From the respective specs pages:
Omen: Zu260FRD/G4
Soul: Zu260FRD/G4HO
Druid: Zu260FRD/G2-08
The Omen might not have the exact same driver as the Soul Superfly (not sure what the HO designates) but it is certainly not the same driver as the Druids. |
Anyone else get their Superflys yet? I'm surprised there has been next to no feedback from anyone else. I called Zu today about going up for an audition and was told that the next batch of Souls are being burned in right now and should be shipped in about two weeks. |
Well, I'm excited to see what they end up releasing. I'm guessing probably a bookshelf speaker, given the price. I wonder if they'll be showing it at RMAF. |
Should have pulled up their website before I replied.
http://www.zuaudio.com/loudspeakers/omen.html |
What type of brown finish? This brown finish (pardon the mess, I have 2 small children and rearranged the living room to better handle the speakers): http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/6408/dsc0094p.jpg http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/3524/dsc0093l.jpg http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/6372/dsc0095cx.jpg I wish I had better pictures of it. It's a very subtle color but looks great. And yes, that's Sean Casey's Yamamoto amp on the side there. A very interesting piece of gear, to say the least. |
Sadly, I'm not the owner. Sean was kind enough to let me borrow them for a weekend (they went out to a friend who was fine with that arrangement) along with his amp. The yamamoto is an interesting piece of gear. The midrange really is golden, but I could never deal with the limited dynamics and lack of bass control. I have a feeling that I'd prefer the Soul with some real tube muscle. I know a lot of people swear by SETs with Zu speakers, but I'd love to hear it with a giant balanced tube amp.
Anyway, this weekend audition was my first experience with Zu speakers, so I can't compare it to the Druid or any others. I can say what I heard, though. I initially set up the speakers about 5 feet apart with me sitting on a fairly tall recliner about 5 feet away. The soundstaging was amazing in that setup, but the speakers had a very nasal qualify to them. Some rearranging of furniture ended up with the speakers where you see them in the pictures and me sitting about 7 feet back and on a shorter couch. I had the speakers pointed just slightly behind me. In this position they really opened up. I think the nasal quality was a refraction (is that the right word?) issue from sitting above axis.
Now for sound. I listen to a very wide variety of music, ranging from hip-hop to jazz to full orchestras to video game soundtracks. I found that I generally liked the Souls most with smaller groups and close-miked instruments. Buddy Guy's Blues Singer, for example, came across as very raw and in-your-face, which is precisely how it should sound. The Souls drew out every low-level detail you could imagine, from his fingers scratching across the strings to his hands smacking against the body of his guitar is presented to you in a very neutral and revealing manner. It feels like the speakers really get out of the way and let the recording come through.
I also enjoyed listening to Blue Man Group's Audio on the Souls, although the bass wasn't quite as full as I would have liked. It was accurate and extended, but it felt recessed. This was true with both the Yamamoto and my NAD integrated, which at 50wpc has more than enough power to control the Soul's bass. It may have been a room issue, but I think ultimately this one is a matter of personal taste. I like full room-shaking bass and I was unable to produce that with the Souls. I would really love to hear them matched with a Method sub. 2 of them would be even better.
The Souls feel very neutral. Nothing seems too exaggerated. My sister (a non-audiophile but definite music lover) came up to listen to them with me and said that overall they sounded "sweet," and I would agree. The lack of exaggerated high frequencies makes the sound sweet relative to a lot of more mainstream audiophile brands. She brought up the soundtracks to all of the Harry Potter movies, and I thoroughly enjoyed them, which surprised me slightly given how well the speakers took to just a man and his guitar. The Souls didn't provide the same sense of monumental scale that you would get out of a large multi-driver speaker, but the musical score itself did come across clearly and without distraction.
Of everything I listened to, the only time I was disappointed was during Gil Shaham's rendition of The Four Seasons. There were times that things would begin to sound really congested and some of the individual instruments would get lost. I don't have that issue with my Vandersteens, although my 1Cs definitely don't produce the sort of detail that the Soul can.
Anyway, I know this isn't your typical audiophile review, but this is how I listen. I like a speaker that lets me hear the artwork being produced without distraction. Minus my desire for fuller bass, the Soul did this admirably. I would recommend them just about anyone.
