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Ess Company

I worked at Ess in Sacramento California which was located at the time on Oates Drive just off of Bradshaw Road. There was also the "Vinyl Plant" located off of Folsom Blvd. Memory not as good now but I worked there for approximately 2 1/2 to 3 years from 1979 to approximately 1982. I started off in the "wood shop" routing  holes for the speaker fronts. Very soon after the warehouse had an opening. Worked in the warehouse for most of my time there. Great job! I was saddened when we were told the plant was shutting down. They gave us severance pay for I believe was 2 months. Also made several runs to an Oakland Ca. machine shop for some type of speaker parts. Still have many fond memories of ESS Sacramento. 
jimess
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,792 posts
 
The ESS speaker I would still like to find is the Super Quad. It used the original Quad ESL for the midrange, with the same transmissionline-loaded Kef B-139 woofer and RTR tweeters as did the Transtatic. Not many were made---it retailed for $2000 in the early 70's, same as the Infinity Servo-Static, to which it was intended to provide competition.
ebm
9,311 posts
 
Had the ESS Rock Monitors as well in my  rock days with Kenwood 700 amp sounded great.
decooney
1,988 posts
 
I worked at ESS in the early 80s on the assembly line.  I still play a bit with custom builds today.  More recently, last week I had the opportunity to evaluate some of the newer version speakers made by ESS and visited SoCal location a few months ago. Right now ESS has a focus on headphones. 

Over the next few months hope to work on some new designs and configurations.  Good fun.  
jimess OP
2 posts
 
Did you work off of Oates drive or at the vinyl plant? Remember the Coubal family that ran the small cafatera and made home made yummy food?
decooney
1,988 posts
 
I was there mid '83 at Oates at the main bldg far area assembly. Don't recall a cafeteria.  That must have been part of the glory days there before my time I guess. I heard stories about how it was before I got there, but missed some of that fun stuff I guess.  We cranked up the music a bit, stood on the assy line with air lines/tools and just assembled speakers as they came on down the line.  Was there a short time that year but it was fun.  
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