Zu Soul Supreme Recap -- Owners, what are your preferred system pairings with them?


I'll save a long backstory, but in short I've got the Zu Soul Supremes and I absolutely love them for what they do, at least in my relatively small (13x15x9) listening room.  I've had them a couple years as a follow-on to previous Zu speakers (Unions and Cubes, which I still own).  Those followed some vintage Altec horns (16 ohm Valencias and 19s)--which I love, but love the Zus more for daily listening.  Sean recommended the Supremes over the Druids at the time for the size of my listening room, although I suspect the Druids would have been as good or better regardless.

My interest is to hear from other Zu Soul Supreme owners...not may posts in this forum from owners that I can find.  I'd prefer to focus this discussion on the Soul Supremes, as there is a lot of great info already on the Druids and Definitions (which I assume are more prevalent in the wild), even though I'm sure have a ton of overlap in system synergy.

So...

What system components are you finding to be great/phenomenal matches to the Soul Supremes, what have you compared them to, and what hasn't worked as well?   Anyone running them with what you consider to be really high-end gear?  I'm super curious to see how far these speakers can go before a speaker upgrade makes way more sense.

Jay
128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xparsons
I bought a pair of Thoress 845 SET monos...very, very nice.  Waiting on some NOS replacement driver tubes before I declare full victory and move it to my #1 (to date), but they sound totally awesome with the mismatched ones that came with it already, so pretty sure it's a shoe-in, despite my long love affair with the Prima Luna/KT150s.

Would still like to try/hear direct comparisons to:

Atma-Sphere Novacrons
Atma-Sphere M60s
Audion Black Shadows
Decware SET (last_lemming, good call, read great things)
Linear Tube Audio ZOTL40 MKII
Melody AN845 (and compare to my Thoresses!)

I would also like to try a 300B SET (like the Audion Golden Nights)...but from reading alone, with my love of the KT150 tube characteristics over less powerful ones in that line (down to the EL34), I expect I might not enjoy the 300B as much as the 845.  I know that's controversial to some.  (That's why I said I'd like to hear one.)


"Hey Parsons, tbh I think Soul Supremes and Druids should pair well with the same amps as they use the same drivers - Defs are a bit different as they are tougher to drive. I have heard a zillion amps with Zu, so this is my experience."

Yes, per Sean Casey, they use the same drivers and everything just different form and footprint (and price)

OK, so I bought a Melody AN845 and the MicroZotl pre-amp/1w amp with NOS tubes and the external power supply.  Both sound fantastic.  The MicroZotl as a pre with the Thoress 845 monos is superb--better than the MicroZotl as an intergrated, but I'm shocked at how good the MicroZotl is on it's own with just its 1w.  I'm going to roll some more tubes, then I'll put some thoughts together as to my new rankings.  The Atma-Sphere MP-1 is still in for its tune up...when back we can run some more pre and amp combos as well.
Since I would have wanted to see this list before I went on my amp quest (I'm still on it), I'll post my updated list...a year later from the last list.  

If anyone is driving Zu Druid 6s or Zu Soul Supremes, here is my prioritized/ranked list.  I would expect this list to be the same for Definition 4s or Druid 5s, although I don't own either of those two sets of speakers--but they share enough DNA with my 2 sets that I would predict their alignment.

Here’s my stack rank of amps to date, from best match-up to not-as-phenomenal:

1.  Decware Taboo III and Atma-Sphere MP-1 (HUGE surprise to me, but it's incredible)
2.  Audion Golden Dream I’s with upgraded caps, Atma-Sphere MP-1
3.  Thoress 845 monos, Atma-Sphere MP-1
4.  Linear Tube Audio MicroZOTL2, Atma-Sphere MP-1
5.  Linear Tube Audio MicroZOTL2, as integrated

-quality gap-

6.  Melody 845 integrated
7.  Primaluna Dialog Premium HP integrated with great preamp bypassing the PL pre-section, KT150s as output tubes--you can read my posts elsewhere on A-gon on my thoughts on this combo
8 tie.  Simaudio Moon i-7 integrated (bypassed with same great pre-amp)--very, very close second and best SS matchup--I was a little surprised this handled all aspects even slightly better than the SIT-2 below (perhaps I shouldn't be surprised since the current version of this amp is like $12K)--maybe the tiniest "etch" and maybe "brightness" on really the top end like trumpets and some female vocals that still probably puts this just barely in 2nd for me;  maybe also a slight bit more congestion in complicated passages;  shockingly good tube-like midrange for SS
8 tie. Simaudio Moon i-7 integrated (as integrated)--the pre-section in this is stellar, and to be honest, probably not distinguishable when used just as an amp with a really good pre-amp--hence maybe the best value of all I've owned?  Still just prefer the PL HP, however
10.  First Watt SIT-2 (with same great pre-amp)--very close to #s 7, 8s and 9, but a little too short on decay and "balls" at higher SPL--see my comparisons in other A-gon posts

-quality gap-

11.  PL Premium HP integrated with KT150s (as integrated)--very, very good, but I think the pre-amp section could be improved (maybe with a tube-roll?)

-quality gap-

12.  PL Premium HP integrated with KT120s (as integrated) -- upgrade to KT150s (better than 88s but not as good as 150s)
13.  PL Premium HP integrated with KT88s (as integrated) -- upgrade to KT150s (skip the 120s)
14.  McIntosh MHA100 Headphone Amp using it's speaker output--shockingly good--never tried it as just an amp, though--not sure I can bypass the pre-section
15 tie. Transcendent OTL Mini Beast with great pre-amp (would have liked a second to bridge and use as monoblocks--may try to find a second before I sell the first...might move up the list as mono’s)15 tie. Anthem P2 with great pre-amp
17.  Primaluna Premium Dialog 2 integrated with KT88s -- probably better if I bypassed it's pre-section but I haven't taken the time to run it that way since finding that combo on it's bigger brother, the HP
18.  Nelson Pass Amp Camp amp build--neat little solid state amp, but runs insanely hot and ultimately didn't do it for me
19.  Transcendent OTL SE--good but not as ballsy as it's bigger brother the Mini Beast