The Ethos are incredibly transparent, clear and articulate; the most so of any speaker I have had in my house, or even heard for that matter. By this I do not mean they are analytical, clinical, a detail-in-your-face type of sound. That’s not the case at all. In fact, if anything, with the right equipment and after they are fully broken-in, they sound sweet, clear, transparent, musical and totally stress-free. Stop and think about this for a minute, and really appreciate how very, very rare that is, not only in speakers, but in audio in general. Here you have a speaker that is revealing, transparent, open, clean and articulate while at the exact same time being sweet, enjoyable, musical and emotionally satisfying. That is the ultimate mix and blend, for me. It doesn’t get much better than this, let me tell you.
The Ethos, while being sweet in a good way, is the most revealing speaker I have used thus far. It has revealed the biggest differences in the sound of various components; whether they are electronics, amplifiers, CD players, analogue front ends, cables, record clamps, turntable mats, equipment supports, record cleaners, different tube types, even turntable lids being on or off the turntable, you name it. If it can be heard, you will hear it the most of any speaker that I am aware of. This characteristic, however, does not come at the expense of musicality or emotional involvement. That is how good this speaker is. I would have purchased the Ethos without the slightest hesitation if it weren’t for the top hybrid model in line, called the Summit X. I am saving my money for that model as I write this. In reality, do I really need the additional performance of what the Summit X could bring? No, not all. I am simply intrigued, how much better can the Summit X really be. Cause the Ethos is one hell of a speaker. Another colleague reviewer put it this way about the Ethos (paraphrasing), “This is more speaker than 90% of all audiophiles will ever need.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. The Ethos is so revealing, again in a good way, that I can clearly hear when I substitute another already broken-in interconnect cable in my system, as the cable “settles in” in the next half hour or so. Simply incredible resolution, again not in an analytic, harsh manner whatsoever. For my ears, anyway, this is a near ideal combination of resolution, articulation, transparency, sweetness, tonal balance, openness, soundstage and seamlessness.
Speaking of seamless, in the past, the biggest complaint of the vintage MartinLogan hybrid speakers has been the integration of the electrostatic panel with the conventional moving coil woofer(s). I can see where people were coming from in this area. Past MartinLogan speakers, that I have heard at shows and at dealers, were not ideally integrated between the panel and the woofer, so there is merit to this criticism, for sure. I have heard it also. However, I always thought that the lack of an ideal woofer integration was a small price to pay in order to get the improved, deeper, more impactful bass that I wanted from a traditional woofer driver. This certainly is a preference, but however all this now, is in the past. The Ethos is so much better at the integration of the panel to woofer interface, that now it is essentially a dead issue. The integration in the Ethos is now so cohesive, that this problem is irrelevant. The self-powered aluminium cone woofer is now so good that it is not a concern for me. The integration in the Ethos is damn good. Is it perfect? No. But I’ll tell you this much, it is as good as most cone speakers integration of woofer and midrange. I can name at least three traditional cone speakers that I have had ,in which the integration of the woofer-to-midrange is actually worse than the Ethos. So guys, the bottom line is, in the Ethos the woofer integration, while not perfect, is no longer a key issue, as it was in the past. Period.
A key point I want to make is that the power cord that you use to power the Ethos has a drastic, and I mean drastic, and obvious effect on the quality of sound. This does not necessarily mean that you have to use an “expensive” power cord. I got great results, although with a different sonic presentation, with several reasonably priced power cords, such as Vampire Wire and Cardas. I got fantastic results, and the best sound overall, with an inexpensive homemade power cord consisting of normal house “Romex” wiring of 12-gauge solid core copper wire. I installed some reasonably priced connections from Marinco at the ends and presto. Great sound for cheap. My recommendation is to not use the stock cord. The Ethos is such a great speaker that you will not be getting the sound you’ve paid for without a better power cord. Like I said, the effect is drastic and very noticeable. For example, one can clearly hear the sound differences between a traditional stranded power cord (like the stock cord) vs. a “Litz” cord like Cardas vs. a solid core power cable, like the Romex cable I built. This is due to the sound of “strand interaction,” that is, the sound jumping from one strand to another within the stranded conductors, of a traditional stranded cable. Overall, I got the best sound from the Romex power cord, if you can believe it.
Onda Air Power Cord
The good people at Onda, a Canadian cable company, were nice enough to lend me their all-silver Onda Air power cord. Being silver, this is a relatively expensive cable at $1,699 each, but I wanted to really get a handle on the sound of the Ethos, especially since the power cord has such a big effect on the Ethos. The Air is an excellent silver power cord. Installing the Air to the Ethos produced a much better integration between the panel and the woofer. Who knew? The Ethos now became even more cohesive between the sound of the woofer and the panel. In fact, out of all the power cables I used on the Ethos, the Onda Air was the most cohesive and the one closest to seamless integration. This cable also sounds warm, sweet, musical and “tube-like” in its presentation, which is a surprise, as some silver cables can be analytical and thin sounding. All this comes in addition to the other great qualities of the Air, being silver, such as transparency, openness, great sound stage and excellent depth. Overall, a great power cable.
