I'm glad I found this thread. Please forgive my newbieness, but I had just a couple questions.
I have a pair of heil tweeters, but unfortunately only have one of the original woofers. The cabinets seem to have been custom made as they are unfinished and transmission line construction. The volume of the box is about 1.2 cubic feet.
I was hoping you guys might have some ideas about what drivers to use in the box as replacements for the originals as well as crossover recomendation. I'm now using a radio shack special crossed at 2K.
The tweeters do not have a tone control. Is there a way to build one? Or is it not necessary. They do sound a little bright.
My last question is whether the impedance of most ESS Heil systems was 4 or 8 ohms or did they produce both?
any opinions appreciated
I have a pair of heil tweeters, but unfortunately only have one of the original woofers. The cabinets seem to have been custom made as they are unfinished and transmission line construction. The volume of the box is about 1.2 cubic feet.
I was hoping you guys might have some ideas about what drivers to use in the box as replacements for the originals as well as crossover recomendation. I'm now using a radio shack special crossed at 2K.
The tweeters do not have a tone control. Is there a way to build one? Or is it not necessary. They do sound a little bright.
My last question is whether the impedance of most ESS Heil systems was 4 or 8 ohms or did they produce both?
any opinions appreciated
Old and New Big Heil Diaphrams
I have a number of Big Heils, as they are called by ESS, old and new. My spectrum analyser indicates:
The old diaphrams (silver looking) made on soft poly have a frequency response of 500 to 18K +- 1 db. The new diaphrams (yellowish looking) and made of a stiff material (kapton?) have a frequency resopne of 800 to 9k +- 3db.
I think they must have converted around 1999.
Big difference!
You can make great new diaphrams yourself. see Speaker Builder 2/1977
I have a number of Big Heils, as they are called by ESS, old and new. My spectrum analyser indicates:
The old diaphrams (silver looking) made on soft poly have a frequency response of 500 to 18K +- 1 db. The new diaphrams (yellowish looking) and made of a stiff material (kapton?) have a frequency resopne of 800 to 9k +- 3db.
I think they must have converted around 1999.
Big difference!
You can make great new diaphrams yourself. see Speaker Builder 2/1977
About the diaphragm Great Heil replacements. I suggest that you get it from ESS itself: http://www.essspeakers.com/
The guys are nice and the service and price are fine. I have mad quite a few purchase from them.
I have a 1973 AMT1b and a 1994 AMT1E Monitor. I must say that for me the Kapton diaphragm (yellow) sound fine. The original one its true were physically softer but sound wise I cannot say that there's been a degradation.
This latest model was tested by the guys at "Prestige Haute Fidelite" and they were as impressed as they were back when the Gret Heil came out.
Any one tried to make a Heil speaker using JBL bass drivers, may be even K2 drivers (2x 12 or 1x 15 inch)?
CD
The guys are nice and the service and price are fine. I have mad quite a few purchase from them.
I have a 1973 AMT1b and a 1994 AMT1E Monitor. I must say that for me the Kapton diaphragm (yellow) sound fine. The original one its true were physically softer but sound wise I cannot say that there's been a degradation.
This latest model was tested by the guys at "Prestige Haute Fidelite" and they were as impressed as they were back when the Gret Heil came out.
Any one tried to make a Heil speaker using JBL bass drivers, may be even K2 drivers (2x 12 or 1x 15 inch)?
CD
Originally posted by cdfr
Any one tried to make a Heil speaker using JBL bass drivers, may be even K2 drivers (2x 12 or 1x 15 inch)?
CD
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seen and felt Heils, with Gauss woofers,
and plenty of power, a real eye opener!
as in post #10 in this tread
`````````````````````````````````````
JBL's should work quite well
``````````````````````````````````````
Bart Locanthi worked at JBL and Gauss( and pioneer and Altec)
he may well be the father of the modern
low frequency loudspeaker-
Any one tried to make a Heil speaker using JBL bass drivers, may be even K2 drivers (2x 12 or 1x 15 inch)?
