ESS Refurbishment

Yes the frames for Passives are still attached to the back , so this looks like the best option . I also found the radiator foam replacements on eBay through another vendor for five dollars less. But that's the route I'm going. Is this a difficult repair ? And anyone know what was the wattage rating on the frontside LS8 Tempest 8" woofers ?
Much easier than refoaming, since you don't have to worry about the voice coil. Make sure you have lots of clothes pins to hold it while the glue cures. Take a quick look at the videos from Simple Speakers on refoaming and you'll be fine.
 
Hey, Boto, Saw this post and thought I would pick your brain. I have a pair of the later ESS 820 speakers. The only issue was the rad's, so I put on some new. These sound fine overall, great bass, and crisp highs. Though because of age, and a slight sound of non crispness I wondered if a recap would make a difference. There are two 10uf x 50v and one 2.2uf X 100v, all made by Procon. The crossovers have iron core chokes. Any comments on just replacing the three caps, or should I venture further in to a full 2 way cross. Saw yours and wondered where you got your network numbers from. Thanks
BJ
 
BJ: I got a copy of the old schematics from ESS. They have since put them on line for easy access to all:

http://esslabsusa.com/download/

Don't know if yours were in there. As far as the caps go, I would definitely replace the old electrolytics with new film caps. Yours are probably the old black with red ends, which are probably horrible at this point. The coils are probably still fine. Unless you can get an old schematic with the values, or have a device that can read the values of the coils I would just leave them alone.

Hey, Boto, Saw this post and thought I would pick your brain. I have a pair of the later ESS 820 speakers. The only issue was the rad's, so I put on some new. These sound fine overall, great bass, and crisp highs. Though because of age, and a slight sound of non crispness I wondered if a recap would make a difference. There are two 10uf x 50v and one 2.2uf X 100v, all made by Procon. The crossovers have iron core chokes. Any comments on just replacing the three caps, or should I venture further in to a full 2 way cross. Saw yours and wondered where you got your network numbers from. Thanks
BJ
 
Boto, here are the pics. They are the 6.5 woofers not 8". The radiator is 8". The caps have no red, but I will order. I don't see a need to do the resistors, or the coils. I don't think these are replacements. When I took them off, they appeared to be the first time they have been removed. The magnets are huge. Each speaker is 3 pound 12 ounces. The link above did not include the PS-820 model. It would be nice to design in a potentiometer like I see on some of the other models. Also wonder what would be needed to design the woofer rolloff to a little higher frequency.
 
That looks like a substantial driver, but probably not ESS. They are probably from around 1987, so the really crappy caps aren't in those.

http://www.audiocircuit.com/Home-Audio/ESS/PS-820

Changing the capacitor values to change the cutoff points is really a crap shoot, and may not line up with what the drivers are capable of reproducing.
 
Finished my recap of these ESS PS-820. I used the Dayton Audio Caps (5%), and stayed stock capacities. Certainly cleaner in detail. These speakers still have a very slight tendency to be tunnelish on certain voice from TV. They do however have the best Tonal Quality of all the speakers I have owned. Piano, Norah Jones, Trombone are spot on, and when listening to announcers with deep voices, they excel. For a 2-way speaker they are very nice, and the bass is so nice I don't use with a sub.
 
Its been a few months now playing these ESS PS-820 after the recap. I had to tame the bass a bit, which is rare in most speakers, but I have moved them to about 12" off the wall. But man, when I got a Sony CD player hooked up to my Yamaha using optical digital, these speakers came alive. Oh what i have been missing via my usual MP3 / AAC music. I really have fallen in love with these Heil Tweeters. I can hear all the different pitch symbols of a large drum set, and all those usually missed tones like, bells and tambourine. Amazing. These now hold my #1 favorite speaker spot. #2 Boston Acoustics A150, #3 RSL CG6.2, #4 PSB T65, #5 B&W CM2 (currently competing).
 
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