Martin Logan Ethos - comments


I just received my new Ethos pair today and began listening right away. I was a bit nervous about making this change having listened to my Odysseys for so many years (14?). As it turns out, they sound just as good in every way, possibly Stronger in the upper mid frequencies. I am surprised that their bass capability is just as good AND it can be adjusted, something that if the Odysseys had, I might not have looked into replacing them.

My writing this is a bit premature from the standpoint of any kind of review and I will try to do a more comprehensive job in a couple of weeks after some breaking in but I just wanted to give a heads up to anyone looking into possibly trying electrostats or considering moving to one of the newer ML models, listen to these first. Although I've owned the SL3's, CLS2's, Prodigys, etc. and found them all to be wonderful I find these in no way whatever disappointing and they will probably be my forever speakers.
128x128broadstone
Ok, they've been running continuously for 3 days and although I know a complete break-in may take longer, I don't have to wait to comment on my impression of them. I've owned many speakers over the last 50+ years including 4 different pairs of ML electrostats, the last being the Odysseys that I bought new 14 years ago. I've never met a speaker that I didn't appreciate for at least some aspect of their performance so enjoyed all of them. To be candid, though as I've gone through this speaker evolution, until the Odysseys, I was never totally convinced that the upgrades were a truly meaningful improvement.

With these this is no longer the case; after having gone through a significant portion of my music inventory, I find these to be the most satisfying and flexible speakers that I've owned for the types of music that I listen to. So far I've observed no weaknesses throughout a wide range of frequencies and volumes. Mid to high frequencies are clean and detailed without being bright and bass is unbelievably strong. I won't use terms like soundstage, presence, etc., not because they're unimportant, but because I really don't understand them. Suffice it to say that it is the most realistic and musical portrayal of instruments that I've ever had in my home and I recommend to anyone shopping to give these a try.

To answer one of your questions, I did not consider the Montis because of their cost but I'm sure they're fantastic as well.

My current system now is Shanling CD100, Peachtree Nova as a preamp, Peachtree 220 amp, Martin Logan Ethos speakers and Martin Logan Dynamo 500 sub which I'll likely not use after hearing the bass capability of the Ethos.
I'm looking forward to hearing your comments Broadstone. The Ethos are very good speakers and ML did some nice work on their electronics in the bass enclosure to get really nice bass out of the small enclosure. Did you compare the Ethos to the Montis by chance?
Thanks for ur input great speaker it will be my next. I now
have the ML Theos n think there great next stop Ethos since
i changed my preamp n powerAmp 2 Pass Labs Class A--still in
the box till i move which won't be for a while, I now have the parasound Halo A21 n Modwright LS100 Preamp with KimberKable n sounds real good on ML Theos. Thanks Again N Let Me Know How it Goes...