ESS AMT 1B vs ESS AMT1D
max
The tweeter is the same?
Thanks
dancing_bear
To the best of my knowledge, most of the differences were in the
woofer cone construction; the 1As were pulped paper cones, at least
some of the 1Bs and the early 1Cs had bexetrene cones in an attempt to
make the woofer "faster" and a better match for the tweeter (not
successful, if the ones I have heard were good examples) . I haven't
seen later 1Cs or 1Ds, but I am under the impression that the revived
ESS Laboratories switched to polypropylene in the latest samples. I
think that there were slight differences in the cosmetics and detail
differences in the grilles, as well. I have currently a pair of 1As,
and have had the Rock Monitors, which had a 12"woofer and a 12"
passive radiator in a rectangular tower about 30% larger then the 1As,
and as you could guess, was even worse a match between the woofers and
the tweeter, but better sounding then the JBLs and Cerwin Vegas of the
day. Any serious technical info on the ESS speakers is as hard to find
as that for A/D/S, Infinity Quantums, or RTRs from the 70s and 80s.
They sold too many to really generate the cult following of the
Magnepans or Frieds, and didn't have the existing legacy that the AR/
KLH/Advent/Allison/Cizek/Boston Acoustics speakers did. Epicure-EPI/
Genesis (the NH company that Winslow Burhoe started, not the one that
Arnie Nudell started after leaving Infinity Systems)/Burhoe
Loudspeakers/and their evolutionary descendant, Human Loudspeakers was
another progression of companies that sprung up around Burhoe's 'air-
spring' inverted dome tweeter and the greater Boston area companies
that used it. After Harmon International bought Epicure, it seemed
like everything EPI disappeared into a black hole, and only one of
their techs running a repair service which has turned into Human
Loudspeakers keeps it alive.
Check out these links for some additional info.
http://www.eliteavdist.com/
the current distributor of ESS loudspeakers, they have moved the
manufacturing from Sacramento,CA.to Germany
http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/cgi-local/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=000764;p=0
Outlaw Audio discussion thread with links and info
Bob
news:esq8d...@news3.newsguy.com...
Mt reply is going to be off topic from the original post but the reply above
brings back a lot of good old memories. I worked for a "HiFi" retailer back
in the 70's and 80's here in CT selling the ESS and EPI/Genesis speakers (
Magneplanar,Audio Research, Kef, JBL among others). We sold a lot of the ESS
AMT1's right from the start and I acquired a pair of the Heil AMT "tweeters"
along with a couple of EPI 8" woofers from the 100's( original butyl rubber
surrounds, which were replaced later in the EPI history with foam surround
ones). Our company ( FLS were the initials) had a small R&D department
within our pro audio division that had some very smart people playing around
with transmission line boxes for the EPI woofer. I took those plans and
built 2 transmission line towers with the 8" EPI woofers and used the Heil
AMT for mid and top end. The sound was nothing short of amazing for the day.
At any rate to add to the EPI/Genesis history we also had a rebadged Genesis
speaker we call the "FLS 4" which we sold thousands of during that time
period and I see that Human Speakers makes mention of those also. My first
real speaker was a pair of the original EPI 100 speakers back when they had
a real wood veneer...they soon after built a vinyl covered version which
also sold in the thousands and I'm sure there are still some out there. What
a great little speaker those were..
sorry to ramble on...
Bob