Zu introduces Soul 6

I enjoyed my Soul Supremes except for the poor integration of the full range driver and the super tweeter. I'm curious if this coaxial design solves that issue.

I should clarify my original post, it was taken from Zu's site on the day Soul 6 was released. 
Some corrections/additions:

Cabinet is the same size as Soul mk.II: 31.5 inches
Entire cabinet structure is Okoume, not veneered fiberboard
Bass extension down to 38 hz

I have to say of the 5 Zu models I have heard in my home, Soul mk.II was my least favorite.  If Sean is able to get Druid type performance out of that cabinet, he truly is a genius.

John Darko currently has a pair of Soul 6 in his room, hopefully he will be posting a review soon.

I have a pair of Soul 6 arriving on Wednesday. I have Druid 6 and Definition 4 to compare it to. I'll post comments in a week or so.

Phil

get one pair . second is free

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15% off today,, I just cked the speaker looks and  the db spec,, all it is , some sort of WBer /whizzzer, cone looks paper, I don't like paperpaper, Only bamboo paper/bamboo wood types. They dont say what the cone is made of,, I NEED to know. 
I only like treated bamboo fiber/pulps/wood ofrmashed banana pulp (Tang Band). 

OK now we got that out the way..onto db sens
wow a  wopping 100db. 
Thats 6 db more than my limit, 
Yeah I know my DavidLouis VX8 is in fact 95db, thats 1 db more than my allowed max.
'WEll let me say 94/95db sens is ultimate limit.
There is going to be serioes issues witha  95+ db sens WBer in my system. 
My amp boasts 100 watts. Rm is small, very  near field listening.
= 96+db not doable.
Folks need to be aware when making  speaker choices.
You have to know certain things abouta  speaker before  hitting the  BUY NOW button.
The speaker may indeed be a  steallar stunning voice.
But again the db sens is 4db over my limit.
WE need to open discussion  about db sen s, how edach 1 db increment decides how a  speaker will perform in certain amps/linestage.
Most if not all linestage have a  good bit of gain this higher amplification drives the gain factor in the amplifier this creating high gain  in the speaker circuit. Thus making any db sens over 96db a  serious issue in most home settings. 
The benifits of a  12AX7 gain in the linestage delivers superior dynamics and details. 
There are tradeoffs. Which is why i imagine some linestages employ a  12AT7 or 6SN7 type tubes.  Lower amplificatio facots. 
I prefer the 12AX in drive tubes  with AU's softening the initial gain. 
Both together work their magic. 
But you pay with higher gains.
Trade off tradeoff tradeoffs.
Everything in audio has some tradeoffs. 
Most of AER/Voxativ speakers also are disqualified from my interest due to  high db sens. 
With any speaker at 96db+ I would need a  20x20x12 room to make the speaker work also a  true flea watt SET/ 1-4 watts.

Most systems have too much total gain, and this is independent of amplifier power. If you have separate preamp and power amp, the input sensitivity of the power amp and the output voltage of the preamp have to be considered to get useful range out of the volume control. You could have a 2w amp with an input sensitivity of 0.5v paired to a preamp with 10v out and find the system very annoying to use. On the other hand, you could have a 200/200w power amp with an input sensitivity of 3.5v combined with a preamp with 2.5v out and find that the preamp runs out of drive before the power amp can be driven to full power.

You can also find 12ax7 preamp circuits that have relatively low total gain. Many high efficiency speakers have low or only modest power handling. Zu speakers combine high efficiency with high power handling so large amplifiers aren't a problem, but they aren't necessary either.

There are other ways to solve this problem. One is to use a TVC or AVC for the linestage, so that you maintain the drive in the system without adding gain, or only a little (+6db). If for other reasons of your own you choose to combine a high gain preamp with a high gain power amp, you can use high quality attenuators between the two. Or you can choose a modest-gain active preamp (~10db - 12db) with a moderate-gain power amp (~22db) and have a usable system regardless of power level.

The cone of the Zu Soul 6 main driver is wood pulp (paper) based treated with nano materials. As Zu explains it, "...The driver’s cone is a paper pulp substrate, processed with a liquid solid matrix utilizing several nanoengineered materials. Some key components and compounds include: nanosphere ceramics, synthetic epoxy, cristobalite, plus the use of amorphous fumed silica and aircraft dope. The nano materials and application process reduce weight and increase strength and propagation velocity without incurring any sacrifices in damping..."

The nano materials and the carrier evolve as Zu drivers evolve. Like all Zu main drivers, the new Soul 6 driver (including the whizzer) covers the range of 35 Hz - 12kHz, with the range above 12kHz handled by a supertweeter on a high pass filter. In the Soul 6, the supertweeter is mounted concentrically in the center structure of the full range driver.

This is not a simple paper cone driver. It retains the tone and texture of paper, with the lightness, strength, stiffness of synthetic and metal cone materials that otherwise don't sound as good. The concentric driver behaves as a point source, and the okoume ply cabinet is as critical to the vivid, lifelike sound of Soul 6 as the latest main driver is.

Phil