Omen (Mk.II is imminent...)

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Omen is a high performance yet affordable loudspeaker that will deliver great sound in almost any space and gets along with almost any amplifier or receiver. Omen is also built to last a lifetime: cabinet material, adhesives, driver assemblies; every component is a quality part, creating a loudspeaker system that will continually satisfy and amaze, decade after decade.

"The Omen's have wildly exceeded my expectations. Initially my plan was to have the Omen's in a second system. After a week of breaking them in it became apparent they were a very special speaker. I ended up selling my main speakers which were Stereophile B rated speakers featuring tweeter, midrange and three woofers in each tower.

The dynamics and integration of the Omen's is amazing. In the present system they have a fair bit of power going in. Bryston 4B SST amplifier bench tested at 324 watts into 8 ohms per channel. The old speakers went down to 18 hz and while the Omen's don't go that low there seems to be much more bass than the advertised 35hz. I listen to all kinds of music and the Omen's have been great. Especially noteworthy was the Omen's on some Japanese mono Kink's Pye reissues." —Bob Fifik

Omen delivers on the performance all that Zu driver goodness and machined aluminum suggests. Omen is also Zu's first standardized high-volume loudspeaker—the only way to get this level of quality, performance, and good looks at such a small price. Our loudspeaker-driver, machine work, cabinetry, finish, assembly, packaging, all done right here in Ogden, Utah.

With Zu's no questions asked 60-day satisfaction guarantee, you must give Omen a listen. Play your music, be it Buddy Holly, pre Vegas Elvis, or Sword.... Omen is the right speaker for every concert fanatic, music junky and extreme sports lunatic; because splitting your cash between your lifestyle outside and your lifestyle inside just got a whole lot louder!

OMEN QUICK SPECS

OUR DRIVER AND BOX LOADING

Omen, like all Zu products, is built around the critical human voice (A1, 55Hz, through A6 and all the possible harmonics, to approximately 10kHz). Serving this critical region of tone is Zu's 4th generation 260 FRD 10" paper cone full-range driver. In addition to a very large motor assembly, the driver developed for Omen also features a cast aluminum basket, machined from billet center pole feature and is assembled with the finest adhesives ensuring consistency, toughness and a very long life. The result of decades of engineering and refinement that have gone into our full-range driver—with roots going back to 1934 and the prolific Harry Olson and RCA—is a deep, full and dynamically right sound, where the tweeter section is only used to give that last bit of sparkle and resolution on the top of the presence/treble band (12kHz and up). And we designed/refined our FRD to work within our ZuGriewe box/acoustic loading technology. Combined in Omen you get a loudspeaker that is lightning-quick yet still lays down loads of tone density. The system is consistent and linear in its resolution and dynamic behavior—from bass though treble. ZuGriewe delivers increased efficiency in the bass range and reduces noise and distortion, a design that outperforms bass-reflex or acoustic suspension models. Our technology reduces internal acoustic noise from within the cabinet and couples more tightly the high acoustic impedance of the driver cone to the low acoustic impedance of the room. So you get improved bass drum thwack, techno beat hit, thunder-broom shove, snare pop, guitar tone, fiddle bite and burnish... and all able to scale and span even the most demanding and complex recordings (particularly when matched with a great subwoofer like our Undertone). And yeah, voice always sounds human, real and present.

CABINET-WORK AND MATERIALS PALLET

Omen is made from North American high density composite wood plate (comp60), machined on state-of-the-art CNC mills. Omen uses real wood veneer laid-up and pressed at the plywood factory and not glued after assembly. This ensures your finish will not lift or warp, and it yields the flattest surfaces and tightest seams. For glue, it's Titebond III, for the highest joint strength and a lifetime of unfailing, moisture-proof service.

OTHER DETAILS

Omen's hook-up wires are x-linked PE / low strand count pure copper conductors, terminated with Panduit disconnects that are high-pressure crimped in made-to-spec Panduit dies for the best sound and longest life. Binding posts are machined from a single piece of bar stock and the male disconnect tab is machined right into it. The tweeter's high-pass is a simple single-order network. The super-tweeter is time-aligned and features a phenolic dome for smooth detailed treble. The tweeter lens is machined from 6061-T6—the massive chunk of machined billet adding damping and rigidity to the tweeter driver assembly.

Colors & Finish Options

Ghost Black Maple | Gray Maple | Sangria Maple
Natural Maple | Electric Blue Maple

And from time to time we do make a run in walnut but expect a bit of a premium for it. Other finishes are available through the Zu custom shop; inquire for pricing.

The above standards are top coated by UV protecting premium grade conversion varnish. All finish work is done in Zu's custom finish shop.

TIPS ON GETTING GOOD SOUND FROM OMEN

Omen loudspeakers get 300 hours of high-intensity factory burn-in to ensuring they will sound great within just a week or so of regular play. Nevertheless, if they are transported in cold weather, they take several days to "warm up" and return to giving you their best.

Make sure you have 1/4" [6mm] or so gap between the bottom of the loudspeakers and the floor. The finger ports are part of the ZuGriewe box loading technology. They are not ports as used in a bass-reflex design (Helmholtz resonators in all their forms) but the finger ports do need to see the acoustic space of the room. Blocking them turns Union into an interesting but "sealed" design.

Omen has been designed to account for its shorter stature. Placing its full-range 10" driver on top and then time-aligning the super tweeter to "tilt" the sound in a slight upward direction allows Omen to sound larger and taller than it is. Users can also adjust the feet in the Omen to lean the speaker back, further tailoring the sound and loudspeakers integration with the room.

In addition to the installed ball-end footers (for use with hard surface flooring) Omen also ship with spikes to be used to punch through and anchor the speaker through carpets and rugs.

Omen is easy, and easy to love.

Thanks for your interest, and please don't hesitate to call or email, we love what we do and we are here to help.