Author Topic: BG Z7 Review  (Read 10374 times)

Offline richidoo

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BG Z7 Review
« on: May 02, 2007, 05:38:54 AM »
       

I have a set of Z7s on loan while my Legacy crossovers are being repaired. These were the very first speakers I auditioned in the beginning of my audio quest. At that time I was immediately impressed with them, auditioned in a decent room playing on Quad 909 amp.

They have the famous BG Neo3 ribbon tweeter that everybody seems to love and no wonder, it is incredibly transparent and musical. Mid and bass is handled by a pair of 5.25" drivers which are port vented in the rear.

The pdf published by BG describes the speakers as follows:
"By combining proprietary ribbon technology with aluminum cone woofers,
the Z Series offers unparalleled transparency, resolution, clarity and tonal
accuracy. Exclusive planar ribbon technology produces a smooth,
open soundstage regardless of listening position or room acoustics."

I heard nothing to contradict these claims. You wouldn't expect an ad or a review to say anything bad about anything and in this case there isn't much bad to say anyway. But nothing is perfect, especially at this low price point of $1000.

With small driver area, getting a grip on the air at low frequencies is difficult. Mid bass response is pretty good, I can hear down to the rated 45Hz (-6) but it is fluffy. Then there is a very noticeable vacancy in the mid bass up to lower mids which is obvious on most music, especially if you are accustomed to large speakers which have little problem playing this range. Even with the freq response abberations clarity is maintained down to about 60Hz, so your mind can interpret music very easily even if the visceral effect is missing.

The dip in the mid bass affects tonality in such instruments as massed violins, cello, trombones, males vocals, etc. Still very enjoyable though.

The speakers worked well in the small room (1550 cuft) and the big room, filling it with gigantic sound on Sacred Music Sunday morning radio show. Choirs and organs sounded incredible. The speakers are rated at 150watts, and handle every bit of grunt the 100wpc Manley Snappers gave them. At 89dB sensitivity, they need some power to do anything to your mood.  :)  I had to crank the Cary to 3/4 to get much joy on big music, where that setting on the Legacies would be pushing down walls. Pushed hard, they never faltered, just sounded louder. They sound just fine turned down too, and I enjoyed them mostly with the Cary at about 1/2 throttle, where there was good synergy. They were very transparent and revealed upstream cable swaps, tube rolls and amp colorations easily. Power cable upgrade was easily heard.

The construction quality is excellent overall, but the binding posts are junk, made from stamped metal, thin hollow nuts with low traction knurls, no room to grip, small contact area, and very thin jumpers that slid out of place when tightening the nuts. Difficult to attach spades.

It is easy to see why it won best cheap speaker 2004 in TAS. I would recommend it for a small office system with nice tube integrated amp and a Squeezebox, or maybe Arcam AVR300.

Chris Martens' TAS Review

Offline richidoo

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BG Z7 Review
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2007, 07:40:23 AM »
Playing the Z7s with a higher power amp over the last couple days has changed their character considerably. The upper bass dip has been "filled" in pretty well and was a result of using the low powered, low impedence sensitive Cary SLI-80.  Sound is much fuller and more natural. They need a high power amp, at least 100 watts with low impedence tolerance. SS amp is in order to match the price of the speakers. Tube of sufficient power and low distortion would be much more money than the speakers, but sounds great!!

Now I know why reviewers take 3 months to listen and experiment before they write anything.  :oops:
Rich