[spinali]

I've seen these from time to time withot knowing what they were. In particular, I was rather turned off by the cheap-looking casing - a K1000 wanna-be. But apparently these are top-rank headpones for many listeners, despite the fact that they are underexposed and underreviewed.

Describe the sound and SQ of these headphones, and their requirements. Are there any other headphones you'd compare it to? Which equal or surpass it for general use?

 

[003]

Duggeh reviewed them, link in his signature.

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spinali /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've seen these from time to time withot knowing what they were. In particular, I was rather turned off by the cheap-looking casing - a K1000 wanna-be.

You've got it backwards - the K1000 is a relatively recently design that attempts to rip off the concept of Joerg Jecklin's "float" design from way back in the day.

Jecklin's earspeakers were manufactured by Precide SA, who in turn manufactured the Ergo, Ergo 2, and now Ergo AMT, which are an updated spin on the Float design from the 70's.

These are not the only floats out there - Peerless/Mikrofon-Bau (later known as MB-Quart) had four jecklin-designed float-style-framed earspeaker models.

 

[swt61]

AMT stands for Air Motion Transformer, a tweeter/midrange design by Oskar Heil back in the day. It's similar to ribbon technology, but with some very notable differences. Mr. Heil developed a way to fold the driver membrane creating a very large surface area as compaired to standard ribbons. I used to own a pair of ESS AMT 1D's with a large Heil driver and a 12" woofer and passive radiator. All I can say is why aren't more speaker companies using this design? Mids and highs are absolutely stunning, and when seemlessly mated to dynamic woofers create an incredible system. I've not had the pleasure of listening to the Ergo AMT's, but I have no doubt they're very nice indeed. That driver pushes the sound out in a way that's a different experience all together.

 

[Duggeh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spinali /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've seen these from time to time withot knowing what they were. In particular, I was rather turned off by the cheap-looking casing - a K1000 wanna-be. But apparently these are top-rank headpones for many listeners, despite the fact that they are underexposed and underreviewed. Describe the sound and SQ of these headphones, and their requirements. Are there any other headphones you'd compare it to? Which equal or surpass it for general use?

They sound pretty good from the Ergo Amp1, although it really lacks the power to drive them well. I have reterminated mine to 4 pin XLR like a K1000 and now run them from a 15watt tube amplifier, from the speaker taps, I use attentuators on the RCA plugs because they only need 1 or 2 watts.

I also have the Ergo filter box, which was the original way that you connected the headphones to a power amp. Its just a small notch filter but the parts quality is poor and while it increases perceived bass its overall very polluting on the sound, a better one made with top quality parts would be more transparent.

A summery of the sound in my current set-up would be light in the bass, with electrostatic calibre of clarity but even better perceived detail. High mids and highs are stunningly accurate with no harshness or sibilance. Not best suited for pop music and a little lacking for some kinds of rock music too because of the bass roll off.

They are also hugely, massively sensitive to placement on the head because of the frequency spread of the driver and its large size. They are also heavy, more than 600 grams, but the Jecklin chassis makes them exceptionally comfortable, the headband its more fragile than the old Jecklin Floats.

I plan on upgrading to the Ergo Amp 2, designed specifically for the AMT at some point. I think im still not amping them properly, and i suspect they are even more amp sensitive than the K1000.

 

[jbpfrance]

IMHO, just the best sound I have heard in my last 30 HIFI years, along with Cabasse Spheres.
 
But they need:
 
1/ Extreme care regarding adjustment on the head (and eventual modifications)
2/ Association with a good sub-woofer for complete performance
3/ And, of course, an excellent source indeed (cable, DAC and drive)
 
I use the combination  ERGO AMT and its amp: AMP-2.
 
Regards,