everything

none

wow...what a pleasure to hear reviews from all of you..
I am assuming that the AMT 1B...is the flagship for the model that I own.....I Bought my ess-heil speakers in 1989
new in the boxes, when leo's stereo was going oob....I think It was the last year they actually made these? the number of my model is AMT 1EM... the seem to be a poly material...instead of the old paper woofer & bass reflex

I have read all the other reviews..and at 11 years old the are like brand new in every sense....the foam on the woofer and reflex is like the day I bought them....re..no drying out or splitting..

also I think the crossover most be diffrent because unlike most of the reviews here...my bass is tight clean and thunderous...they sit 4 foot from side walls and 2 foot from the rear wall....dont need to comment on the high's or mids....you all know only too well about those.....

well...would love to talk to anyone who knows that particulars of my speakers...or any other heil lover.....

thought I was going nuts everytime I went to high -end audio stores to audition new speakers and could not stand the way they sounded....and the sales people would say the my speakers were crap....yet I have never met A soul who owned a pair......so I could get some kind of objective....stumbled on to this sight trying to replace my kenwood 250 watt mono blocks...well thanks and would love to hear more..

Nothing does mids and highs like the Heil air-motion transformer. You have to hear these speakers to understand all the rave reviews.

only nit picks as far as I'm concerned

Am writing this mainly to point out that these speakers ARE still available. One reviewer below pointed out the URL for the factory-- www.essspeakers.com -- but many other reviewers have lamented the fact that they can't be bought, can be bought only in Europe, etc. There are pictures and specs of current products and ordering information on the web site. I have a LARGE, L-shaped room where my HT set-up is located. The main speakers (ESS) are in one end of one leg of the "L." In this room, I've found that only direct-reflecting main speakers avoid having the sound seem to come from a tunnel when the listener is outside the immediate area of the speakers. For this application, the AMTs are the best thing going. I'm not a Bose knocker, but they sound far superior to the 901's to my ear. For CD music in stereo, I drive them with only 120 watts per channel and they play plenty loud without distorting or causing listening fatigue. Check them out.

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Advent, Bose 901

Great sound

Bass tightness

Great reproduction of instrument and human voice.
The Bass is not as tight as it can be. I sound better with moving coil phono/record then CD player.

Funny thing is I used to own the ESS satelite-4/Sub-woofer. The small satellite speaker has a small paper cone mid range and tweeter, and they sound really great in a small room. I think the ESS speaker people not just have Heil transformer, but also great ears.

They still sells speakers direct in US but have no retail putet. They will also repair broken passive radiator and woofer.

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Yamaha, AR, ESS satelite-4

I'm happy to find other 1B enthusiasts here... I've had my pair since 1981, when I was in high school. The cabinets have sustained some damage, and the woofer surrounds and the radiators have had to be replaced, but otherwise, they've been solid performers (and I've abused them!). I believe they were $1200.00 new at the time. I've used several different amps with them; my present units are a Nakamichi PA7 and an Audio Research D-76. The Nak is nice, clean and loud, but the AR brought a sense of realism and presence that is quite pleasing. I'm currently using them to assist in my sound design work at a synthesizer manufacturer; everyone comments on how great they sound. I found that if you turn the Midrange trimmer to halfway between 'optimum' and minimum, you'll be as close to flat as these get (I put a realtime spectrum analyser on them). The deep bass is somewhat floppy due to the passive radiator, but that's acceptable due to their high SPL capacity (the AR tube amp makes this a bit worse; I've heard that tubes aren't good at controlling passive radiator systems and I'd agree). I got a used pair for a friend's wedding present; his wife loves them too! (I have three other sets of speakers; each have strengths, but I always consider the ESS' as my main system. Others: Spica SC50, DCM Time Window 1A, Spendor BC2).

Flawless Tweeter -almost

bass over prominent

AMT 1D improved tweeters
Try closing off the passive radiator that is where most of the tubby bass comes from.The mid bass is to strong an sloppy becuse of the passive radiator.On string bass
an other acoustic music there is plenty of detail
the problem is any bass in the range of the "P.R."
overwelms the midbass & lower midrange detail.
It is hard to determine which sounds better in the
midbass-midrange between Magnepans Magneplanar MMG
or the ESS. Depends on type of music.

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Magneplanar MMG

Can take a lot of power and give crisp clear sound.

Surrounds last only about 5 years before needing replacement

I have had these two speakers for almost 20 ears and have to replace the passave radiators on both due to the foam surrounds drying out. I have been powering these with a Luxman 1120A receiver. One of the speakers surround finally gave way and the speaker actually shattered. I have keep them in good repair as I have never heard any other speakers that sound so clear. You do need a lot of power to make them sound good but sound good they do. Too bad they went out of business.

Bought my ESS AMT-1bs in 1976. Nothing has ever touched them for sound quality. Had to replace the woofers by sending them back to ESS for refurbishing. Had those woofers stolen out of the cabinets while in temporary storage. Is there anything to replace them with except ESS?

