Crown ES-212

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General information[contribute]

The Crown ES-212 is an electrostatic speaker.

John Hamm (December 2000): I own and have for sale a set of Crown ES-212's Loudspeakers. I've seen ES-224's and ES-212's but never any of the smaller versions! Note power handling. Mine have actually taken the full 300 wpc output of a Kenwood basic then the circuit breakers began triping. The ES-26 has two woofers and six tweeters and the ES-14 has one woofer and four tweeters. I've never seen or heard these versions.

Tim Gibbs (December 2000): I have owned set of Crown ES 212 and now are fixing a set of Crown ES 224. On contacting Crown International some years ago trying to obtain service information I was told if my memory is correct the speakers were made by RTR for Crown International and not by Crown International when Crown International was in the domestic HI-FI market.

The ES 224 is basically 2 sets of ES 212 panells on a common frame, I gather with two input transformers, one for each 12 panell unit. The electrostatic units use a wire grids in push pull arrangement and appear to look like (by photos) Janzen units of a few years before. The panel outersize size is 14 x14.5 cms with an 11 x 11.3 cm membrane.

Arthur Vered (December 2000): Looking at the ES-212 reminded me of a speaker system house in an identical cabinet and built by Alexander Shackman of Barnet, London (UK) some 20 years ago. Shackman used to build its own ES drivers. They had a stated freq. of 350-20KHz. I visited Mr. Shackman's shop around that time and almost bought several of his panels to build my own hybrid system. I subsequently learned that Shackman closed his business and sold his rights to a Japanese firm. Could it be Crown? Does Crown emply 6X8" curved ES panels? If so we're talking Shackman here.

Bernie Heeder (January 2002): About the Crown ES212. I read in Stereophile about the gentleman who used Armoral on the rubber surrounds of his speakers. It made sence, however Armoral leaves a white film on the inside of my car windshield. I called the LAST Factory and it was suggested I try the Record Preservative as it will help the rubber in the bass drivers back to their natural state, with no film. It took about four applications and what a difference. The speakers now have their balance back and I appreciate why I purchased them. BP Heeder

James Wong (September 2004): One Electrostatic speaker and two woofer cabinets. Bass Units measures 26X21X16. Electrostatic Unit measures 26X21X12.

William Boyd (December 2004): Thanks to all for your help. In the Pictures section some pictures - been listening all afternoon - very nice! Decided to use 20 panels per channel, arrayed about 7 degrees each column and the top & bottom rows at about 4 degrees.

I'm currently using only two of the four ES212 PS xovers and it works very well but I'm thinking about beefing up the input xformer - ideas? Freq. Spectrum seems slightly tilted to the very high but it's a bright room and the panels may need a little EQ - suggestions? Anybody know if Crown used additional resistance in the 224 to EQ the highs?

Using the Crown builtin 350 hz passive xover with a simple inductor on the AR 12" woofers and it's pretty well balanced. Next step is elect. xover & biamp. I did notice the '60's vintage Pilot SA260, 30wpc tube amp drove the ESLs to quite very adequate levels using the passive xover and B&K amp for the bass.

.Planning on very sheer grille, and Rosewood side panels. Probably rewire with teflon wire too. Sounds about as good as they did in 1972 when I first heard them - glad to know my ears haven't changed that much in 27 years! Still looking for more info on the ES224 and how they configured it electically (ie differences in the PS Xover). Your ideas/thoughts/encouragement greatly appreciated.

Hans Zeeuwe (November 14, 2004): Each speaker system comprises two sections , one housing 12 x ( 14x 14cms) electrostatic panels and underneath compartment 2 x heavy duty 10 inch woofers. In its time the Crown ES212 was a reference speaker combining the best of Electrostatics design to cover frequencies from 375 to over 30kHz, while the woofer section comprises of 2 x10 inch woofers working in parallel to cover frequencies from 22Hz -375Hz. Each speaker stands 42 inches high, 26 inches wide and 21 inches deep. Extensive protection circuitry protects both the electrostatic panels and the woofers .

Apparently these ES 212 was manufactured by RTR to Crowns strict specifications. Very much an open and spacious soundstage. Ideally suited to amplifiers from 10 -100 watts, 4 ohm impedance. They can be configured in Normal mode where an internal crossover seperates low and high freqency signal and in Bi-Amp mode where dedicated amplifiers can be connected to the woofer and electrostatic sections- there is a switch on both speaker boxes for this latter type of operation.

Lambros Politis (March 11, 2010): I came upon your site in my quest to find a cicuit schematic, service manual, user manual, brochure or any useful information on the ES-212's floating around out there in cyber space.

I have a pair of Crown ES-212 's that have been stored in my shed for a number of years. I'm starting to get the itch to experiment with them. The high end which is handled by the E. S. panels seems to be somewhat subdued and dull. I suspect the step up transformers may have been damaged. A circuit shematic for this model would be a good place to start. I have various tranformers on hand that could provide a turns ratio of 40:1 or greater.

I have to say the wiring in these speakers is a classic birds nest and a cicuit would make life a lot easier!