Anybody own Vintage Celestions ??

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I believe Pioneer/Celestion combos always produce nice results.
Agreed. My 33's sound very good with my Pioneer SA-8100. To me they sound as good or better with vintage Yamaha. They sounded great with my CA-1010, which I foolishly sold. :( However I recently acquired a CA-810 and they sound excellent with that as well. :music:
 
I'm a bit late to the party, but I wanted to comment with my recent Goodwill find of some Celestion F1's. I am absolutely FLOORED by how they sound. I've been using them with one of the Dayton DTA-1 mini amps and they really do sound like big floor standers. I've been trying to find a pair of Celestion's ever since I got into speakers. The price was 7.96.....I wonder if people really know what they throw away. My only complaint is that I'm used to listening to silk tweeters, I'm using them on my PC at the moment and I had been using a pair of Denon 2 way satellite speakers with my Logitech setup, and while the treble is great on the Cel's, it's a little harsh in some areas, but it's not a deal breaker. I've been curious as to whether someone drove the treble a little harder than they should have on these speakers. These are speakers I will never sell, and if I do ever get rid of them, they'll be passed on to family.
 
here's 2 models of ditton44's,note the smaller dust cap use on the bass driver,these has the early point to point crossovers,the larger dust cap model had the pcb crossover.

20150802_121135_zpsbgwtn5ab.jpg
 
here's 2 models of ditton44's,note the smaller dust cap use on the bass driver,these has the early point to point crossovers,the larger dust cap model had the pcb crossover.

20150802_121135_zpsbgwtn5ab.jpg
Smaller dust dome=T1600 bass driver.
Larger dust done= T2616 Bass driver.
You are correct regarding point to point wiring on earlier examples.
 
i live in ipswich (where celestion moved in the late 60s from surrey, london) and spent some time in their R&D dept.

suffice to say i know their speakers insideout, i have owned:
ditton 15/15xr/25(MK2)/44/66
sl6/sl6s/sl600/sl700(personal fav and brothers current monitors)/kingston
dl6/dl8/dl10
1/3/5/7 (the 7 is very very highly rated by my father)
100/300
Acompact/A1/A2/A3/A4c/A6sub (never had the rears from this series, VERY rare)

there was a deluxe version of the cx1512 which had a horn loaded tweeter coaxially mounted

would kill for:
ditton 66 mk2
sl700 special edition
ditton 88

My friend has a pair of SL700's and the finish has become sticky, any suggestions for
how to fix this problem?
 
here's 2 models of ditton44's,note the smaller dust cap use on the bass driver,these has the early point to point crossovers,the larger dust cap model had the pcb crossover.

20150802_121135_zpsbgwtn5ab.jpg

I thought there were only 2 versions of the 44's the earlier real wood ones with the ugly grey grills and those pictured above, thanks for your post! Saved quite a few pairs from recycling, unfortunately celestion made the cabinets out of something only slightly stronger than cardboard so by the time I find them they're destroyed.
 
I thought there were only 2 versions of the 44's the earlier real wood ones with the ugly grey grills and those pictured above, thanks for your post! Saved quite a few pairs from recycling, unfortunately celestion made the cabinets out of something only slightly stronger than cardboard so by the time I find them they're destroyed.

You had the first version which had an unfinished baffle board, then later the baffle board was painted black, then came the revised versions like mine in the photo.
 
got the ditton 66 serie II (with the passive bass in the back) that I bought 20 years ago for about €40 (woohoo). the tweeters HF2006 were blown and put in cheapo visatons which sufficed. I kept looking for an original replacement but only ever came across the HF2000. Just recently, I found a pair that were advertised under the 3500 name printed on the back for €85. Quite the bargain I would say seeing the prices asked these days and also the fact that you can't find the HF2006 ... well, once in a blue moon. I nearly went down the new diaphragm route seeing that you can buy repair kits from France for €30.
Now I've gotten to that time that they'll be recapped and rewired because these are keepers.
I've never heard the ditton 66 with the passive up front but hear that many Celestion lovers rate the midtone speaker and tweeter from the serie 2 as the better option. What's your opinion about the differences between the 2 different models?
cheers.
 
