Zu audio announced a new speaker range called the Zu Union 6 this week. While this won’t be the first time they announced a new Union speaker, there are far bigger changes causing waves through the speaker lines than just a few new product adds.
Indeed, the Union 6 series will be replacing a plethora of models for the Utah-based company. The tried and true entry-level Omen will be discontinued, as will the annual sale model dubbed Dirty Weekend. Also making an exit is the Soul Supreme, but the new series will include both a bookshelf footprint and an upstream Union “supreme” variant.
Make sure to check out the bulk of the copy below from today’s company email blast, it acts as an interesting window into what this Union reimagining means for Zu Audio.
More info: Zu Audio Union 6
New Zu Union 6 Series speakers replace several recent models: Omen Dirty Weekend, Omen II, Soul Supreme, Omen Bookshelf, Omen Center Channel and Zu Cube. Three versatile and easy-to-understand speakers replace six former models, simplify selection and comprehensively improve on their predecessors, too. Our goals with the Union 6 Series were to:
Raise resolution, transparency and tone across the board
Make each speaker unfussy with respect to room placement and associated gear
Remove the confusion of having 12 ohms and 16 ohms models in a predominately 8 ohms amplifier mass market
Eliminate the traditional Zu setup task of finding the right floor-to-speaker gap for your room
We accomplished all of that with the Union 6 Series. We kept all the funk and fun that has always attracted people to Zu, and eliminated the fuss that deterred some others.
Union 6 Series starts with Union Bookshelf, a compact 12″x16″x12″ high performance speaker that easily out-resolves the famed Omen Dirty Weekend while creating more placement options. Union 6 is our workhorse, entry-level floorstander in the same slim minitower size as all prior Omen models, but with resolution and tone able to leverage associated gear well above its paygrade.Union 6 also raises prosaic amps and sources to new musical heights. Omen 6 Supreme is astonishingly vivid, transparent and toneful such that it can tap the potential of the best associated gear in any system, without needing the same to thrive.
Think of the Union 6 Series as the staircase into the House of Zu. Much in common between them, but performance elevates as you ascend the line. All three loudspeakers are based on the Soul 6 full-range driver, and all use center-mounted supertweeters. All are rated for 99db/w/m efficiency. All have amp-friendly, 8 ohms impedance. All of these speakers have our new more sophisticated Griewe internals that eliminate the fussy floor gap and instead allow the main driver to “see” the room via a rear exit. You can place Union 6 as close as 2″ from the wall behind it. Now, let’s dig into Union 6.
For economy-minded buyers with ambitious listening objectives. Starts @ $2899. Offered in Satin Black, Clear Hickory, Black Hickory, Mercury.
Zu’s Union 6 is a full spectrum, highly resolving and robust floor-standing loudspeaker. The full-range, ten-inch driver incorporates a coaxially mounted supertweeter which extends the driver assembly’s high frequency response to 22k Hz before rolloff. Locating all of the moving elements around a single axis makes for an exceedingly cohesive and unified wavefront. When combined in a precision-matched stereo pair Union 6 creates startling musical realism with a highly dynamic, stereophonic sound field, including excellent projection of spatial depth. Union 6, being a highly-efficient, broad-bandwidth loudspeaker, responds to your music with agility, precise timing and rich tone in ways that let you hear deeply into a recording without ruthlessly exposing every harshness upstream in the system or recording, nor contributing its own.
Easier to Understand, Set Up & Use.
Tapping R&D work done for Definition 6, Union 6 also introduces new technology within the cabinet’s acoustic functionality, greatly improving the bass through midrange performance over what we have been able to implement at the more affordable end of our designs in the past. The Henthorne Disrupted Flow Filter consists of a wide-band “scatter plate” that combines with mass load tuning and the Zu Griewe function to optimize the acoustic impedance adaptation of the driver to the room. Designed initially for Definition 6, its first market appearance is in Union 6. Floor gap tuning is banished as we are able to put the exit interface out the back of the loudspeaker. Cabinet resonance distortions are held to very low levels through efficient energy transfer (1st rule: try not to induce harmonic resonance in the first place). The “decoherence” function of the scatter plate and a wide bandwidth / low Q distribution of plate modes within the cabinet design further minimize spurious resonances. Implementation of the scatter plate complex dovetails with our 10” coaxial driver as if it was specifically engineered around it, because it was.
We are offering Union 6 at its base price of $2899 in Clear Hickory, and in Satin Black. Black Hickory, Rustic Hickory and a new Mercury finish that is neither gloss nor strictly matte are available at added cost.
Union 6 puts contenders for all-time-best-sound, bang-for-buck loudspeakers on notice that Zu owns that rank, now.
Union 6 Specifications
Bandwidth: 30 – 22k Hz
Efficiency: 99 dB-SPL (1 watt, 1 meter)
Impedance: 8 Ω
Wavefront: virtual point source
Max SPL Program: 120 dB-Z (slow)
Max Music Input: 150 W
Max Music Input: 300 W (high-pass at 50 Hz, 12 dB/octave)
Max Music Input: 450 W (high-pass at 80 Hz, 12 dB/octave)
Practical Amplification (Small Rooms) 2w – 15w
Practical Amplification (Medium Rooms) 6w – 20w
Practical Amplification (Large Rooms) 15w-75w
Input [A]: ZuB3 via speakON™ NL8 (parallel with binding posts)
Input [B]: Binding posts accepting bare wire, standard and oversized spades and banana plugs
Full Range Driver: ZuCX-ND-8
Super-tweeter: Coaxial UAPT50-3
Crossover Network: None, and no filter components on the full-range driver
Tweeter High-Pass: Single element mono pole filter (ClarityCap MR 1.0µF)
Floor/Speaker Gap Requirements: None
Minimum Speaker-to-Wall Space: 2 inches [50mm]
Internal Cable: Zu Mission Mk. II
Internal Connections: Silver plated crimped disconnects and 4% silver bearing solder
Driver fasteners: Stainless 10–24, 3/16” hex drive
Nameplate fasteners: Stainless 10–24, 3/16” hex drive
Bottom Insert Thread: 3/8–16, full pass-through
Installed Footers: ball-end 3/8—16 stainless with 9/16 stainless jam nut
Installed Footers Vertical Adjustment: 3/8 inch [ 10mm]
Dimensions Cabinet: 12 x 12 x 36 inches [30.5 x 30.5 x 91.5 cm]
Dimensions Package: 17 x 18 x 41 inches [43 x 46 x 104 cm]
Weight Each: 65 pounds [29.5 kg]
Weight Each Packaged: 75 pounds [34 kg]
Warranty: 5-years material and workmanship
Materials selected for potential 100 years life in indoor use.
Made in Ogden, Utah, USA.
What About the Rest of the Union 6 Series?
We anticipate Zu Audio Union 6 Supreme going live on zuaudio.com around July 4th, starting at $3899, and the Union 6 Bookshelf debut is targeted before the end of July, starting at $1799.