Zenbrew
New member
Greetings everyone. I just purchased a demo pair of Ethos that I should have by the end of the week. 
This is about the costliest upgrade I have made to my system. I had decided I wanted to upgrade my Paradign Monitor 11 V7 towers. I was attempting to balance a reasonably sized cabinet, with good looks and good sound. I prefer a lush midrange with detailed but sligthly laid back highs.
While out demoing recently I visited a Magnolia and listened to a pair of the new ESL's. They were set up through a higher end Denon AVR which I realize is a compromise vs a separate amp, but it did OK I really liked the sound, but the prime image area was a bit small for me, and due to the shorter height of the panel there was a noticeable drop off when standing up. Obviously we usually listen seated, but sometimes I will stand up as well to change my perception. Anyway they had the new Classic ESL 9 in the next room over so I decided to see what you get for triple the price.
I believe the Classic was being fed by an Arcam amp (didn't get the model), but the dynamics were definitely substantially better due to the better amp and bigger panels on the Classic 9. While the ESL was very nice, the Classic made me sit up and take notice in a much more personal involving way. The soundstage was more dynamic and deeper, and the drop off sitting to standing was very subtle. You also could move your position a good distance between the speakers and maintain an acceptable image. I thought, hmmmm, I really like this, but at near $7K it fell definitively outside of my price range.
I decided this was likely the minimum size panel I would like in an electrostat so began reading here and elsewhere on older models with similar sizing on the panel. I found what must be becoming a rare dealer demo on the Ethos, which on paper looks to be extremely similar other than the woofer configuration and stretched my budget a bit more to make the jump.
I had 3 potential amps I can use with the Ethos, and just picked up a used 4th option. I have the Parasound HCA-1500, B&K EX442 Sonata, and Cayin A100T KT88 tube amp. The amp I am adding to the mix is the Sunfire Cinema Grand 200 x 5. I decided to pick the Sunfire up as insurance due to it's extreme low impedance drive capability. I suspect the Sunfire or the Cayin A-100T will become the long term mate to the Ethos, but you never know how synergy and room acoustics will play together. I realize there is a whole other class of amps out of my reach, but I feel I have a good mix of choices that fall into my cost comfort level.
I am exited about receiving and exploring my new Ethos speakers, and looking forward to the experience. I also value all the expertise here and may need to utilize your sage experience as I grow into the new speakers and try to get them set up to sound the best.
Cheers
This is about the costliest upgrade I have made to my system. I had decided I wanted to upgrade my Paradign Monitor 11 V7 towers. I was attempting to balance a reasonably sized cabinet, with good looks and good sound. I prefer a lush midrange with detailed but sligthly laid back highs.
While out demoing recently I visited a Magnolia and listened to a pair of the new ESL's. They were set up through a higher end Denon AVR which I realize is a compromise vs a separate amp, but it did OK I really liked the sound, but the prime image area was a bit small for me, and due to the shorter height of the panel there was a noticeable drop off when standing up. Obviously we usually listen seated, but sometimes I will stand up as well to change my perception. Anyway they had the new Classic ESL 9 in the next room over so I decided to see what you get for triple the price.
I believe the Classic was being fed by an Arcam amp (didn't get the model), but the dynamics were definitely substantially better due to the better amp and bigger panels on the Classic 9. While the ESL was very nice, the Classic made me sit up and take notice in a much more personal involving way. The soundstage was more dynamic and deeper, and the drop off sitting to standing was very subtle. You also could move your position a good distance between the speakers and maintain an acceptable image. I thought, hmmmm, I really like this, but at near $7K it fell definitively outside of my price range.
I decided this was likely the minimum size panel I would like in an electrostat so began reading here and elsewhere on older models with similar sizing on the panel. I found what must be becoming a rare dealer demo on the Ethos, which on paper looks to be extremely similar other than the woofer configuration and stretched my budget a bit more to make the jump.
I had 3 potential amps I can use with the Ethos, and just picked up a used 4th option. I have the Parasound HCA-1500, B&K EX442 Sonata, and Cayin A100T KT88 tube amp. The amp I am adding to the mix is the Sunfire Cinema Grand 200 x 5. I decided to pick the Sunfire up as insurance due to it's extreme low impedance drive capability. I suspect the Sunfire or the Cayin A-100T will become the long term mate to the Ethos, but you never know how synergy and room acoustics will play together. I realize there is a whole other class of amps out of my reach, but I feel I have a good mix of choices that fall into my cost comfort level.
I am exited about receiving and exploring my new Ethos speakers, and looking forward to the experience. I also value all the expertise here and may need to utilize your sage experience as I grow into the new speakers and try to get them set up to sound the best.
Cheers
