Best high's ever !

10" woofers do not last forever

I have a set of ESS Heil amt1's that I bought new in 1973 when I was in the service, stationed in Germany. I am not much of a head banger anymore ,comes with kid's or age I guess. Any way I have all the original instalation instructions and specifications sheet with pictures. They have new 10" woofers speakers installed about 6 years ago. The Air Motion transformer Diaphragm's are original and have never skiped a beat. Still sound like the I bought them. I have a lifetime warranty on them from ESS INC. HA HA. You cant get them anymore.

I may be enticed to sell them if the right person in need of the best speakers in the world with the right money offer talk to me .

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Sweet etheral highs and fabulous stereo effect from bipolar drivers.

Original bass drivers always lousy.

About a year ago I found a set of PS 8 ESS speakers on the side of the road ( council colection day ) and used the tweeters in them in a set of my own making. The tweeters hang on springs to eliminate the problem of vibration from the bass driver. I have 2 x 4 in midrange from 300 hz to about 2.5 Khz and a Kevlar 10 in from 250 hz down. The 2 x 4 in midrange are in a 90 degree elbow sewage pipe bend so that they have good dispersion. This pipe cabinet is isolated from the bass driver using old japanese turntable feet.The bottom cabinet is an old AR 2A cabinet that got given to me with a 10in Kevlar subwoofer ( car sub ). As the tweeters and original crossovers are configured for 4 ohm drivers this works out. The two mids are in parallel and the sub is a 4 ohm driver. The crosover is encased in a separate box to eliminate vibration effects. The bass crossover is in the bass cabinet. This is all mounted on stds about 300mm high.The total height is about 1.5 metres. These speakers are fabulous. I also have a pair of AMT 1 A speakers. Junk the original bass drivers and go out and buy a car subwoofer 4 ohm driver with a big magnet and a cast alloy frame. Use your judgement and choose a driver that best suits what you want. Paper driver for dynamics, Poly driver for upper midrange capability or a kevlar for both. ( Some paper drivers work fantastic ) The sound compared to my other speakers is perhaps more fluid as the mid from the ESS tweeter has a wonderful etheral quality which never fails to please. However the tweeter from the PS 8A has more bite and I suspect has more to offer when played louder- especially in a full 3 way system. Also the 2 x 4 in drivers in the speaker have great transient response and perhaps have more depth in the lower mid area. I cannot recommend these speakers/tweeters more and to existing owners - you need to look at car 10 and 12 in drivers that are flooding the market at ridiculous prices. A lot of them have excellent characteristics that blend well with the ESS sound. Choose carefully and don't worry about the garish colours that some are. Sometimes the best alternatives are sometimes right in front of you. System used Pioneer Spec 2 ( new caps all the way thru and minor rewire ) Arcam 9 preamp Marantz CD 94 MK II Yamaha CDR-HD 1000 cd burner and used as dac. Kenwood KD 500 with rega 300 arm Craft phono stage

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Kef transmission line speakers using 8 drivers in each cabinet. 25 cu foot cabinet and weighs about 100 kg per cabinet. Sold to replace with ESS

crystal clear sound! nothing better in my books

NONE!

i finally got a beautiful pair ESS AMT D`S yesterday. after reading all the reviews on this sight i finally got what you guys were talking about.i put an ad on the net about 3 weeks ago and got a reply back within a day. a guy emailed me telling me he has a pair of ess amt 1d`s in the original boxes and has been stored for over 20years.he was married now and had no room and would rather someone use these fine speakers. right away i am thinking ya right it`s a scam. so i asked him if you could send me pictures and he did and man i have to tell you they looked brandnew. now that he has my full attention i asked him the big question. HOW MUCH! he told me $750.00 canadian. so i thought about it for aday. i emailed him back and told him all i have is $550.00 canadian. i never heard back from him for a couple days. i was thinking this guy was pissed off at me now. after aday or so more went by he emailed and said o.k. and the bonus was he was going to deliver them to me since he lived about an hour away. man this could not have happened at a better time.so he drop off the speakers at 10:30am yesterday the same time my big screen was delivered so i did not get a good chance to talk to him (sorry john) he dropped off the speakers in my driveway with his friend and told me he had to back to work. i gave him the money and that was that. after the big screen was in ym house i went to pick-up the speakers and bring them in my house. big mistake could not lift them man are they well built! i got a dolly and then brought them in the house i waited an hour before i took them out of the boxes to let them warm up first. i took them out of the boxes and all i could do is look at them over and over. these look so perfect in everyway. looks like the day they were made in california. i hooked them up put on some pink floyd and was blowen away i had a tear roll down my face.i listened to them for 4 hours and forgot all about my big screen. it`s the day after and i am still listening to them as i right this review. i cannot believe the sound of how clear these speakers are. I WILL NEVER NEED ANOTHER PAIR OF SPEAKERS THESE ARE IT! nothing else compares to the sound and i have had lot`s of differant speakers. to make along story short. IF YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO BUY A PAIR DO IT!! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT! as for john the guy that sold them to me. THANK-YOU VERY MUCH!

