Zu Soul Superfly

I have used both Druid and now Essence in a 10'x12' room, placing my listening position about 7' from the speakers with good results. Had feared the Essence bass response would overload the room , but it did not. At this distance the speakers seem to have an intimacy and immediacy that has not been matched by any other speaker in my room. Especially nice for late night listening because the Zu speakers are well balanced at low volumes.

For what its worth I was exchanging emails this morning with a friend who was dead set on buying the Omen, but after hearing it and the SF at a Florida Zu party, he is ponying up the extra money for Superfly.

Exact opposite for me. I've now had some time with both speakers and I'll be picking up the Omens as soon as I'm able.

Is that based on it being a better 'value' or is it a signature you prefer irrespective of price?

I'm getting used to the Atma=sphere amplifier and it is really an impressive piece. Slightly dry, but I'm going to roll some 6sn7s in and see how it does. I suspect this may be my Superfly keeper.

I prefer the sonic signature of the Omen's driver over the Superfly's driver. The Superfly had a few characteristics that I found distracting, but not serious enough to keep me from wanting a pair. I didn't hear those same things in the Omen.

I asked Sean about what the differences between the drivers were. The Superfly's high output driver uses a lighter cone mixed with the largest and most powerful magnet assembly they could make work. Something about these changes doesn't completely agree with my ears.

Now, don't get me wrong. I could still listen to the Superfly every day. I spent hours at RMAF sitting in the Zu room and just enjoying the music. But for my tastes and listening style, the Omen is a better fit.

The biggest downside is the tweeter placement. It's too low and it does pull the entire soundstage down. I sit fairly low and pretty far away from the speakers, so I'm willing to deal with it. It does make me wonder, though, how the Druid would hold up with the Omen's driver and the improved Griewe loading. I am considering purchasing a pair of used Druids and doing those updates myself. We'll see how things look when my tax return rolls in next year.

I also spent good amount of time at RMAF talking to Kristian, Sean and Adam. I think the latter two's decision to put the management of the company into the former's hands was a great idea. Apparently they've brought on new people, reworked the factory space, and Adam and Sean seem more free to work on new products instead of getting caught up in the day-to-day business operations. I couldn't get any of them to open up about what's coming up, but by the sounds of it we should expect a lot more from the company over the next few months.

Spring: 7 feet is fine for Druid,

Themadmilkman: Yes, speaker height, especially tweeter, is important. I had to put my driuid on 6 inch brick (long story) and my listening chair now gets 6 inch of pillow, otherwise balance is thrown right off.

Do not mention this to other people on this forum to whom it is article of religous faith that Zus do fine just "plopped down".

Would love to hear more about RMAF, and Zu room in particular