ADS 1230 or ESS 1a

[Porkloin]

Crossovers

That would be way beyond my ability. A custom crossover? Not for me thanks. If I were to try something along those lines I would be more inclined to start from scratch and make a 3 way using a 12” cone woof, 3” ADS mid and the Heil on top. Then the crossover would be from the ground up rather than trying to fit something into a pre-existing design. Still way over my skill set.

It's all established mathematical formulas.... to start. Then you tweak with testing equipment.
Many moons ago, I had the fortune of meeting up with the late, great Dave Graebner of Speakerlab fame. He liked my 3-ways (inspired by the ADS CM-7's) I had brought in to one of his clinics and invited me over to his "lab" (an old outbuilding garage at his place) to tweak them a bit. I had the crossover on a breadboard and an extra bag of parts. He had a real knack for reading the printout of the test equipment and changing parts values and the polarity of the midrange to smooth the line as much as possible. I suppose the only way to get that "knack" is to buck up for the test equipment and dive in. With an existing laptop, I think such a test setup can now be had for under $200.
All you need is time and money.

 

[c-atle-79bay]

Great thread. I just joined the heil club today. Elites too.

 

[SleeperSupra]

Sweet!

Pictures please.

 

[gonzomeep]

Keep trying

Melos GK-1 Yammy MX1000u Yammy C70 Denon DCD 1560. Magic.

 

[gonzomeep]

More

Goodness

 

[gonzomeep]

Plus

This

 

[gonzomeep]

The 3's

Great.

 

[Porkloin]

Great.

Those look like they've been restored to better than new. Even new, they didn't look that good. Did you do it or get them from a little old lady that only played them every other Sunday?

 

[c-atle-79bay]

Here's a shot of the ones I got today. Also picked up a set of epi 602m's with them, for $125. He did say there was lots of interest. . Pots are scratchy and one fuss cover is missing.

 

[SleeperSupra]

Wow! Very nice!!

 

[essNeff]

VERY impressive. They look GREAT!

By the way PE now stocks this damping product:

parts-express.com/acry-tech-acoust-x-1-gallon-absorption-coating-paintable-damping-material--260-105

I took a shot and ordered some.

 

[c-atle-79bay]

Here is another of them stacked on IMF's.

 

[Stan man]

Gonzo,
I've got the same Monitors as you. Pity they're the versions with only the woofer tone controls. But I double wired and re-capped them and the difference was very noticeable.

 

[Squirrely]

Very nice score C-atle! love the Elites. They make a world of improvement to my ADS 1230's. I really liked my ADS speakers before but now with the Elites on top I am spoiled and could never go without. Wow. I had no idea it could get this good!

 

[c-atle-79bay]

Squirrely, how are you controlling the level matching? With the brilliance control? Does that really just adjust the output level? and, Are you running in series or parallel? I'm running in parallel right now with channels a/b. I was going to run them with the "bi-amp" function of the AVR but one of my channels is not working in that mode.

 

[Squirrely]

I am running in series using a jumper from the positive of my ADS to the positive of the ESS and negative to negative. I was concerned that I might be lowering the impedance too much for my amp but I talked with Rick at ESS labs in California and he said they were designed to be run this way. ESS is still making a stand-alone Heil with a crossover so I called another time and inquired about how the new speaker was to be used and I was told again that they are used in series. I went ahead and tried it checking my transformers for heat and they seem to be running fine. They don’t seem to be getting hot at all. If you try it out this way, just watch your amp for heat for a while until you are convinced it is not stressing your amp too much.

 

[Squirrely]

Porkloin tells me I am connecting in paralell. Sory for the confusion. Here is a pic. Pictures are worth a thousand words and the deffinitions are always accurate.
Thanks Porkloin....... Can I call you Pork?

 

[Porkloin]

Porkloin tells me I am connecting in paralell. Sory for the confusion. Here is a pic. Pictures are worth a thousand words and the deffinitions are always accurate.
Thanks Porkloin....... Can I call you Pork?

I live to be called "Pork", but generally by shorter, less hairy beings.
Your photo is parallel, unless you reversed polarity, in which case it would still be parallel, but one speaker would be out of phase.
I re-read my description of series to make sure that I didn't monkey up the wording. The closest thing to a visual I could find was here.
Plug your negative wire from the amp to the negative terminal on the ADS. Plug your positive wire from the amp the the positive terminal on the elite. Run one jumper wire from the positive of the ADS to the negative of the Elite. In the linked drawing, R1 is the Elite in the series circuit, R2 is the ADs and VB is your amp.

 

[gonzomeep]

Those look like they've been restored to better than new. Even new, they didn't look that good. Did you do it or get them from a little old lady that only played them every other Sunday?

I do fine finish by trade. 30 years of it. Comes in handy. Thank you very much for the kind remarks. :tresbon:

 

[Squirrely]

I need to replace the diaphragm in my Heil tweeter. Can anyone give me info about rebuilding these? How do they come apart? What should I look out for?