Building ESS AMT 1 grill frames? Anyone done it?

[jcidave]

Fully finished....I thought the new grille color needed a darker wood underneath.
So, I stained the veneer a shade darker.
Also....there is a stand underneath to raise them up a little.

Absolutely no complaints.....these are some nice speakers....

I like your finished product. It all works well, visually. Your base reminds me of a flyer I got back in the 70's where somebody was making a stand that was supposed to be a bass enhancement module. I'm attaching it here just for thehellofit.
Your pair is the first pair I've seen where the ESS cast frame 10 inch woofer was substituted for the OEM stamped frame woofer. I might try this with one of my 2 pair after the holidays. Enjoy.

View attachment 1699123

 

[jcidave]

sorry for the double post.

 

[rebelliondog]

At $69.95 a pair (in 70’s money).....I could make that a full time job, for a while.

I used some other mojotone speaker cover for another project....very different than the stuff I just used. I used the Black and Tan (no gold sparkles).

I think they will send out some small samples for next to nothing to make sure it is what a person wants.

I will likely box and store these in the attic. I like the open look. Many people have never seen such a tweeter....pretty cool looking , to say the least.

 

[jcidave]

Liked your idea of AMT1s with the updated drivers, I ordered a pair a couple of weeks ago when ESS put them on sale. I have gotten more lazy and less patient as the years have gone by so I decided to not cut the cabinets to flush mount the drivers, but surface mounted them. Put some window foam caulking in the recess beneath each driver. Working fine so far.
Its interesting that ESS provides so little technical information about these drivers. Nothing about frequency response, resonant frequency, sensitivity, or even the resistance which I measured at 3.7 on my VOM.

 

[gizzyman47]

Nice job! I need to do this to mine. The previous owner spray painted everything black! Including the grills! Idiot!

 

[CWYTommyLee]

I have a pair of ESS AMT 1a bookshelf speakers I bought in the mid '70's and need a new grill forms for both of them. I think I could salvage the cloth and reuse that. The original forms are made of MDF (particle board). Would using a material other than particle board, say plywood, affect the acoustic properties? Right now I'm trying to glue one of them back together. We'll see how that goes. I'm including a picture of the back of the grill.

 

[jcidave]

I have a pair of ESS AMT 1a bookshelf speakers I bought in the mid '70's and need a new grill forms for both of them. I think I could salvage the cloth and reuse that. The original forms are made of MDF (particle board). Would using a material other than particle board, say plywood, affect the acoustic properties? Right now I'm trying to glue one of them back together. We'll see how that goes. I'm including a picture of the back of the grill.

First, Welcome to AK, fellow ESS owner. That damage is not bad at all. I might have suggested using 2 clamps rather than the one, but I'm sure its dry by now. Just check the front grill fabric and make sure the glue didn't seep into the fabric. If so, getting that out will be a bigger problem.

The grills that came with my ESS AMT4s were a basket case. I patched them together with scrap wood. the fabric was fine. I pushed the repaired frames onto the speakers and never touched them again. They look fine. I took pictures of the speakers without grills, so I know what they look like. I don't breath on them too heavily. Good luck with your project and enjoy the speakers.

 

[CWYTommyLee]

First, Welcome to AK, fellow ESS owner. That damage is not bad at all. I might have suggested using 2 clamps rather than the one, but I'm sure its dry by now. Just check the front grill fabric and make sure the glue didn't seep into the fabric. If so, getting that out will be a bigger problem.

The grills that came with my ESS AMT4s were a basket case. I patched them together with scrap wood. the fabric was fine. I pushed the repaired frames onto the speakers and never touched them again. They look fine. I took pictures of the speakers without grills, so I know what they look like. I don't breath on them too heavily. Good luck with your project and enjoy the speakers.
View attachment 2477574

Thank you for the warm welcome! The repair worked just fine!! The other one is in worse shape since it was already damaged when I bought the speakers from the base audio store. They had tried to repair it with staples. I didn't complain, though, because I got the pair for 1/2 off and man oh man was I one happy airman!! Since the glue worked so well on the first one, I'm going to try that on the other one, too.

 

[saggman54]

Mojotone.com . Some cool looking fabric seemingly matching vintage guitar amplifier cabinets. There are a few colors In this style material available.


I think it will serve its purpose nicely. The picture I saw online seemed to have less ‘tan’ color. The picture I attached shows what I received vs what I saw online when shopping.....it feels just right and the thickness matches nicely. No stretch.... $23 / yd.

I will continue this thread with pictures of my progress.....I, of course, searched for information on material to use, dimensions to build wooden hats for the AMT - 1, etc. and have found little useable information. I have the old plastic frames to use....if I can get enough glue/epoxy on them .

For $150.....ESS will re-epoxy the plastic and recover the grills in black. For $425.....they have some nice looking “wood” frames plus black material. Saw an ad about building frames.....$295 for that individual’s services.

I thought about doing some out of mdf, to go under the fabric. That would do away with the plastic entirely.

I have some time today....I will experiment with my idea and see what I come up with.

hello
I'm redoing some concept (made by ess) speakers also. and looking for material. was trying to figure out which material you used from mojotone? I can't seem to find anything that looks like either of the "one shown" or
"the one you received". attached picture is of only thing I could find at mojotone that. the stuff you ended up using looks a lot like some stuff I got from china
thanks John

 

[saggman54]

hello
I'm redoing some concept (made by ess) speakers also. and looking for material. was trying to figure out which material you used from mojotone? I can't seem to find anything that looks like either of the "one shown" or
"the one you received". attached picture is of only thing I could find at mojotone that. the stuff you ended up using looks a lot like some stuff I got from china
thanks John

here's pic of the stuff I got from china, abou20 bucks a yard. not sure I like it.
trying to order samples from acoustone
and like to get a sample from mojotone of the stuf that you got.

 

[illf8ed]

Built these earlier this year from strips of birch. A lot of router work. For the cloth, start in left back corner and rap around clockwise looking from the top. Top cap is flat, inserts into a routed groove.