My latest Goodwill Find

Tex
Tex Posts: 189
edited April 2009 in 2 Channel Audio
Recently at Goodwill I ran across a pair of vintage ESS AMT-1 Tower speakers. I had not heard of them before but I recognized that they were high quality speakers. The wood and the wrap around grills are in excellent condition. The grills were nailed on so I could not check the condition of the woofers but the wild looking tweeter and heavy construction (about 80lbs each) intrigued me so I put out $100 to see what these were all about. Needless to say when I got the grills off the surrounds on the woofers were bad. Worse than that was that the woofers did not match each other. After some searching I found some vintage 10 inch RTR woofers that looked like a good match so I ordered them off of Ebay for $40 with shipping.

I have them hooked up now to a Bada DC-222 integrated hybrid amp that I bought from a guy on Craigslist. After moving these around I found that near the corner of the room slightly angled in was the best placement. This gives them a huge sweetspot. I would not say that they are quite as good as the SRS 2's or the 2.3's that I had, but they are close. Very nice soundstage, excellent bass, and with the tweeter controls set in the normal position they are just right. The three positions of the tweeter control are soft, normal, and bright (understatement).

I also tried these on my Adcom amp, and my Yamaha receiver. Pretty good results but the Bada seems to be the best match for them. I do plan on looking for a pair of the original woofers to put in them so if anyone runs across a pair let me know. Goodwill has been good to me over the years. One time I bought a pair of Magnepan MG 1's in excellent working condition for $65.

I don't post much but I do read a lot. Since I had not seen anything about these speakers I thought I would post this and see if anyone else is familiar with them.
Post edited by Tex on
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Comments

  • cnh
    cnh Posts: 13,284
    edited April 2009
    That must be one heck of a Goodwill store there! I've never seen these. Does anyone 'know' what kind of tweeter that is?

    cnh
    Currently orbiting Bowie's Blackstar.!

    Polk Lsi-7s, Def Tech 8" sub, HK 3490, HK HD 990 (CDP/DAC), AKG Q701s
    [sig. changed on a monthly basis as I rotate in and out of my stash]
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  • Tex
    Tex Posts: 189
    edited April 2009
    These tweeters sell for about $400 on Ebay. Here is a quote from one of the descriptions.

    Massive magnet structure combined with accordion pleated metal ribbons that squeeze the air , producing very dynamic sound with high efficiency throughout a broad frequency range[800-30,000 hz]
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  • dkg999
    dkg999 Posts: 5,647
    edited April 2009
    That is a heil air motion tweeter I believe. Nice find. I had AMT 1B's way back in the day. The tweeter can make your ears bleed at high volumes.
    DKG999
    HT System: LSi9, LSiCx2, LSiFX, LSi7, SVS 20-39 PC+, B&K 507.s2 AVR, B&K Ref 125.2, Tripplite LCR-2400, Cambridge 650BD, Signal Cable PC/SC, BJC IC, Samsung 55" LED

    Music System: Magnepan 1.6QR, SVS SB12+, ARC pre, Parasound HCA1500 vertically bi-amped, Jolida CDP, Pro-Ject RM5.1SE TT, Pro-Ject TubeBox SE phono pre, SBT, PS Audio DLIII DAC
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  • AudioGenics
    AudioGenics Posts: 2,567
    edited April 2009
    The speaker looks nice but the Guitars are GREAT ! really Choice.
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  • Tex
    Tex Posts: 189
    edited April 2009
    The guitars belong to my son. He is only 16 but plays pretty good. There are several more around the house. He plays electric and acoustic and has 5 or 6 guitars.
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  • xj4094dg
    xj4094dg Posts: 1,158
    edited April 2009
    I had a pair of AMT1-d's for years. Wish I had them today. Congrats.
    "The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it." Neil deGrasse Tyson.
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  • danz1906
    danz1906 Posts: 5,144
    edited April 2009
    Nice Find,,,Congrats on the speakers.
    Linn AV5140 fronts
    Linn AV5120 Center
    Linn AV5140 Rears
    M&K MX-70 Sub for Music
    Odyssey Mono-Blocs
    SVS Ultra-13 Gloss Black:D
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  • engtaz
    engtaz Posts: 7,663
    edited April 2009
    Congrats on the find.
    engtaz

    I love how music can brighten up a bad day.
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  • wizzy
    wizzy Posts: 867
    edited April 2009
    AMT = Air Motion Transformer

    It literally transforms the motion of the air around it. Then again, so does a speaker :)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Motion_Transformer
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  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited April 2009
    Tex wrote: »
    Goodwill has been good to me over the years.

    I like shopping at Goodwill. Finding great bargains on odd things while helping someone out at the same time is hard to beat!
    madmax
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
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  • organ
    organ Posts: 4,969
    edited April 2009
    Very cool. I believe that's the same technology used in the pricey Mark&Daniel speakers.
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  • xj4094dg
    xj4094dg Posts: 1,158
    edited April 2009
    All hail Dr. Heil!
    "The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it." Neil deGrasse Tyson.
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