ESS AMT 1a Speakers, I know they're good

nelsress

AK Subscriber
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but are they $450 good? Let me preface that by saying that the woofers and passive radiators have just been re-foamed and the speakers are in very good to excellent condition. Let me also say that the price includes the gas it will take to go get these babies (the guy is asking $350) plus the owner is willing to meet me part way, almost a four hour drive for him.

And if you stumble on this thread silvernutsaq, let me know if these are more worthy of a road trip? :)

In 1977 I first heard these speakers and thought they were the best speakers I'd ever heard (might have been the "b" version, not sure) but ended up going with four ESS AMT 4's instead. I loved those speakers but the surrounds went bad before I realized that was no big deal and a local audio store (no longer in business) told me the only recourse was changing the woofers, which I did in one pair and they just were never the same so I unloaded all four at a yard sale!! I've often wondered since joining this site if some member here posted about their "scroe" of four ESS AMT 4's.

Anyway, I'm not sure of the differences between the AMT 1a, (b), (c), and (d) so that info would be helpful in making a decision I suppose. What do you guys think of this deal? Thanks.

Nelson
 
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I have a pair of AMT 1a's and love them and by the way I did score 2 pairs of ESS AMT 4's a couple of years ago in Madison WI with non original woofers (still have one pair). In my opinion the 4's don't even compare to the 1a's. And I would say that $350 would be the most that I would spend on the 1a's.
 
Thanks stinz. So, to be clear, you wouldn't make an 8 hour round trip drive for a pair of ESS AMT 1a speakers priced at $350, in excellent condition with new foam surrounds on the 12" woofers and passive surrounds, right? Or the $350 is tops and the drive doesn't count?
 
Here's a link to the speakers so all you ESS fans can see and know as much as I know about them. The owner wrote me and told me he refoamed the woofers himself and said "the passive radiators are also new" so I'm not sure if he means the whole passive radiator or just the surrounds. They're obviously ESS factory either way.

http://boone.craigslist.org/ele/3616032524.html
 
I would drive a couple hours each way for them. I said in the ad or best offer I would try for $250. I had to build tops for mine which was a pain. There looks like a pretty big chip on one of the speakers right below the cover.
 
Lol Nels, I did stumble on this but I`m clueless on ESS speakers. They look like something that doesn`t come up very often though, maybe similar in rarity to Jubals or Ohms. If you`re familiar with them and like their sound, who knows when another pair might come up if ever. I had a set of Ohm FRS-15s about 3 yrs ago I put up on CL and two brothers made a 4-hr one-way trip to get them and a Krell amp and the trip was totally worth it to them.
 
I let a fellow AK "steal" mine for $175 IIRC. Mine weren't as nice as these. And it was right before Christmas and I needed the cash.

Understand that the tweeters alone are worth $300 if fully functional.

They are VERY good sounding speakers but plan on 200+ WPC to get the most out of them.

I'd say buy them.

good luck

Eric
 
I really like them . I gave these to my son and he loves them. I recovered the grills with burlap fabric from Joanne`s .



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I see in the picture your son has them up off the floor, I think that a must for these. Not to high, just 6" or so and enjoy. I've had 1's and 3's and for the money all ESS speakers are worth a look (IMO).
 
Butch
I would definitely agree that all ESS with AMT's are worth a look. I drove two hours to pick up a pair of 1B's to find out they didn't have original drivers or the PR's, still paid $300 because the cabs, covers and AMT's were in good shape. Those look great, but you need to get them out of the corner to really hear them at their best.
 
I really like them . I gave these to my son and he loves them. I recovered the grills with burlap fabric from Joanne`s .



DSCF5933.jpg

That cloth looks great in the picture. If it looks that good in person, I might have to head down to the fabric store and try some for myself!
 
(+) for Joannes Fabric!

That cloth looks great in the picture. If it looks that good in person, I might have to head down to the fabric store and try some for myself!

I totally agree janikphoto, those grill cloths look great!
 
I totally agree janikphoto, those grill cloths look great!

I agree too! Better than original. I have a pair, and they are sweet up top, but they need to have a midrange driver. Midrange is very important, and the AMT series just has a huge gap there, like my horrible but lovable JBL L56s.
 
Another question regarding the AMT 1a, b, c, & d series monitors-do they have to be placed in the perfect spot or is placement with them less critical than a lot of good speakers? I'm trying to decide between a pair of these and Ohm Walsh 2XO speakers and I don't have a lot of space to have them out in the room nor do I have a lot of open space on the sides, etc. There's a wool area rug covering 3/4 of the hardwood floor, 4 upholstered chairs a couple large pieces of wooden furniture and a couple small wooden end tables, and curtains on the 4 windows (+or- 6' tall x 3' wide) in the room. I listen to blues, rock, bluegrass, country, jazz, folk and classical (very little) and pretty much in that order. The 2XO's are fairly new and the AMT 1b's are not (of course) but have had the woofers and PR's replaced with ESS replacement ones, as well as the cabinets being re-sealed. The grill cloths aren't the best but after seeing what I might be able to find at Joanne's fabric store I'm not too worried about it. Thanks for any assistance folks, I appreciate it!
 
I'm happy to say that I got the ESS AMT 1b's today for $350 and I only had to drive a couple miles to pick them up!! Now I've got to figure out how I'm going to rearrange the listening area to make room for these babies! At the moment they're in the garage workshop awaiting that, a repair to one of the grill frames and grill cloth replacement. I'm going to hold off on doing anything with the crossovers at the moment and wait to see how they sound. I can scarcely wait!!
 
Will do. I'm expecting to do the rearranging today sometime so should be able to at least give a preliminary report tonight. I'm psyched!
 
Well, my friend couldn't make it yesterday to help me move my furniture around so it will have to wait until next weekend. I couldn't wait any longer however to give these things a listen so I hooked them up to my Onkyo A7 and Kenwood KT-7500 tuner in my shop and checked them out. NICE! They sound sweet, I'm now even more psyched to get them in the house!!
 
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