Strange panel noise from Ethos

Yesterday after listening to Joe Bonamassas excellent Live in Royal Albert Hall album I noticed a strange noise from one of the panels.
It's like a faint hiss with a slightly scratching sound every 3-4 seconds. It continues a few minutes after the amp has been switched of.
I contacted ML and got a quick response from Dana suggesting a vacuuming which I tried today, unfortunately that didn't help.
Hopefully I'll be able to sort it out but I am curious to know if anyone else have had a similar experience.
Bit frustrating this, the speakers are only a few weeks old and they started to sound fantastic.

If you only hear the 'ESL magic noise' when you put your ear up to the panel, then I wouldn't worry. If you hear it from the listening position, then it's a worry...

It does sound like some sort of contaminant on your panels. Can you identify where exactly on the panel the sound is coming from? If so, ensure the speakers are turned off for 24 hours to ensure a complete discharge, then vacuum again paying particular attention to that area. Front and back. Best way is to cup your hand over the nozzle and let a lot of pressure build up between your hands and the panel.

I would also check and make sure your tube amp (or other upstream gear) is not the source of the strange sound. Swap your R-L speaker cables from the amp to confirm the Ethos panel is the source.

sleepysurf said:

I would also check and make sure your tube amp (or other upstream gear) is not the source of the strange sound. Swap your R-L speaker cables from the amp to confirm the Ethos panel is the source.

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True - the easiest way to determine that is to determine if the sound is coming from a single point on the panel or the entire thing.

Thanks for the answers.
I tried the R/L-swap and it's the speaker.
And the sound comes from the whole panel as far as I can judge.
However, I just got a message from the dealer that some of the Ethos shipped to Europe (220 V) has a capacitor intended for 110 V.
They are checking the serial number, we'll see.

Stefan said:

Thanks for the answers.
I tried the R/L-swap and it's the speaker.
And the sound comes from the whole panel as far as I can judge.
However, I just got a message from the dealer that some of the Ethos shipped to Europe (220 V) has a condensator intended for 110 V.
They are checking the serial number, we'll see.

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Hi Stefan,

Just to relay my scratchy panel story as well... a year or so ago I noticed that all four of my scripts (surrounds in my HT) were exhibiting the same sound you describe. The origin of the sound was definitely the panels in my case since the sound was present even when all the upstream gear was shut off... I even went as far as disconnecting the speaker cables. While I had every intention of whipping out the Hoover (so to speak), it soon fell off my priority list (as most things tend to do) since the sound was really only noticeable at close range. Interestingly though, a month or two later, the sound had mysteriously vanished.

Anyway, the disappearing scratch sound remains a mystery... but I'm not complaining.

Cheers and good luck with your situation.

-Todd

Hi Stefan,

I had a problem a few weeks ago with my Purity's that was perhaps the same thing you are experiencing. The sound I heard was something like: chk..chk..chk..chk.. And when I unplugged the powercord, the intervals betweens the chk's went larger and larger until they vanished after a second or five. I was able to hear the sound from two meters away from the speakers.
The sound came from one point on one panel. After consulting my dealer, and studying the panel with a flashlight (behind a large sheet of white paper which I held against the panel, in order to scatter the bright light), I found that a tiny little piece of glue had remained between the panel en the stator during fabrication. I simply used a toothpick to carefully pick the glue away. After vacuuming the panel again, the chk's were gone.
Hope this helps.

Beste regards,

Arlen

Similar problem to Stefan's

Hi Stefan,
I bought a couple of Ethos 5 weeks ago and I started having a similar problem to yours about 2 weeks ago. I tried the vacuuming and although it improved the issue it did not solve it. I still experience very annoying random sounds coming from the panel; although the right speaker seems the most affected I still get some noise from the left one as well.
I live in Australia where power is at 230V and I'm wondering if I might be encountering the wrong capacitator issue you mentioned.
How did you solve the problem eventually?

Well, actually I got the speakers back yesterday.
The problem was the high voltage driver of the panel, now they sound OK again.
My dealer changed the parts taking them from their demo ex, now they have the problem.

The other issue was apparently not a capacitor but a couple of resistors and a diod, however this had nothing to do with the panel noice. You could ask your dealer to check the serial number. I noticed a slight improvement in sound after that issue got fixed.

I must say though that ML's quality control leaves a bit to be desired.
Luckily the dealer was really anxious to get the problem fixed and I got their demo ex while the problem was fixed.

I hope you will get you problem sorted out NickyJulian.

Talking of the Ethos, there is a review in this month's Hi-Fi World magazine - a British publication.

Just downloaded the digital edition. :bowdown:

Looks promising. :music:

Stefan said:

Well, actually I got the speakers back yesterday.
The problem was the high voltage driver of the panel, now they sound OK again.
My dealer changed the parts taking them from their demo ex, now they have the problem.

The other issue was apparently not a capacitor but a couple of resistors and a diod, however this had nothing to do with the panel noice. You could ask your dealer to check the serial number. I noticed a slight improvement in sound after that issue got fixed.

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So you bought a brand new pair of Ethos speakers, and within a few weeks some electronic components went bad. But instead of getting you a brand new pair of speakers under warranty to replace them, your dealer simply replaced parts from speakers he had on hand.

So now instead of the brand new pair of speakers that you paid big bucks for, you have a pair of refurbs with an electronic repair of unknown quality. This is a very poor response to an obviously defective product. Your dealer should have ordered you a new pair of speakers immediately.

Stefan said:

I must say though that ML's quality control leaves a bit to be desired.

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Unfortunately, that seems to be the new Paradigm.

I can see myself accepting that option rather than wait for a new pair, Rich. At the end of the day it fixes the problem and the Ethos the dealer had can't have been ancient. And they are still under warranty.

Stefan - what was the review like? I'm half tempted to buy it... but I thought I'd ask you!

Rich, you definitely have a point there. But since patience really isn't what I'm best at I went for the other option. It seems as if the distributor is out of Ethos for the moment.

User 211. To put it short, extatic about the panel "A fabolous sounding electrostatic loudspeaker", less so about the bass. Final verdict was five globes.

Stefan said:

Rich, you definitely have a point there. But since patience really isn't what I'm best at I went for the other option. It seems as if the distributor is out of Ethos for the moment.

User 211. To put it short, extatic about the panel "A fabolous sounding electrostatic loudspeaker", less so about the bass. Final verdict was five globes.

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Five globes then they really do like it. The bass was a Rich prediction Seriously though - it's not the top model - something has to give a little. Enjoy.

Stefan said:

Rich, you definitely have a point there. But since patience really isn't what I'm best at I went for the other option. It seems as if the distributor is out of Ethos for the moment.

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User211 said:

I can see myself accepting that option rather than wait for a new pair, Rich. At the end of the day it fixes the problem and the Ethos the dealer had can't have been ancient. And they are still under warranty.

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Good points, both of you. I forget it can be a little trickier getting new product overseas. Rather than wait for months, I probably would have gone with the repairs too.

User211 said:

The bass was a Rich prediction

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