The Heil Drivers that continue to amaze me after 25 years

Extreme low bass area that cannot be addressed by the 2-10" woofers in my amt-3 model

Anyone who has ever heard the Heil driver in action has experienced some of the best that audio has to offer in the upper register. Used with the far superior digital electronics that is now available, the sound is as contemporary as anything on the market that I have heard. The truly unfortunate thing is that whatever research existed back in '75 to extend this sound quality down the audio range to the bass never succeeded, in particular that carbon rod contraption, and the current ESS legacy survivor company seems content to sell commercial products that are "Good" but not at the cutting edge they held back in the 70s.

Why don't they have a Bob Carver switching amp/sub-woofer sitting under that amazing Heil driver?

Compare the ferrite magnets of 1975 to the Cobalt-Samarium or Neodymium magnets available today to build a Heil driver with; where is the new technology that might make even greater upper range and transients possible?

Might they now be able to make a Heil mid-range with this improved magnet technology capable of creating a strong flux over a larger radiator diaphragm suited for lower frequencies?

Don't get me wrong, I love my amt-3s and will leave them to my daughter in my will when I die, and not part with them before then. But, boy would I love to see what kind of progress might have been made in the last 25 years if Oskar Heil had been able to devise mid-range and bass versions of his technology to go with his tweeter. Meanwhile, I will soon have the 10" drivers rebuilt, throw a Carver Sunfire bass in the corner, and be happy with what I have been happy with for the last 25 years for another 25 years, unless they come out with a true Heil top-to-bottom driver for me to replace them with. I can dream. :-)

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Had amt-1 s for a year or so before these came out, but they needed more bass and transition midrange back then

Crisp, natural, sound from top to bottom

nonenone

My comments are on the Ess Heil model AMT-4, which is a model that I have never seen reviewed or even mentioned on any site, anywhere. I purchased these in 1975 and regretfully sold them when I moved from Hawaii to the Mainland due to shipping costs. If anyone out there has a pair in good condition, let me know. I recently found a pair of AMT-1AM's in like new condition which have more pronounced bass than my old ones (the AMT-4 had 1 10" woofer and the AMT-1AM has a 12" plus a 12" passive radiator. Are the AMT-1AM units the one they call the "rock monitors"? The cabinet design is the same as the 4's but considerably taller. If anyone knows about this or has more info on these please e-mail me. I just picked up a Sansui 9090db to drive these with and after reading one of the reviews I hope that was not a mistake. I drove my old AMT-4 speakers with a Sansui model eight and was totally enthralled the the result. Does anyone know the damping factor of the 9090db?

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none

Clarity and definition. This speaker will accurately, and I stress accurately, reproduce whatever signal is sent to it. If what you are driving it with is not clean and reasonably powerful without introducing distortion than you will be doing yourself and these speakers a disservice.

Grilles, both the frame and cloth. Would like to be able to order replacements but have not been able to find info up to now. Will try the suggestions listed in other reviews. Thanks!

Enjoyed reading all the other reviews. Have owned a pair of the ESS AMT1b speakers since 1977. Movers destroyed bextrene woofers and passive radiators in 1987. (Same year that I got divorced.) My ex got just about everything, and wanted my 'system', too! Told her she could have my stereo if I got to take all the other household goods in exchange; appliances, furniture, etc. I managed to get out with my recliner, one place setting for eating, my clothes and my 'system' which at the time consisted of the Ess, Yamaha CR-1020 rcvr, Denon DCD1500 CD plyr, Nak480 cassette & Sony PST2 trntbl. The moving company paid to replace the damaged items.
Everyone has, and is entitled to, their own opinion. My opinion is that there is not a better sounding speaker made, then or now. I have auditoned many, many speakers ranging in price from a few hundred dollars apiece to over $40,000 for an 'audiophile's' dream system. Many sound very good if not excellent. None have sounded better. These speakers have entertained over 500 people in an outdoor setting being driven by the CR-1020. Although I never seriously got into it, many times I would 'rent' and operate my system for parties, dances, dance recitals and other gatherings for a modest fee. Quit doing that when I decided I did not want to continue 'banging' up my home system for the sake of a few dollars. I paid $450ea for the Ess Amt1bs in 1977 from Interior Systems in Las Vegas, NV and as others have said I believe they were one of the best 'investments' I have ever made for my own pleasure. The crossovers capacitors were replaced by an audio engineer for me in 1984 dropping the crossover frequency to about 850. Improved the bass definition. Just joined the digital age by replacing the CR-1020 with the Yamaha RX-V995. Was a bit nervous about the change but Yamaha continues to produce a fine receiver, particularly for clean, natural sound. (See other review). Listeners, particularly first timers, still marvel at the sonic clarity of these gems. To quote: "Sound as Clear as Light"!
(I hope they last as long as I do and I'm shooting for another 35-40 years.)

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Added Definitive Technolgy BSP2x bipolar surrounds to the ESS for 'Home Theater'. They do complement the Ess rather nicely. Awaiting replacement DVD player for the 'dead' one received from my net dealer. Pioneer DV626D renders audio just fine but doesn't want to provide a video signal regardless of method of hookup or set driven.