Are there any current production great speakers using AMT tweeters?


Back in the day, I had fallen in love with the ESS Heil AMT speakers, which were always too large and too expensive.    Now that I am looking for a new speaker, I am wondering if there are any current high end monitors that use these tweeters?  Or have good ribbons made the AMT tweeters less desirable?

My budget is in the $5k to $15k range, new or used, so don’t tell me about some of the $1k speakers that I know are out there, no matter how good they might be.

Stand mount is preferable, but a floor standing with a small footprint might be workable in my smallish room.

 

meiatflask

My first job in a HiFi store in 1973 introduced me to ESS AMT-1 Towers.  Previously I had heard the original AMT-1 and dismissed it as having boomy, unserious bass response, but the Tower entirely cured that, with solid, extended low resonance bottom end to match the AMT’s sparkling treble. Truly a pleasure to listen to. I have seen these for sale on occasion. 
 

In an attempt to capture that magic, I got a pair of Wharfedale Elysian 1 stand mount speakers.  They are nice for sure, but not in the same league as the ESS.  
My room will not accommodate dipoles so that is an obstacle. 

https://philharmonicaudio.com/

 

You should seriously consider this company’s BMR Monitor or BMR Towers. 
they seem to check all of your boxes while also costing less. I have the towers and I’m extremely happy and also impressed by them.  
check out the recent review of the BMR monitors in Stereophile 

AMTs can be problematic to crossover and flatten out, they are generally considered to be superior to ribbons as they are super fast, and the Heils can crossover at 800hz. I recently purchased their latest ESS AMT 1D Revival speakers. They have none for sale currently, I don't know if they will be in production again or not. I upgraded and or bypassed components in the crossovers. While the improvements were seriously good, I'm virtually never content with good in audio, so I built new crossovers without the variable l pads and such. They sound amazing. You may want to check out the Qualio IQ Ultras. They gave Steve Huff "earganisms", his word.

Many decades ago, I had a pair of ESS speakers with AMT tweeters that were initially dramatic but ultimately disappointing. These turned out to produce sound that was mostly "boom and sizzle," with poor integration of the tweeter and woofer. I was very happy to move on to more satisfying speakers, and I lived fairly happily for many years with the metal dome tweeters in a pair of Thiel floor standers.

More recently, I replaced the Thiels with PS Audio Aspen FR10s, which have very sophisticated planar-magnetic tweeters and midrange units. These speakers have a very clear and natural sound that is sweet, smooth, and realistic. I consider these to be significantly more satisfying than any AMTs or dome tweeters I have heard. Take a look at the many positive reviews online.

The FR10s are definitely in your price range, as would be a used FR20 pair. PS Audio offers some trade-in deals on new speakers as well as 60-day in-home trials.  

The Philharmonic BMR HT Towers have AMTs produced by Mundorf. It’s the best AMT I’ve encountered. I can only presume the most expensive Mundorf AMTs must sound absolutely incredible. I rate the Mundorf AMT and RAAL Ribbon in the Philharmonic series on par with the very best tweeters of any type in terms of pristine, non-fatiguing, yet extended highs. Even $500/each Satori Be tweeters don’t quite match the Mundorfs or RAALs in that regard. 
 

Another poster claimed all AMTs/Ribbons produce image shift. That isn’t remotely true IME, and I’ve heard/owned some of the best imaging monitors available for reference. I can only hypothesize that those he heard had poorly designed crossovers, or they were simply cheap examples like those used by Wharfedale. Some designers attempt to cross them too low or shallow which can result in comb-filtering.

Since both designs are wide dispersion, they are often best implemented in a three way, so that the whole mid/high frequency range has a similar dispersion pattern. It’s important to note AMTs function differently from ribbons. They tend to have similar dispersion characteristics but AMTs have the advantage of better power handling and robustness/longevity. 

Anyhow, with the Philharmonic HT Towers, not only do you get one of the best tweeters out there, you get top notch midrange performance, along with fast, defined and deep bass from the Purifi woofers. All in compact, stout and beautifully finished cabinets for $5K/pair. Additionally, they can play louder, with lower distortion, than many tower speakers of twice their size and price. These speakers have science-backed design principles and state of the art drivers. They are probably the best sounding passive speakers under $10K/pair in terms of what you get from the whole package, unless you go the route of DIY.