Tubes and Amplifier for ML Ethos

[Zaidman]

Hi there,

I am a recovering "box speaker" aholic. 3 days ago I purchased my first ever electrostatic speakers - the ML Ethos. They are still getting burned in yet I am blown away at how exceptional they are in the mid-higher frequencies especially. I have a few questions I am hoping folks here can help with:

1) My room is 20' wide x 30\' wide. Speakers are 2.5' from side walls and 4.5' from back wall that has curtains on it. I have hardwood floors. On the very deep bass notes on a few tracks (e.g. Diana Krall look of love) there can vibrations in the floor and a blurring of the deep bass lines. I have put the speakers on spikes and turned the bass down to -5 and that helps but I dont want to neuter the bass as much as tighten it up. Any advice on what else might help? I am questioning if having the woofer directly firing into the floor itself is causing issues. Should I put a piece of carpet or granite under the speaker?

2) I normally use a Mastersound Compact 845 tube amp with 845 and 6SN7 tubes. I had some issues with it so it needs repair. In meantime I am using a Mystere IA21 tube amplifier with KT88 and 6SN7 tubes. I'm looking for mids and highs that evoke a more emotional listening experience. What tubes and amps would pair best with my MLs? Would an EL34 (PSVANE EL34PH) tube with some nice 6Sn7's (Northern Electric or PSVANE) sound magical with the Ethos or should i stick to Mastersound Compact 845?

Thanks everyone

Carlos

 

[roberto]

Hola Carlos. Can you adjust at the Mastersound amp the impedance? You should use the 4 ohm tap. If you are using the 8 ohm tab, you get very low midrange presence. The woofer at the bottom of you Ethos, is passive, it is for dampening the low frequency content of the active woofer, and providing even bass notes. You must treat your room with room acoustics.

https://www.google.es/search?q=bass...JylNYSnNpS7grAL&ved=0CC0QsAQ&biw=1509&bih=703.

There are a lot of shapes of bass traps, just get the one that suites you better. Also, you can use the search tool, here at the forum, where you can find a lot of different ways of how to kill those standing low frequency waves.

Welcome and happy listening!

 

[hifinutt]

try a nice sweet class a power amp with plenty of grunt and it may mprove matters a lot

 

[upbeatdownbeat]

Welcome to the electrostatic world. Your room is large. Your hardwood floor construction could possibly be in need of some nice thick area rugs but if you notice this only on certain recordings it could be a bad recording. My personal experience leads me to think perhaps that your KT88 amp is running on empty when driving the bottom end in your room. I purchased a hybrid tube-ss integrated that produces 250 watts and makes my speakers sing. You might try some KT120's for a little boost in power to your amps output. Pre-amp tubes have more effect on warmth, high articulation, than the power tubes IMO.

 

[hifinutt]

good advice , I love valve pre amps with the power of ss amps

 

[bonzo]

I think Lamm M2.2 might make a good choice for MLs, it is a 220w hybrid mono, and available at discounts on the Gon.

Will overkill for Ethos do, but defo Montis onwards

 

[Spike]

Hi Zaidman,
Let me take a stab at answering your question...
Given that the Ethos has internal class-D woofer amplifier, there's not much you can do on the amplifier side to affect the bass. The signal from your amplifier will be processed/reduced to line-level in order to feed into the internal amplifier. In the end, it's up to the quality of the internal amplifier that will drive the woofer. That said, the internal amp is designed and matched with the woofer so I would think that it's up to the task of controlling the bass. With regards to floor vibrations and blurred bass lines, you could try to tame it first by placing your speakers on granite base. Beyond the granite base, the other option will be to play with placement and treat your room. I am in agreement with Roberto on this issue.

With regards to your tube amps, I would stay with the MasterSound for the panels. It's in a different tier than the Mystere. If you want to experiement with the Mystere, be careful with replacing the KT88 for the EL34. Beware that there may be some bias adjustments since the EL34 voltage requirement is different than KT88. Going with the EL34 will give you more tone in the midrange, at the expense of tighter bass. I am biased toward the EL34 running in triode mode.