Six weeks ago or so, I reviewed the Orbit Basic, a very popular pick for record collectors who are looking for a capable but affordable turntable to spin their vinyl on. Manufacturer U-Turn Audio assembles its products in the USA, making them an even bigger draw for buyers who prefer to support American companies. In addition to the Orbit Basic, I was also sent a pair of U-Turn’s Ethos powered speakers to try out. Compact but powerful, with a fully analog signal path, assembled and tested at the company’s Woburn, MA facility, the Ethos speakers are designed to be the perfect accompaniment to an Orbit turntable.
Unboxing and Setup
The Ethos speakers arrive with each encased in a soft cloth bag to protect the finish. It’s an upscale experience, reflective of the care that U-Turn Audio puts into their manufacture. The company has a page outlining the assembly process, and it makes a very good impression. Each speaker is hand-assembled in Woburn, MA and each under goes rigorous testing including examining the MDF cabinets for imperfections, polishing, electrical safety testing, and acoustic testing in an anechoic test chamber.
If you’re not thrilled with the idea of mass produced bookshelf speakers with plastic enclosures that whiz along an assembly line before being shipped here in a container, you’ll appreciate what U-Turn Audio is doing.
Besides the premium packaging, the Ethos speakers exude quality with solid-feeling, smooth enclosures, banana plug speaker cables and a textured metal volume knob. There are foam pads on the bottom of each speaker so they stay put.
My black finish speakers were fingerprint magnets, so white may be a better choice if people are going to be touching these. The company offers a $100 upgrade to a walnut finish with “extra thick veneer that is milled from solid wood.” In photos, those walnut cabinets look beautiful. If you want speaker grills (available in black or white), that is $40 extra.
There’s around eight feet of speaker cable included, giving plenty of reach for a stereo configuration. Setup is a matter of plugging in the speaker cables, plugging in the power cable (there is no power brick to deal with), and then connecting any inputs to the RCA or 3.5mm jacks. If you connect a turntable, you’ll need to make certain it has its own pre-amp and Line output, otherwise you’ll need to invest in a pre-amplifier. RCA output means you can connect a subwoofer (with RCA inputs) if you want deeper bass.
Connecting via Bluetooth to stream music is straightforward–just power on the speakers and look for them as a source on your device.
Listening Experience
I tested the Ethos speakers with U-Turn Audio’s Orbit Basic turntable and by streaming Apple Music from my iPhone. It performed well in both scenarios.
One of the selling features of these speakers is the use of a Class AB amplifier instead of the Class D amp found in most active speakers. The aim is to keep the signal from a turntable purely analog, instead of digitizing it as a Class D amp does. However, this means that you give up the capabilities of a Class D amp, such as equalization and specialized listening modes that try to deliver a wider sound stage. Here’s how U-Turn Audio describes its approach:
“Many contemporary speakers rely on digital signal processing (DSP) to correct an otherwise imperfect frequency response. But what’s the point of listening to vinyl if the analog signal is being converted to digital?… Instead of digital equalization, we rely on good old-fashioned loudspeaker design. Proper speaker design requires choosing the right drivers, building the right cabinet and crossover components, and then fine-tuning acoustic and electrical parameters to achieve the desired performance. It’s like perfectly lighting a scene before taking a photo with a film camera, as opposed to shooting with your phone and adding a filter. It’s not the easiest way to do it, but it can get the best results.”
Can you tell the difference? My ears aren’t what they once were, but I felt that playing records through the Ethos speakers did offer more warmth than the sound many active speakers deliver. It wasn’t quite as crisp at the high end, but the bass had more oomph than I was expecting from a 4-inch driver, but not in an exaggerated manner. It was definitely a flatter response than speakers with a DSP deliver. That’s a good thing if you want to listen to music as it was recorded, but I did find myself wishing on more than one occasion that I could tweak the treble and bass just a bit.
With 40W per channel on tap, you can crank the volume up quite loud and the speakers maintain their composure, free of distortion or rattle.
Streaming music over Bluetooth made for an enjoyable listening experience and having stereo speakers instead of a single Bluetooth portable is a night and day difference. This is just way better than mono. However, portable Bluetooth speakers and headphones use DSPs and you are probably accustomed to streaming music sounding punchier and more energetic than the Ethos speakers’ flat frequency response. I did use the EQ on my phone to play with this, but ultimately decided that I prefer the Ethos approach after all.
Ethos Powered Speaker Specs
- 2-way, 2-driver powered bookshelf speakers
- 1-inch silk dome tweeter, 4-inch high excursion mid-bass driver (paper cone)
- Class AB amplifier, 2 x 40W RMS (2 x 80W peak)
- Passive crossover
- Frequency response 55HHz – 20kHz with <0.06% THD
- Low-resonance MDF cabinets with tuned rear bass port
- Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX
- RCA input, 3.5mm input, RCA output (variable level)
- Banana plug speaker wire included
- 5.75 x 7.5 x 9.5-inches, total weight (two speakers) 15.8lbs
- 3-year limited warranty
- Available in black, white or (extra cost) walnut veneer finish, optional speaker grills
- MSRP $449
Recommendation: Are The Ethos Speakers Worth the Price?
There’s no disputing the fact that U-Turn Audio’s Ethos powered speakers sound good. Their focus on staying analog makes them the ideal companion for one of the company’s Orbit turntables to create an capable, compact stereo system that really showcases the sound of your record collection. The flat frequency response may take some getting used to (especially with streaming music), but there’s a good chance it will win you over. American assembly plus hands-on testing and inspection of each speaker will be big positives for many buyers.
However, at a $449 starting price (add $30 for speaker grills and $100 if you want the handsome walnut veneer), they are a little on the pricey side. And they lack features that other active speakers might offer, such as a built-in Phono preamp, bass and treble controls, different listening preset modes and a remote control. As an example, the Fluance Ai61 powered bookshelf speakers I reviewed in 2021 offer 2 x 60W of power, MDF cabinets, Bluetooth 5, larger 6.5-inch woofers, subwoofer output, more inputs, a remote control and bass/treble adjustment–for nearly $200 less.
If you choose the Ethos powered speakers for your setup, you are not going to be disappointed with their performance. Just be aware that there are many compelling powered speaker options in the $250 to $500 range, with a considerable number of features available, so it pays to do some comparison shopping. U-Turn Audio offers a 30-day return policy, so if you are on the fence, you could buy a pair and try them out for a few weeks with no risk.
Disclosure: U-Turn Audio provided Ethos speakers for evaluation purposes but had no input into this review.
