On Wed, 31 Oct 2007 06:07:06 -0700, Bob wrote
(in article <06%Vi.36$%r4.25@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>):
> "Sonnova" <sonnova@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
> news:0001HW.C34CFD0F06C67E2AF0182648@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> On Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:44:19 -0700, Lunaray wrote
>> (in article <Cs-dndupc_QHFLranZ2dnUVZ_u-unZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>):
>>
>>>> I won't argue that point (because it's true), but I don't think
you're
>>>> there
>>>> yet. The Rotel amp and pre-amp are probably fine, but you definitely
>>>> need
>>>> some better speakers. The ESS speakers weren't very good when they
were
>>>> new.
>>>> If you have the models with the Heil "Air Motion Transformer"
tweeter,
>>>> the
>>>> top end wasn't bad, but the rest of the speaker was really
third-rate.
>>>
>>> Speakers are a subjective thing, I've been to the snobby audiophile
>>> stores
>>> and I've hung out in their listening rooms with all the plush
furniture
>>> and
>>> the expensive art hanging on the walls and I've listened to the best
>>> speaker
>>> systems they had, stuff that I could never afford and I wasn't all
that
>>> impressed. I've never heard anything that can compare to my Air
Motion
>>> Transformers. Yeah, okay, the low end may be a little weak, but my
M&K
>>> subwoofer makes up for that. The im****tant thing is what sounds good
to
>>> the
>>> listener, it was love at first sound with my AMT's and I feel so lucky
to
>>> have bought them before ESS went out of business. I don't think
there's
>>> anything available anymore that uses the Heil AMT, least not here in
the
>>> US,
>>> maybe Europe. Too bad, not many people even know what I'm talking
about.
>>> Maybe someday some manufacturer will rediscover the beauty of AMT's,
but
>>> maybe too, their not for everyone, but they're certainly right for me.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> While there's certainly no accounting for taste, and far be it from me
to
>> dissuade you from enjoying your system, but perhaps you should listen
to
>> more
>> live, unamplified music, 'Nuff said.
>
> The AMT is still being made...I haven't heard a speaker with it in years
but
> back in the 70's and 80's it was an amazing transducer in it's frequency
> range.
Agreed. It was an amazing transducer. Seemed to me that it was a bit
"beamy"
at higher frequencies but was very coherent all the way down into the
midrange.
The ESS speakers never did a very good job of matching the speed and
> accuracy of the AMT's midrange and high end with the mid bass and bass,
> which is to be expected considering the incredible speed that the Air
Motion
> Transformer moves air.
That's my recollection as well. The lack of cohesion between the AMT and
the
woofer was always the first, and most striking aspect of the speaker's
performance to be noticed by listeners. It got better as time went on, but
ESS never really solved the problem.
As far as the AMTs sound, it was as natural and open
> sounding as anything on the market, depending on the source it was fed.
Yes, low moving mass coupled with an operational principle that insured
coherent, non-modal, piston-like action over it's entire frequency range
insures that the driver itself is theoretically more of an ideal
transducer
over a larger frequency range than are most. Electrostatic-like speed and
control without the modal break-up associated with almost any diaphragm
type
transducer. Too bad that efforts to produce a true full-range AMT has
never
been fully successful.
> The newer versions look very interesting:
> http://www.unitedhomeproducts.com/id101.htm
It does look interesting. I notice that they have extended the AMT down to
about 700 Hz in the larger of the models shown. The materials technology
revolution that has occurred in cone speaker design since ESS should at
last
make it possible to more coherently couple a cone woofer with an AMT.
After
all, Martin-Logan finally managed to do it with their electrostatics, and
the
challenges there are similar (even though I think the M-L panels are good
for
down to about the 200-250 Hz range, so that the woofer has to do less).
> Bob
>
>
>
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