We describe a new spectrometer for spin resolved photoemission from solids in the soft x-ray energy range. It is mounted on the ID08 beamline at the ESRF light source and consists of a time-of-flight (TOF) energy analyzer coupled to a retarding mini-Mott spin polarimeter. It represents a valid alternative to the spin detection system already available on ID08, especially for the acquisition of wide energy regions, where the TOF technique is extremely efficient. By testing the new spectrometer on the 4f levels of Au and on CuO at the Cu L-3 threshold we show that the effective Sherman function and figure of merit achieved are, respectively, S-eff similar or equal to 0.16 and eta similar or equal to 1.3 x 10(-4) and that for certain experiments we obtain a significant gain in intensity with respect to the previous system. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.