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ESS AMT-1 Tower Restoration

Usually most resellers, such as Parts Express-probably ESS as well don't allow returns on mounted drivers.
The Misco's would be a fun exercise. I haven't used them yet-but imagine they would sound different-paper cone and poly ether surround would give a better transient response, and less dampened then a poly cone with rubber surround.
 
As mentioned earlier-I think you would get more mileage-if your looking for a change-by swapping the caps out.
I'm a fan of paper cone woofers over poly's-but that my opinion.
The difference in swapping in Mundorfs/ Superior Z's (or even just the Mundorf's) is fairly remarkable-it like a layer of noise that was masking the Heil is removed, vs for example they Dayton Poly's.
With my 3-way AMT3's-the midrange was definitely improved-low mids all they way up.
The sounds and layers are more separated-and it makes it much easier and enjoyable to listen to music.
As mentioned-I was skeptical-till I heard first hand.
Well worth the price of admission.
BE9C52C0-CBD9-4C71-8677-6DDABC459839.jpeg
 
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I fainaly had time to work a bit on my speakers, Upgraded the crossovers and exchanged the pole terminals, unfortunately I wasnt able to find a brightness selector , So I tried to clean them ,

my woofers will arrive tomorrow , 10" (250 mm) 4 Ohm Legacy Woofer

I have 3 questions

1, can I bypass this switch ones I found the best sounding setting for my room . I don't need the switch and is only trouble

2, can I bypass the fuse. ? same as for the switch. I think the sound will be much better without , ( but I don't know if it has effect on the resistance .)


3, did anyone ever remove the base of the tower ? Mine heavily damaged and I would like to restoer it. I cannot see if it is only nailed to the buttom or also glued.




thanks











20200809_162134.jpg 20200809_165250.jpg a bit on my speakers, Upgraded the crossovers and exchanged the polar20200810_201636.jpg
 
Make a new base IMHO.-it will get tippy.
Couple of 1" plywood sections from Menards-sand, seal and paint black.
But unless they are really bad-you might just glue with epoxy-sand and get a veneer edge-even contact paper would be fine-it's on the floor anyway.
Biggest thing with ESS cabs is to stabilize and seal the particle boars cabinets.-new coat of paint-epoxy on the woofer sealing edges-using Hurricane nuts, or equivalent. etc for attacking your woofers. Just basic stuff.
Leave the fuse-cheaper then a diaphragm.
If you can hear the difference with a fuse and without-you have better ears then me-never could, nor anyone else I tried the experiment on.
Nice work by the way!
 
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Koen Dekkers said:
I fainaly had time to work a bit on my speakers, Upgraded the crossovers and exchanged the pole terminals, unfortunately I wasnt able to find a brightness selector , So I tried to clean them ,

my woofers will arrive tomorrow , 10" (250 mm) 4 Ohm Legacy Woofer

I have 3 questions

1, can I bypass this switch ones I found the best sounding setting for my room . I don't need the switch and is only trouble

2, can I bypass the fuse. ? same as for the switch. I think the sound will be much better without , ( but I don't know if it has effect on the resistance .)


3, did anyone ever remove the base of the tower ? Mine heavily damaged and I would like to restoer it. I cannot see if it is only nailed to the buttom or also glued.




thanks

As Automojo said, leave the fuse. the protection is valuable. It makes no sonic difference to remove it. You can always run a wire to bypass the switch between the contacts but I think the switch serves a function. Deoxit and exercise it and it will be fine. The base is nailed on, not glued. Is your pic the worst damage of the base? If so, I've seen worse. Pull out the nails and get a good furniture touchup wax stick from a hardware store. press it hard into the voids then coat it with minwax tung oil.









View attachment 1949777 View attachment 1949778 a bit on my speakers, Upgraded the crossovers and exchanged the polarView attachment 1949776
Click to expand...
 
Yep,
That’s what I thought you had the three position resistor switch
They should be fine with a clean, as long as they weren’t damaged when you were redoing the crossover you should be fine.
Digikey does have replacement switches
The only difference is, you have to wire them from right to left, instead of left to right so the soft and the bright positions read correctly on the ID plate.
The nice thing about the new switches is they require less effort than the original
It’s nice to have control over the Heil
Whether it’s Infinity variable L pad or a positional switched L pad
 
SleeperSupra said:
Nice job!

