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Custom Monitor Elites by Audio Mart w/Heils

orionkc

orionkc

Smooth
Audio Mart was a high end Audio Store in Kansas City that custom made some speakers and sold for big bucks in the 70's and 80's. This particular configuration was called the Custom Monitor Elite and was comprised of the Heils, Polydax PR17HR37TSM Mid Driver, and the Gauss 4583 F 15" Woofers in a Sealed Enclosure. Dimensions of the Cabinets are 48" H x 19 1/2" W x 16" D
Woofers refoamed and the Polydax Mid refoamed (Thanks for the tips on refoaming these Gordon. All I can say is that these sound incredible and are the most dynamic speakers I have had the pleasure of owning. Here are some pics.:banana:
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Impressive speakers. At what frecuency crosses the mid to the tweeter? I have a Heil tweeter from the ´70s and think it may work for a center channel.
 
Awesome speakers!!
Looks like they took a AMT3 type cabinet, or the like and modified the cabinet a bit, as well as front baffle.
Interesting how the woofers are attached from the rear.
I bet that mid, is more of a transition driver, like the AMT3's. Does it use a sealed chamber? Curious.
The PS 1220's used a true mid with the smaller Heil
They look very substantial, and I like the glass top, and a bit more modern look than the AMT3's, although my burgandy grill cloth is in good shape, and I like the retro look myself.
I recently updated my AMT3's (one pair of 2 so far). with a crossover rebuild and the addition of OCS recommened 1040sf's woofers. I agree these are the most dynamic and musical speakers I have heard, simply amazing.
When you get the Heil well intergrated with the mid and lower bass, the results are nothing short of spectacular.
Speed and efficiency are key IMHO, but they have to have the ability to reach down low, and avoid the dreaded need of a sub woofer, that detracts from the wonderful soundstage and imaging.
 
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Those look incredible. Have you heard other ESS speakers recently to compare with? I sure love my Heils. Do try to get more info on how they did the crossover if you can! :thmbsp:

IBJamon
 
automojo said:
Awesome speakers!!
Looks like they took a AMT3 type cabinet, or the like and modified the cabinet a bit, as well as front baffle.
Interesting how the woofers are attached from the rear.
I bet that mid, is more of a transition driver, like the AMT3's. Does it use a sealed chamber? Curious.
The PS 1220's used a true mid with the smaller Heil
They look very substantial, and I like the glass top, and a bit more modern look than the AMT3's, although my burgandy grill cloth is in good shape, and I like the retro look myself.
I recently updated my AMT3's (one pair of 2 so far). with a crossover rebuild and the addition of OCS recommened 1040sf's woofers. I agree these are the most dynamic and musical speakers I have heard, simply amazing.
When you get the Heil well intergrated with the mid and lower bass, the results are nothing short of spectacular.
Speed and efficiency are key IMHO, but they have to have the ability to reach down low, and avoid the dreaded need of a sub woofer, that detracts from the wonderful soundstage and imaging.
Click to expand...

The Mids are indeed mounted in their own sealed chamber. Here is a link to the specs on the Gauss Woofers:
http://www.thielesmall.com/include/details.asp?ID=2734&dtype=1 I haven't been able to find any information on where these crossover. I'll keep looking...
 
The Gauss woofer has very nice specs, very sensitive and a very healthy Xmax, the same as the 1040SF's Xmax number.
It looks like it would work better in a sealed enclosure, such as yours.
It's nice being able to have a speaker you can feed alot of power to, and not worry about destroying it, as these AMT3's are fairly sensitive, but seem to sound better with a bigger amp, makes them open up.
The AMT3's crossover points are 250hz to the transition driver, (which is really a midbass, not a midrange driver) and 1000hz to the Heil. Some say this is too low, and makes the Heil nasily, but this is not the case with the AMT3's, as the transition driver seems to eliminate this problem.
I like the idea yours are sealed. Some AMT3's were sealed, other not.
ESS installed so much stuffing in the cabs(so much there is barely room for the woofers!) that they are qusi sealed, but the port does offer some output. I haven't tried plugging the port, as the bass response is fine where it's at.
Interesting about the transition tube loading as well.
I think they took the postives of the AMT3 design at the time, and added the much neede sensitive and powerful woofer, and created what it should have, or perhaps could have been. ANd made it more attractive as well.
This is basically what I did with my AMT3's, tuned up the crossovers, and introduced Heil compatable woofers, the offer true lower bass extension.
 
:drool::drool::drool::drool:

Boy I would love to hear those. Am I correct in assuming that the Sansui I see is what's driving them? Regardless, they should sound very nice indeed.
 
tmad40blue said:
:drool::drool::drool::drool:

Boy I would love to hear those. Am I correct in assuming that the Sansui I see is what's driving them? Regardless, they should sound very nice indeed.
Click to expand...

Correctomundo...My 9090 and has plenty of power to drive the speakers. I may play around with different pre amps and amps but right now I am very happy with the Sansui.
 
Found the specs on the Polydax/Audax Mids....

Audax PR17HR70 6.5" High Efficiency Paper Cone Midrange with treated flat foam surround

From the Professional line, 100db efficiency midrange with 100w power rating!. Used by Westlake and other Studio line speakers. Predecessor to the PRO170M0. Basically the same specs.

This midrange driver has been specifically designed for high quality professional sound reinforcement systems. Its efficiency and power handling capacity are exceptional for a direct radiation transducer in its category. The flat foam suspension is coated with a cisco-elastic compund in order to minimize the standing waves and cone break up. It is ideally suited to cover the frequency range from 500Hz to 8kHz. This driver is recognized worldwide as the reference in prestigous professional applications.6.5" High Efficiency Paper Cone Midrange with treated flat foam surround
100dB efficiency
Ultra stiff die cast chassis
40mm voice coil diameter
Flat aluminum wire on fiberglass former
100 Watt power handling
Recommended frequency 500Hz to 8kHz
Specs:
Impedance 8 ohm
Resonance 117Hz
Power 100W
Sensitivity 100dB
Re 6.2 ohm
Le 0.73mH
BL 8.24
X-max 0.5mm
Cms 0.2 mm/N
Qms 3.16
Qes 0.61
Qts 0.51
Mms 9.17g
Sd 139 cm2
Vas 5.52 liters
Magnet weight 31 oz
Speaker weight 5.5 lbs
 
All I have to say is WOW! I've heard those Gauss drivers and they are very nice indeed. This seems like the perfect setup with that super efficient mid and the great Heil tweeter. Beautiful speakers in every way! I bet they sound awesome.
 
I realize that I am a bit late to the thread, so I hope that it is still alive.... I just purchased a pair of the gauss drivers and am looking to pick up the midranges from Madisound..... I have 1 pair of AMT 3 rock monitors and 1 pair of AMT- Monitors. I am thinking of converting the Monitor to you speakers.... I notice that there seems to be extra wood inside your cabinet- used for bracing maybe.. do you think you could measure the internal dimensions of the cabinet? Also, did you ever find out where specifically those were crossed over and what type of crossovers where designed/used?
Thanks
Joshua
 
Another plea for some help with the crossovers on that. I have the gauss cetec drivers, i have the heils, and a cabinet waiting to get more info so that I can buy the mid used, and then make myself that speaker!!!!
Thanks, Joshua
 
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