Zu Soul Superfly

After a week in triode mode (40wpc) I just switched to pentode (60wpc) with the Ayon Spirit II.

Music comes across fuller and with more body, and the bass seems to be more controlled. Had the name Soul not been in the mix, I would have started by saying that it feels like the music has more soul.

As a note, I prefer triode with the Gemme Tanto V2s, though the knob has to be turned up a bit more than in pentode, with the Gemmes (less efficient than the Zu's, of course).

Will have to listen in pentode mode over the next week and will provide more details in the main review at that time. New photos, hopefully by tomorrow.

Themadmilkman...... I have the Druids and due to the shipping costs to Australia I decided to try to upgrade them rather than ship out new Souls. I contacted Sean and after a few email exchanges he came up with a few ways to improve the Mk4/08 Driuds.

1. Paint the inside of the cabinet with Soundpaint or Quietcoat, 2 coats min (ala Soul)
2. Make a foam wedge (open cell)which fits into the cutout in the base plate of Druid with a 3/8" gap all round and extending upto the center of the tweeter.Stick the foam to the mesh with contact glue (Soul Essence ish) Improves bass and overall slam acording to Sean.
3. place a 1" dowel between the FRD and tweeter connecting the front and back of the cabinet.......glue in before soundpainting.

this is in addition to the Mudorf SIO cap and Duelund resistor upgrade (ala Soul)which I already have.

Another improvement I'm undertaking is to replace the FRD with Soul FRD. This require a resistor tweek from 12ohm to 10ohms.

all this is easily achievable for less than shipping (as I already have the High pass)

I'll report on the changes I find when completed. Even without the driver upgrade the box dampening/ foam wedge and extra brace will improve the Druid Sean suggests.

David_ten, It's interesting that you find they have more soul with pentode mode over triode. I had a VAC amp that switched between, and my preference was always triode with the Essence, Devore super 8, 9 and the various Verity speakers I tried it with.

Maybe by more soul you are liking a more top to bottom and overall powerful experience? Are the mids better in triode or do you still prefer the pentode? I'm curious about how you find the texture in vocals and striking and sustain of chords between the two.

Anyway, sounds like you are enjoying them. Happy listening!

Gopher: My issue with Druids at flea-watt amps is not in bass, it is in midrange. And it has nothing to do with level.

I am surprised you like your VIRTUE. I have given up on class-d.

Themadmilkman: Yes, it is lack of exaggerated HF that make Druid sound so different from other hifi speakers, and more natural. This element I like, although I would not characterize sound as "sweet".

I do not like running druids much below 60Hz. Actually, I roll them off at 70Hz (heresey I know) and fill down to 35-40Hz with subwoofer. In large part this is requirement of room. And I am not someone who likes "slam" bass.

Did you listen to Four Season using flea-watt amp? I hate the congestion I got when W was too low. If you get more powerful amp, you will not have congestion with acoustic, full orchestra work (which is hardest test for speaker btw). Zu do perfectly credible job with this music if properly setup.

It's all gone very quiet. No more owners? No more photos? What's a boy to do?