Back to the Ethos
The Ethos produces good articulation and delineation, even in the bass regions. For example, on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, I heard for the first time, the heart beating within the sections of the music playing. I didn’t even know it was ever there, I thought it was only in the beginning of the track. The bass goes fairly low, it is very satisfying, and sounds/feels like it went deeper that the manufacturers specifications would indicate. Overall, the bass was very good and enjoyable.
The midrange as well as the treble, once I got the right partnering equipment, was simply incredible. Overall, the best I’ve heard in my home and one of the best I’ve heard anywhere. And of course, the integration between the two was seamless, as it is reproduced by the same panel. Did I mention that the tonal balance was also spot-on? Listening to The Beatles’ 1 (their number 1 hits), I could clearly hear in Paul’s voice, the saliva on his lips and tongue on “Yesterday”, where he sings, “My troubles seemed so far away.” The singing harmonies between the Beatles were more distinct and immensely more enjoyable, as well. On other music, you could clearly hear, as an example, the woody resonances of the piano, the reediness of the sax, the tambourine sounding metallic and steel-ey. Simply, emotionally satisfying. The same can be said for the high frequencies of the Ethos, as well. The highs were excellent, quick, fast, extended, although not to super-tweeter ranges, while still sweet and silky. The symbols sounded metallic, as they should, and they lingered longer than I’ve heard them before with many other speakers.
The soundstage of the Ethos is also excellent. These speakers produce an excellent wall-to-wall soundstage with very good height as well as depth. You can also hear the differences in soundstage presentation as they are recorded by the different recording engineers, and even between the different tracks on the same album or CD. This is clearly demonstrated between The Beatles’ “Hello Goodbye,” which is slightly compressed with a very small soundstage presentation vs .their “Get Back,” where the recording is more open, and their voices flow and breathe more.
The Ethos can also boogie and rock well. In Santana’s Original Master Recording song “Evil Ways,” the music has great energy and drive. The music was solid, energetic, satisfying and can go fairly loud. It clearly is not a speaker for “metal heads” however, and it does have limits on loudness and ultimate impact. For 95% of the music that most typical audiophiles listen to, the Ethos are more than capable of producing the energy, drive and most of all, the emotion of the music. Just don’t expect it to move a ton of musical air like my former Thiel CS7.2, which were stunning in this regard. However, I wouldn’t trade the Ethos’ cohesiveness in order to get it.
If I were to nit-pick, and that’s exactly what it is, nit picking, I’d say that they don’t quite produce the weight and energy of the music that a very good dynamic speaker can. Electrostatics cannot do this as well as moving coil drivers can. This can be improved by giving the Ethos a powerful weighty amplifier, such as the Modright KWA-100 power amp, which is a great amplifier by the way, and worked very well with the Ethos. The Modright amp is also very good value-for-the-money and an excellent sounding amp. I thank Vince Scalzitti of Tri-Cell Enterprises for providing this great amp. And again, the other nit-pick, as stated before, is that the Ethos can’t play crazy loud or do metallic rock to satisfying levels. So what. The truth is that this speaker is exceptional and is simply a steal at the selling price of $6,700 per pair. For this price range and even well above it, this is clearly the best speaker I have heard, by a mile.
Conclusion
Like I said earlier, I would buy the Ethos in a second, if it weren’t for its bigger brother, the Summit X, which I have not heard in depth. However, the price of the Summit X is $14,000, more than double the price of the Ethos. The Ethos is an exceptional speaker and a bargain at its price. This speaker does so much, so well, it’s incredible. It does so much, at such high standards; excellent integration of woofer to panel, seamless and world-class midrange and treble, excellent soundstage and a most articulate, clear, transparent sound while at the same time, being sweet, musical, life-like, and musically engaging. And the tonal balance is also spot-on.
I have to tell you, when MartinLogan finally asked me to return the Ethos to their factory after a very generous amount of review time, thank you MartinLogan, it was the hardest piece of equipment I have received or reviewed to “let go” of. Within two days, I sent an email to Mark Aling and Erin Philips stating I was suffering from “MartinLogan withdrawal anxiety” and the only cure for that illness was for them to send me another MartinLogan product to review, preferably the Summit X. I’m waiting, Mark! I got it bad.
For all the above reasons I’ve stated in this review, the Ethos is a first-class product that will bring joy, emotional satisfaction, and the inner soul cleansing that music can bring. Bottom line, this is one phenomenal loudspeaker and a good-looking one, to boot. What a deal! And speaking of deals, it a great deal considering its price, too.
- ← Previous page
- (Page 3 of 3)
I’m glad that you liked the MartinLogan speakers, but I am so sick of reviewers saying they’re not speakers for rockers and metal heads. It is just ridiculous! I’ve had MartinLogans since 1992 and rock is all the music I ever listen to and I mean at ear bleeding levels. The MartinLogans will rock with the best of them! Stop telling people this isn’t so! With the right equipment MartinLogan speakers will sing forever with loud rock music.
I agree 100%. I have been rocking with ML’s since the early 90’s. There is no music that they cannot reproduce to satisfaction…..and most of it at ear splitting levels.
Nice review (if just a bit effusive), but I would have liked to have read what front end components the reviewer was using and read more articulation on how this speaker responded to different genres of music (and what albums tracks he was listening to).
That would have been very helpful, because I’ve been considering buying the Ethos as a present for my brother.
I’ve been using MartinLogan speakers since 1990, when I bought a pair of Sequel II’s. I now own a pair of Prodigy’s.
With both speakers, I listen to everything: classical, rock, jazz, blues.. They play back all types of music as good, in my opinion, as it can be played. It’s mind blowing what these speakers can do, in terms of transporting you into the music or creating a holographic image around you.
And I too, sometimes play the music at very high levels, although the Sequels would roll off at certain highs and definitely had a threshold (but that is now a 24 year old speaker technology), the Prodigy’s like to be played loud (my Mark Levinson 334 amp will clip, before the speakers will distort) which is great for listening to a live recording from a stadium concert.
As with any speaker, the right front end components are important; esp. the amp with a speaker as power hungry and transparent as the MartinLogan line. Hence I would have like to have read what the reviewer was using as a reference for this review.
I’ve also found that MartinLogan’s are very responsive to the type of speaker cables and interconnects used. That information would be helpful in a review too (if just listed as “associated equipment”)
The Ethos has a rather high panel to woofer turnover frequency. Unfortunately, I have found in the past that this leads to inferior bass and low mids. I’ve owned Acoustat Xs, 2&2s, ML Request and Monolith IIIs. The latter played rock loud but not as dynamically or clearly (my wife made me get rid of them 15 years ago). No I prefer a wider seating area, deeper and punchier bass and greater (clean) dynamics so I replaced them with the Legacy Focus (the originals). You may think that’s wrong for someone who listens to classical and jazz (39,000 LPs/78s/CDs) but most of my friends have also joined the ranks of Legacy and Von Schwiekert multi-way dynamic speakers. P.S. Magnepan 3.7s sound great but need a lot of juice. A speaker which Dagogo reviewed which has a much lower turnover point is the Roger Sanders 10c electrostat/powered bass driver which achieves reduced interface problems since the c over b model decreased the crossover from 330 hz to 172 hz. The panel goes down to the bass, preserving continuity (and speed) in the entire mid-range.
Hi George,
That was a VERY information dense review, clearly written, well organized, and easily understood. I’m going to travel to Denver to preview the Ethos and Montis. I was wondering if you’ve heard the Gallo 3.5 and how it compares to the Ethos. Maurice
I am interested in your speakers.although I Love the soundfieldn depth of my Kef 107 speakers and ref 3s.
Willin to purchase them to try em out at $3500 B0b in los Altos 650=903=0086
Good article, as well as good comments! We recently got a pair of the “Montis”and couldn’t be happier, and for now in a a pretty small room even. After owning five of the models ranging from the CLS, Sequel,Aerius and the Vantage, (and Acoustat X’s) and now finally the “Montis” we feel wecan live with till the end of time.
Truly a magnificent speaker on all levels!
Both the Ethos and the Montis, I think are at the moment, the best of the Martin Logan line, due to the digital crossover, which makes the integration seemless. Also the newer panels are fricking amazing! Especially when driven by my VTL MB-450 amps, a match made in sonic heaven✨
One of my friends describes it as “a wonderful brain massage” (and he is a brain opp tech!)
You have to love when you have expanded both the amount and range of different genres of music you listen to, because the sound is so real! And we used to go to over ten live shows a year at least (with earplugs for the louder shows) so my senses really know live sound, and the Montis just deliver everytime.
Also appreciate that my wife loves both the sound and site of these beauties, and the footprint is quite small. First pair of speakers You will ever own that you feel like hugging every once in awhile do to how happy they keep you! After over thirty years of searching and spending much time and money, with the Martin Logan “Montis”, we finally have arrived….Nuff Said.”
Great review. Electrostats have clearly proven their place in the audiophile world, with only perhaps the advent of the berillium drivers to possibly eclipse them. The only drawback I see, besides a somewhat limited dynamics, is the integration of the drivers, being so different will always be their Achilles heel. However, as I said, except for the berrilium drivers, there is little if anything to get in their way getting to the audiophile summit.
Je suis très intéressé par les ML.je veux un modèle qui sera me donner de très bonne basse fréquence pour tout capté les instruments de Bass.Lequelle me conseillé vous.Mercie a l’avance.