ZenV4, SOZ, or Original Zen for Ariel?

[sianturi]

Hello all,
I've been looking for a low DF amp to drive my ariel, and it seems that a variant of Zen will be suitable for it. I need opinions on which one to be the best (sonically) for Ariel.

Zen, ZenV4, or SOZ?

jh6you, I know you're driving your Ariel with one of Zen variant, can you give some input?

As for Aleph (aleph 3 in particular), I've been discouraged to build it, as Lynn Olson in one of his article complaining about its sound on ariel. Does anybody experience the same problem on ariel driven with one of Aleph variant?

Thanks folks!

[jh6you]

Hi

I keep my impression the sound of Zen is very good.
In some music, however, Zen fails to control the bass.

If the bass control is a concern, Zen V2 is a recommendable choice.
Zen V2 controls the bass tight. The bass does not cover other sounds, but well support them for the accomplishment of music.

On top of this, if another concern is about the audible frequency bandwidth above 20kHz and the distortion and the bigger output power, Zen V4 could be a choice.

Right… mine is ZV2 plus Ariel. Soon, I might finish the baby ZV2 (or 4). I love the music at the lower watt. For me, 8W output is good enough and loud enough at home. If I miss really loud music or movie sound, I might go to the concert or cinema.

I am unsure what kind of bass Mr Lynn Olsen is pursuing…

JH

[sianturi]

How 'bout SOZ on Ariel? The zero feedback will surely fits Olsen's criteria.

jh,
if you could post the result of your baby ZV4 driving your ariel, I greatly appreciate it.

Regards,

[jh6you]

My ZV2 is without the negative loop line--i.e. the R3 is simply removed.

Sure, I will post it, expectedly in 10 days.

[sianturi]

Btw, do you notice any sonic improvement (or degradation) after removing the NFB (R3)?

Regards,

[Mad_K]

HI!

I have used both SOZ and Aleph 3 on the ME2. I can tell you that I enjoyed the SOZ very much, and that I did not like the Aleph 3 at all with this loudspeaker.

With the SOZ everything sounded about right, but with the Aleph it sounded too bright, overdamped and the percieved bass was poor. Also I found the midrange to be too forward. The dynamics of the Aleph was way better though. In the Aleph's defence, I can say that it was built merely as a test-block because I only wanted to hear it run.

I guess you could tweak both the Ariel and Aleph to match better to each other, but I didn't investigate further.

[jh6you]

Yeah... there is subtle difference. Please trust your own ears.

Once you own one of Zen, Zen V2 or Zen V4, it is easy to switch to this or to that. Moreover, if you like to get your own damping factor, you could make it by adjusting the ac current of the active current source.

Sounds attractive...
I am just back from the after-work event......Heeccu.........k!

Mads, ...from Bergen...?
Ahaa... That was the reason why Mr Lynn Olsen...

J...H...

[jh6you]

Sorry for the post just above. I polluted the thread somewhat.

JH

[Nelson Pass]

I vote for ZV4 unless your audio source loves low
impedance loads, like my Wadia.

[PMA]

ZEN, ZENV4 or SOZ? From the choice you gave the ZENV4 was the best possibility. You can put 1 Ohm resistor in series with speaker in case that you need low DF :-))