TLDR: I absolutely love mine (but what do I know?). Might keep them forever, might upgrade a couple of levels someday.
So that shot above is mine, and despite only one being in the picture, I can confirm that I do in fact have a right channel as well.
They are Dirty Weekend 6, standard model. I've had them for about a year now, and I opted not to go for Superfly or Supreme upgrades, for reasons I'll get into. I may someday do the Jupiter cap DIY upgrade, or I may just save those funds for the (probably) inevitable move to Soul 6. I would have gone for the gorgeous red or possibly blue finish, but both of those had WAF of 0. I was initially going to get DWX since it's such a small space, but Mrs. rule6 preferred the look of floorstanders instead of standmounts. Fine with me, that extends the bass from 38 down to 30 Hz.
I don't have adequate words or experience to provide a real review. Explanatory background on myself forthcoming: I've been a music fan for decades, but the last time I bought a "real" system (so not counting the pictured Sonos Arc soundbar or other HT package deals over the years) was in the early 90s. High school me thought it was the bees knees, Technics A/V receiver, Technics tape deck(!), Philips 5-disc CD carousel, and Bose Acoustimass satellite/sub set. I also used a very old set of speakers my dad had from the 60s/70s, but IDK what those actually were. I thought it was amazing. I still have all of it except my dad's speakers which got some water damage and we tossed them, and my daughter is now using the receiver for its phono stage and to drive the Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2 pair I got for her.
Then I didn't upgrade or even think seriously about audio until just a couple of years ago when I started itching to very belatedly join the vinyl craze. It wasn't a revival for me since I never was into vinyl as a kid. I came up during the CD heyday, but having a teenage daughter meant she naturally joined in because it's hip, and I thought it seemed fun and had a box of LPs I inherited from my dad. I learned about Schiit and Zu and really like both companies. The leadership philosophies of both, while different, very much appeal to me.
So I don't have a long history with different speakers and gear in my perfectly optimized listening space or anything, and this is why I didn't go for upgraded speakers. I figured anything I bought would blow my mind and I'd save the upgrades for down the line as I got more experience. As the picture above hints at, my rig is shoe-horned into a corner of my living room with the left channel as far out of the corner as is feasible (not very far at all), while not shown is the right channel with absolutely nothing next to it. I sit about 8'-9' away from the drivers, but there's a wall directly behind the couch. It's not a good space and I'm in process of clearing out the basement with hopes to make a better room. So take anything I say with a huge grain of inexperience salt. Other than a brief listen to
@Bowmoreman's Apogee speakers, I have never really heard other hifi speakers I could even compare these to.
I do love the sound I get. Even in my bad space, they cast a wonderful center image and the stage sounds good to me, but I am still learning how to really hear the depth. As mentioned, I'm sat pretty close, almost an equilateral triangle, but no space behind the speakers or me. I think the sound is organic and just gorgeous. It sounds like Bill Evans and Robert Plant are in my living room (not at the same time, but wouldn't that be a fun combo!), and I'm hearing things in songs I've loved for 30+ years that I never knew were there. A big thing for me in building this system was jazz bass. I really feel like Mingus and McBride are playing right there in front of me. The corner behind lefty is doing bad things to the bass, I'm sure, but it really still sounds good to me. I don't really know how else to describe the sound other than they sound real, they're fun, and I don't give a fig about all the "their measurements suck" articles and comments I've heard. I really liked this particular review, which you may have seen:
I'm definitely not in the measurements first crowd and just believe if it sounds good, it's good. Maybe someday I'll evolve and this will no longer sound good to me, but for now it's fantastic. I do understand from lots of reviewers (and Zu's documentation) that they really do take a fair amount of breaking in, which is one reason they have such a lengthy return window. So if you take the plunge and aren't blown away immediately, do keep listening as they should open up over time.
I think the only upgrade path for me is the Soul 6, which I think is even gorgeouser than my DW6 (and let's be honest, looks matter to us for something we live with in our space - we listen partly with our eyes, and I think lots of speakers these days are hideous), and the various reviews I've watched and read make me think it will suit me and my musical tastes perfectly. The higher bottom end of the bass response of Soul vs DW does give me a little concern, but I'm sure in-room for what I listen to, I wouldn't care, especially if/when I get sub(s).
I have to add that I also just think the high efficiency is really fun. I've been running with 30 Wpc mono Gjallerhorns since last year but just started exploring tubes, partly due to Sean's love of tubes and hearing him talk about how well they pair with his speakers. The TubeCube 7 in the photo is only 3.5 Wpc and it plays easily into the 90 dB range, and that's running my pre-amp in passive mode. I'm about to get on the looong waiting list for a Decware amp, and also considering some higher power tube options like Black Ice, which Zu has partnered with at shows in the past. I just think it's hilarious how good these sound with such low input power. And the louder they get, they just keep sounding amazing. I don't play very loud very often, but when I have run it up real high, it floors me how it just stays clean and pure. Makes me want to take them into a huge space just to play with their upper end.
I guess that's my non-review review. If you're in the neighborhood, especially after I build out my basement listening/media room, I'd be happy to give you a demo.
