Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

As we had not previously reviewed the ‘copper-coiled’ Ethos, direct comparisons with this new ‘silver-coiled’ SE model are not possible. Silver offers the advantage of higher conductivity over copper, and the prospect of fewer turns (assisting a lower moving mass and reduced inertia), for the same output. In practice the coil resistance is reduced from 4ohm to 3.8ohm (SE) and while the magnetic circuit has witnessed improvement, the Ethos’s output – according to Goldring – has actually fallen from 0.5mV to 0.35mV. In practice it is lower still at 307μV (re. 1kHz/5cm/sec into 100ohm), requiring the services of a superior MC phono stage. Also, the rated 28cu compliance is closer to a stiffer 20cu under dynamic conditions, a figure more in keeping with its use in medium effective mass tonearms. The diamond’s alignment is better than suggested (VTA is 22o rather than 24o) but secure tracking is not quite at the rated 90μm, at least at the median 1.75g downforce (a 1.5-2.0g range is suggested). The Ethos SE tracks the +15dB groove (re. 0dB at 315Hz/5cm/sec), to within <0.4% THD, but lets slip at +18dB to the tune of ~8% THD.

Goldring offers no frequency response for the Ethos SE but the balance is clearly on the ‘rich’ side with a gently downtilted presence and treble amounting to –3dB/20kHz with stereo cuts [dashed trace, Graph 1] and an asymmetric –3.6dB/–7.2dB with lateral [black]/vertical [red] cuts, respectively. Central (vocal) performers will be strongly represented... Bandwidth is still very good, however, because the pattern of distortion versus frequency climbs strongly up to 20kHz where it reaches 12-13% (–8dB re. 5cm/sec, 20Hz-20kHz) with stereo cuts [dashed trace, Graph 2]. PM