Zu Soul Superfly

$2000 was a direct email response from Zu. It seemed high to me also. Your response from them may very.

The ribbon tweeter is gone because of efficiency. I tried the original Druids, they didn't work for me, though I heard a lot of promise. The Essence being less efficient didn't have enough spls with my 300b amps.
I suspect that Zu has really put it together on the Soul and decided to buy in. Hopefully it is the answer to a lot of our desire for a decent looking small footprint, mostly full range speaker.
I applaud Zu for making what seems to be a "statement" speaker that is affordable and fun. There is way too much gravitas (am I actually thinking a different word?)in high end speakers.
Because of a recent house renovation, I was going to treat myself to a great pair of speakers. I have spent the last few months scouring NYC for something special, and while there are plenty of good, even great speakers, the bullshit (I guess I was) and ludicrous cost for what in the most part are outsourced components in nicely finished but generally ugly boxes, makes you want to just bury your ears in a good set of phones.
So- Zu I hope you have succeeded in bringing some life to the party. And, I hope that party gets to my house in the next couple of weeks. Supa-fly!

I too have the superfly on order and have appreciated your comments. What can you say about the cosmic carbon? I am wondering if I'd prefer a different finish.

I requested more photos that show the finish and the back and sides. Zu is completing the first production pairs this week and will then throw up some more images. I was told that matte finishes start at $400 and custom colors at $2000. I'd love it in a sharp color, but 2 large is too much. Guess I'll need to learn to love the cosmos carbonation.

As I said in a previous post, I looked at (and listened to) practically every speaker available in NYC. Most were very expensive, ill porportioned, ugly boxes that had really great finishes. All the dealers claimed that a large part of the costs were in the finish. Amazing amount of various "good" sound, but big and ugly. Wilsons? Anybody remember that song "Fat bottom girls"?
I decided to buy a Gallo strada/sub 7.1 system. Nice disappearing matte black finish and small footprint, huge sound...only problem not good for set, but since I was desirous of a bigger sound than my Devore/300b combo could produce I was ready to look for alternate amplification. Then I saw the ad for the Zu and realized I could easily alternate my Gallo 7.1 fronts and zu/300b in a very small footprint. After my search, I came to admire both Gallo and Zu for giving great engineering in small enclosures for a reasonable cost. It seems that basic matte finishes are part of the equation.
Any recommendations for 7.1 receiver or separates for the Gallos? I wish there was a 45w per side 300b set.

Phil, any chance of getting pics of your friends souls? I'd love to see them before mine go into production. I am sitting on the fence as I have a favorite color and if these, as I hope, turn out to be a long term keeper I'd love to have them in that color. Thanks.

Here is my take on where this thread is going- stupidville. It isn't even funny anymore. Zanon- listen to the speakers if you get a chance and less to the voices in your head. Spare us the cacophony.
I talked to Zu today- there won't be any more pics for awhile, till they get the first batch delivered. There won't be any early samples sent to reviewers either. So this thread seems to be it for people to comment as they receive their souls. I for one hope we can hold it to comments about real listening experience.

We need more pics. To those who have received their souls- bust out with some pixels. Are you liking the cosmic carbon? I just got off the phone with Sean, since mine haven't shipped I am still talking color options, so I would love to see some in situ shots. Thanks

I'd like to know what finish you went with also. I am waiting on some pics from Sean of a brown finish that an early customer requested. He indicated to me that it was only a $100 dollar upgrade. That being said I did like the cosmic gray color on the first pic in natural light. Anybody else able to provide pics?

So, madmilkman you are the guy with the brown soul. Thanks for the pics. Now we need a full report on how they sound and what that yammy is doing for them.

Hey Zanon, madmilkman has posted pics of the soul with the designer/builders own 2 watt "yamplifier" Do you know something he doesn't? When are you getting your souls?

Incredible Experience!!

I finally have a pair of superfly. I have been following and commenting on this thread from the beginning- I was in line for the original deal but just didn't like the way they looked in the carbon, so I passed. Last week they had a "second" pair in latte for $1400 w/ shipping. I jumped.

Why incredible? Because many moons(more than 6) ago when I was a working musician in LA. I saw Neil Young and Crazy Horse at the Troubador in LA, a very small club. It was just before "Everybody knows this is nowhere" album was released and they played the whole album. Now the stage at the Troubador was tiny- 10' square if that. I was sitting center about 10 feet away,- you guessed it just about the distance from the superflys. So- First chord of Cinnamon Girl- Deja Vu and each cut after- deja vu all over again. I was back in LA. What the fuck?? Brilliant!

I have spent the last 5 days going thru all my guitar favorites, Rock, jazz, classical, flamenco-- hundreds of cuts. I say without reservation, the Superfly is the best transducer of guitar I have ever heard. The rest sounds pretty good too, I am hooked.

By the way, I am using an old el34 based golden tube integrated and a cheap samsung 3d dvd player. I'll report back when I hook them into my main rig.

The only thing that I can figure is that the driver size is so close to the typical guitar amp. I mean the guitar is palpably there in my room. No shit. The dynamics, the tone, are there. Wow. This hobby is major fun again.