ESS and Heil air-motion tranformer - any thoughts?


These seem like interesting speakers, has anyone on this board had any experience with the ESS line of speakers?

A.M.T. description:

"The Heil diaphragm, made of soft, quiet mylar to reduce background noise, is bonded with conductive aluminum strips. It is equivalent in surface area to a conventional cone type eight inch midrange driver, but is accordion-folded down to a compact one-inch band for better point source dispersion. The low mass diaphragm is suspended in a massive magnet structure concentrating an intense magnetic field around the diaphragm.

When a signal passes through the aluminum strips, the bellows-like motion of the folded "pleats" squeezes air out five times faster then the air motion of a conventional cone driver. The virtual "instant acceleration" provides high definition, crisp transients, and overall spaciousness with superb dynamic range. This type of performance distinguishes the heil from all other transducers."

http://www.essspeakers.com/
128x128dawgbyte
I just modified my ESS HEIL 1D and it is 3 times better then the original and is by far the best and most liveliest loudspeaker I have encountered among all loudspeakers I own and have heard and unfortunately I haven't heard many other fine systems.
I added another ess heil 1c transducer separating it from the 1d about 8 inches on top of it using longer screw poles and using a square mesh type square metal frame to place the 1c on top of it. I removed the front 12 inch ess driver and placed it on the REAR, removing the passive radiator and ordered the new ESS 12 inch driver from parts express. I placed that on the front. Now I have a DIPOLAR bass system and the upper highs and mids are done by the ESS HEIL 1C and 1D in a linesource array. I also added the controversial dakiom stabilzers in the crossover to clean up any harsh signal coming from the amplifier. I use paxthon integrate tube amp and a grand fidelity tube cd player and the soundstage is amazing. Modifying the ESS HEIL the way I did puts it another level of performance the original design was unable to do. Everything is wider and bigger. The bass are much tighter and realistic and deeper. The vocals and instruments are as if the musicians are actually there.

If you can afford to add additional ESS heil drivers and woofers, I highly recommend it for you DIY ess enthusiasts.

I collect loudspeakers and I have magnepans, acoustats, eminent techs, klipsch, sls and ohm walsh and by far the ess heils being modded puts me in audio nirvana. I am completely satisified with this set up!
Armyscout41 that sounds like a travesty of a design. Mounting another active bass driver in a location designed for a radiator is subjecting bass response to severe wave cancellation at all levels of the audible band. There is a significant reason the radiator is in place. The cabinet volume (vb) is specifically designed to have the active driver behave and perform to it's potential which is inclusive of the reflex alignment of the accompanying radiator. What you're suggesting is that bass has improved and that just cannot be so. Adding additional amt drivers to the array of only a single, yet again defeats the ability of a single woofer to perform in a somewhat congruous nature with an air-motion transformer.
Lawrence Audio Cellos use the Heil for the Treble and Midrange. They are extremely good!! They are relatively unknown here in the states. They have a nice website and will shortly be reviewed. I have no affiliation and just had the opportunity to hear one of the few pairs in the US.
Dawgbyte,

It just so happens I have a pair of ESS MT with Optional
sub-woofer bass cabinet the made for the ESS main cab
FITS into.
I Bought ALL NEW BACK IN THE DAY!!Late 70's
The sub woofer is a KEF Rectangular 6 X 12" floor firing.
It's set-up for Tri Amp operation only.

How good are they? 15+ years back. I hauled them to buddy home who had just bought a pair of Sound Labs Electro's

Their were (4) of us. We did blind. TEST both were hooked
to ARC-D150M (Mid to Highs.)(2) ARC 120 for mid-bass & woofer on my EES MK11 all thru ARC-SP15-2 Pre-amp. Test record was a Telarc: Grand Canyon Suite. THE TEST(4) chairs turn backs to speakers. His wife JOB turned the balance L to R as the Pre was in Mono, playe SAME 15-SEC track over/over. We all wrote down. L is better. or R is 5 plays.
3 of the 4 picked the ESS for best upper Mid range to Highs.
All 4 including myself picked the S-Labs detail in lower Mids to upper bass hands down. But the EES SUB had punch all could feel the standing wave on our backs.

No of us were told which speaker was L or R.
Hope that helps your question.

Tube444

I recently came across this brand. Looks like high efficiency loudspeakers. Any comparisons or experiences?