Today I compared these speakers to the ESSs in the picture. Renaissance music with harpsichord seemed to not compete with the crisp treble of the Heil driver. But the speakers seem to excel with vocal jazz and other "small" music platforms. My impression is that they out perform the heils in this format. The vocal performer seems to come forward of the sound-stage while the ESSs appear to be a broad but still two dimensional. I believe this is due to an excess of midrange. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but it does limit style of music.