Essence speakers - anybody in the know?

dromunds
dromunds Posts: 10,016
in Speakers
A buddy of mine has a pair of Essence Super Gems that he bought new in the late 80’s maybe. He said they’ve been out of service for quite some time due to toasting a woofer. Apparently they have Dynaudio tweeters and Morel drivers. The Morel drivers used in the Super Gems are no longer made and unobtainium. The blown driver got lost along the way and he needs to find either one replacement driver or a pair of new Morel woofers as close as possible to the original. Any comments on Morel woofers or Essence Super Gems would be appreciated, especially ideas on how to source original Morel drivers such as came in Super Gems, or who may be knowledgeable on new replacements. Apparently these were really nice speakers when produced and very desirable now. eBay is not an option apparently as woofers rarely come up and three times more people looking for them than come up for sale.
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Comments

  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,901
    short answer: never heard of the brand or the model :( Sorry.
    That said, being a curious cat, I did take a quick peek at americanradiohistory.com and turned up a very, very scant amount of info (FWIW).

    https://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Audio/search.cgi?zoom_sort=0&zoom_xml=0&zoom_query=+Essence+Super+Gems&zoom_cat[]=0&zoom_cat[]=2&zoom_cat[]=5&zoom_cat[]=6&zoom_cat[]=9&zoom_per_page=10
    PDF copies of the magazines are all available there.

    Stereo Review 1993 Buyer's guide
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    Audio Oct. 1992
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    Audio Oct. 1997
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  • dromunds
    dromunds Posts: 10,016
    Thank you very much. There seems to be some variation In the above regarding efficiency: 89dB or 87 dB. Also, I understood the Super Gems to be 4 ohm nominal yet one chart above lists as 8 ohm. If my friend is obliged to replace the Morel woofers with the closest current production model Morel drivers do you have any suggestions as to how to proceed given the apparent differences in listed specs? Perhaps I will PM you later today, as my friend is attempting to peruse any written material today that he may have filed at the time of purchase. Thanks again. Don
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  • Dabutcher
    Dabutcher Posts: 2,596
    You could contact Madisound speaker guys. They helped me in the past with some speakers that had Seas drivers. Good luck. D
    MIT Magnum MH-750, Monster HTS 5100MKII, Sony 77" Class - A80CJ Series - 4K UHD OLED,PS4, Def Tech 15” sub,LSIM 706c, Sunfire Signature Grand 425 x 4,Parasound hca 120, LSiM 702 x 4, Oppo 103D, SDA SRS 1.2, Pioneer Elite SC63 , Pioneer Elite BDP-05 “Why did you get married if you wanted big speakers?”
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  • dromunds
    dromunds Posts: 10,016
    Thanks, I plan to call Madisound after I get as much info as possible. I just talked to one of the most knowledgeable guys around about Essences generally but these specific Morel drivers haven’t been manufactured for some time and he couldn’t remember the sensitivity of these drivers, which he said I should figure out before contacting Madisound. These are a rare model of a rare speaker brand, so I want to at least pin down the efficiency of these particular drivers and whether they’re 4 or 8 ohm, etc. Apparently, they are quite wellknown for their great sound
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  • dromunds
    dromunds Posts: 10,016
    Anybody familiar with resistors in this fashion? My buddy got a pair of Morel drivers per Madisound help, but he found two resistors sitting in the bottom of each speaker cabinet. They look perhaps unused but may have a bit of solder on one lead if examined carefully. He sent me these photos of what are apparently the back side of the tweeter cups. He says the capacitor(s) and wire inductors elsewhere. Anybody care to comment on this resistor situation? Two resistors sitting on the bottom of each speaker enclosure and the resistor set up here is not something I’m familiar with. Thanks for any thoughts


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  • dromunds
    dromunds Posts: 10,016
    I should add the two resistors he found in each speaker cabinet look like what appears in the two bottom photos above, straight leads, actually more like the last (bottom) photo above. Found just laying in the bottom of each cabinet. The speakers are Essence Super Gems, made in the late 80's maybe very early 90's. He purchased the speakers new from dealer and they are stock.
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  • dromunds
    dromunds Posts: 10,016
    Well, you learn something new every day. I am told these are resistor ladders, with faster transients because the resistors are in parallel. (Apparently, when Dale designed the Essence speakers he also designed and manufactured his own capacitors.) If anyone has any reason to believe the two resistors found in the bottom of each speaker cabinet are anything other than extra resistors Dale simply left in the bottom of each cabinet inadvertently, please let me know. Thanks.
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