Heil AMT's - anybody have any experience ?

The old Heils were great for tube amps and vinyl records. Using the tweeter nowadays in a DIY approach is great for the hobbyist. The new woofers by ESS are lethargic at best. Use a Peerless or Vifa woofer combo to get better results.

Heils...excellent for their time, but not out classed by new speaker tech. My father has the top of the line Heil (Heil Tweeter, 6" midrange and 2 x 10" woofers). We did an A/B listening session against the PBN Montana SPX (traditional dynamic speaker) and the Heils were out classed in every way.

The new Heil offerrings are the way to go. Midranges have improved greatly and can keep up with the Heil.

I had ESS speakers back in the early 80s, great speaker with thunderuss bass and crisp midrange, nic etechnology and also curious to learn what happened to them.

Regards,

Fernando

I think you will find the more modern implementations of the Heil driver by firms such as Oskar, Mark and Daniel, Adam, etc, are superior to what ESS did back in the 70's. I'm a fan of Oskar loudspeakers.

Jim

I had a pair of ESS Heil AMT 1b's new from about 1978. They sounded great especially for Rock music. I drove them at the time with a HK PM660 integrated. From a audiophile standpoint there was a bit of a rough spot in the crossover from the mids at the bottom end of the air motion transformer unit to the bass cone driver but, back then, who cared?! The Heil tweeter was so fast that nothing really mates with it seamlessly. These Speakers made it through my college days. They were bullet proof.
Happy Listening!

I too lived the glorious Heil 70's experience. My roomate had the AMT???, the one with the TL box which exuded lows from another planet. We ran them with my Marantz 1060 integrated amp. Their overall sound has probably been my guiding force in overall audio system excellence. Well, three and a half decades later an outstanding 60 watts system has turned into a similarly outstanding 3000 watt system, same undying passion, different times, more resources. It's just the greatest hobby ever! That's my experience. I think the bottom line is the horn without the honk is called ribbon.

Yes, I had ESS Heil amt's back in the 70's. One of the best if not the best speakers I ever owned. The amt driver was the best tweeter I've ever heard. Crystalline, clear and a lot of air. The build quality, wood cabinets, beautiful. I'd actually forgotten how good they were. Caveat: I have not heard the modern ESS Heil speakers, but if I were you and had experienced "awesome sound" as you say, already, I would give serious consideration to a purchase.

I have 2 friends that use a custom 2-way hi(ish) efficiency loudspeaking using the Heil AMT for tweeter duties. They are some of the best speakers I've ever heard, regardless of price.

Who built the speakers you mentioned? Are the built in Kentucky by any chance?

Enjoy,

TIC

I had a pair in the '80's & loved them.
2 way design with 12" bass driver & passive radiator.
I can still remember the highs coming from the AMT & miss them.
They do appear here every now & then.

The Heil AMT1 towers I bought in 1974 had a fine-sounding Heil tweeter and good bass via a tall transmission line reflex enclosure. Much better than the Advents & ARs typical back in the day.