ESS speakers "Translinear" Transstatic

Sunnyjim,interesting stuff.I have some Crown ES212s which use similar RTR made stat panels.The Crowns use 12 5inch stat panels arranged in a curved screen 3 high by 4 wide.The bass [below 350hz] is handled by two ten inch woofers in a sealed box.Even by todays standards they sound superb.They are clearly better than the older Quads and many of the Martin Logans I have heard.They are surprisingly dynamic and have real world loudness capabilities.Apparently they cost the same as a family sedan in the mid 70s so they should be good.

JT

Holy moly i love this type of talk! I have owned a multitude of pairs of the ESS AMT line of towers, pyramids, bookshelfs, etc. Whence first i heard the AMT MONITOR towers, i was sold on the sound of the Heils. The owner, a youngster, had removed the cast 12" front firing woofer radiator combo, and replaced them with generic ribbed-pulp 12's. While removing the phase coherence of a single 12 and a bass radiator, he was essentially phase-cancelling bass, enhancing midrange production, increasing power handling, and biasing power levels of two 8ohm woofers and one Heil diapragm, towards the woofers. Something about that combination, or having never heard the AMT ESS line of loudspeakers, threw me for a loop. I had never in my life heard a pair of house speakers, floor standing or otherwise, sound that brilliant and punchy. Today, yes, this very day the 7th of August yr 2006, i currently own ONE pair of the AMT-1B pyramids / ONE pair of the AMT-3 Rock Monitors / ONE pair of the AMT MONITORS / ONE pair of the AMT-1C pyramids / ONE pair of the AMT-1D bookshelfs / ONE pair of the AMT-1D pyramids / ONE pair of the AMT-II pyramids / ONE pair of the M6 mini-bookshelfs (non-Heil) / ONE pair of the PS-820 bookshelfs / and ONE pair of the PS-920 bookshelfs. Can you tell i was adversely affected by the one experience??? lol... i love the Heil line-up, i listen to the whole lot of them, regularly!

Just came across this thread and thought I'd comment. I sold stereo in the mid 70's for a company called Atlantis Sound in the Wash DC area and grew quite fond of the ESS line, especially the AMT-1A and AMT-1T's. I owned a pair of the AMT-3's for a while, but never could get them to sound even remotely coherent. The AMT-1T's were (and are) special, though. I recently acquired a pair and had the woofers rebuilt (surround rot) and am still amazed how well they hold their own against many more modern designs.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

I don't know what made think about ESS's today, but it lead me here. I have had a set of 7's ( they have the flat oval woofer) since the early 70's, with the Rosewood tops. My brother currently uses them. Do they have any value?

I have a pair of AMT-1b's that I want to sell (South Florida, in use since purchase in 1970's or so.

Can anyone recommend a venue or price?

Bob
miami_grower@yahoo.com