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Ess Amt6 ?

Kegger

Kegger

R.I.P. 1/12/1966 - 6/1/2017
Anyone happen to have any info on these guy's or know anything about them.

I find other ESS stuff but not the amt6.

There is a pair sale local but they are huge and may be in the need of repair.
I went there with my van but I need to go back without the seat in it, also
bring a dolley as they are huge "refrigerator size"

I am still contemplating whether I need to even deal with a speaker this size
and the headaches that may follow but I have a tough time just leaving them
where they are and at the price for them. I am a speaker hog/collector so I
am very intrigued by these guys but I really don't think I have a place for them.

Yes they have the AIR MOTION TWEETER but it looks quite different then
others I've seen as it looks like a bunch of small ones in an array on top.

Thanks!
 
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bluebook says

ESS SPK, HEIL AMT 6 PRO
Description:
Manufacture Years: 1977 - 1982
Additional Information:
Retail
MSRP: $1,450.00
USED: $280.00
 
Dam your quick bolly!

So it looks like by the resale value that they may not be worth the trouble.
As maybe they weren't that great or it could be just there shear size!
Humm that is a bummer!

I will still go back tommorrow to investigate some more. Thanks!
 
That is something I did not know, thanks!

Grumpy may go with me tommorrow to look at them. I value his oppinion quite a bit.
 
Well I went and did it, bought em!

I will post pics later and the eval of how well they are.
 
So far 7 of the 8 tweeters work and all 4 12 inchers seem fine.

And for the limited playing time I like the sound.
 
Cleaned up the last tweeter and stripped back a piece of dead wire and it works.

here's a pic.
 
Kegger, how are these coming along? Are all the tweeters working?

I see there was originally supposed to be some sort of filler between the Heils. What's it made of?
 
6 of the 8 tweeters work and they actualy sound dam good the way I have them wired.

There is a small piece of foam between each tweeter I assume for defraction and to lessen
any cancelation that may take affect from tweeters being on the same plane with being
so close and producing the same frequencies.

Behind the tweeters is packed with accoustic foam/stuffing to reduce standing waves
and to keep the back wave frequences to a minimum.

Wualta just curious as to your interest in these speakers. Do you have some also?
Or just that there a big and intriguing speaker (because they are). The only other
set of amt-6's I've seen is in that other thread.

I really like how they sound, smooth but very detailed with a soundstage that is everywhere!
 
Kegger said:
Wualta just curious as to your interest in these speakers. Do you have some also?
Click to expand...
I'm a longtime fan (and critic-- that goes with the fandom) of the Heil driver and have owned ESS/Heil systems of one sort or another since 1976. I've owned a system that had the version of the Heil driver you've got in your AMT-6, and I think it's a good compromise between the cost and bulk of the socalled Great Heil and the mini-Heil of the Fortura series, and it's a version of the Heil that seems to've been overlooked.

Aside from that, you're right-- the 6 is a heldenlautsprecher, a heroic effort to use the great power-handling and clarity of the Heil to achieve high SPLs, and is attractive from that angle. The 6 also offers many opportunities to tweak 'n' tinker.
 
Yah I've been searching the bay to find 2 replacement tweeter diaphrams.

I've found out that they are also used in the Concept CE-1, CE-2 models of speakers
along with others.

Would you happen to know what other models used the same diaphram as the amt-6?

These things don't take a ton of power to drive them nicely. Which is cool, I'll try them
with a good tube amp. I have 2 golden tube audio se-40's and 1 rogue 88 60 watter
that should drive them very nicely.
 
Kegger said:
Yah I've been searching the bay to find 2 replacement tweeter diaphrams.
Click to expand...
Like I said, inspect 'em closely before you replace 'em. If there's no obvious damage, it's probably an intermittent.

In some cases, though, removing the diaphragm from the magnet structure is traumatic enough that it's easier to just replace the whole driver-- assuming you can find some.

I've found out that they are also used in the Concept CE-1, CE-2 models of speakers... Would you happen to know what other models used the same diaphram as the amt-6?
Click to expand...
I believe the AMT-4 used the same driver, also the Evaluator bookshelf. The ESS Classic and the similar Tempest Classic, in their floorstander versions, looked like the AMT-1a but used this driver on top. Of course, they'll all have different mounting feet welded onto the pole pieces. Often you'll recognize this driver because of the fancy-looking cast aluminum "lens" (their term-- it's actually a short decorative horn) they sometimes stuck in front of it.
.
 
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"Like I said, inspect 'em closely before you replace 'em. If there's no obvious damage, it's probably an intermittent."

Yes one is tore up that like I said reads around 28 ohms and it's coming apart
everywhere, that ones toast. The other I agree is intermitant and I can more
then likely fix it, but I'd like to get 2 to put these back to 4 each and have 1 spare!

Here's a link that gives some info and the sizes of some of the diaphrams.
http://www.speakerrepair.com/ocsdiaphragms.html
(mine are just like the ones listed for the concepts)
 
Wow, they sure want a lotta dough for those diaphragms! Can you get them cheaper direct from ess, perhaps? If not, it might be cheaper to buy whole drivers on eBay.

Maybe it's worth it to try to piece the crumbly one back together. At least there's continuity.
 
Yah I've been looking for whole tweets on the bay. Not in a giant hurry as they sound
fine with 3 on each. No I've considered the other gone. Both ends of the diaphragm are
detached about 80% mainly in the middle and it's flopping in the breeze. So no fixxy on
that one. But the other I will try and fix, just not in a hurry if I don't have another.

No I'm not paying $100 a piece for 2 diaphragms that's almost more then I paid for the whole set!

I'll find em sooner or later, but they sound great just the way they are.
 
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Kegger said:
No I'm not paying $100 a piece for 2 diaphrams that's more then I paid for the whole set!
Click to expand...
Wow-- you got both speakers for less than $200? You lucky son of a gun!

I'll find em sooner or later, but they sound great just the way they are.
Click to expand...
Yep. All you have to do is crank the tweeter level up a little. If you can, move the dead tweeters to the outside of each speaker's arc-of-tweeters.

And don't forget to ask ESS if they have these diaphragms. I'd be interested to see if they do, and if so, to see whether they have the newest improvements (damping net, Mylar diaphragm, etc).
 
"Yep. All you have to do is crank the tweeter level up a little. If you can, move the dead tweeters to the outside of each speaker's arc-of-tweeters."

Yah I did. The way I have them setup in the room there in (a lot of placement tryouts)
is I sit behind them and they fire angled to a point in front of me with the hot tweeter
inside and the other 2 outside. I have them setup as no tweeter,hot tweeter,tweeter,
tweeter. They are also mirror image so you could put them on either side then all of the
tweeters will be inside out or the other way would be outside in but either way you do
it they will be identical on either side so you can have many different placement options.
The tweeters do have an adjustment on back at -3,0 and +3 I have them set at 0
with plenty of high end, nice mid and solid low notes.

Yes I got them for a very nice price from a thrift store. The cabs are in decent shape,
all the woofers are nice including surrounds, each has 1 bad tweeter and most of the
grill is shot on both, which I'd like to redo with something a little more modern looking.

I am still not sure if I can keep these things as my house is full/don't have "good" place
for them to truly breath. But will see! If I was to sell them I would not want to have to
ship these mothers!
 
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