ClaudeJ1 Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 On 3/1/2020 at 7:31 PM, Rudy81 said: I wish. I'm on my fourth pair! Dudes, I want to remind you all that they were $800 a pair several years ago, which made my used $400/pr. plus shipping a real bargain then. Now you can get them for $340 per pair brand new and your guys are WAITING!! For what?????? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddeus Smith Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 23 minutes ago, No.4 said: Good to know, and do elaborate.🙂 Cliff notes here: Then reach out to @Chris A for his availability and willingness to help you dial things in individually. I'm still trying to go through old threads and guides to better understand what it was we did, but he certainly helped me leap frog into getting the system dialed in and in a very usable state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddeus Smith Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 2 minutes ago, ClaudeJ1 said: Dudes, I want to remind you all that they were $800 a pair several years ago, which made my used $400/pr. plus shipping a real bargain then. Now you can get them for $340 per pair brand new and your guys are WAITING!! For what?????? I didn't wait! I bought the drivers first and then stared at them in the box for three months while I acquired and built everything else I needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No.4 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 I am finally getting round to doing some measurements (hopefully) but I have some questions before I fire these up. First I measured my stacks with my DMM one measures 7.0 ohms and the other 10.85 ohms. I’m not sure if this makes a difference at this point as I have read some of your comments about break in, but... Then I did a visual inspection of the drivers and noticed an anomaly with one of the drivers in the 7 ohm stack. It looks like one of the corners of the diaphragm got pushed down a little when it was installed at the factory. I took the best photo I could. My first thought is crap I probably need to tear down the stack and try to re install that diaphragm, but I am worried about trashing it in the process. Given the current global environment I probably would not be able to get another for some time. Any of you heil experts have any advice on that one? I am worried if I leave it, it will cause distortion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted March 21, 2020 Author Share Posted March 21, 2020 26 minutes ago, No.4 said: ...I probably need to tear down the stack and try to re install that diaphragm, but I am worried about trashing it in the process. Given the current global environment I probably would not be able to get another for some time. Any of you heil experts have any advice on that one? Good instincts, but I'd leave it alone for now. You can report it to ESS and see if they'll send you another diaphragm, but don't hold your breath waiting for it to arrive. Assume that if you try to remove the diaphragm, it will fail. I'm sorry to say that this is an emergent area and one that the AMT-1 has as a definite sore spot. Ricky (the ESS CEO) hasn't fulfilled his promise on a replacement diaphragm in my case yet which experienced an infant failure at less than 100 dB at 1m pink noise. He assured me that he would send one as a warranty failure in direct phone conversation--more than two months ago. So I'd caution anyone who is thinking about this project due to the issues we're seeing with the diaphragm QA and reliability of recently manufactured AMTs from ESS. I'm not sure that these recent issues extend back to units produced in prior years (as my first set of AMT-1s have been in good shape from 2018). It's a shame that such a low cost and capable product is marred by these few instances where manufacturer either stands behind the product or not. In this case...not. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No.4 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 21 minutes ago, Chris A said: Good instincts, but I'd leave it alone for now. You can report it to ESS and see if they'll send you another diaphragm, but don't hold your breath waiting for it to arrive. Assume that if you try to remove the diaphragm, it will fail. This diaphragm was from the more recently ordered pair. The first pair I ordered was from 12/2018. They look perfect. well, when the kids finally wake up I will fire these up! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddeus Smith Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Noticed some slight variance of location in that little netting material between the plastic and the diaphragm on mine. In one case, it's slightly buckled - but I'm not touching it. It's only noticeable right up close, doesn't appear to be audible, and not worth the risk. Hopefully ESS can get past the surge of orders we no doubt caused and make good on their QC replacements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddeus Smith Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Did @Rudy81 receive his replacement diaphragm yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete H Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 I need to take a closer look at mine to see what they look like and test them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted March 21, 2020 Author Share Posted March 21, 2020 18 minutes ago, Thaddeus Smith said: Did @Rudy81 receive his replacement diaphragm yet? Yes. IIRC, I believe he mentioned that the replacement diaphragm failed during the insertion process. Note