New Vantage vs used Ethos

[macallan]

What are the pros and cons? Vantages are going for 4K on Amazon and Ethos can be found for roughly the same price used. Vantage uses an older panel and port vs Ethos with a newer panel and a passive radiator. The Ethos is also slightly taller and has the DSP. I have a nice sub already what real world difference would the DSP and taller/newer panel create?

Vantages would be new with a warranty and buying from a trusted source.

Ethos better panel, no warranty, risk of buying a damaged product

 

[edwinr]

What a tough choice. I have owned the Vantages. I have auditioned the Ethos extensively. If both were brand new, I would buy the Ethos. In this case, I would favour the Vantage, only because it's brand new. If the Ethos you were going to buy was used but in mint condition, then maybe buy the Ethos.

Again, a very difficult choice influenced by speaker condition.

 

[macallan]

How would you describe the differences in the two?

 

[edwinr]

To be perfectly honest, I have never heard them side by side. When I "upgraded' from Vantages to Summits, I was struck how similar both speakers were in my home. The Summits just had more of everything, such as; bass, soundstage, imaging, dynamics, loudness. But these attributes were not like chalk and cheese. The Vantages really are/were smaller lose costly versions of the Summits.

I can not say whether the Ethos are in the same league, whether they were designed as smaller versions of the Summit X. The Ethos were designed to fill a niche, and I don't really think they are intended to replace the Vantages.

 

[roberto]

Hola. Ethos is the up-graded version of the Vantage. The Vanage model is discontinued. The big difference is at the bass performance. More tight and better control. Happy listening.

 

[edwinr]

Roberto, I would really like to hear the Vantage and Ethos side by side. It's easy, when relying on audio memory, to get it wrong. When I heard the Ethos, they were in a smaller room, and I thought they were over powering it. Maybe a larger room and careful adjustment of the bass control would have made a huge difference.

Anyhow, based on what you're saying, then I would tend to swing towards buying a used pair of Ethos over new Vantages.

 

[roberto]

Hola Edwinr. The Vantage is no longer available. The Ethos is replacing them. To my ears and liking (what I like, not necessary must like you) is the performance of the bass. The bass control knob starts to work below 100 Hz +-10dB. The Vantage is at 35Hz. You have more control on the Ethos, because you can adjust easier the over all bass vs panel. Also there are more panel size. To my ears, the Ethos is a good step forward over the Vantages. The passive radiator at the bottom of the cabinet, gives better and cleaner bass too. My Immediate memory is not too good. But I had made some comparison between them. To my ears, Ethos are more precise and less compressed. On the other hand, Vantages sound is so good, that many customers are so happy here in CR that are calling them David, because did kill many mega bucks Golliaths with their sound quality. Could live very happy with any of them! Happy listening.

 

[mac_tweety]

Take the Ethos.
For me the Ethos is one of the best sounding speakers I've heard.
Comparing to ML Summit, CLX, Vantage and many other speaker brands the Ethos
has a very good price-performance ratio. Some speakers have more bass others
more sound pressure etc. but the overall performance of the Ethos especially
with McIntosh ( use the 8 ohm tab ! ) is marvellous.