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NONE!

The Heil 360 degree Midrange/Tweeter. Sound and Clear as Light.

Having a room big enough for them. Finding a certer channel that will match up with them. Finding a subwoofer that can keep up with 4 full range speakers which were capable of 20Hz to 20+Khz

I bought the ESS AMT3 Rock monitors in the mid seventies. I have listened to a few different setups since than and find the ESS AMT3's to be right there with speakers that cost much much more. A great value. I now own four of them, two in walnut and two in rosewood. Each set of speakers is powered through a Mesa/Boogie Strategy 400 Stereo tube amp via an Outlaw 950 Pre/Pro. Which gives them all the power they can handle, the 15 amp breaker in the PowerMax 5300 will blow before anything else. I have heard speakers in certain rooms that sound better, but not by much and the room has a lot to do with that. I have replaced the drivers and membranes in all speakers with modern, updated components. I have two 15" subwoofers driven by a Samson S1000 that can bearly be heard over the four ESS AMT3's. People have to remember that many Home theater system come with a single subwoofer that will have a 10" or 12" drivers in it. Each ESS AMT3 has two 10" drivers. In my living room that means eight 10" drivers and that is just the bass.

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Listen to many, but have never been lured away. Had some JBL 88's a long time ago.

Crystal clear highs and amazing prescence. The musician seems to be standing in the room with you. A true work of art.

AMT1 and AMT1 Tower use fast blow fuses instead of breakers which have a tendency to fail. Interestingly, I have never had a breaker trip. With updated close spec crossover components they sound even better. Requires more than 125 watts to fill them up which is a problem for some that have 65 or 80 watt amps. They just do not sound right without a considerable amount of headroom. The Yamaha MX1000 I use is rated conservativly at 340 per channel and is an even match for the speakers.

I first heard the incredible sound of ESS in 1975 when my high school girlfriend's dad had a set of ESS AMT1 Towers. I can still remember listening to Humble Pie "Rockin the Filmore." It is a sound that hooked me on these speakers for life. I currently own four sets of ESS speakers. I purchased a set of AMT1 speakers in 1985 used through the newspaper. I purchased a set of AMT1D through the newspaper in 1988. I then bought a set of AMT1A speakers from a friend whose wife wanted them out of the house because they took up too much space. Most recently I found a set of AMT1 Towers on the internet in mint condition. The speakers are all connected to a home theater system powered by four Yamaha MX1000 power amps and a Yamaha RX-V1 home theater receiver cabled effectivly as a preamp since none of the inboard amplifier is being used. This is capped off with a Velodyne 18R subwoofer and a Clark Synthesis Tactile Transducer. What a sound. Having a subwoofer and the ability to shut down the low end of the Heil speakers with the RX-V1 cures the problem many reference about inadequate low end. The best speaker of them all by far is the AMT1 Tower. Do not know why but it carries a clarity and cleanliness that the other models simply cannot match. Have been around audio 28 years and any ESS with the large Heil is worth hanging onto. I am actively looking for an additional pair of AMT1 Towers to replace the AMT1. For those of you who have asked, I really cannot discern the difference between the AMT 1A and the AMT 1D. The AMT 1D seems to have a tighter bass but on close observation it is actually a lack of pronounced midrange compared to the AMT 1A. With the Midrange prescence control turned down on the AMT 1A they sound the same. A great sounding speaker. I took all of the internal wiring out of all the speakers and replaced with Monster cable. Also upgraded to close ratio state of the art crossover components. Sounds better but not a huge improvement. Rating the four sets in order from the bottom up I would put the original AMT1 at the bottom, followed by the AMT1D, then the AMT1A, and the AMT1 Tower head and shoulders above the rest at the top. Would not own any other speaker. Nothing comes close except possible Magneplanar which is a distant second.

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Advent, OHM "F", Altec "Voice of the Theater"

Stunning high freq. with spacial imaging. Nothing I've heard can top. Early Bipolar design that fills a room with sound.

Crossovers, bass can get boomy sometimes- but c'mon thes guys are 30 years old.

