Planar Speaker Asylum

Welcome! Need support, you got it. Or share your ideas and experiences.

Planar Speaker Asylum

RE: Crown ESS 224:very rare Electrostatic

68.12.152.5

In Reply to: RE: Crown ESS 224:very rare Electrostatic posted by kentaja on July 13, 2010 at 07:39:04

The local Crown dealer had both this and the smaller ESS 212 (1/2 the tweeters) version in their showrooms at different times. These speakers were absolutely gorgeous sounding when driven by the 300 watt Crown amps of the day. I think they were the reason I bought my IC150, that and it was only $219 for a real preamplifier in 1972! My then wife-to-be gave up the deposit on her engagement ring to help fund the purchase. Bless that girl. We divorced after 5 years, but I never forgot that gesture.

Follow Ups:

Well maybe.... - Barry 20:45:08 07/13/10 (6)
While the Crown IC150 & D150, DC300 etc. we're among the most beautiful pieces of equipment you could have owned in the early 70's, they were typical examples of early solid state with ICs in the signal patth (ugh). They did boast vanishing low distortion (lot's of negative feedback). They sounded hard as nails by today's standards (I owned them & loved them until I learned to know better). The Phase Linear stuff was contemporary, and the 400 especially, was glorious sounding in comparison.

You probably never heard the stat speakers to good effect. The electrostatic elements were made by RTR and were superb, but in this application to me, driven by Crown electronics especially, they sounded dry and not at all engaging. These 2 speakers were not on the market for very long & certainly never achieved cult status. The RTR-based Infinity Servo Static Is and 2000A's were wonderful sounding, stood the test of time, and did.

Barry
- RTR - delaney@rea-alp.com 09:28:49 07/14/10 (3)
  Couple Q's 1. What happened to the company?
  2. What did R-T-R stand for?
  Back in 1975-78 I was a very happy owner of RTR 280's
  - RE: RTR - Barry 18:23:17 07/14/10 (2)
    I'm not sure about RtR but doing a search on the Internet suggests they were acquired by BIC America who kept the brand - a very mass market company now.
    
    Besides Crown, & Infinity, RtR also supplied tweeters for the ESS Transtatic Is before they got into making their own stuff which included your speakers, others cone types and the 6 element & 15 element stat tweeter add ons. The tweeters were on the fragile side as mspc suggests. The only other electrostats made at the time were the Jantzens (the first), KLH panels, & the original Quads that I can recall.
    
    Don't know what RtR stands for.
    
    I never heard the 280s but I bet they were nice.
    
    Barry
    - RE: RTR - Roger Gustavsson 22:38:50 05/21/12 (0)
      The history of the RTR starts with Arthur A. Janszen, http://www.janszenloudspeaker.com/company%20aaj%20ws.htm
      
      Roger Gustavsson
      
      Edits: 05/21/12
    - Thanks Barry - delaney@rea-alp.com 07:32:53 07/15/10 (0)
      Once aquired by BIC they seemed to become more of a mid-fi brand - but then they just seemed to no longer exist. The 280's were (at the time & for the money) a very good value. I think at the time (1975) they were priced at $600/pr. Four 10" woofers per speaker with 3 (sides and center) mid/tweeters...Back in that time period (for dynamic speakers) they threw a huge soundstage with deep bass. Audio mag gave them a rave review as I recall. A friend bought a set of 180's (same design but smaller with 8" woofers) that also sounded just excellent, again in 1975.
- RE: Well maybe.... - mspc 06:59:39 07/14/10 (1)
  Barry,
  I was young and stupid at the time, plus I had no knowledge of tubes. The 224 sounded spectacular, if not musical. I was graduating from a Kenwood KA-5002. The problem with the Infinity SS I speakers, I heard them along with D-W ESL's (the competing stores were literally around the corner from each other, glorious times for high end audio were the 70's here), was that they wouldn't last long enough to get through an album side before something broke. But I did learn and after the IC150 was stolen I bought a PL 4000, which erred on the side of dull vs the IC150 being bright.
  Now I struggle to find (and afford) the tubes that were virtually dirt under your feet at that time. If I had only known then....
  - RE: Well maybe.... - Barry 18:30:43 07/14/10 (0)
    mspc
    
    I really liked your story about the Crown stuff & getting the money to buy it. it was touching - thanks for sharing it.
    
    Like you, at the time, I couldn't imagine why people liked tubes and didn't pay enough attention. I didn't seriously listen to tube stuff until the SET craze 25 years later!
    
    regards, Barry

Post a Followup:

FAQ

Post a Message!

Forgot Password?

Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
	Remember my Moniker & Password (What's this?) Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:

Message:	(Posts are subject to Content Rules)

Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:	Automagically notify you when someone responds.

To view your new posting or follow-up, click on the RELOAD or REFRESH button on your browser.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Kimber Kable