Zu introduces Soul 6

I'm waffling between Soul Supreme's and Soul 6s for my small listening room (12x13).  Had Druid IVs about 10 years ago and loved the dynamic sound but size was just too big for my room and maybe wrong amp at the time. 

I found the Guttenberg review of the Soul 6 confusing - down side of youtube reviews which seem more about entertaining than written versions.
Looking forward to both customer experiences and professional reviews of this speaker.  But am also leaning towards the Soul Supreme at this point which seems to capture more of the Druid sound in a smaller package.

Soul Supreme compacts Druid 5. Soul 6 compacts the sound of Druid 6. with the newer concentric driver. Druid 5 was a relaxed, easygoing, amp-tolerant speaker, more open and elastic than Druid 4. Druid 6 is strikingly more vivid, energetic, revealing and requires more thought about the gear train that comes before it, particularly the amplification. Soul Supreme and Soul 6 have a corresponding relationship.

One would expect a $6000 (Soul 6) speaker to both be more vivid and revealing than a $3800 (Soul Supreme now) one, and so it is. That difference is an opportunity but it also means that while both can work well in your room, Soul Supreme is less likely to prompt one or more changes in associated gear when plopped into an existing system.

Phil

 

 

thanks for this comparison Phil - what I gathered from various threads but your comments should be of value for lots of people wondering about the two speakers. 

I ended up taking advantage of good Zu pricing to order a pair of Soul Supremes which I think will work nice in my smallish room.

My current speakers are Harbeth 30.1s so based upon my 10 years ago Druid experience is going to be very different presentation.  Have a big Hegel 390 amp - so for first while will have to mate with the Supremes as well although I have also read some prefer big power with their Zu's.

Look forward to reading more about Soul 6 as more comments (and reviews) come in.

 

Zu speakers don't need high power but they can benefit from it on some music if the amp doesn't give up too much qualitatively to deliver power. I usually listen to 10-18w single-ended pentode and push-pull triode or pentode amplification on both my Zu systems, but keep a pair of solid state monoblocks around (~270w into 6 ohm Def4; 90w into 16 ohm Druid6) for certain uncorked experiences. Of all the Zu speakers, the Soul Supreme will certainly be a different presentation than your Harbeth, but also the Zu closest to it. Soul Supreme is a 16 ohms speaker so your Hegel 390 will see its power reduced to ~125/125w, a considerable cut since the Harbeth is a 6 ohms speaker, raising your amp's potential output to about 375/375w into that load. Still more than you need for Zu but less overkill. You may find it sounds a little cleaner into the Soul Supreme's higher impedance.

The Soul 6 pair I am listening to are nearly settled enough for commentary, so I'll post more in a week or so.

Phil

Really curious if anyone else has Soul 6 first impressions out there. Or @mozartfan @213cobra would love to read more of your thoughts on these. I have owned a pair of Zu DW's and a pair of Soul II's. Sold both a while ago when downgrading and have been living with a pair of Fritz Carreras running through a Leben 300xs. Very happy with that combo, but sometimes miss the vividness of my Soul's.