ESS speakers "Translinear" Transstatic

I would like to hear what anyone has to say about this comment!! -- My Dad gave me a pair (of broke down Cabinets) of ESS Performance Series (Model 5) Heil Air Motion Transformer Loudspeakers... They sounded horrible, but me just being a kid, they gave me something to tinker with. For the specifications number: Each ESS cabinet consists of: one 5" tweeter, one 10" woofer, one 10" passive radiator at upper half of cabinet on the back[(flat-disk style)(rear firing.) and a snap on dark cloth-coverd grille with the small aluminum ESS name plate on bottom right-hand corner... On the inside of the Cabinets: Acoustic Baffling and a Crossover Panel. Crossover Panel used to provide overload protection and frequency ratio for the 5" Tweeter. The Cabinets still have a black front and back, but the sticky back vinyl "wood grain" covering for the top, bottom and sides has fallen off, (finally some 8 years ago)... So to get back to my story, Both of these ESS Loudspeakers were stored in my Dads moisture air filled garage, thus leading to all the foam surrounds on the woofers and passive radiators to become non-existent over time as well as the faux wood grain de-adhering from the Cabinets... So to make a long story short , I purchased new OME 10" woofers (with rubber surround this time) with same 125 watts RMS and purchased new OME replacement passive radiators (which means I'll have to rubber cement them to the existing octagon shaped aluminum frame on the back of the cabinet which holds the diaphragm into place)...with a couple coats of semi-gloss black spray paint to touch up the bare looking 3/8" Heavy Compressed (High Fidelity Grade) Particle Board (Pre MDF technology era ), not only will these Loudspeakers look good, but they will rock the house, just like they did in the 80's...these speakers will perform optimally when placed 45 degrees in the corners of a room...the bass from the passive radiator reflecting out from the corner and woofer firing at front, what an outstanding combination for low,low bass ...Now some trivia questions that I would like answers to: What year did the ESS Performance Series (Model 5) come out? How much money did a pair of these speakers cost when they first hit the shelves? Was ESS top-of-the-line for its time? Why did ESS shut down (go out of business)-(in Southern California?) Thank for for you interest in ESS Vintage AUDIO as much as I am -- Dave

"Sound As Clear As Light" was their slogan. I own a numerically matched pair of Rosewood units purchased as floor models from a Tacoma, WA in 1972. dealer. I got them from a friend who originally purchased them from Paulsens, then sold them to me for $600/pr. He decided to go with K-horns, so I became a proud recipient of the ESS Transtatic Is. I have replaced 4 of the original RtR es wafers. They are glued and riveted making them difficult to repair - My stereo guy is giving it a try. I purchased 8 replacement units on Ebay for $250 (1 bad one) from Infinity 2000A speakers. I will pass these ESS down to my offspring because they are truly wonderful in sound quality and quantity, and they are pleasing to the eye. I also have the instruction manual and sales brochure.

I just registered for this site as I was trying to remember the name of the speakers I owned that had an oval KEF woofer and electrostatic elements. I believe I was using a Phase Linear 400 to drive them and blew a lot of the RTR elements. I seem to recall the woofers did a strange thing when overdriven. You must remember the era that these speakers were available. My memory is decidedly fuzzy and it's not all due to advanced age. My roommate at the time had a JBL Paragon that sat between the Transstatics. When he got tired of the Paragon, we both purchased a pair of Infinity Servo Statik I speakers and stacked the panels in our living room. Talk about blown RTRs. I now own Thiel CS3.5s but this forum brought back a lot of memories.

Sort of new here but I too have a pair of ESS.
Bought new in '79, AMT-1-Towers. Not the Translinear but rather the evolved legendary BIG Heils. Fabulous ESS sound from a 48"? Quarter Wave Transmission line Tower.
Recently re-foamed and new X-over parts. Better than ever.
Thanks for the small hijack.

Was ESS the same company as Sound Stream?

Wasn't Dr. Oscar Heil the inventor of the Heil talk box, used by guitar players like Joe Walsh and Peter Frampton?