Zu Druid Clone [Archive] - The Art of Sound Forum

valves

13-12-2011, 14:19

Hi,

I mentioned I was building a clone of the Zu Druid speaker,

Details of the build are:-

18mm MDF for the cabinets, I built them a bit shorter and fatter, same internal cubic volume as the Druids, more wife friendly.

Drivers are: Eminence Legend B102 10 inch.

Zu use these and modify, exact mods are unknown, apart from a phase plug.

Tweeters are: Eminence APT 50, stock item no mods although Zu do modify.

Mills resistors and Mundorf Capacitors for filters.

Pics to follow, prepping to pain at the moment.

Carl.

valves

13-12-2011, 14:48

Hi,

Cabinets under construction.

Carl.

Puffin

13-12-2011, 15:08

Hi,

Pics to follow, prepping to pain at the moment.

Carl.

Pain for us or for you? :lol::lol:

:worthless:

valves

13-12-2011, 15:11

Hi,

There is a little picture of me sanding my cabinets,and it is a pain in order to get a good result with PAINT.

Why pain for you?

I am new to the forum and hi fi stuff please be kind.

More pics to follow when complete.

Carl.

John

13-12-2011, 15:30

Looks nice so far Carl
The B102 is a nice driver and should work well

technobear

13-12-2011, 15:31

It's true that Eminence supply a custom FR driver to Zu but it isn't a Legend B102 although there are similarities. The phase plug is unfortunately an important part of the recipe.

The shorter cabinet is also interesting. It's an open pipe. The length is the critical factor, not the volume, so it will be interesting to see how the frequency response turns out.

The gap between the base and the floor is critical too and some experimentation will be necessary to get the right balance.

You may need to play around with the crossover point as the B102 will not have the same frequency response or directivity as the Zu driver. The standard cap is 1.0 uFD as I'm sure you know already. I'm not sure what the resistor was - 10 or 12 ohms I think. You might want to experiment with cheaper components before splashing out on Mundorf and Mills for the final values.

I found the performance of the tweeter was enhanced by placing a 47 ohm damping resistor (Mills) across it. This cleans up the upper midrange performance somewhat and is audible.

Do you have any measuring equipment? If not then I hope someone near to you will be interested enough to lend some and measure these when they are finished.

Finally, these drivers will take an age to fully break in. Allow 500 hours as a minimum but they will continue to improve for a long time after that.

valves

13-12-2011, 15:41

Hi,

Thanks John and Chris.

Once they are finished getting the best sound out of them may be a challenge.

Considering the build cost I'm happy to fiddle a bit.

I think a company called Tekton uses a standard Legend B102 in a speaker called Lore.

Wlm may use a standard Eminence Beta and Apt 50 in the Diva, although I may be wrong.

If it fails I could, build the cabinets to exact Druid dimensions, buy a pair of Zu Omens or secondhand Druids, I think a dealer near me is about to stock them.

I do like messing about building stuff though.

Carl.

Ali Tait

13-12-2011, 17:32

valves

07-01-2012, 20:22

Hi,

Pictures of finished Druid Clones.

Naim CD player,

DIY power supply for Naim.

Croft pre and power.

Diy Acrylic rack.

Carl.

DSJR

07-01-2012, 21:20

Well done - looks great :)

keiths

07-01-2012, 23:01

They look great Carl. How are they sounding?

valves

08-01-2012, 11:41

Hi,

How are they sounding?

I think they sound very good. It's early days still running in.

I have owned a pair of original Zu Druids and the wife hated them as they where tall and very glossy and expensive.

From memory these are as good as the Druid's but with more bass. I have used Mundorf caps and Mills resistors which Zu do or did as an upgrade.

The filter values are exactly the same as the Druid and internal cubic volume is the same, just different cabinet dimensions, internal cabling, speaker binding, etc.

I have compared these against a pair of ProAc Tablette Ref 8's with Rel Sub,

I'm selling the ProAc's.

Both of these speakers where running a Naim front end with power supply and Croft pre and power amps.

The Rel sub integrates better with the Druid clone, although it's not needed.

Considering these are stock Eminence drivers I am happily surprised.

A few people commented on the modifications that Zu do to the drivers and stated that clones would never be able to sound as good as Zu speakers, I'm not sure about that now.

These cost a fraction of the price, just time and effort and are completely tweakable/modable/upgradeable.

There are a pair of Druids not far from me, I'm trying to set up a bake off.

I'll keep you posted.

Carl.