ESP Speakers


I am looking for some information on ESP speakers from people who have actually owned them. 

I recently purchased a pair of ESP Bodhran speakers on Ebay and currently am waiting for their delivery.

I have never heard those speakers before but listened, under what I think were suboptimal conditions, to the older version of the ESP Concert Grands (3 woofers). These auditions left me quite puzzled. At times the speakers sounded great, even amazing. At other times they sounded quite awful. My feeling was that there was great potential with these speakers, but as I didn't have the opportunity to fiddle with the conditions under which they were offered, I have decided to look elsewhere.

Then one day I saw on Ebay a used pair of the Bodhran SE at a good price and decided to take the risk and purchase them. I would say that I did it out of curiosity, if not of anything else.    

Now the version of the Bodhran that I bought came out about 10 years after the first CG, and at the time cost more or less the same (16,000$). What I am interested to know is, first, how do the ESP Bodhran SE compare to the older ESP speakers?  I know that some drivers were changed, probably the crossovers, but I have no idea what change was made that justified an increase of 10,000$ from the first version?

Another thing I am curious to know is what people think in general about the brand. Today one can hardly find any information about ESP which is less than 10 years old. It would seem that very few people kept them long from new, and those who did eventually decided to get rid of them at very low prices.
This makes one wonder: has the fashion changed or are there really better offerings today than 10 and 20 years ago that justify such an expensive change? Or perhaps, there was something inherently wrong with the speakers after all?   
 ESP past and present owners, I would appreciate your comments.  
  
taviran

Showing 8 responses by taviran

Hi Guys. After a long search, I finally found and purchased an old pair of ESP Concert Grands mark 1. However, they need some repair. I wonder if anybody here knows perchance how Can I access the drivers of these speakers. The top plate seems to be glued in its place as well as the side bars. 
I would appreciate any help. 
Thanks. 
I want to thank both George and rhljazz for their replies, this was just what I was looking for: very informative comments from one current and one former owner of ESP. From your answers, I believe I have learned that the ESP speakers are kind of  'midrange' speakers in that George was missing the highs (above 15K) and rhljazz was missing the lows (although granted, the speaker model was not the same) .

I also noticed that both of you have/had the newer models which came out in around 2004 (SI and SE).  I would love to hear also from someone who has or had the original Concert Grands (which came out in the mid 1990th), since that is the speaker I actually auditioned. (I read Art Shapiro of positive-feedback's journey with them but would be interested also to hear from recent owners of those speakers).   
Thanks.       
Hi Guys,
 Well, I have finally received my ESP Bodhran SE speakers and I must say that so far I am not too excited. They sound quite muffled and it seems to me that one back tweeter on one speaker is not working. Any advice about what can be done would be appreciated.  
Hi again. thank you rhljazz for the quick reply. Well, I fixed the tweeter problem. I unscrewed the bottom where the crossover is located and found a white wire disconnected. soldered it back and it's working now. What a relief.  And thank you for the correction: this tweeter is firing at 45 degrees indeed. Now as for the other suggestions, yes I connected it in biwire and screwd the spikes on. I will now try to listen with all drivers working.   
Last update: After some soldering and some tweaking, the sound now is excellent: open, detailed, dynamic, very musical. What a wonderful speaker.    
Hi Guys. 
Do you have a schematics of the crossovers of the Bodhrans?
After living for a few months with my speakers I came to the conclusion that something was wrong. I just couldn't get them to image properly. So a few days ago I unscrewed the bottoms and after some soldering exposed the two crossovers.
To my dismay, I found out someone was fiddling with these crosses and there were some "anomalies", like changed parts and wrong phase connections. 
Anybody knows where I can get the schematics?
Thanks. 

 

     
Hi Guys,
First, I wanted to thank rhljazz for his help. I should have done it sooner but life took me in other directions lately. 
I was finally able to refurbish the ESP crossovers on my own. While at it, I changed some parts (caps, resistors) to higher quality ones, changed cabling to Belden and soldered everything point-to-point. Overall the sound improved a lot I believe and I would certainly recommend this. Not a very difficult job. 
I experimented with various amps: Luxman m900U, and Jadis JA80. Still, I am not altogether where I want to be.
My room is quite small so I believe this sets a limit to what I can achieve. Compared to other speakers I had previously (Quads, Klipsch), the ESPs are much more neutral, and more balanced, but also very sensitive to many factors (like cables, the quality of the recording, etc). My wife does not like the sound, I must say, so perhaps something is wrong. But right now I don't see myself opting for other speakers. 
Cheers. 
Source: Doge 6 Cd Player/EMT 950
Amps: Luxman m900u/Jadis JA80
Pre: Luxman C900U/Jadis JPL
Cables: MIT/XLO
Music: 90% classical


     
 
    
An update on my adventure with ESP Bodhran SE.
After measuring the impedance of the speakers, something I should have perhaps done long ago, I was surprised to see that it was 4 and not 8 ohms, as the manufacturer states on his website. I changed the Jadis JA80 to 4 ohm, and ...Bingo! Now it sounds like I was expecting from the beginning. The Jadis-ESP now sounds better than the Luxman combo, at least with acoustical music. All and all, I believe I can recommend to people to purchase the ESP speakers, although you should be aware that they need space and VERY careful placement (and probably a crossover overhaul). By the prices they are going for, it's really a steal. 
Cheers.