What is wrong with me? I have owned a pair of ESS-AMT3 Rock Monitors for 30 years this year. Did the woofer surrounds 10 years ago and completely redid the grill covers. I get the itch for new speakers now and again. But after listening I come home to my towers and still can't beleive the clear transparent sound. My stuff is pushed by McIntosh pre-amp C29, CD Player MCD7007, and MC2255 power amp. I feel the Heil driver is a good match to McIntosh power as they can be a little bright and analytical with lesser electronics. Does anyone out there have a formula for upgrading the bass drivers and reworking the croosovers to bring these Rock Monitors into the new millenium? I feel I have what I need but would like to clean up the bass and mids with this speaker. Or am I wasting my time? Answer- I guess there is nothing wrong with me or my ears considering all the positive posts on this site. It' kind of nice to know that there are a few of us still enjoying these dinosaurs. Email: toolman@autoeq.com

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Prior to ESS Advent small then Advent Large.

Incredibly clean highs to over 20kHz. Very rapid transient response. Execellent sound field. Excellent bass response. And you can still get them from the factory for about $1000/pair - 50% less than I paid in 1977.

None.

I have owned this pair of ESS Heil AMT Monitors since about 1977. I have replaced the tweeter elements and passive radiators once (about 1987) and the woofers twice in February 2003 with ESS's newest design. What attracted me to the ESS's originally - their light open sound with rapid transient response - has maintained my loyalty over all this time. I have tried a number of others and always come back the the Heils. I read in the other reviews that some folks have had someone other than ESS recone their speakers. My recommendation - only use ESS replacements. I, too, tried reconing, and it provided very unsatisfactory sound. Loss of bass, muddy mids, etc. If you are lucky enough to have a pair of Heils, do it right. I also read some complaints re: the mid-bass. My recommendation is to bi-amp them, with a 12db/octave x-over at 800Hz. Significantly clarifies mid-bass. Also suggest using a subwoofer, as long as it's of high quality, like a Velodyne. Have now put my ESS's in my home theatre, and just bought 5 ESS PS-8As from the factory for the surround speakers. Very nice sound, very complementary to the AMTs. However, a bit less clean mids, I believe due to the 2k x-over.

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Magneplanars, electrostatics.

Range, definition, build quality

Listening fatigue, integration of two drivers

I acquired my AMT 1B's from a frustrated coworker to whom these speakers were merely bulky, ugly (the grill cloth had been replaced with some really hideous paisley material) and ultimately non-functional. I gave her a simple, serviceable system and hauled away a cornucopia of equipment that included a large DC coupled amplifier, a companion tuner, and of course, the AMT's. I tore down each speaker, had the woofers and passive radiators re-coned, re-covered the frames and did some minor cosmetic work. As part of the refurbishment, I tested each Air Motion Transformer by connecting it to one channel of a small stereo that I keep in my office. I left the first unit playing while I answered some email. I noticed that I was having difficulty concentrating, but couldn't put my finger on why. Then it dawned on me. I was hearing detail so remarkable that it demanded attention. I was hearing the space around cymbals, the texture of a soloist's voice and the timbre of individual piano strings. It was (and is) fascinating. I think that's what distinguishes these speakers; they render the soundstage and each instrument on it with remarkable clarity. Less impressive are somewhat tubby bass and the dodgy integration of the two drivers. Some fiddling with the crossover might ameliorate this, but it doesn't really work for Martin Logan either. I also note some listening fatigue that I don't experience with my Magnaplanars. Martin Logans are more transparent and Magnaplanars smoother, but these speakers offer scary range and mid/high definition. At any price approaching the $300.00 - $500.00 that used examples seem to sell for, they're a screaming bargain. I don't understand why they didn't just torpedo the competition instead of fading into obscurity.

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none

good sound balance

I only bought 1 pair

I purchased the ESS Tower way back in 1974 at $780.00 for the pair and still think they are the best all around value and best sounding speakes. Yes, there are speakers with more bass, and yes others that are brighter. But the others really dont have a better base they just have a rise in the response at about 100hz as for ones that are brighter one can't listen to them for very long. Yes I did have to replace the woofers once I think back in 1986. Other than that... How do you spall good? ESS! George

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AR, Pioneer, JBL, and polk I kept the ESS!

heil coil tweeters......... excellent sound........

foam around the woofers tend to crack. pay to get them fixed it is worth it.if not email me and i will buy them

these are the best speakers i have ever heard.the heil coil tweeters are the best part on this speaker you here things you have never heard before on any other speaker.i would like a little more bass but,it is not that kind of speaker.these speakers are for knock your socks off clarity.i am not kinding if you listen to these speaker when you have your eyes closed you actually think that the band is in front of you.especially acoustics.

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not any speaker i have heard yet. even at professional studio stores...