Zu Essence owners....your impressions please

What is the system comprised of that you are using with them?

I have had mine for years, and really enjoyed them for all types of music, mellow to metal.....

I did upgrade to the Experience drivers, and they are back closer to the Zu sound that I was used to from the earlier versions of the Druids.

I do also have the Definition III in a different system. These are fantastic as well in my HT, very detailed and solid detailed bass.

I must note that the Essence rig is my favorite for music, as it is a tubed base system, and there is some really great synergy going on there. Cayin A50T integrated, MHDT labs Havanna DAC, and a Squeezebox touch.

I prefer the system that the Essence is in for music. It is just a sweet presentation. I never did a direct comparison between the two speakers, as they are on different floors, and since Sean from Zu set them up, I don't want to move either until I absolutely have to.

So preference to the specific speaker.....not so much as they are both different animals....preference to the Zu sonic presentation - definetly.

If you research this site, you ill find that the opinions ofEssence were a either "love it" or "hate it", with not many in-between. I liked them in replacement of the Druid mkIV as they had some deeper bass presentation that I was looking for without the us of an additional sub. The speaker drivers per Sean were "dialed back" a bit for the design, which had left many fans of the normal Zu lively presentation, looking for more. I have since replaced the stock divers wih the Experience drivers from Zu and the magic is back. They are now the same drivers as my def. III.

If you are happy with them, good. They are IMHO really nice speakers and sound their best when your system synergy is there. The thing I always noticed with Zu, was that they get out of the way of what is driving them and will definitely reveal what the upstream components are doing however this can be a blessing and a curse especially if something is off in your system and/or poor recordings. But when they are on....they are on.

Tony did you roll any tubes in your amp choices?

I found great synergy after switching to gold lion kt77 in my amp. My wife's uncle has 2 pair of Essence, (one at vacation home) one driven by an Ayon integrated, and one driven by a Prima Luna Dialog 2 integrated. His primary music listening system is the Ayon /Essence combo, which has bumped his full Levinson/Revel Studio system as the preferred music rig. So take it for what its worth, if they sound good and you are happy, that's all that matters......