No wait, actually, I do have one other complaint. I like the monolithic look of the Druid better. I mentioned this to Sean and he said that other people have said the same thing, and that they hope to eventually develop a "new" Druid provided that they can get the same imposing stature and have it sound better than the Soul Superfly. If they manage that, I'll be first on the reservation list. I may have to sell a kidney to make it happen, but I will. |
Got email from Zu. $1000 speaker coming. Is that all they said? Because you've piqued the curiosity of my rather limited budget. |
Zanon, I'm pretty sure the tweeter is actually the same as the Soul. The pair I borrowed had the screen over the tweeter, which Sean said was something they were experimenting with.
In terms of cost-cutting, it looks like the cabinet itself is really basic, and the specs make no mention of a foam wedge, so I wouldn't expect to see one. Cabling is copper instead of silver.
I am mildly concerned about having the tweeter below the main driver on a 3 foot tall speaker, although that's easily solved by tiling the speaker. And since it's 12" deep, doing so shouldn't affect the speaker's stability.
I'm very interested to hear how the Omen compares to the Soul Superfly. Yes, I expect it to be inferior, but at $1500 it fits within my budget and is very tempting. |
Interesting info there, Gopher. This is looking more and more like it will be my next pair of speakers. The Souls were great speakers for the 3 days I had them, but too expensive for my budget. I can definitely make the Omen work. |
For what its worth I was exchanging emails this morning with a friend who was dead set on buying the Omen, but after hearing it and the SF at a Florida Zu party, he is ponying up the extra money for Superfly. Exact opposite for me. I've now had some time with both speakers and I'll be picking up the Omens as soon as I'm able. |
Well, everything just changed. I will not be getting the Omens. I won the pair of bright green Superflys that Zu raffled off at RMAF.
I'll be picking them up on November 11. I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as I have them set up. They clash with everything I own, but who cares? Free speakers! |
I prefer the sonic signature of the Omen's driver over the Superfly's driver. The Superfly had a few characteristics that I found distracting, but not serious enough to keep me from wanting a pair. I didn't hear those same things in the Omen.
I asked Sean about what the differences between the drivers were. The Superfly's high output driver uses a lighter cone mixed with the largest and most powerful magnet assembly they could make work. Something about these changes doesn't completely agree with my ears.
Now, don't get me wrong. I could still listen to the Superfly every day. I spent hours at RMAF sitting in the Zu room and just enjoying the music. But for my tastes and listening style, the Omen is a better fit.
The biggest downside is the tweeter placement. It's too low and it does pull the entire soundstage down. I sit fairly low and pretty far away from the speakers, so I'm willing to deal with it. It does make me wonder, though, how the Druid would hold up with the Omen's driver and the improved Griewe loading. I am considering purchasing a pair of used Druids and doing those updates myself. We'll see how things look when my tax return rolls in next year.
I also spent good amount of time at RMAF talking to Kristian, Sean and Adam. I think the latter two's decision to put the management of the company into the former's hands was a great idea. Apparently they've brought on new people, reworked the factory space, and Adam and Sean seem more free to work on new products instead of getting caught up in the day-to-day business operations. I couldn't get any of them to open up about what's coming up, but by the sounds of it we should expect a lot more from the company over the next few months. |
Naggots, your experience has a lot to do with my desire to perhaps experiment with a used pair of Druids. I think I would probably go with the Omen's driver and see how things played out. One of the nice things about Zu's simple designs is that these changes can be made easily without worrying about crossover networks and other things. |
Well, since today was a federal holiday and I didn't have to work, I made it up to Ogden to pick up the Superflys. They've been unboxed and hooked up, and right now I'm working on placement. I should have pictures up in a day or two, after I get the room cleaned up.
I took my 6-year-old with me to pick them up and to let him see the Zu factory. He loves tools and enjoyed seeing how the speakers were made. Kristian gave us the tour and pointed out a lot of the new products that are set to be released in the near future. I can't give specifics, but there are some really cool products set to be released. I would definitely suggest that anyone interested in buying speakers before the end of the year keep a close eye on their website. |
As an aside, if anyone here was thinking about picking up the Soul/Superfly/ or Omen/Def/Bookshelf, the black friday sale appears to be up and running on their website. |
