ESS speakers synergise with valves?
@decooney thanks for the info - actually I do not own these yet but am looking at a pair used and just cannot find any info about them. Specs? Are they really good speakers? OK? Not so hot, etc..... The ones I am looking at seem to be in really solid condition, at least from what you can tell from pictures...... |
The first ARC power amp I saw in a hi-fi shop (the Dual 50) was driving a pair of ESS Transtatics. It was 1971, before ESS had developed the Heil models. The Transtatic used RTR electrostatic tweeters, which were transparent enough to expose the nasty high end of most solid state power amps of the time.
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If you are a specs hunter for perfect speaker specs, look elsewhere imo. However If you are handy and the cabinets are in good shape for your need, and you want a different type of musical sound from AMTs, they can be improved with a few low cost updates. The last set I bought cheap got updated and handily beat other speakers [I was demoing to compare for a company] that had a retail cost of 4k a pair at the time. If you want a budget value buy - you can simply recone the woofers and replace a few caps in the crossovers, replace rear terminals, and start listening. They respond well to quality weighty amps [with some real iron in them] much better than lightweight low grade receivers. Can sound glorious imo with quality tube amps. |
@decooney definitely not a "spec hunter" but was more so just trying to figure out a little about them. I have not seen anything online with any detail at all. Thanks! |
@johnnotkathi you can look up the older ESS Performance Series brochures still around on the web (in .pdf) form for download and I found one last night in Denmark (.de) I think it was, for a subscription fee or something to download. Some of these artifacts will list the 9a but not the 9c model.. Same family IIRC but not exactly the same. Don’t hold me to this, but something close to this - 8ohm, 15-75w, 8" woofer, 92db, smaller AMT Heil. Adjustable presence control in front. Some show rear passive radiators. Can be tube friendly, but you’d have to try with your amplifiers. No guarantees, and some of these go for cheap on the used market.May be worth it if you find a set with nice cabinets. Be careful if you replace the woofer [and don’t re-cone and re-surround it], you may get a larger hole in the midrange on this speaker. Best to ensure something right at 92db efficiency for the woofer, However, I’d try to have to re-coned by Nealsspeakerservice if you can. Best of Luck on the decision, project, etc. |
