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ESS Monitors- 2 way Design Owners...

brianjrealto

brianjrealto

Well-Known Member
Hi All,

I have a pair of ESS monitors, the 2 Way Design with a passive Radiator. All Original, in excellent shape. The Diaphrams have been replaced and the crossovers have been rebuilt.

No issues with them whatsoever, But...
My Speakers have the original woofers with the Bextrene cones/Cloth surrounds.

anyone have experience with swapping the Bextrene woofer with the Newer ESS 12" woofer replacement with paper cones?

Looking for feedback to any improvement in sound by doing so..
 
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Maybe you've considered it already, but I simply switched to foam surrounds and it made a world of difference for a very small cost.

I just removed the paper surround and installed a foam surround and it was very straightforward. I'll see if I have any pictures or more details but I think it was so easy I didn't even see the need to take a pic.

Major improvement in sound as the old paper stuff was rock hard.

I know that doesn't answer your specific question - but thought it was worth mentioning if it's not something you've thought of.

Edit: No pics of the foam going on, but I took a pic of the old paper surround before removing it and then a pic once they were done and playing... see attached.
 

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The newer woofers will play a little deeper than the bextrene ones, but they are not as good through the mids as the bextrene woofers.

I would just refoam them.

I called ESS and had this conversation about a week ago.
 
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Johnny,

My Bextrene woofers actually have cloth surrounds. Did the original woofers with bextrene cone come with foam surrounds? Now I'm thinking the previous owner already changed out to Cloth surrounds!
 
brianjrealto said:
Johnny,

My Bextrene woofers actually have cloth surrounds. Did the original woofers with bextrene cone come with foam surrounds? Now I'm thinking the previous owner already changed out to Cloth surrounds!
Click to expand...

Just to make sure it's not a syntax issue I think we're saying the same thing "paper" or "cloth" - I think we're referring to that old surround stuff that gets rock hard. When I got my AMT Monitors, they had clearly been half-restored at some point in the past because in mine, both PRs were the plastic (Bextrene?) cones with foam surrounds rather than the flat discs, 1 plastic (Bextrene?) cone woofer had a foam surround and the other had the paper/cloth rock hard surround.

Here's the back of the plastic-coned driver that had the hard paper / cloth surround on it, in case this part number helps.

IMG_20180317_202658.jpg

In any event, I re-foamed all 4 (the two plastic-coned drivers and the two plastic-coned PRs) with the same new foam surrounds and it worked perfectly. I didn't ever actually make the phone call that @SleeperSupra did, but I suspected that I would hear the same thing: more cost efficient to re-foam rather than replace with new drivers entirely, with re-foaming yielding most of the audible benefits that would result from new woofers (although I doubt ESS would actually say it like that).

@brianjrealto can I ask, are your paper/cloth surrounds soft and supple, or hard at this point?
 
I guess my question is- are the cloth surrounds on my Bextrene woofers stock?

my 2-way ESS monitors have the foam passive radiator, they were Built in 1976. I found a picture online that resembles my ESS monitors as the same design.

I know for sure the surrounds on my Bextrene woofers are the tapered/ribbed Cloth, not paper or foam. Not sure if the cloth surround was Stock for my Model, or the previous owner swapped the original surrounds for these cloth surrounds???

ess_amt_monitor-1.jpg



Here's a picture I found online similar to what my cloth surrounds look like-

Lautsprecher-Sicke-TXT154-111-5.png
 
I got my pair of AMT Monitors shipped to me in Feb of 2019. They came with a bexe woofer and flat disc passive. The foam surround on the passives were pliable and it looked like those units were replaced fairly recently. The woofer surround however was cloth (not paper) that had obviously been doped and had dried out to be stiff as a starched shirt collar. It even had at least one fracture in it from flexing. I refoamed the woofers and they are up and running. You can see the weave of the fabric in one of my pics. I believe this was stock from ESS at that time. IMO, this was their effort to supply a material that would be more durable than foam. Unfortunately, what ever they doped them with shortened the working life of the material.

ESS woofer cloth surround.jpg ESS woofer cloth surround 2.jpg
 
Hi all,

I took a closer look at the cloth surrounds on my woofers. The cloth is in good shape- no holes, tears or faded coating. Yet, they are hardening due to age.

here’s my thinking- I want to try the AR Cloth speaker Surround repair goop sold on eBay.
Seems that would soften and rejuvenate the surrounds.

worst case scenario if it doesn’t work, I’m willing to have the old cloth surrounds replaced.

Any thoughts??
 
That's more of a sealant, I have some and have never found a use for it outside of cloth surrounds that had become too open from disappearing sealant / goo. But worst case you're out $25.

I have had success with automotive brake fluid softening up hardened surrounds. Could also be worth a shot (applied delicately so it doesn't get on anything else, I use qtips).
 
Johnny_Law said:
That's more of a sealant, I have some and have never found a use for it outside of cloth surrounds that had become too open from disappearing sealant / goo. But worst case you're out $25.

I have had success with automotive brake fluid softening up hardened surrounds. Could also be worth a shot (applied delicately so it doesn't get on anything else, I use qtips).
Click to expand...
I did once use Dot3 brake fluid to soften Lansaloy surrounds on a pair of JBL Lancer 77's. It did a beautiful job making that material soft and pliable. I did not know it could be used on other types of doping that has become hard.
 
jcidave said:
I did once use Dot3 brake fluid to soften Lansaloy surrounds on a pair of JBL Lancer 77's. It did a beautiful job making that material soft and pliable. I did not know it could be used on other types of doping that has become hard.
Click to expand...

Same, I used it on my old JBL L55s. Then I had a pair of Diatones with hardened surrounds so I figured it would be worth a shot. It worked.
 
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