ESS AMT 4 Upgrades

[dubhouse]

Hello Everybody!

I recently found a pair of ESS AMT 4 speakers for dirt cheap. Hooked them up and was stunned at how good they sounded. I feel like I've become a music lover again instead of an audiophile! My expensive Thiel speakers are now in storage. The AMT- 4's have a single Heil driver and one 10" paper cone woofer.

An audio repair shop that I deal with told me that they could modify the speakers by doing the following:
1- Dampen the insides of the cabinets with some sort of special paint but keep the poly/cotton material that's in them now.
2- Replace the internal wiring with Analysis-Plus wire.
3- Replace all crossover caps with Mundorf's.
4- Change the single binding posts to double posts and bi-wire.

I'm basically very happy with the sound of these speakers, even the paper woofer. The above seems like a logical way of upgrading them without getting into new woofers and custom crossovers, but I would not necessarily be opposed to that. I read somewhere that ESS is now using Eichmann Wire in their new mega-buck offerings, so perhaps that may be an option. I live near Cleveland Ohio so if anybody knows of a good speaker repair shop within a reasonable driving distance that specializes in this type of work please let me know.

My current set up is:
Well Tempered Turntable, Audio Research phono pre(Tube), Audio ResearchZ(solid state)pre, a cheap CD player w/ outboard DA, a big Krell 300cx, older MIT wires.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Steve

[inertial]

Hi Steve,

IMO I would be check if the original coils was iron core. In positive case
upgrade with big air core type.
I'm not sure Mundorf is the best for the AMT ; maybe a paper in oil capacitor can be more sinergycal.
Do not know that particular wires you have mentioned but I think
normal copper solid core ( one conductor, no multiconductors) is ideal for AMT.
Resistor in series with AMT also is important. Do not use metal oxide or similar; Mills are fine with AMT imo.
Biamping seems to me appropriate : solidstate on the bass and tubes
on the AMT

Cheers,
Paolo

[dubhouse]

Thanks for your input Paolo. I know what you mean about those caps- just because they are high quality doesn't mean that the are the best choice for a particular application. I will also look into the type of coils and heed your advise about the resistors. I really appreciate you taking the time to comment.
Steve

[inertial]

It's a pleasure , Steve.
To be totally honest, I'm searching to learn english, just a bit, and since my passion is speaker ( also amps,and sources and ....) this is the only method I am "forced" to practice myself!
I assicure you my skills in audio is much better than my english!

I was a true fanatic of Heil's when I was young. I have also had the Transar ATD2 system
The things you like when you are young and newbie are Dynamic,SPL,
subbass and so on, no? When you accumulate years and years of experiences a lot of things change IMO.
I want choerence, equilibrate, imaging,etc
The thing I do not like today of the Heils is that sort of aggressivity in the midhigh region, "s" zone, frankly unliestenable
So I have tried to "smooth" this carachter by every sort of tweak.
You can mitigate but not eliminate . I suspect it is related to that sort of Waveguide the magnet act ( great Heil tw), sort of.
In others terms maybe it is simply HOM l
This explain the reason because the Eton ER4 sound so different from the Heil IMO.

Cheers,
Paolo

[dubhouse]

Your English is quite good, Paolo, I can understand you perfectly. The Heils/AMT have had just the opposite effect on me. I put the audiophile speakers aside and(for now) enjoy the Heils with a renewed enthusiasm such as I had when I was younger and the music came first and equipment second. I think also there is special synergy with the amp, preamp, ect. as well. But this is part of the fun with audio. One never knows what will happen when a component is removed and then replaced with another one. The only thing that counts is how much we enjoy the process.
Regards,
Steve

[diamondsouled]

Just take a look at my Frankenheils:

[diamondsouled]

My advice: is to dump the el-chepo non-polar lytics used in the xovers of all too many ESS speakers and renew the xovers with some quality polys. This in itself can yield amazing benefits tonally.

Lar

[dubhouse]

Thanks for the reply Lar.
Do you know of a good brand/type of lytics that would be applicable for the AMT?
Neat looking Frankenheils too!

[diamondsouled]

Originally posted by dubhouse
Thanks for the reply Lar.
Do you know of a good brand/type of lytics that would be applicable for the AMT?
Neat looking Frankenheils too!

Best not to use non-polar electrolytics at all. Find a source for good quality Poly caps and use those instead.

Lar

[hrgraves]

DIAMOND:
I noticed you were using amt Monitor s or amt1aM s as well.

(the amt is mounted at about 36in in height in the factory tower config.)

I also noticed you mounted your amt what appears to be considerably higher.

so I have two questions
what height did you use ?

Do you have an opinon / thoughts on the effect of the increased height?

thanks