ESS AMT 1B Floorstanding Speakers Reviews

ess and onkyo wed '76

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
When I was 17 in 1976 I figured the best way for me to get credit was to take out a $2000 loan for a stereo. (had a car) I spent 3 months studying specs. Output, response, harmonic distortion....And listening. I heard a pair of amt1b's in the first store I went to. Didn't care for the sound. I listened to Klipsch, Altec's, Bose, all the top ,most expensive speakers around then. They all sounded great but something was missing. I went back to the first store. I told the guy I wanted to hear the ESS's again. The top end was more crisp and real as I had ever heard but not enough bass. The salesman finally ran those 75lb bass magnets up to 1/2 and that was all it took. He'd had the bass off. The pair I bought were used by the "Stones" in their studio..paid $500 apiece. Picked up a perfectly matched Onkyo 100watt per channel TX6500. Best 2 grand I have ever spent!!!!! Still rocking the neighborhood to this day!

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I agree the people who enjoy the ess heil. I don't agree with any of the critics. These are the most lifelike loudspeaker I have ever encountered and I am a loudspeaker collector from electrostats to planars and dynamics. For anyone to say these aren't accurate, they need their ears checked. For anyone to think they knew more then the late physicist dr oskar heil who will claim themselves as audiophiles are a joke. what he invented was definitely revolutionary. I thought ribbons were accurate and until I heard the heils, it's in another level. Don't even think that the crappy dome design can even match these heils you would be out of your mind. Modifying the ESS makes it even many times better. I have an AMT 1D on steroids. I have two ess 12 inch woofers firing on both sides with no radiator. I decided to place 3 ess heils on a line array or linesource design and using dakiom feedback stabilizers on the crossover, the sound is beyond spectacular but the most lifelike loudspeaker I have yet owned or heard in showrooms and as a former high end home theater installer and electronic tech, nothing comes close to the sound of the ESS HEIL 1D in my configuration. The ESS as great as it is stock, it's even greater MODIFIED.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
We purchased our ESS AMT 1B speakers in the late '70's and have been using them ever since.
They have been virtually flawless and reproduce sound as well as any speakers we've heard.
All the audio "authorities" I know have all advised us to keep these units through at least four different systems; starting back in the '70's with analog and up through the new Onkyo TX-NR709 and Sharp Aquos based HD internet/digital home entertainment system we are currently running.
The only glitch was about 10 years ago after almost 30 years of service (rockin out!) we had the main speakers re-foamed; no other service or issues.
We're using the ESS front, Atlantic Technology speakers, center and rear with an Infinity BU-2 powered sub-woofer.
Our house isn't big but we can vibrate the neighbors water bed when we turn it up.
Not likely to change anytime soon!

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
i have listen to many speakers over the last 30 years and essamt1a or the 1b is the best by far
great low bass,the top end is all onecould ask for,i still have a pair off amt1a which i will never part with
sit back and enjoy your music

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
When I was a junior officer ashore in California I heard a pair of ESS AMT1 c's .... and was smitten. I couldn't afford them, and bought a pair of ARs instead, which were OK. Just.
Fast forward to 2010. I was shipping a 57 tbird back to Australia, and decided to track down a pair of AMTs to put in the container with the car, as to ship individually they would have cost a fortune. Not to mention packing.
The ship was sailing in a week... I had to work fast.
A friend in San Francisco was called upon to pick up a pair... and drive them to LA. I eventually found a pair of boxes for $100. All that was missing was the Heils, which had been sold previously. they were located in a very dodgy part of SF, and my mate said wryly. 'Tim your speakers are probably in a crack house.' Well as it turned out they were.... and nobody wanted them (the AMTs had long gone, probably sold for ... well... you know.. )
Driven to LA in the back of Gl;enns old Jaguar. 'You really owe me for this, the speakers are shot anyway'
'oh well, I reasoned, they're not costing anything to ship...'
Into the 20' container with the tbird, and a pair oh Heil AMTs I had also managed to find.
Ship sails ex LA... to Australia... via China! ... and into a force 12 gale. Great. they'll be pulp.All I cared about was the car at this stage.
8 weeks later.... after 2 transhipments, the box arrives. I am allowed to witness its opening, fearing the worst.
Tbird was fine, covered and chained down... But at the side of the container, lashed securely to the bulkhead, were 2 familiar truncated pyramid shapes, covered with blankets.
Impressive shippers, I thought. I gingerly lifted off the blankets and couldn't believe my eyes.
A pair of mint, absolutely mint boxes... with unmarked covers.
Got the woofers re-coned in Melbourne,replaced all the caps with new ones, rewired the insides of the cabinets with more appropriate cabling (the originals were like spaghetti )
and fired them up.
Wow! What fabulous sound, gutsy, gorgeous upper harmonics... just a remarkable top end.
The cabinets are now lovingly oiled and take pride of place in the lounge. These speakers look fabulous in a post modern style environment ... even the brown grill cloth is very 'now'
As to the controversy over the 'huge ' peaks in response... well my Nov 1977 Stereo review by Julian D. Hirsch raves about these speakers. " The AMT1 is a really highly accurate reproducer" "essentially perfect"
"airy open and crisp" The superlatives don't end there.
And, most tellingly, 'one of the speakers we have most enjoyed testing'
I have a $12,000 pair of electrostatics. But for every day listening with non critical listening positioning,
you just can't beat the AMT1s.
And I FINALLY got a pair, saved from a council throwout in San Francisco.
Now gracefully ageing on the other side of the Pacific.
If you listen carefully in Candlestick Park you may just hear them... playing beautifully.


couple of questions: Should I update the diaphragms, which look fine and have a fine mesh on them.
Which woofer is the best replacement? Any point in replacing the passive rad with a subwoofer, making the cabinet acoustically sealed?