Acoustic Zen Crescendos- Any Owners Out There?

James, curious what kind of music you listen to?

James, I've demoed those speakers several times, including at the aforementioned meet.

I agree that their bass is anything but "one note". I found their low end well defined and very extended.

But when you audition them by standing in the back or corner of the room, with people standing all over the place, usually chatting away, I couldn't think of a worse way to audition anything. There was also a mini DAC shootout that took place that day and both DAC's were a little loose in the bottom end.

Jeff,
My tastes run the gamut- in some semblance of 'airtime':

Rock / pop 40%
Blues 30%
50's / 60's Jazz 20%
World/Ethnic/Anything goes 10%

What I EMPHATICALLY don't listen to are so-called audiophile recordings.

Just want to add I had a similar issue with Zu Definitions on bright top end as a result of a lean midrange---turned out it was a very poor match with my BAT integrated. I switched to a McIntosh and things fell right into place.

It was very similar to JA's view of the Essence in Stereophile---he switched to a tube amp for the same reasons. With no crossover, I've never heard a speaker so amplifier dependent---it's like the amp goes straight to the coils of these speakers (same could be said probably for Audio Note, Avantgarde, and other HE speakers).

Zu Definitions should be paired with warm SS (ala McIntosh) or a tube amp imo. I think AZs should be paired with tube amps as well from my limited experience with the Adagios.

I heard unbelievable sound on the Crescendos when i was at
the 2009 RMAF show in Denver. The owner played a few
cuts of some CDs i brought and it was maybe the best
sound i heard. Prompted me to sell my fantastic Montana
EPS2's and Martin Logan Spires (never could warm up to the
Spires). Since selling, i've gotten cold feet at spending
so much $ even though the sales would cover the price.
Plus, i'm tired of lugging around heavy speakers like
the 150 lb Montanas and 125 lb Crescendos. Might
scale down to PSB Synchrony One's. I really like their
big sound, small footprint, incredible clarity and
great midrange.