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emaidel
07-29-2009, 04:47 AM
Several months ago, as I was finishing a 12-hour drive to Long Island, and pulling into my sister's driveway, my cell phone rang, and it was someone who told me he was starting up ESS again, and wanted to talk to me as I had worked for ESS back in 1979-1981. I couldn't speak to him at the time, and asked that he call back the next day. I never heard from him again.

I thought it was a bit foolhearty to try to start up a speaker company in today's market, but apparently, ESS has been "reborn" as "ESS Labs." The only products the company currently offers are the large Heil (used in the AMT model speakers), and several replacement diaphragms. The list price for the "Great Heil" (as ESS Labs now calls it) is a whopping $399.95. I wonder how many people have a speaker system with a woofer and crossover network, and are in need of a tweeter/midrange unit, and are willing to plop down $800 or so?

When I worked for ESS, I believed that the company had the potential to be a really terrific speaker company, and to manufacture some truly great products. Unfortunately, since the business end of the upper management was as nutty as it was, such a potential was never reached. The "C" versions of the AMT lineup were noticeable improvements over the "A" and "B" predecessors, but by then the company's money problems started to take hold, and ultimately ESS went out of business.

ESS acquired the rights to build the Gale Loudspeaker, but the ESS reincarnation never sounded anything like the original. ESS's handling of the Dynaco brand is also a perfect example of how, under all the wrong upper-management decisions, a great name was totally trashed.

I hope that ESS Labs ultimately manufactures a complete speaker system, and not just the Heil, and that it can live up to the promise ESS from the 70s' never did.

hifitommy
08-01-2009, 01:23 PM
http://www.essspeakersusa.com/

mostly parts and repairs. no complete speaker. fine for the DIYers. the amt is a very good design that needs careful handling in application. burmester makes excellent speakers albeit expensive, with AMT drivers incorporated.

Feanor
08-01-2009, 03:45 PM
....
I thought it was a bit foolhearty to try to start up a speaker company in today's market, but apparently, ESS has been "reborn" as "ESS Labs." The only products the company currently offers are the large Heil (used in the AMT model speakers), and several replacement diaphragms. The list price for the "Great Heil" (as ESS Labs now calls it) is a whopping $399.95. I wonder how many people have a speaker system with a woofer and crossover network, and are in need of a tweeter/midrange unit, and are willing to plop down $800 or so?
...

Since you ask, I'd have to say quite a few. In fact there are a good many $800+/pair tweeters out there. Many ScanSpeaks and Seas Excels are in the $250 - 350 range. Or how about these examples:

Seas Exotic T35 (http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=45_229_324&products_id=8537)
ScanSpeak Ring Radiator (http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=45_229_427&products_id=1581)
For a Heil driver, Mundorf AMT2340 (http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=45_229_324&products_id=8537)
Or to get really serious, Accuton D20-6 Diamond (http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=45_229_250&products_id=1039), $5800 /pair. :shocked:A beauty of the "Great Heils" is that they will handle a crossover as low as 800 Hz making them true mid/highs.

emaidel
08-02-2009, 04:16 AM
A beauty of the "Great Heils" is that they will handle a crossover as low as 800 Hz making them true mid/highs.

That is precisely what was done to the "C" versions of the AMT series speakers around 1981. The crossover was actually lowered to 700 HZ, eliminating much of the "crud" that formerly came out of the woofer of the "A" and "B" versions, making both of those speakers sound harsh. The Heil also has poor vertical dispersion (but very good horizontal dispersion), and in the "C" models, it was tilted up slightly to aim the material coming from it closer to the listener's ears, rather than his or her chest and/or stomach.

As an interesting aside, while working at ESS, I was told that the cost of manufacturing a single "Great" Heil was far more than that of ALL of the drivers in a pair of Bose 901's.

emaidel
08-02-2009, 04:24 AM
I can think of a few words to describe my reaction to a price tag of $2,900 for a single tweeter, and not a one of them is nice! One can only wonder what the ultimate price of a complete speaker system would be with bass and midrange drivers of equal "quality." And people criticize Bose for "price gouging"....

hifitommy
08-02-2009, 09:57 AM
i havent heard any that i know of but there are some commercially in existing models such as the avalon eidelon diamond. the cost is prohibitive for most speakers but we may be on the beginning edge of the pricing. its possible that they will come down with improved methods of production and IF they ever mass produced.

certainly we can squeak by with less costly items.