Zu Soul Superfly

If one could choose between a used Essence or new Soul Superfly pair what would work best in a large room for 50/50 use of music/HT?
I would power them with a Dayens Ampino.

The Ampino's power will decline to 12-15w/ch into the Superfly's 16 ohms impedance, and perhaps to 15-18w/ch into Essence. But Essence is 4db less efficient than Superfly. On balance, aside from Superfly being the better-sounding, more tuneful speaker of the two, it will also make better use of the Ampino's power and intrinsic dynamic aliveness, which you'll no doubt appreciate in a large room. I have no doubt that the Superfly super tweeter will be a much better match to this transistor amp than the hot ribbon on Essence. as I've written before, Essence is the least Zu-like speaker, duet the combination of the ribbon super tweeter's less toneful harmonic output, and the unfortunate dialing back of the Zu FRD's intrinsic dynamic capability to accommodate the less efficient ribbon. You end up with an audible dynamic muting relative to the 101db/w/m speakers, and then a slight tone disconnect between the FRD and the super tweeter. Superfly is a thorough improvement over Essence regardless of amplification, but especially so for Ampino and it's ilk. Superfly will also sound more expansive and explosive in HT use.

Phil

Being a current Superfly owner and a previous Essence owner, I'll say Superfly no question. I do not regret the move in any way.

Hi everybody, I'm looking into buying a good tube amp for these speakers. Do people have any good tube amp recomendations for a medium room for moderate listening? I'm currently looking at a couple amps, one 35 wpc and the other are 70 wpc monoblocks. Would getting monoblocks for these speakers be overkill, or do they benefit from the extra power going from 35 to 70 wpc?

Thank a lot!

My wife and I were at the RMAF this year and went to a couple of the Zu rooms (big room where the Omens were sharing space with a couple of other systems and their dedicated room with the Soul Superfly's). We really enjoyed both speakers as we like speakers that have some life and dynamics to them. They proved equally adept at providing fine detail and musicality. In fact, to my surprise, my wife ordered a pair of the Superfly's while at the show (while I was checking out gear in some other rooms) and they will be shipped either this week or next. Now I'm glad I brought her along as I thought she'd find the show boring and tedious.