CD
`````````````````````````````````````````````````
seen and felt Heils, with Gauss woofers,
and plenty of power, a real eye opener!
as in post #10 in this tread
`````````````````````````````````````
JBL's should work quite well
``````````````````````````````````````
Bart Locanthi worked at JBL and Gauss( and pioneer and Altec)
he may well be the father of the modern
low frequency loudspeaker-
Ess M122 1980
I have a pair of speakers M122 by ESS, I bought back in 1980 and like them very much. Recently I took out the woofers to get re-coned, the trouble started after I had take the woofers out,,, I checked the Heil’s to see how they sounded and turned up the volume until they started whistling,,, I turned down the volume and didn’t try them again until I put the woofers back in hoping I did not blow them out,,,, but I guess I did something wrong because now, every time I turn up the volume to about 10:30 on my dial even if their is no music or sound whatsoever they start to whistle, so I must have done something to them. They still sound great until they start to whistle,, I’ve had them for 26 years now and never had that problem before, is there something I can do? My amp is a pioneer SA -8800 non switching 80 watt continuous power per channel 1980
I have a pair of speakers M122 by ESS, I bought back in 1980 and like them very much. Recently I took out the woofers to get re-coned, the trouble started after I had take the woofers out,,, I checked the Heil’s to see how they sounded and turned up the volume until they started whistling,,, I turned down the volume and didn’t try them again until I put the woofers back in hoping I did not blow them out,,,, but I guess I did something wrong because now, every time I turn up the volume to about 10:30 on my dial even if their is no music or sound whatsoever they start to whistle, so I must have done something to them. They still sound great until they start to whistle,, I’ve had them for 26 years now and never had that problem before, is there something I can do? My amp is a pioneer SA -8800 non switching 80 watt continuous power per channel 1980
, making the driver almost useless, for those of us who can actually hear above 9k 
Getting a pair of the older ones
I've got a buddy who's sending me some of the old style, so I'll be able to compare. I'm working on a test baffle with 2 Audax PR17OMO, open baffle, with the heils. 15" on the bottom, crossed over at... some point. First order for the heils and audaxes at 2.5k- they'll each extend an octave with a first order filter, then plummet like a brick (just what I want!) so I get a moderate overlap area but retain first order filters hooray!
So when I get that all together, I'll test the two heil ribbon types.
*edit* Plummet like a brick: the heils roll off pretty severely below 1k from what I've seen, and at 2.5k the audax start beaming pretty good, so the off axis response is what I'm referring to in their instance.
I've got a buddy who's sending me some of the old style, so I'll be able to compare. I'm working on a test baffle with 2 Audax PR17OMO, open baffle, with the heils. 15" on the bottom, crossed over at... some point. First order for the heils and audaxes at 2.5k- they'll each extend an octave with a first order filter, then plummet like a brick (just what I want!) so I get a moderate overlap area but retain first order filters hooray!
So when I get that all together, I'll test the two heil ribbon types.
*edit* Plummet like a brick: the heils roll off pretty severely below 1k from what I've seen, and at 2.5k the audax start beaming pretty good, so the off axis response is what I'm referring to in their instance.
Re: Ess M122 1980
There was a follow-up to the article that described an easier method using etchant and drafting layout tape. Still not a very easy process, and it doesn't make sense to make them if you can buy the diaphragms at a reasonable price. However, the results can be good.
The homebrew diaphragms will start to get brittle after about 10years, but I'm not convinced the brittleness causes any deterioration in the audio quality except at low frequencies. The kapton diaphragms should perform well between 1K-20K--that is the material that A.R.T. uses and their measurements don't agree with what others here have reported.
I've wondered whether the tweeter in the picture was the largest Heil ever made...
hornaudio said:
There was a follow-up to the article that described an easier method using etchant and drafting layout tape. Still not a very easy process, and it doesn't make sense to make them if you can buy the diaphragms at a reasonable price. However, the results can be good.
The homebrew diaphragms will start to get brittle after about 10years, but I'm not convinced the brittleness causes any deterioration in the audio quality except at low frequencies. The kapton diaphragms should perform well between 1K-20K--that is the material that A.R.T. uses and their measurements don't agree with what others here have reported.
I've wondered whether the tweeter in the picture was the largest Heil ever made...
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
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