DWX
Versatility and realism combine.
*Select performance package first
Order-to-ship schedule [updated 4/23]
Satin Black - 4 weeks
Black Starlight - 4 weeks
White Starlight - 4 weeks
Cosmic Carbon - 4 weeks
Mercury - 5 weeks
Rustic Hickory - 3 weeks
Ruby Red Hickory - 3 weeks
Electric Blue Hickory - 3 weeks
Hickory Black - 3 weeks
American Walnut - 2 weeks
Other finishes - 5 weeks+
Superfly +2 week, Supreme +3 weeks
Included: simple and effective press-fit protective driver cover, and cleaning cloth Packaging is designed for easy unpacking/repacking and tough enough to survive rough freight handling and reuse.
Zu DWX is a medium format monitor / large bookshelf loudspeaker that shares all that great driver and component goodness of the Dirty Weekend Six floor standing loudspeaker. The smaller cabinet size of DWX makes it versatile—use them as a stand mount, large bookshelf, low-slung floor standers, studio monitors, center or full-bandwidth effects. The front-side port allows usage in confined spaces without degrading performance.
Price is for a matched pair, and they are shipped as a matched pair. Singles are simply half price—if you need a single please email us and we’ll send you quote with payment link. Two performance upgrade packages are available, Superfly and Supreme. In addition to the cabinet finish you can also select black or silver aluminum tweeter lens and driver trim ring, selected at the end of the checkout process (no up-charge).
Each DWX is packaged individually. Each includes a simple and effective press-fit protective driver cover. Packaging is designed for easy unpacking/repacking and tough enough to survive rough freight handling and reuse.
DWX reviews
Just awarded to the new DWX > Best Audiophile Speakers of 2023! Steve Guttenberg Audiophiliac [DWX feature starts at 5m 31s]
Also just hit: John Darko’s top three under $3k (ish) of 2023!
Srajan @ 6moons & John Darko - Podcast on DWX
John Darko - “Zu DWX: the thinking man’s Klipsch”
Steve Guttenberg Audiophiliac on DWX
6 Moons on the DWX - Full Review
DWX sound goals
Sound goals of DWX are essentially the same as those of DW 6, in fact the drivers and internals are the same. DWX uses traditional bass reflex box/driver tuning and features a front-firing port. The front-side port allows for better timing of bass frequencies, it also allows DWX to be placed very near walls and in confined spaces without degrading performance due to port position. The large port size with radius flares keeps port turbulence to negligible levels.
DWX is efficient (95 dB-SPL @ 1W, 1m), broad-bandwidth (38 - 22k Hz, typical in-room response), has smooth off-axis transition, serves up huge stereo, is rugged and handsome… a loudspeaker that responds to your music with agility, precise timing and rich tone. Hear deeply into your music without ruthlessly exposing those poor quality recordings or that amp you own that isn’t quite as amazing as Zu’s DWX.
As mentioned, DWX uses the same full-range driver as our DW 6, our 10-inch Zu260 full-ranger driver (FRD). This driver is a bit less less intense and utilizes an undercut/dynamically damped magnetics design giving it a detailed yet smooth and expressive sound. Acoustic cross over point between FRD and tweeter is 12k Hz—having the vast majority of the soundfield (90%) emanating from the FRD makes for a very cohesive and unified wavefront, one of the qualities really appreciated by Zu owners.
DWX is a medium format monitor loudspeaker. Cabinet measures 12” [25.4] wide, 12” [25.4] deep and 23” [58.4cm] tall. The driver protrudes 5/8” [16mm] from the face of the cabinet. The nameplate and binding posts protrude 1-1/8” [29mm] from the back of the cabinet. DWX is 35% smaller in size, yet very near the stunning fidelity, even in the bass, of Dirty Weekend Six (DW 6). Each DWX weighs 42 pounds [19 kgs].
Upgrade packages - Superfly | Supreme
DWX loudspeakers are on the high efficiency end of the spectrum, are precision-matched in stereo pairs and able to recreate compellingly real sound in dynamics and in stereophony. That said, we encourage the upgrade if funds are handy.
Superfly performance package details
Superfly-grade [tighter tolerance between pairs] full-range drivers
Superfly-grade [tighter tolerance between pairs] tweeter drivers
Mission Mk.II internal cable harness instead of basic hook-up wire
ClarityCap MR capacitor upgrade
Extra 100 hours of factory burn-in
ZuB3 connection addition
Machined aluminum nameplate with laser engraving
Drivers - DWX/Superfly features tighter matched full-range drivers and tweeters—driver pairs that match to very tight tolerance in magnitude and impulse response—the tighter the left/right matching the more natural and satisfying soundfield (phase space), creating stereo best described as realistic and enveloping.
Internal cable - Mission Mk.II cable harness, instead of standard, much more simple Mission hookup wire for internal connections. This triples the conducting area of DWX Superfly over standard, reducing resistance and reactive ratios improving dynamics and resolution while also improving tone. The improved sound imparted by the Mission Mk.II internal cable complements the ClarityCap MR capacitors, also part of the package.
ClarityCap MR capacitors - are featured in the simple mono-pole tweeter high-pass network of the DWX Superfly. These capacitors have a very natural and resolving character, improving the “at ease” quality and yet revealing more detail and nuance. Pair matched.
