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ESS AMT 1B
81 Reviews
rating  4.47 of 5
MSRP 
Description: Floor Standing, front and rear firing speaker system


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Rating
Reviewed by:
Azrael082
(Casual Listener)

Review Date
June 19, 2008

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
4.20 of 5, 5 votes

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Review NaN of

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Friend

Summary:
I got these speakers from a friend of my dad's who had, had them sitting in storage for quite some time. at the time I didn't know anything about them except they had huge 12" woofers with some weird thing on top of them. Since then I have researched them (mostly from other reviews on here) and realized what they were worth and what the weird thing on top is (a very interestingly desinged tweeter)
There are 2 speakers- the 12" woofer and the tweeter on top- the base is empty and filled with a padding to help with the bass most likely. However you can't remove the top portion of the speaker to make it smaller and lighter (these things are very heavy). Reason I stated this is because I contemplated removing the top portion to save space but decided against it because of way its built to basically be one solid piece. I'm guessing these were made in the late 70's- probably about 1979 because of the other reviews on hear plus the very 70 style grill to go around them (kind of a wood mesh instead of cloth like modern speakers have)
Some people say the most important thing for these speakers is placement, i think its the receiver. when i first had these i had a low quality receiver and they sounded pretty bad and i couldnt believe people were saying these were some of the best sounding speakers they ever had, but then I got a newer receiver and man they sounded 100 times better. I played "Bass Test" to see how good they were and they literally vibrated my skin which is more than any subwoofer has managed to do. An odd property of these speakers I would like to point out is that they seem to sound best if placed on one wall and then wherever you want to listen to them is in the corner because the Bass just really seems to collect in the corners of the room where as if u stand about 5ft in front of them the bass really disapears.
Just as a side note i don't listen to rap and only care about bass but I do like a nice kick&rumble from speakers.
The highs are excellent and very clear as everyone has said.
They are also VERY efficient. the first reciever i had plugged into these only had an output of 15 watts RMS per channel and they were PLENTY loud, just lacked the expected quality. Now the reiver I have qreatly increased the quality as mentioned above.
Also absolutely no distortion with bass,treble, or the midranges. the amplifier in my receiver gets overdriven but up to that point absolutly no distortion (of course this is not the speakers fault so when i go to buy a new receiver this will be fixed)

If you are looking for speakers for any genre of music and want amazing bass and treble then these are defanitly worth checking out.

My dad has Klipsch Cornwalls (the ones with the 15" subs) and these defanitly give them a run for the money sound quality wise- the Klipsch's are defanitly more effiecient though but thats because they are like the top brand and quality so what do you exepect?

Strengths:
Very efficient
(and with a good receiver:)
Unbelievable bass
Excellent Highs
No distortion even at max volume
Look kinda cool with the Heil transformer on top of them.

Considering these are almost 30 years old its impressive how well theyve held up.

anyone wanting top quality without paying a huge amount of money should defanitly look into these speakers.

Weaknesses:
Didn't like the covers that came with it so i just trashed them.

Similar Products Used:
Klipsch Cornwall, Boss mulitmedia speakers, Genius, a few other off brands.


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Rating
Reviewed by:
ermes
(Audio Enthusiast)

Review Date
May 4, 2008

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1 votes

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Review NaN of

Price Paid:  $750.00 from Florence-Italy

Summary:
I've been owning a pair of AMT 1B since 1980 and I am of the opinion it has been one of my best choices. These speakers are not the perfect one, but every time I compare them to others even very expensive, I decide to keep on listening to them. Maybe a lack of mids, but it much depends on the positioning in your room. I used a few simple tricks to improve them without changing their philosophy:
reinforcement of the internal cabinet, better connectors, bitumen-paint inside the inner walls, modified PR, insulation of the woofer magnets by using felt cloth. Just a few simple unexpensive activity which helped much in order to clear up the bass., no miracles! Of course I has to re-foam the woofers a few jears ago.
Greetings from Italy!...

Strengths:
Very clear sound, great sensibility, efficiency: just a few watts required for a midium size ambient.

Weaknesses:
Big. heavy and the lowest bass should be better considering their size, but it much depends on the positioning.

Similar Products Used:
3 way aperiodic self built speakers sistem. Couple of Canton pls subwoofer.


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Rating
Reviewed by:
Jmanduca
(Audio Enthusiast)

Review Date
January 5, 2008

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 2 votes

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Review NaN of

Price Paid:  $1100.00 from Soundworks

Summary:
These are the speakers of the late 70's. Bose was on the market and Warfendale's, Klipsch but these AMT 1b monitors were just outstanding. I was really into the highs and with the Heil Air Motion Transformers you could really get the highs. Best speakers I ever owned and believe it or not they are in stroage. A few years ago I contacked ESS and they sent me all new covering and connecters and they are still in the package they came in.

Strengths:
Highs are crystal clear, power is awesome

Weaknesses:
Heavy and bulky


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Rating
Reviewed by:
alireza moghadasi
(AudioPhile)

Review Date
October 14, 2007

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
2.33 of 5, 9 votes

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Review NaN of

Price Paid:  $200.00 from 600

Summary:
ess


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Rating
Reviewed by:
bart
(AudioPhile)

Review Date
August 31, 2007

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 2 votes

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Review NaN of

Price Paid:  $175.00 from ebay

Summary:
in short i bought several pairs of amt1 tweeters , untill i discoverderd their sisters the amt 10b's disregarded because of shut in mounted , but for me these are the marvels , espessialy when put outside on top of a super high quality midbass like the fane studio 8m, romy the cat is right about it its a wonderfull midbass, even with the original cross-over from the amt10b's the wedding is tremendous, it beats my atc system with esotar dynaudio en the famous atc dome mid and 9 inch basses, in fact i use two 9 inch atc basses each side and on top the fane studio 8m and ess amt10B fane and amt with original amt cross suppose 1500hz, and a cerwin passif-actif at 250 hz the atc's below are powered by a transistor quad amp, the fane ess by a pushpull el84
rogers power bloc renewed where needed and singing better then my cary dbl pushpull el84, the complete set is wonderfull integrated and the fane is the only mid that can follow the light of the amt's, ps i treated the cones of the fanes with metalalu foil which highers its young modulus and sound velocity, it sounds full range like a elctrostatic but with 98db/w efficiency and dynamics unbelievable

Strengths:
amt10b cheaper and for me better then amt1 , unbeatable crystalclear midhighs
betters esotar or scan speak or ruban philips even stage accompany

Weaknesses:
only fane studio 8m that follows them,

Similar Products Used:
atc esotar


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