Wing Acoustics Zerø

Wing Acoustics Zerø

Anyone who’s ever lived with a BBC LS3/5a, Linn Kan, Wharfedale Diamond or Acoustic Energy AE1 will completely ‘get’ little loudspeakers. With a superb one, what you lose on the swings you acquire on the roundabouts – so to talk. This is as a result of they’ll deftly dodge most of the compromises of floorstanders, arising from their pricey and infrequently not very inflexible cupboard.

The new Wing Acoustics Zerø standmount illustrates this level completely. This New Zealand-designed and manufactured child field sports activities an unique midrange and treble driver, plus a good looking anodised aluminium cupboard weighing 7.7kg. That’s fairly heavy, contemplating that it’s no taller than a wine glass.

This speaker makes use of a brand new kind of transducer that its creators – Mike and David Palmer – name acousticWing. It was initially designed over 20 years in the past, however has been progressively honed after which productionised into what we see right here now. It’s claimed to have wonderful transient pace and low distortion, and Wing Acoustics backs this up with loads of technical knowledge on its informative web site.

This drive unit is alleged to imitate the motion of a hummingbird in flight, with an ultra-rigid ‘wing’ that strikes in a exact arc to create sound waves. It’s completely totally different to a standard moving-coil drive unit, being a diaphragm that’s a self-supporting three-dimensional construction. As effectively as being ultra-light, it’s inflexible throughout nearly the complete working bandwidth. Wing Acoustics’ Chief Executive Christopher Hardy says the primary delicate diaphragm resonance mode happens at 17kHz, which is past the higher restrict of most individuals’s listening to. And as a result of it avoids the unstable pistonic motion of typical cones – and their interplay with their rubber surrounds – it’s mentioned to have higher transient efficiency too. These are definitely daring claims, however the design is the topic of over 200 patents.

This driver is fitted inside its personal interior enclosure contained in the Zerø’s cupboard, which is decoupled each from the motive force and the aluminium outer cupboard. Both are braced and damped, and constrained elastomer damping layers are utilized. The outer partitions are 7mm-thick extrusions, and the entrance and rear baffles are 1kg every of forged aluminium. There’s a 75mm bass driver beneath that takes over beneath 570Hz, plus a 100mm passive radiator. The ensuing frequency response is alleged to be 35Hz to 20kHz, with the bass cut-off at -6dB.

Like all small audio system, the Zerø is a prisoner of its diminutive dimensions – this speaker’s tiny inner cupboard quantity of two.6 litres makes for an exceptionally low-efficiency determine of 72dB in line with its maker. That’s 10dB or so worse than the BBC LS3/5a, which is historically considered an inefficient design. Plus, the Zerø isn’t simply power-hungry, it’s current-hungry too. The producer quotes a low nominal impedance of 4ohm, which it says drops down in locations to three.2ohm. So, you’ll want an amp that may pump plenty of present with a stiff energy provide. Wing is completely frank about this, describing it as: “Extremely energy hungry. Many amps merely would not have sufficient headroom to drive this speaker, so it requires cautious amp choice.”

The Zerø may be very simple to place, and works nice as a near-field monitor – simply as its designers meant. It can be misplaced in a big room, however small-to-medium-sized ones are nice in case your energy amplifier is gutsy sufficient. Sitting on 24in stands, barely toed-in and a few foot from a boundary wall, you get an enchanting sound.

Sound high quality
Initially the Zerø sounds considerably underwhelming – boring, comfortable and inoffensive. But moderately like a superb electrostatic loudspeaker, as you recover from the shock of not listening to moving-coil drive models struggle with each other throughout the bass, mid and treble – you start to understand simply how succesful it’s. It’s outlined by the virtually whole lack of all of the issues that typical audio system get unsuitable. There’s no nasal midband, clangy treble or flatulent bass; as an alternative this little field makes a particularly clean and svelte sound that allows you to pay attention proper into the recording.

Its clean tonal stability is one in all its most putting sides, allied to its nearly full lack of grit. Cue up some basic pop within the form of Madonna’s Borderline, and also you don’t hear a consciously punchy bass or spitty treble. Instead, the singer’s vocal line is carried with shocking purity. The recording sounds flat – within the sense that it hasn’t been closely EQ’d – and open, with heaps happening. Bass is enjoyably fluid, however doesn’t dominate, whereas the hi-hat sound from the early eighties drum machine is clear and crisp. It is effectively in a position to let me comply with every strand of the combination, with out snarling or growling at me.

At the identical time, it’s not a visceral thrill-giver; in some methods its delights are extra of the top than of the physique. The bass response gained’t shake your room, though it’s nonetheless surprisingly efficient and prolonged all the identical – and close to miraculous from a such a small speaker. Rather, the purity of the midband and its clean integration with the treble and bass maintain coming again to thrill. Anita Baker’s soulful Sweet Love is a pleasure; the speaker opening the recording up and ushering me in. I’m struck by the great texture to Baker’s voice and the vivid, shiny timbre of these chiming keyboards.

Even with heavier rock music, the Zerø actually distinguishes itself – not due to its skill to flap your flares or blow your wig off, however because of its transient pace. It makes the histrionics of The Who’s Baba O’Reilly a delight; the opening tambourine has a delightfully pure timbre, setting the tone for some superb sounds from the keyboard and drum equipment – each of which have nice pace and dynamism. Despite its tiny dimensions, the Zerø oozes power, actually pushing exhausting to speak the facility of the efficiency.

Imaging is superb too, with out-of-the-box rendering of spatial info; not solely does it work significantly better off-axis than most audio system I’ve heard, it conjures up a soundstage that belies the scale of the containers getting used. Eighties ambient masterpiece Lazy Calm by Cocteau Twins is a pleasure; the Zerø pushing the recorded acoustic out far and broad, with extra depth than I believed attainable from this pretty lo-fi recording. This pretty seamlessness enhances the speaker’s tonal evenness to provide a really related sound to what Quad’s basic ESL-63 electrostatic delivers, albeit with a extra prolonged and delicate treble.

The main draw back has already been mentioned; you should put loads of energy into it. Even with the world’s most gutsy amplifier although, it may well’t change the truth that the Zerø is liable to sitting on dynamics when working in the direction of its most output degree. That moderately goes with the territory, with small cupboards comparable to this I’m afraid. Also, the bass is properly supple and has loads of weight (for the speaker’s measurement), however doesn’t have the sheer transparency of that high-tech, mid-treble driver. There’s only a trace of softness, compression and overhang from the low-frequency driver, relative to the stellar efficiency from its partnering drive unit. Given this speaker’s measurement and value, it’s hardly crime of the century.

Conclusion
The Zerø is a wonderful and interesting speaker that offers mini monitor followers much-needed further selection. It’s extremely gifted in its personal particular means, and for my part a real audiophile discount. Yet be warned that it gained’t be for everybody – it’s unlikely to remove any gross sales from the Klipsch LaScala AL5 (HFC 462), for instance. If you’re out there for an ideal small speaker, that is an important audition. DP    

DETAILS
Product: Wing Acoustics Zerø
Type: Standmount loudspeaker

FEATURES
● 1x acousticWing mid/treble; 75mm bass driver
● 100m ‘wave’ passive radiator
● Quoted sensitivity: 72dB 1W/1m (4ohm)

Read the complete assessment in  Issue 476

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March 14, 2024 at 01:41PM