Zu Soul Superfly

Yay, finally a second opinion :)

Look forward to regular updates Gopher.

Mike

My initial impressions are very positive. I'm hearing a much more complete sound than my Abbys could convey. I was not aware I was missing out on as much treble detail/extension as I was with my prior single driver, but the super tweeter is really great.

The mids are full and textured but I'm detecting a bit of hardness which I suspect will go away with break in, also I do find myself wanting a touch for more detail in this area.

The bass is obviously not optimal using floor mounts in carpet, but even still I can't really complain. It is fast and punchy.

This speaker does dynamics better than my Abbys which I felt were one of its strengths. Its an exciting presentation.

One surprise for me is that despite the significantly higher sensitivity (101 from 95) my noise floor is down. While my First Watt (which is working great in this system btw) is pretty silent in operation, my preamp is not usually as quite, but now I can't hear the low level of noise I could with my less efficient speakers.

Also, I seem to open the volume pot MORE now than before to get to similar levels. Not much more, but I worried going to this level of efficiency I wouldn't be able to fine tune volume levels as easily.

As far as looks go, the pictures on the site are pretty accurate, even at night under artificial light they look similar to the direct sun pictures. While they aren't as pretty as the Abby's, they are attractive in their own right, simple, clean and very well finished.

FWIW I have serial numbers 11 and 12, so I guess I have the sixth pair made.

Sigh... I guess its time to post the Abbys up for sale. Hate to do it, but based on my experience so far, Phil is probably right that I can move to these from my prior speakers without missing any aspect of the old sound.

Thanks Gopher. Keep us all posted. I'm especially interested in how the mid band develops as that, for me, was the great strength of the Druids. The sense of air being physically moved when a sax or a trumpet was blown; that sense you were hearing a real musician and not just a facsimile.

I can't be bothered to trawl through earlier posts but had you heard the Druid or not?

I'm hopeful a UK pair will be here soon for demo!!!

Mike

Mike,

I had not heard a Druid, but was actually researching the possibility of a pair as a successor to my Abbys when these were announced. I had pretty much resolved to buy the next used pair that didn't have a 'weird' color scheme to try in home and re-sell if I didn't like them. Then the Soul with free Superfly deal came around for about the price of used druids and I couldn't hold back. Also the metronome looking enclosure is more attractive to me.

One thing I'm liking a lot about these speakers is that they are far more versatile than my Abbys. I've thrown on some reggae and hip hop for grins and it does a very good job delivering the goods.

I was up listening till almost 2am last night and was up at 8am today to rock out a little more before the family gets up and I have to start the day.

Gopher,

I don't recall which First Watt amp you have, but keep in mind that the Abby is an 8 ohm nominal impedance speaker, whereas Soul Superfly is 16 ohms. So you're -3db on power into the higher impedance at a given volume setting (though up 6db on power transfer efficiency). This combined with the somewhat incomplete break-in that sets in during shipping probably explains the extra volume rotation you're getting. The speaker will begin sounding more dynamic and subjectively a little louder for a given setting as break-in of the internal wiring and the cone/motor proceeds.

You'll also hear more detail emerge in the mid-band as the cone limbers up. Further, while the Soul doesn't have the floor gap fussiness of the Druid (which you now hear by getting real bass despite the speaker base sitting directly on carpet), installation of appropriate spikes will allow the Griewe model finger vents to properly function, and when the Griewe model is working properly, it affects sound right up through the mid-range. It's not just a bass performance feature.

Last, for now, if you really want max mid-range detail punch, borrow an 845 SET amp, or lacking that availability try any decent tube amp with 20w-60w of muscle. See how you like that compared to the First Watt. The only solid state amps I've heard give the Zu FRD the dynamic drive detailed shove of a jumpy tube amp are McIntosh autoformer output amps. You can get more jump factor and detail smack from tubes at a given budget than you can from transistors, if your ears are really hungry for smash-and-grab attention. But First Watt amps have specific sound assets and you'll hear them come through more vividly as break-in proceeds. Zu has told me in the past that the toughest break-in factor for speakers that go through factory break-in and aren't cold-weather shipped, is the internal cabling dialectric. Crank it when you can.

Phil