The replacement ribbons fit perfectly and my ESS AMT1 Heil Air Motion Transformer Speakers sound like new! I have had these since June of 1974 and they work as good now as they did almost 40 years ago!
The replacements fit fine in my AMT-1's. Not sure of there is an orientation preference since my original diaphragms had the two wires coming from each side instead of the new diaphragms where the wires exit both on the same side. Nothing indicates which side should face forward. Running the speaker analysis on my Denon Receiver did not complain about the phase so I'm happy! Sounds great!
These replacements were an easy plug and play. The color coded wiring was good for 2 of the 4 speakers. The other two required some figuring as the colors did not match up on the OEM diaphragms. After replacing both the surrounds and the diaphragms these 30 something-year old sets performed like new. Thank you Simply Speakers for your help in restoring my sounds.
Excellent replacement for my old heils. Not any noticeable difference in sound.Nice improvement the mesh over the diaphragm pleats, I suppose it will extend its' life. Thank you very much, my Amt 1a's triumph again!
OEM replacement. Very satisfied with product and service. Simply Speakers is my go to place for speaker repair and raw drivers.
Q: Are these replacement ribbon's the same as originally used by ESS back in the 1970's? My amt-3 "rock monitors" still seem to sound OK but I noticed the ribbon pleats are no longer straight, bending from the top to the bottom. I assume this may degrade the sound but I don't want to replace them if that is not the case. thoughts?
A: Yes, these are identical. We don't recommend changing them however, unless they have stopped working altogether or the sound output is very low.
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Q: Questions on ESS driver ribbons. Are they subject to a shelf life? If these are "new". How long ago were they made and how can we be sure they are still good?
A: We have not heard of any "shelf life" issues with the ESS ribbons. Ours are brand new stock and will work perfectly if you need to replace any non-working ESS ribbons.
A: First, we suggest disconnecting the leads from the crossover and hooking the tweeter directly to a very low output from your power source, or use a multi-meter to test impedance. It should read around 4 ohms. If it is "dead" then the replacement ribbon diaphragm is all you need. Otherwise, check the crossover circuit and capacitors.
Q: I used a multimeter to check the impedance and it read 3.3 to 3.5. Would this be considered 'around' 4 ohms? If so I'll pull one of the woofers out and check the crossover and capacitors. Thanks for all of your help.
A: Yes, correct. A reading slightly below 4 ohms on your meter indicates a correct reading for this ribbon diaphragm.
ESS: AMT-1, AMT1, AMT-1A, AMT1A, AMT-1B, AMT1B, AMT-1C, AMT1C, AMT-1D, AMT1D, AMT Tower, AMT Monitor, AMT-3, AMT3, Connoisseur 10, Rock Monitor, 675-1017, 681-1107, and many more!