Hi guys
I would like to give my opinion of the Zound Acoustics ZA04 speakers. I am the lucky one who won them last year (or was that the year before last, I can’t remember) in the AVSA poll competition. As I am very seldom online these days I have not been able to post anything up 'till now, but that is actually a good thing as it means that I have had some time to really get used to the little tikes.
First a quick bio of my hifi involvement/history. I have been involved in the hifi industry for the last 20+ years. I have worked at and managed (briefly) a hi-fi shop (we carried mainly Boston and Rotel, but also a few other brands). I have been actively reading both magazines (local and overseas), and have spent many, many hours on the net posting and reading (I used to have a lot of access to the net previously). I am also a huge vinyl nut, and have many thousands (literally) of LPs, as well as a few hundred CDs and a few gigabytes of music on my PC. I have had a lot of equipment over the years, some I still have, some have been affirmatively redistributed (IOW stolen). My current setup is very humble due to the previous affirmative redistribution as well as very limited funds on my part (car payments are killing my budget, but luckily the car is nearly paid off). My current main system consists of an old JVC Nivico receiver, a Rotel RCD965BX cd-player, a Rotel RD965BX cassette deck (almost never used) and the speakers are a pair of Goodmans Axiom 201 drivers on an open-baffle. Unfortunately all of my turntables are currently in need of either electronics repair or a plinth or a PSU or a tonearm, or a combination of these, so they are not in use. I also have a Naim 42.5 pre that needs some repair and a PSU, and that is my next project. As soon as that is done, I'll build some Gainclone amps for the Goodmans, and then my system can really start taking flight. But that is enough about me. Let's get on to the review of the Zound ZA04.
As I said, I won them in the AVSA competition, and I cannot tell you how glad I was. I do not often enter AVSA competitions - only when am really interested in the prizes do I enter - so I was overjoyed at winning. Thanks very much to the sponsors, Zound Acoustics, and AVSA- you really made my year!
As for the little ZA04s, I can really say that they have impressed me a lot. I have been (very) actively using them over the past year or so, and they have never let me down. The sound quality is surprising given their budget status. They stand on my desk flanking the PC and some hifi equipment, mounted on a pair of granite stands. Originally they just stood flat on the desk, but I got some pieces of granite off-cut from a local stone mason, and I used that to make them some stands- they’re worth it. The fact is that while using the little ZA04s I seldom feel the need switch on my main system, and that is a huge compliment in itself. I use them to listen to music, play PC games and watch movies (I don't have a TV, so I watch movies on the PC), and for all those roles they deliver. I do not have an iPod so I could not test that part of their functionality, but I have used them once to charge a friend of mine's iPod (he had charger problems), and they worked well, but back to the sound. At their price point one should not expect forensic levels of detail, or a huge soundstage, etc, but what they do deliver is more than good enough to keep me listening. Now I have never claimed to be a golden ears, but I have heard many a system that just did nothing to involve me or to cause me to want to listen more (from low-fi all the way to the ultra-fi end of the spectrum), but these do. What they deliver is honest sound, not trying to do too much, but simply doing everything well enough to make one want to listen more. Detail is good enough so you're not continuously wondering what you are missing, but they are not harsh (something I am VERY glad about). They also don't have much low bass. In fact I don't think they have much below 100Hz, but they bass they do deliver is honest bass. Not over-bloated to impress, nor too shy to make them sound speedy, but well damped and even. Soundstaging and imaging is also reasonable. Not brilliant, but them again I never expected that.
As far as criticisms, negative comments or reservations go, I have only a few things that I could mention:
1. The backlit LCD display: you have to be relatively on-axis to read the display, and as you move more and more off-axis, the display become more and more unreadable (users of old NAD cd-players will know what I am talking about). I believe that this was a budgetary choice, and as such is very understandable. I do not believe that it is fair to really criticize this as the price is already so low this is more than forgivable, but it does bear mentioning.
2. No control buttons on the speaker: all the controls to the speakers' functions are done with the remote control. I believe that this was also a budgetary consideration, and therefore understandable, but I still would have liked a row of control buttons on the top of the speaker. Only five would be necessary- power, source, preset (for the tuner section) and volume up and down. My remote's battery did die on my a month or so ago (due to continuous, heavy use), and it was inexpensive to replace, but it was still very frustrating during the time I had no remote as I was not able to use the speakers at all.
3. No subwoofer output: this is another 'nice-to-have' rather than a serious design flaw. With small speakers like these it would have been nice to be able to connect a sub to fill out the low end.
In summary I have to say is that the ZA04s are worth every penny of their (low) asking price. So you might ask me, if it was my hard-earned money that I was going to spend, would I buy a pair of Zound Acoustics ZA04 speakers. And my answer to that would be... no. I would save up a bit more and buy the Zound Acoustics ZA05 speakers, their bigger brothers! :-). The reasons are three-fold.
1. Bass: I am a bass freak, and the ZA05 with its 5" woofers (vs. the 4" woofers in the ZA04s) would fill out the low-end a lot more satisfactorily.
2. Volume: The ZA04s with their 20 watts on tap is not shy to play loud, and when watching movies we have often played them at full volume without even a murmur of complaint from the speakers, but must admit that I would still like some more. For most folks the volume that the ZA04s can deliver will be more than adequate, but them again I am not most people. The ZA05s have 50 watts and with that I could really headbang.
3. Stands: Simply put, the ZA04s don't have any, but the ZA05s come with stands as per the standard package. This would really help to reduce the clutter on my desk as well as give me more placement options.
In conclusion I have to say that I am very satisfied with the Zound Acoustics ZA04s, and I would have been even if I had paid full price for them. I must congratulate Zound Acoustics on putting together a package that anyone on a restricted budget could afford, and that is a real step up from the standard HT junk that all the big retailers are pushing.
Regards, and enjoy the music,
Deon
