ESS speakers "Translinear" Transstatic

Ahh..I know what you mean Albert! Maybe we are 'romanticizing' the sound of those early speakers because they were so advanced. I have bi-amped Carver Amazing Silvers now which probably are much better than an old ESS? It does seem odd that there is so little info on the web about the early ESS speakers. I will be checking this thread from time to time myself!

I too have just come across this thread. My first experience with true hi-end sound was back in 1972 and the ESS Translinears. I heard ELP's Trilogy album being played (it was quite a popular hi-fi demo record in those days!)and there was a cut where this LOUD kick drum enters and I was absolutely flabbergasted by the huge (in those days) bass impact. I haven't heard this speaker in all these years but I agree with what was said here. Transmission lines load the bass into the room instead of an enclosure. They sound very refined and are better for music than home theater. I later heard the Transtatic I and it was even better! I remember the salesman explaining about the Translinear II that ESS was using this fantastic flat woofer which was immune to cone break-up loaded into an EXCELLENT transmission line enclosure. He also mentioned that the midrange was also from KEF (as was the B139 woofer) and the tweeters were made by Peerless with a radical approach for that time of a tweeter facing to the back as well as front to mimic electrostatics. An ad from that time claimed "the closest likeness to electrostatics yet achieved with dynamic drivers" They were right! The Transtatic I did have the RTR panels (actually from a Janszen design).
The orignal Heil AMT ( I still have the sales brochures for all these speakers!) had a crossover of 700 hz but this proved too low and caused 'ribbon-slap' in the Heil so it was later changed to 900 hz before finally setteling on an 800 hz crossover. The early Heils had crappy ported enclosures with a wimpy 10" paper woofer. I was poor back then so I finally bought a Heil speaker made for "Lafayette Radio" by ESS with a "power ring" version of the Heil but the same woofer and enclosure. It did not have the qualities of the 'big' AMTs. ESS did make a really good version of the AMT with the 10" woofer mounted in one of their top-notch transmission line enclosures and the difference was GREAT! This speaker was discontinued shortly because the cost of that type of enclosure (and the increased shipping costs by that time)were too high and people preferred the "Rock Monitor" version that had a big ported enclosure. By the time I scraped together enough money to buy the Tower...it was gone. So then..the "Lafayette".

I wish these things would show up on the auction sites so I could finally get my hands on one, but I guess that is a testament to the great sound of all ESS speakers from the seventies that they still sound good enough to make audiophiles want to KEEP them!

I check in on this thread a few a times a year. I am always interested in the old ESS stuff. I am poor so I cannot partake of the spate of vintage ESS auctions this past year, there were some gems like a mint pair of restored Transtatics.
Shipping fee is the killer nowadays. I disagree with comments about the Transtatics being outclassed by todays's speakers. Unless one spends well over $10,000 these used Transtatic and Translinear speakers are a real barging even with the cost of restoration. They are "music lovers" speakers not "home theatre" boomers. I recently had the pleasure of spending an afternoon listening to a friend's restored Transtatic I's playing Beethoven quartets to big film scores to classic Pink Floyd and it is an excellent speaker. ESS really knew how to optimize a transmissionline labyrinth for good phase response and flat bass. This type of manufacture is gone now because of shipping costs. T-lines today are just 'faked' and are really no different than long ported rectangular boxes with a whole lot of stuffing inside to damp the bass and choke-off the real bass output. The RtR psnels have a nice smooth yet highly dynamic sound just as I remembered it from the early 70's. My friend did replace the KEF B110 midrange with a modern unit from Seas. He made a slight adjustment to the stuffing in the 'tunnel' out the back and also re-built part of the x-over and the supply to the electrostatics. I told him if he ever wanted to sell them I'd find a way to buy them...but I know he love's em as much as I do and these really were a "speaker for a lifetime" from those golden days in the early seventies, if only I had known that then. I have a nice system which I mentioned in another post on this thread here, but those ESS...get 'em if you can find 'em!