The Zu Room and the Union Cube – Rocky Mountain AudioFest 2012

I had the pleasure of meeting Sean Casey of Zu Audio at T.H.E Show in Newport beach earlier this year.  His room always stands out among the rows and rows of hotel rooms emitting standard light-hearted audiophile tunes.  It’s kind of like a safe-house for musical growth, only it’s location is widely known.  For those not familiar with the Zu speaker brand, it does tend to buck the mainstream audiophile trends, a little more party, and a lot more rock-n-roll.  Not that the speakers lose their edge by any means, fidelity still cuts like the razors edge, but the attitude always seems a little more relaxed and less stuffy within the confines of the Zu hotel walls.

Sean presented a few new entries at this year’s Rocky Mountain AudioFest that I hadn’t heard before.  I was extremely impressed with the new Zu Union the last time I heard it and I was not disappointed with my second helping.  The Union ($2,400) utilizes a coaxial tweeter that compliments a 10 inch full range driver and unlike many other audiophile speakers, one can dance with many of Casey’s creations on a workingman’s salary.  Not ALL of them, mind you, but Zu does provide a stepped product line deep enough for all to enjoy.

The big reveal for me this trip was the introduction of the new Union cube ($1,200). The cube is a shorter version of the full size Union with a cabinet not much bigger than the speaker itself.  Since the tweeter housed directly in the center of the main driver it creates quite a tidy (relatively) little package.

The Union Cube cabinet work restricts it’s low end to around 50 Hz, so as a complement to them Sean was also showing off his new subs the Undertone ($2k) and Submission ($4k).  The Submission is a beast of a subwoofer standing almost chest-high.

I also got a chance to check out the upper tier Zu Definition Mk. IV ($12.8k) driven by the Grand Integrated ($4.5k) from PreachTree Audio to near-concert levels.  Both the Definitions and the Grand Integrated held their own even at “the cops are probably going to get called” levels.

Check out the video below to hear it all from Sean himself.

www.zuaudio.com