that Rudy does good work, so I doubt that this was an operator issue. This isn't just one or two diaphragms of late but apparently a more systemic issue. I'd advise everyone to wait and see what ESS does to correct these mfg/QA issues (and resulting reliability failures) before investing any money on AMT-1s. I'm not running in any more AMT-1s at higher SPL, but rather just using them at lower level SPL to see if they survive and run themselves in much more slowly. Nevertheless, I'm assuming there is a high probability of another diaphragm failure based on these latest rash of mfg. issues. Because I've got one AMT-1 still in the box unused, I can sustain one more failure before I'm out of business in the computer room system. My dreams of testing a stacked/winged set however are probably on indefinite hold. It's a shame. There is so much promise there. JMTC. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkalsi Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 I 100% agree with Chris’s sentiments. DO NOT buy anything from ESS just yet. One of mine also had issues. I’ve been waiting since January 12th. I have talked to Ricky several times, and sent follow up emails as he requested - still no replacement. Every conversation has been: “it’s going out today”, “just got a new batch, will go out tomorrow”, etc. etc. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddeus Smith Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 well I've got my system set to volume limit at about 85dB-90dB and I reckon I'll just keep it there for the foreseeable future. All four of mine ordered in January have otherwise been good to go so far. I also kept them in the box until the bass bins were moved back into place, then into the wing structure two weeks later. It was a tight fit and the natural plywood look has grown on me, so I'll probably just leave everything as-is, with happy contentment. Every time I moved them it was like I had a plutonium rod in my hands - slow, steady, intentional movements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy81 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 2 hours ago, Thaddeus Smith said: Did @Rudy81 receive his replacement diaphragm yet? I received the replacement diaphragm with my fourth order for a pair of AMT1s. The diaphragm was a very tight fit to slide into the magnet structure. I literally spent over 30 minutes trying to gingerly insert the diaphragm. After finally getting it inserted, I went on to break in the driver with low volume music. Within moments, the diaphragm started to cut in and out. I just could not get it to work properly. I know it was not anything I did. I have learned to be super careful with these parts since they are very easy to damage. I returned the faulty diaphragm to ESS and was promised a replacement. Sadly, I'm still waiting for the replacement. Like @dkalsi , I have spoken with Ricky several times. Chris is correct, this is such a promising technology for us. It is a shame we are having these issues. Hopefully ESS will catch up and improve QC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No.4 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Well the previous comments are disappointing. I did not realize there was such a big issue with these. I would have waited if I had known. Oh well. I’m trying to get some measurements now, but I’m having a hard time getting the sweep to output. Everything is set up right as far as I can tell. I must be hung up on a setting.🤨 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddeus Smith Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 3 minutes ago, No.4 said: Well the previous comments are disappointing. I did not realize there was such a big issue with these. I would have waited if I had known. Oh well. I’m trying to get some measurements now, but I’m having a hard time getting the sweep to output. Everything is set up right as far as I can tell. I must be hung up on a setting.🤨 Reboot your PC with everything still connected. Verify that your output device is actually selected, etc. So far, my 4 drivers have all performed exactly as expected and without issues. So there's that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No.4 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 My computer is picking up the MiniDSP 2x4 as the output. It may be the settings in the MiniDSP software. The instructions are just ok. I’m sure I am missing something simple. Usually the case. Just super frustrating! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OO1 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OO1 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OO1 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 - 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted March 21, 2020 Author Share Posted March 21, 2020 23 minutes ago, No.4 said: I did not realize there was such a big issue with these. I would have waited if I had known. So would I. I don't make a habit of recommending stuff that doesn't work as advertised. The problems we're now seeing just started occurring in the latest orders. Before then, everything was good as far as I can tell. 29 minutes ago, No.4 said: I’m trying to get some measurements now, but I’m having a hard time getting the sweep to output. Check your preamp settings (if it has more than one mode--like an AVP or AVR) and the output driver on the computer-ASIO4ALL or Java. Punch the "check levels" button under the measurement dialog to ensure that you've at least got the output path hooked up properly. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts