.
To rapidly jump forward to my listening impression this weekend in his stunning victorian chapel and loft space, I have to say I've never heard the Zus sound this good and in many ways they outperform my Avantgarde Duos, though personally I have a minor reservation. More later.
To help readers who have followed this and many other threads posted by Spirit, here's a couple of shots of his new loft space.
Initially the sound was VERY focussed and those Zu tweeters were too revealing for me. The soundstage was huge but I detected some phase issues with Genesis, Los Endos, Phil Collins voice very centrally locked but 'in my head' similar to sub-par headphone performance and lower mids standing out too forward. Bass was missing somewhat in action.
With some careful repositioning of the listening chair approximately 3 feet further back and toeing the Zus further out so they crossed behind your head rather than firing into your ear canal helped enormously. This allowed a readjustment of the bass controls to increase the bass without increasing bass bloat and also it increased speed and resolution.
On listening further this morning and using laser guides to accurately position the speakers still further and treat first and second reflection points we both felt we had achieved a significant increase in musicality, resolution and insight into a musical performance.
The system in full flow looks pretty cool with the lights on or off.
oops!, I forgot to take photos after moving the speakers.
Now, before you all scream about not A-Bing the Stacore, once you see it and the Westwick BPT on top you can imagine what a task it would have been and neither of us were in the mood after a couple of beers. The top plate alone of the Stacore, not in use due to loading limits, was far heavier than I imagined and is heavier than a much larger and thicker piece of granite I have at home. Quite amazing.
I'll add a pic of the Stacore under the BPT which does not do the platform justice. It really does have immaculate fit and finish. I do not doubt Marc's word as to its efficacy.
Now, just to compare Spirits sound to mine. I am totally impressed with the resolution and soundstage from the Zus and it really does work marvels with his particular choice of music, mainly prog rock and classical. However, I find it a little lacking in harmonics and emotion compared to the Duos but I mainly listen to vocal jazz and singer songwriter plus some EDM. My Duo system does not excel at dense '70s prog rock.
So Spirit should be extremely proud of what has been achieved so far in regards to building his room, did I say it has a wonderful natural acoustic, and in dialling in his system to current satisfying levels.
My hat goes off to him and a huge thanks to his very understanding and lovely girlfriend who puts up with boys and their toys.
Cheers mate
Blue58
