Oskar Heil Speakers Kithara 8

Oskar Heil A.M.T Kithara 8

Consignment Speakers Condition 8/10 with original packaging

MSRP: $6,000

Asking: $2,500

One owner purchased February 2006 delivered Mid-March 2006.

Features:

Dr. Oskar Heil was one of the leading scientists of the 20^th Century, breaking new ground in a variety of physics and engineering disciplines.  Perhaps most notable among his numerous inventions was the Field Effect Transistor, which he patented in 1934.  The unusual loudspeakers that are the subject of this article are descendants of his 1973 patent for the Heil Air Motion Transformer (AMT), a mid/high frequency transducer for which the radiating surface was an accordion-pleated paper diaphragm. The latest iteration of this driver has been re-christened the OSKAR Air Velocity Transformer (AVT), although the two acronyms seem to be used interchangeably in product literature.
During the '70s and '80s, a line of loudspeakers incorporating the AMT design was manufactured in Sacramento, California and marketed under the brand name ESS Heil. While the ESS Heils had their admirers, many listeners (this writer among them) found them deficient in, among other things, bass response and tonal balance.  Physicist Jack Bybee (Mr. Quantum Purifier), who was a friend and neighbor of Oskar Heil in San Mateo, Calif., remembers Dr. Heil expressing frustration with the ESS Heils, citing the front-firing woofers and what he felt were inferior cabinets, crossover designs and parts.  Dr. Heil built he original Kithara loudspeaker at the age of 80.
The Swiss company Precide SA had a long association with Dr. Heil, and has continued to build the Kitharas after his death.  Greg Weaver reviewed an earlier version of these loudspeakers for the Enjoy the Music.com Review Magazine in 2001. Since then, Precide has continued to refine the design, and the version reviewed here reflects upgrades to the woofer, cabinet bracing, crossover capacitor and internal wiring.

Specs: