Martin Logan Ethos speakers
Discussion
Hi Folks,
Been considering a speaker upgrade for a while now and have distressingly started to obsess about a pair of Martin Logan Ethos speakers.
Anyone here have any experience of them?
I currently have a pair of Monitor Audio Gold Reference 20s run though a Musical Fidelity A308 Pre and Power combo (with optional upgrade done a year ago after the power amp blew a few caps) along with stupidly expensive cables (from when I was young, overpaid and single!). A308 CD player is the main source.
Am I going to see a major improvement in dynamics, imaging and general mesmeric musicality - or are these beautiful hybrid electrostatics over rated? They are far from cheap - even second hand - so I thought I'd ask here before getting too deeply in to my research. And of course will I lose some of that strong, clear and tight bass I get form the Monitor Audios?
Thanks for any insights,
TD
Been considering a speaker upgrade for a while now and have distressingly started to obsess about a pair of Martin Logan Ethos speakers.
Anyone here have any experience of them?
I currently have a pair of Monitor Audio Gold Reference 20s run though a Musical Fidelity A308 Pre and Power combo (with optional upgrade done a year ago after the power amp blew a few caps) along with stupidly expensive cables (from when I was young, overpaid and single!). A308 CD player is the main source.
Am I going to see a major improvement in dynamics, imaging and general mesmeric musicality - or are these beautiful hybrid electrostatics over rated? They are far from cheap - even second hand - so I thought I'd ask here before getting too deeply in to my research. And of course will I lose some of that strong, clear and tight bass I get form the Monitor Audios?
Thanks for any insights,
TD
I had the 308 pre/power/cd player with big, old ML sequel IIs for a year or so.
Simple acoustic music and female vocals were simply stunning. One voice and one guitar was ‘real’.
However, add anything with a bit of bass and they didn’t convince - the 12” woofers always seemed to be half a beat behind the (impressive) panels.
They needed loads of space too - I’m talking 5ft from any walls because of the way they output equal sound rearwards.
Try before committing if possible.
A pair of Kef reference 4.2s were almost their equal in the midrange whilst comprehensively outclassing them everywhere else.
An acquired taste best describes them - some love them, others cannot live with the compromises.
That 308 power amp will cope with the low impedance without too much trouble although it will run hot!
Simple acoustic music and female vocals were simply stunning. One voice and one guitar was ‘real’.
However, add anything with a bit of bass and they didn’t convince - the 12” woofers always seemed to be half a beat behind the (impressive) panels.
They needed loads of space too - I’m talking 5ft from any walls because of the way they output equal sound rearwards.
Try before committing if possible.
A pair of Kef reference 4.2s were almost their equal in the midrange whilst comprehensively outclassing them everywhere else.
An acquired taste best describes them - some love them, others cannot live with the compromises.
That 308 power amp will cope with the low impedance without too much trouble although it will run hot!
Audition, Auditiion, Auditiion.
Oh and if you can Audition.
FInd a friendly, proper HiFi Shop, personally I recommend and use Paul at HiFi Lounge (he is a PH'er), find a series of tracks or albums you like and visit them.
Sit there for over an hour and listen to every bit of the songs and system you can.
ML's are not cheap, they are stunning, but can be grumpy if not set up properly, especially the elctrostatic ones.
Talk to Paul, he is very helpful.
V.
Oh and if you can Audition.
FInd a friendly, proper HiFi Shop, personally I recommend and use Paul at HiFi Lounge (he is a PH'er), find a series of tracks or albums you like and visit them.
Sit there for over an hour and listen to every bit of the songs and system you can.
ML's are not cheap, they are stunning, but can be grumpy if not set up properly, especially the elctrostatic ones.
Talk to Paul, he is very helpful.
V.
Thanks for the input folks.
I have seen a few comments now about the need to have these speakers quite a long way from the rear wall. This would probably be an issue in my listening room so perhaps I'll look at alternative speakers. I don’t really want to completely dedicate this room just to music as it is currently the main living room with TV etc so I suspect a pair of more traditional speakers would be better suited to my needs at this point.
Any suggestions for speakers that would be a good match from my Musical Fidelity A308 set up? Im not really a rock addict and am more interested in getting stunning clarity and realism from good acoustic guitar and vocals - but I do like a good tight bass thump as well. Mind you I do have an REL Stratos sub connected up to the system so that helps.
TD
I have seen a few comments now about the need to have these speakers quite a long way from the rear wall. This would probably be an issue in my listening room so perhaps I'll look at alternative speakers. I don’t really want to completely dedicate this room just to music as it is currently the main living room with TV etc so I suspect a pair of more traditional speakers would be better suited to my needs at this point.
Any suggestions for speakers that would be a good match from my Musical Fidelity A308 set up? Im not really a rock addict and am more interested in getting stunning clarity and realism from good acoustic guitar and vocals - but I do like a good tight bass thump as well. Mind you I do have an REL Stratos sub connected up to the system so that helps.
TD
I'm not a massive fan of the way the bass crosses over with the panel on some of the Logans.
I personally prefer the Quads.
Don't underestimate how important position is on these either, or any electrostatics for that matter, to get the holographic imaging you do need to be able to get them positioned right for the room.
The thing with panels is the mid range, imho it is as good as it gets, and if you listen to lots of vocal stuff, especially acoustic then they are seriously special.
They work so well with all music, but the above is where they really shine.
I personally prefer the Quads.
Don't underestimate how important position is on these either, or any electrostatics for that matter, to get the holographic imaging you do need to be able to get them positioned right for the room.
The thing with panels is the mid range, imho it is as good as it gets, and if you listen to lots of vocal stuff, especially acoustic then they are seriously special.
They work so well with all music, but the above is where they really shine.
They will certainly be an improvement. ML speakers can sound fantastic but like loads of space round them so lack any WAF (wife approval factor)
Go listen but ideally you need to listen in situ to see if they suit your room. If like me you can't have speakers sticking out in the room and need something that you can put against a wall save a few more pennies and look for a pair of these https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI-kE-qb0xs
They go for about £5.5K on ebay and mine work great and I would not part with them
Go listen but ideally you need to listen in situ to see if they suit your room. If like me you can't have speakers sticking out in the room and need something that you can put against a wall save a few more pennies and look for a pair of these https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI-kE-qb0xs
They go for about £5.5K on ebay and mine work great and I would not part with them
As per previous comments, in my experience ( a friend has a pair of an earlier model) these speakers need to be at least 4-5 feet away from the back wall to work at all well (the panel radiates equally back and front) - side wall interference doesn't seem to be too bad in the room I've heard them in and the bass from the drive units can sound a bit detached from the panel (probably because it's a different type of drive unit).
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