Well, it has been a month or so since the new Zu Cable Definition Mk 1.5s made their way into my listening room. They were a slightly speculative purchase as I was only just starting to think about new floor-standing speakers, but they were too good a specification (and deal) to pass up.

Zu Cable are a Utah, US speaker and cable manufacturing company churning out interesting products at sensible price points. In Australia, the Pure Music Group are my local distributors. The Definitions are a three way, high efficiency (101 db) design, with two 10" full range transducers and a super tweeter crossing over at 12kHz up front mounted in an MTM array. At the rear there are four 10" low frequency drivers (crossing over at 40 Hz) powered by a 100 watt internal amp per side. A single pair of Cardas pure copper (unplated) binding posts and an attenuator control for in-room bass tuning make up the rear. At 1.25m tall and 50 kgs each and resting on adjustable spikes, they feel substantial for the investment

Once hooked up to my Red Rose Music amplifier, they sounded pretty good straight out of the box. I have tried the RRM 35 watt EL34 amp in Ultra Linear or 18 watt Triode mode with no discernible preference for one sound over the other. Ultra Linear probably gets the nod for a little extra drive. No surprise there. As a dealer demo pair they had some hours on them already but all my research seems to indicate that a long run-in period should be expected for best results. Either I am getting used to them or they are getting better, in particular smoother, hour by hour.

Set up is not difficult, but for best results careful positioning delivers best results. On axis response seemed a bit sharp, and a few degrees of 'toe-out' seems to provide the better sound to my ears, and still well inside the recommended Zu set-up instructions according to the (slightly modest) manual.

What is the Zu sound? Very articulate, extremely quick with excellent mid range tonality are the highlights. Some room driven bass bloom (muddying the vocals on some tracks) will (should?) be resolved with some impending bass traps, and a high level sharpness on some discs is still evident. The Zus (or the Wadia front end) are not particularly tolerant of poor recordings.

In my strange room (roughly 7 metre cube (yes cubed, I have a high wooden domed ceiling), with three sides, the Zu's fill the room easily without any hint of driver strain or amplifier load. Imaging is a strong suit (helped by the inner detail rendered) while the sound-stage is a little smaller and 'centred' than I would prefer, rarely extending out past the speakers with current placement. Bass response and tone is very good on those discs where the bass is recorded well, helping to expand the sound to a much more satisfying (and engaging) level than my previous stand-mount speakers. You would hope so! But I would never have dared to listen to Chinese drum tracks in the past...........

Am I pleased with my purchase at this point? The answer is a definite 'Yes'. I estimate that there is a good 15 - 20% improvement left with placement fine tuning, room tweaks, component adjustments, cables, power etc synergised with the new kit.

Resulting from excellent sound, the Zu's have me reaching into my catalog of CDs again, and experiencing old discs anew, with newfound joy and pleasure.

Will share more thoughts in the coming months as a couple of further component / ancillary changes are being considered.