got the ditton 66 serie II (with the passive bass in the back) that I bought 20 years ago for about €40 (woohoo). the tweeters HF2006 were blown and put in cheapo visatons which sufficed. I kept looking for an original replacement but only ever came across the HF2000. Just recently, I found a pair that were advertised under the 3500 name printed on the back for €85. Quite the bargain I would say seeing the prices asked these days and also the fact that you can't find the HF2006 ... well, once in a blue moon. I nearly went down the new diaphragm route seeing that you can buy repair kits from France for €30.
Now I've gotten to that time that they'll be recapped and rewired because these are keepers.
I've never heard the ditton 66 with the passive up front but hear that many Celestion lovers rate the midtone speaker and tweeter from the serie 2 as the better option. What's your opinion about the differences between the 2 different models?
cheers.
In my opinion the original Ditton 66 has the most seamless mid to top integration. Bass is a tad loose but is really deep.
The Series 2 (rear PBR) are tighter sounding but I felt the mid to top integration wasn’t as sweet, Although they look better lol. Just my opinion:)
 
I recently got a pair of 662 in good condition. Sounds great with rocks and jazz. When it comes to large scale classical music, I found the separation is not ideal. I think it might be the old caps.

Can you share a diagram of the crossovers as well as the caps you used to replace? Thanks!


I recapped a set of 662's a few months back, damn did they ever sound GOOD! I would take them over the 66's, just barely!
DC
 
Like the OP, I also own a pair of DL8's.
They sound great. Excellent highs, well-engineered crossover, and good solid base.
And I don't even hafta re-foam them cuz the surrounds are rubber instead if foam.

Dave
 
I recently restored my SL12si speakers that I bought new back 1988. They ended up with a cousin while I was living in Florida, due to a separation he had to put them in a storage locker before I moved back to Toronto. The cabinets got pretty beat during this storage time so I refinished them in the spring. I went with more of a walnut colour that both the wife and I liked more than the orange shade they became over time.
I still might recap them, but they sound pretty good to me as they are.

Glad to hear these fantastic speakers again along with the rest of my 30 year old gear.
 

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Mmmm ... 30 year old gear. Gotta room full of it.
And the refinished speaker looks great. Way better than the original faded orange.

Dave
 
Not quite as old as some of the speakers here but I have a pair of the Ditton 44 Series II's....8" 3-way with rear 10" passive.
 
Hello Celestion fans
Alas no new Celestion stories to share but I’m now restoring a pair of Kef 107’s.
Foam rot as usual
 

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I refoamed my Infinitys, and they were fine. But refoaming the 10" drivers on my Kef 107s was more difficult.
I ended up taking them to a pro shop and they re-refoamed them. They explained that the Kef drivers have a smaller magnet, so the corresponding gap that the voice coil slides is
also more narrow than other speakers, and that they also have more difficulty getting the Kefs perfect.
Like I say, the Infinitys were no problem for me cuz I've repaired lots of intricate items over the years. I just couldn't get the Kefs perfectly centered with no rubbing.
Anyway, just a heads-up. I hope you do well with them. It could be that you're more talented then I am. I don't set the bar very high.
Good luck ditton.

Dave
 
I refoamed my Infinitys, and they were fine. But refoaming the 10" drivers on my Kef 107s was more difficult.
I ended up taking them to a pro shop and they re-refoamed them. They explained that the Kef drivers have a smaller magnet, so the corresponding gap that the voice coil slides is
also more narrow than other speakers, and that they also have more difficulty getting the Kefs perfect.
Like I say, the Infinitys were no problem for me cuz I've repaired lots of intricate items over the years. I just couldn't get the Kefs perfectly centered with no rubbing.
Anyway, just a heads-up. I hope you do well with them. It could be that you're more talented then I am. I don't set the bar very high.
Good luck ditton.

Dave
I have done loads of surround jobs, mainly on Tannoy’s. One issue with some of the coupled cavity kef’s is the rotted foam gets in the pole gap!
Luckily the 107’s both face down, hopefully none got in the gap.
I’m going to use a rubber surrounds rather than foam again.
One of my good friends informed me Kef sub out this job and the company they use also opt for rubber.
I guess as long as the F’s don’t change it should be good. Still going for foam on the doughnuts.
I haven’t cleaned off all the residual foam yet and the kit is still days away.
I’ll post some pics once done.
I’m quite looking forward to hearing them.
I’m not usually a Kef fan.
Had...
Ref 101’s, 102’s, 103-4’s, Model one’s,
Apart from the 103-4’s (which needed surrounds and ferro fluid in the Nt25’s) I liked them all, the 103-4’s just didn’t work in my room. A/B with Refrence Model One vs 103-4 and the Model ones just sounded much nicer to me.
Must say my favourites have to be Celestion.
Liked virtually every pair I’ve owned apart from the Celestion 100’s. I’ve had five pairs of the 100’s and two pairs of 300’s. I’ve tried to like them, the 300’s seemed to work better at mine but that series is my least favourite.
I don’t even count the F series as Celestion.
 
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