Peachtree Audio, Zu and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – RMAF 2014

An alternate line for the title could have also been “Zu Audio, Peachtree and the art of playing yourself through method acting”. Neither of these statements make much sense but then again, titles were made to be broken.

If you are like me and you like a bit of reckless abandonment all in the name of “fun” then you should surely make your way down to Zu and Peachtree Audio room at your local show, given the opportunity. The two manufacturers don’t always pair up together, but when they do, a bit of entertainment can be found without looking too hard. Highlights from this year’s Rocky Mountain Audiofest on the 2nd floor of the Marriott’s Peak level included a visit from Santana’s drummer Michael Shrieve and plenty of interesting DJ’s spinning two turntables including a Rega RP6 turntable ($1,600) into a Rupert Neve Designs console ($8k) acting as a mixing board for the new Peachtree Nova 220 SE integrated ($2k).

Zu was sporting a pair of their classic Druids ($5.4k) coupled to a pair of Undertone subwoofers ($2k each) to round out the low end. Also included in the setup (but not playing) was the Zu Modern.

It was a bit subtle on the far wall, but in addition to Peachtree’s Nova 220 SE, Jonathan Derda of Peachtree slyly brought out the newest iteration of the indigogo-funded deepblue 2. It has been interesting to see the product come to life through exposure at progressive audio shows (as far as a few years back with the “original” deepblue). The one thing that always strikes me is the bass. Such a hard area to hone within the bluetooth speaker market, the deepblue has always impressed not only with its output in the low end, but also with its control and focus. Mr.Derda gave me another prototype sample to chew on at RMAF and my reaction was much the same, a truly superior effort given the size restrictions. It should be available to the open public by the end of the year and will retail for $499 when it hits the streets.