Expanded connector option - ZuB3 connection addition, absent in the standard DWX. Use of the Mission Mk. II loudspeaker cable in DWX Superfly imparts the utility of the ZuB3 connection, which is connected in parallel with five-way binding posts. This connection is via the silver plated Neutrik speakON NL8 barrel-type locking connector. This connection lets you get the most from the improved internal cable, reduces contact resistance over binding posts, and gives the best electrical pass-through matchup when using Zu loudspeaker cable to connect DWX to your amp. The connection also safeguards against you getting the hot/cold out of phase, short-circuiting your amp and having the connection work loose or corrode.
Extra Burn-In - An extra 100 hours of club-level factory burn-in for the DWX Superfly.
Supreme performance package details
DWX Supreme builds on the upgrade package of DWX Superfly, so you still get the Superfly machined from billet precision and bling and the ZuB3 connection addition. Supreme is wholly a performance related upgrade focused on maximum fidelity within the DW platform. Staying true to the loudspeakers forgiving nature and amazing tone, Supreme additions improve areas of nuance and resolution all while increasing smoothness and neutrality. There are no drawbacks save the price to this upgrade and extra burn-in required, the proof of these claims we think you’ll find in album after album marathon listening where you find yourself totally lost in the music. Regardless of which performance package, DWX is nonplussed with respect to room placement and associated gear. All versions feature easy service and future upgrade swap with metal-to-metal fastening.
Supreme-grade [tightest possible matching between matched pairs] full-range drivers
Supreme-grade [tightest possible matching between matched pairs] tweeter drivers
Event Mk.II internal cable harness upgrade
Jupiter Copper capacitor upgrade
Extra 200 hours of factory burn-in
ZuB3 connection addition
Machined aluminum connection/nameplate
Drivers - Supreme Grade full-range drivers and tweeters. These are driver pairs that match to an extremely tight deviation tolerance in magnitude and impulse response, culled from each batch of 128 drivers. The tighter the left/right matching the more natural and satisfying the sound-field.
Internal Cable - DWX Supreme gets cabled with Event Mk.II inside. Event Mk.II improves resolution over Mission Mk. II cable with its FEP insulation, broad and uniform characteristic impedance and silver based circuits. Conductance is on par with Mission Mk.II but the propagation velocity is higher and the noise floor is noticeably lower. Event Mk.II internal cable increases the resolution of the loudspeaker system to a point where Jupiter Copper capacitors combine in mesmeric ways—DWX Supreme features these caps.
Jupiter Copper Caps - Jupiter Copper Foil & Paper and pure silver leadout capacitors are utilized in the tweeter high-pass network of DWX Supreme. These capacitors, combined with Event Mk.II internal cable, imparts a sense of grace and sexy magic to the whole of the sound, and once experienced it's hard to live without. Pair matched to 0.2% or better.
Extra Burn-In - An extra 200 hours of club-level factory burn-in for the DWX Supreme.
Shared DWX specifications [DWX, DWX Superfly, DWX Supreme]
Bandwidth: 38 - 22k Hz [in-room average]
Sensitivity : 95 dB-SPL @ 2.8V and 39” [1.0 m] from FRD face to mic within a 2π to 4π gradient space
Impedance: 12 ohm nominal full spectrum Z-weighted, 8 ohm minimum
Wavefront: virtual point source from 12k Hz and down
Near Field Transition: = 20” [50 cm] (driver face to your nose on axis)
Max SPL Program: 118 dB-Z (slow)
Max Input Power: 200 W program
Amplifier power output guidance
5 - 20 watts for low to moderate sound pressure levels
20 - 100 watts for moderate to very loud SPLs
100 - 500 watts for very loud to ear damagingly loud SPLs
Shared build specifications
Full-Range Driver: Zu260FRD-ND (10” paper/CNT cone, neutral-hung 2” coil on paper/Kapton former
Tweeter: Eminence ASD-1001
High-Pass Network: single element mono-pole 18k Hz bezel, 12k Hz realized
Crossover: none, and no filter components on the full-range driver
Cabinet: North American made composite wood, skinned with real wood veneer or epoxy
Factory burn-In
100 hours for DWX
200 hours for DWX Superfly
300 hours for DWX Supreme
Factory burn-in consists of 50% low to moderate intensity and 50% extreme intensity full-bandwidth hard hitting music. Final QC is always post burn-in.
Dimensions
DWX weight: 42 pounds [19 kg] each
DWX cabinet: 12 x 12 x 23 inches [30.5 x 30.5 x 58.5 cm]DWX cabinet: 12 x 12 x 23 inches [30.5 x 30.5 x 58.5 cm]
The driver protrudes 5/8” [16mm] from the face of the cabinet, nameplate and binding posts protrude 1-1/8” [29mm] from the back of the cabinet
DWX packaged dimensions: ≤50 pounds [23 kg] 17 x 18 x 28 inches [43 x 46 x 71 cm] each
Other details
Life Expectancy: 100 years, all parts, for indoor use (fatigue profiles factored on normal listening levels @ 1000 hours a year)
DWX entered production April, 2023
DWX is made In Ogden, Utah
Warranty
Like everything we make, DWX is built to last a lifetime—cabinet materials, adhesives, driver assemblies... every component is a quality part engineered and built to create a loudspeaker system that will continually satisfy and amaze decade after decade, backing up that claim is our liberal five year limited warranty to materials and workmanship. Warranty does not cover misuse, abuse, components upstream from the loudspeaker system, modifications or non-factory overseen service.
