Zu Druids upgraded Vs Essence

They had the pre-production pair at my house back in November durring the tour. They are a little more "snappy/quick" than the Essence as they are more like the Druids, but have a deeper bass extension. For the price they are asking, its a lot of bang for the buck IMHO.

The Stereophile add mentioned that the first 30 pairs sold will be the upgraded version.

excerpt from their website

Soul (standard), with a global direct price of $1,800 for a matched pair.

Soul Superfly Edition, with a global direct price of $2,600 for a matched pair.

SALE! We are running an introductory special on the first 30 pair of Soul Superfly. Sale ends when they are sold. This intro promo saves you $800! You get the Superfly edition for the price of the standard, that's just $1,800 for a pair of superfly loudspeakers that will last a lifetime.

I know some folks used the Firstwatt F1 with the Druids. Will it still be a suitable choice for the Souls? I just ordered a pair and am really hoping NOT to change amps.

Never tried that one. I have tried with my Druids, Definitions, and Essence...Integra Research RDA7 HT amp at 150 watts/channel, Flying Mole monoblocks, Nuforca IA-7 integrated at 50 watts, and a Cayin A-50T 16 - 32 watts. All sounded great in their own respect. The speakers are flexible and are at home with many different wattages and types of amps. Many people have been enjoying low powered tube amps with great results.

213Cobra: That's very cool. The tapered cabinet is interesting as it seems they have given up volume (and bass extension) for the taper. Personally, I did not like how Druids sounded at 60Hz, but I was surprised at how much port loading impacted the sound. So I am intrigued by these new cabinet design (although I still have reservations about the Essence woofer) and would be very interesting to see if it has better bass extension that the druid because it looks like it has less volume.

Gopher: I think if you use F1 for your druids and find them acceptable, then you should be OK with the souls. Personally, in my space I find I need more like 50W to get Druids to play properly. It isn't level, it is ease. I do not think Zu does themselves any favors by claiming they are good matches with flea amplification.

The soul is really tempting. I was never sure the transiency of ribbon and FRD are perfect fit. This is what I'd like, a FRD w/ horn tweet. I'd like to see more reviews. Anyone??