What caps should I buy to recap my ESS AMT 1b speakers? should I go with the oil filled and what values should I use?
Click to expand...
For the Heil Section-I would recommend the Mundorf Evo Oils(they are oil impregnated-not technically oil filled)-the bass section Jantzen standard z caps.
Clean clear-musical without being harsh.
Or splurge more-2/3 value Evo Oils;1/3 value Jantzen Superior Z
Money well spent-and your ears will thank you!!
Go with the stock values off your crossover.
At least with my Mojo II+ modded AMT3's-they certainly benefit from running a tube preamp-I found the Van Alstine Transcendence 10RB-to have the classic Harmon Kardon Citation I(orIV) big wide airy, and dynamic, musical, low distortion noise free sound that works extremely well with the Great Heils.
Hard to find that characteristic even in classic receivers, SS gear.
It's not really that classic CJ warmed up tube sound-but why people pay $$ for the Cit I, and IV preamps.
Nice thing about Van Alstine-you can easily save 10-15% off the top on new gear by signing up for a newletter.
Especially if you only need a few inputs-or even add a outboard DBX switcher-they are a excellent bargain for the money for USA tube made gear, that has evolved nicely for the better over the years.
 
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Interested in hearing how the Misco's work.
I'm a big fan of classic pulp cone woofers and poly ether surrounds.
Many of todays speaker cones IMHO are over dampened-and it really takes the soul out of the music.
That's a long way from Minneapolis (the Cappuccino Capital Sister City)-to the low country of the Netherlands!
 
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20200813_191026.jpg 20200813_191101.jpg 20200813_191111.jpg 20200813_161227.jpg 20200813_164300.jpg



thanks for your reply and suggestions

I will leave the fuse,
The brightnes selector Is working fine , so I will also leave it,
The base in my case was glued and nailed but not too difficult to remove,
THe bad side , I turned it around so now they look fine again,
before putting it back I added a thin layer of demping material .
I sanded ,oiled and waxed the wood / washed the speaker cloths and now they are ready ,
I am surpried by the depth of the bass,I had a friend 25 years ago having these speakers and problem was always the bass,
If I would have known they will sound so good , I would have used Mundorf silver for the heil section , but for now , I am leaving it like it is
 
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SleeperSupra said:
Nice job!

What caps should I buy to recap my ESS AMT 1b speakers? should I go with the oil filled and what values should I use?
Click to expand...


I am not an export but I had my AMT 1D upgraded in Germany ,
They used Mundorf Silver Gold , silver cable inside ,, they also moved the Heils a bit backwords,
They sound amazing now but was 1200 euro upgrade 10 years ago

here a link to a nice cap test
http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Cap.html
 
Koen Dekkers said:
View attachment 1952415 View attachment 1952416 View attachment 1952417 View attachment 1952396 View attachment 1952397



thanks for your reply and suggestions

I will leave the fuse,
The brightnes selector Is working fine , so I will also leave it,
The base in my case was glued and nailed but not too difficult to remove,
THe bad side , I turned it around so now they look fine again,
before putting it back I added a thin layer of demping material .
I sanded ,oiled and waxed the wood / washed the speaker cloths and now they are ready ,
I am surpried by the depth of the bass,I had a friend 25 years ago having these speakers and problem was always the bass,
If I would have known they will sound so good , I would have used Mundorf silver for the heil section , but for now , I am leaving it like it is
Click to expand...
These look great! Glad you are happy with the sound. I thought the AMT1 Tower had the best technical bass of all the early ESS Heil line. Deep, Abundant, Accurate.
 
automojo said:
Interested in hearing how the Misco's work.
I'm a big fan of classic pulp cone woofers and poly ether surrounds.
Many of todays speaker cones IMHO are over dampened-and it really takes the soul out of the music.
That's a long way from Minneapolis (the Cappuccino Capital Sister City)-to the low country of the Netherlands!
Click to expand...


If you would live close , would be nice listen to each othere speakers!! but you never know... you are always welcome!

The Misco's realy sound great. The size is a bit smaller then the originals, but they still fit nicely,
I redid the edges with woodfiller to make it more strong and but some extra wood on the back so I could realy tighten the ( 8) screws well
also put some fluid rubber before mounting to realy close the speaker,

I have the AMT 1D with the 12 inch poly woofer , but I prefer the 10 inch misco. I am realy amazed by the performace and is getting still better after 48 hours now,
first hours was sounding realy bad but after playing two nights at full power , now they are opening up,
 
Koen Dekkers said:
If you would live close , would be nice listen to each othere speakers!! but you never know... you are always welcome!

