Hello,my name is frank .I was looking through the net an came across your forum.I bought in 1997 a pair of ess amt 4"s and am in the proces of replacing the drivers ,I'm searching the net for the replacements, i completely re- finished the cabinets and have been very satisfied with their line of speakers. And have just recently purchased a pair of Transtatic 1's in great shape except for one rtr electrostatic panel is blown.They came with three RTR6 electrostatic panels, one 9"x12" KEF flat oval woofer and a 5" midrange per speaker.They are 4 ohm speakers so you need a pretty high end amp to run these babys, recommended power is 60 watt rms min stable into reactive loads and they will handle greater than 650 watts musical peaks without distortion and they are fuse protected.They are 42x20x16 and very heavy 110 lbs per speaker.I run them with a Dynaco st400 amp, 200 watts per channel and these guys sound awesome to say the least, I would recommend that if any one comes across a pair of these rare brutes do not hesitate to purchase them.I know for me i own the last pair of speakers i'll ever purchase. And if any one knows where i can buy a replacement rtr6 panel please e-mail me and let me know.And in case you,re wondering who i bought these from is the same person i got the amt4's from, for a price of $650.00 a pair, they originally sold for $1200.00 a pair in the 70's.ESS also made a top of the line system called SuperQuads which are even rarer, they cost $3000.00 apair which was a lot of money back then.Well thanks for listening and to all happy searching.And if anyone wants to they can e-mail me. Frank J. Rustay |
Hi,
I have owned the ESS AMT-3's since 1975 and have the foam rotting problem. I prefer to purchase equivalent drivers (10's and 6's) rather than refoam. Greatly appreciate driver specification data and/or any info on replacement driver manufacturer and p/n. Thanks.
Bob |
Thank you for your information Rurdangaray. I am most appreciative, Joe |
I bought the AMT-3 Rock Monitors in 1975, and still have them in my basement being driven by a Pioneer receiver. I've twice replaced the two 10" woofers and Heil diaphrams. The mid-range is still the original. With a sub-woofer, it still sounds very good. It was my main speakers until about 5 years ago. I now have Legacy Focus speakers in my SACD based main system. |
In response to Trelja's question - the crossover of the orignal ESS AMT speakers was set at 1,000 HZ. The most recent version use 800 HZ. The Swiss made Oscar Kithara has a crossover at 730 HZ. While the ESS speakers had midrange problems, I'm not sure why anyone would hate these speakers. The clarity and openess of the Heil puts a lot of high dollar speakers to sham and works wonderfully for a lot of rock and electronic music. The midrange deficiencies of the ESS designs caused by blending a large slow woofer with the ultra fast Heil just made the ESS a poor choice for jass and vocal enthusiasts. I understand that some the recent designs that use the Heil do not have this midrange problem. Alas they are not easily avaialbe in the U.S. The Swiss company Precide distributes the speakers. |
By the way, it's been a long time, but I have never hated those ESS speakers the way so many have. The 12" woofers did need to be replaced, due to the surrounds rotting out. It's in the back of my mind to go through them, and see what happens. Does anyone know the crossover point of the speaker? How low the Heil AMT can be crossed over? Any other bits of wisdom? Thank you, Joe |
Thank you Albert. Your postings are always very well written and thought out, not to mention insightful. |
Trelja, no, we lost the ESS line about that time, and instead picked up the more popular JBL commercial line and Infinity Systems. I had a hell of a time learning all the technical materials and specification sheets required for JBL. I quoted parts and power requirements for commercial sound applications such as auditorium reinforcement and rock band equipment. It is nice though, to have owned and lived with so many technologies, it does however make me even more committed to my Soundlabs, which I consider to have the fewest compromises. |
Hi, I owned a pair of ESS AMT 1A's in 1975 through about 1980. I gave them to my sister and she still has them and loves them. The woofer surrounds disintegrated about 12 years ago, but the dealer (a local TV store) ordered new ones for me and as far as I know, they are still functioning well. My sister likes them, anyway. They are the highest-end speakers she has ever had.
I remember the day I had these speakers delivered, I thought I had way overdone it in size and cost. However, 30 years later, I see I had many more extreme excesses to go, audio-wise. |
ESS is still in business. You can view their web site at http://www.essspeakers.com. Their product line has not changed very much of the years. I used to own a pair of AMT-1As with the Heil. I thought the Heil was a great driver. Unfortunatly, it was not well integrated with the 12 inch woofer used in the speaker (hard to do). The Heil AMT is being used in speakers other than ESS. There are 2 Swiss speakers the Oscar Aulos and Kithara (the former was recently well reviewed in Soundstage e-mag. There is also a British company called Orchid that is using the Heil. |
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Very entertaining comments Albert. Were you still at ESS when they went to the Heil AMT technology? I know a lot of people love to knock those speakers. My father has a pair(in my home no less), and it has always intrigued me to take them apart, modify them, and see what happens. While I have never really given them a lot of time in the past years, I remember some good qualities of the driver. Thanks for your information! |
Sean, you are right about the memories, it was pleasant thinking about the ESS again. Your question about Soundlab, all the large speakers in the line have excellent bass, and are exclusively electrostatic. The mylar driver has very low excursion, but is ultra fast and phase accurate. For what it lacks in deflection, it makes up by radiating area (in excess of 15 square feet). Properly set up, you are assured to get the "oomph" you describe. Electrostatic bass still "sounds" different from a traditional piston woofer, a music session with your favorite software should determine if it has the sound you like. |
Wow, i bet that post brought up memories, huh Albert ??? : )
Thanks for filling us in on that. I have a good sized batch of the RTR e-stat tweeters that i'll be working with quite soon. Your comments about the Soundlabs' bass. From what i know of these, they are an all E-stat design, correct ? Maybe i'm misinformed and they are a hybrid. If they are completely electrostatic, I will HAVE to hear these things if they've got bottom end "oomph" that can compete with dynamic drivers. Sean
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I was the factory representative for this line in 1971, and took these speakers around to audio dealers for demo. I believe that the electrostatic element was at that time, manufactured by RTR, the same company that made the elements for the Crown ESL (Elkhart Indiana), and the original Infinity Systems Servo-Static. You are correct about the oval driver being built by KEF. This woofer was totally flat in appearance, and behind it was a long labyrinth, forming a complex transmission line network within the cabinet. It was precisely tuned to be in near perfect phase with the front (output) of the KEF woofer. I remember the sound of the very deep bass, passing thorough walls of the sound room and into my office, while I was speaking to customers on the phone. This design was indeed way ahead of it's time, and delivered remarkable sound, especially considering it's relatively small size. As far as being as good as electrostatics of today, I think that the Maggie, Quad and Soundlab all have better mid and top than the ESS. As far as bass, my memory is probably blurred, but I would guess the ESS to be better than the Quad, but certainly not equal to the output of the Soundlabs. |