The Misco's realy sound great. The size is a bit smaller then the originals, but they still fit nicely,
I redid the edges with woodfiller to make it more strong and but some extra wood on the back so I could realy tighten the ( 8) screws well
also put some fluid rubber before mounting to realy close the speaker,

I have the AMT 1D with the 12 inch poly woofer , but I prefer the 10 inch misco. I am realy amazed by the performace and is getting still better after 48 hours now,
first hours was sounding realy bad but after playing two nights at full power , now they are opening up,
Click to expand...
That’s awesome!
You did a super job of restoring of your speakers, and those bases-excellent!
And thank you my friend!:)
That does mean a lot, and I’m glad I was able to help!
And it really makes it all worthwhile, to see guys fixing these awesome ESS speakers up with varying means, supplies etc.
But sharing a single goal AWESOME ESS HEIL SOUND!!
I agree about the change in woofers on the suspension really loosens up..
Sure, maybe someday my family and I will take you up on that offer sir we’re planning a trip to your area with the pandemic mellows out...
With a quick stop in between to the cappuccino capital of the world!!;)
748AD7C6-B0CE-4A11-8172-AA38733CE4BD.jpeg
But seriously-I agree on the Mundorfs-and the Silver Gold oils are a even better upgrade-$192 ea-but I'm betting the sound upgrades are worth it-if they are close to the same level of improvement with the Evo Oils I experienced.
I appreciate your input, and experience with Mundorfs with the larger Heils-as it helps confirm my observations to the skeptics-as I was one too.....
Hearing is believing!!:music:
I also found the stock AMT3's to be lacking in bass quantity and quality matching the rest of the speaker-hence the Mojo modded AMT3 journey....
 
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You know.. At some point I could see myself trading out one of my MOJO Modified AMT3’s for a nice set of ESS Towers....
Not the 3.1’s ;)!!
Have a set of spare AMT3 cross overs
Alpha 6a
Ready to rock!!;)
 
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automojo said:
That’s awesome!
You did a super job of restoring of your speakers, and those bases-excellent!
And thank you my friend!:)
That does mean a lot, and I’m glad I was able to help!
And it really makes it all worthwhile, to see guys fixing these awesome ESS speakers up with varying means, supplies etc.
But sharing a single goal AWESOME ESS HEIL SOUND!!
I agree about the change in woofers on the suspension really loosens up..
Sure, maybe someday my family and I will take you up on that offer sir we’re planning a trip to your area with the pandemic mellows out...
With a quick stop in between to the cappuccino capital of the world!!;)
View attachment 1952856
But seriously-I agree on the Mundorfs-and the Silver Gold oils are a even better upgrade-$192 ea-but I'm betting the sound upgrades are worth it-if they are close to the same level of improvement with the Evo Oils I experienced.
I appreciate your input, and experience with Mundorfs with the larger Heils-as it helps confirm my observations to the skeptics-as I was one too.....
Hearing is believing!!:music:
I also found the stock AMT3's to be lacking in bass quantity and quality matching the rest of the speaker-hence the Mojo modded AMT3 journey....
Click to expand...

If you will be ever in Holland , just let me know!
Where did you find silver gold MUndorf for $192 ? ( I would emediatly buy them) In my information ( we need 51.5 mF each speaker for the heils ) is around $900 each speaker
 
Koen Dekkers said:
If you will be ever in Holland , just let me know!
Where did you find silver gold MUndorf for $192 ? ( I would emediatly buy them) In my information ( we need 51.5 mF each speaker for the heils ) is around $900 each speaker
Click to expand...
Thanks!:)
Well I was thinking it was 33uf-sorry
But looking I was at the Evo Silver/Gold Oil-you must be talking about the Supremes.

https://www.partsconnexion.com/MUNDORF-76469.html
 
Just a FIY-the larger caps are for the bass circuit.
The Mundorfs would probably make much less of a difference.
The smaller caps are for the Heil-that's where I would put the Mundorfs.
 
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Questions,

Why is everyone using 51.5 uF in the crossoverfilter for the Heill speaker but in the official crossover drawings from ESS they show 55 uF for the heill,
2nd , I understood , the 75 uF capacitor is for the woofer , but what is the 33 uF capacitor for?
3rd why is nobody upgrading the Inductors? These dayse beautiful copper foil ones are available, would exchanging them have any influence on the sound?

I am realy willing to keep the towers instead of the AMT 1D , so I was thinking to exchange the crossovers ,( since my AMT 1D have the Numan silver-gold capacitors) but the difference is that the tower has crossover at 800hz and the AMT 1D at 700hz , I think it is tricky to do that .... any suggestions? I could of course exchange just the capacitors for the Heil ....... ( tower has now 51.5 ..... AMT 1D has 45 I believe )

thanks Koen
 
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