Celestion 300s replace New Large Advents & why we're subscribers now.

Adam N.

Trying to keep it simple.
I happened upon a Craigslist ad for some Celestion 300 speakers and wound up picking them up for $40 untested. Well ,they needed some work and I had to send the woofers off to Miller Sound, but for less than $240 they are up and running. I cannot recommend Miller highly enough. They're being pushed by a pair of Dynaco Mk III monoblocks.

I had thought "how much better could they be than the NLAs?". Well, the answer turns out to be a lot. I keep thinking that I have reached a point of diminishing return with my cheapo stereo investments but keep being rewarded. Surely this is some kind of apex? I suppose I will be proven wrong again.

I come from a background of riding fast motorcycles and there is a maxum about suspension "the best you've ridden is the best you know". Meaning you're constrained by your frame of reference. This sure has turned out to be the case here. These sound so beautiful, and they and the Dynamos are also just beautiful relics of industrial design. They are pleasure to be around, on or off.

Thanks to those that helped me sort the Celestions and have put up with my know nothing posts about these and everything. My wife and I owe something to the Audiokarma community. So, I have joined.
 
Well done!
Those are fantastic speakers. Beautiful too.
To my mind there's something deeply satisfying about a good pair of transmission lines.
 
I cannot recommend Miller highly enough. They're being pushed by a pair of Dynaco Mk III monoblocks.
I'd like a tech shop pushed by Dynaco monoblocks too. Rare as hen teeths.
Don't push'em too hard tought.
 
Nice aquisition on the Celestion 300s! I'd love to hear them. Considering the steep original cost on those, you still have relatively little invested in a fine system.

I'm running my Altecs with a pair of Dynaco Mk. IVs, so I can attest to the fine quality of those amps.

Next step in the process will be some speakers with horns and big woofers. ;) (Am I biased? Yeah, a little.)

GeeDeeEmm
 
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I've been fairly obsessed with Celestions ever since I got a pair of minty DL8s a couple years ago. They are just so easy to listen to and incredibly versatile speakers IMO.
 
I look forward to one of these days getting to listen more to my Celestion Ditton 44 Series II's that are an 8" 3-way with rear 10" passive. I had already reworked the crossovers and changed the speaker terminals maybe 7 years ago but they have been sidelined ever since. They have a very intricate grills that I'm going to have to rebuild some and sturdy up before wrapping them back in close to original brown grill cloth. I bought them for reasonable and knew they had wrong woofers in them but totally lucked out that a fellow AK member in the UK just happened to have a pair of the stock woofers so I was about to get them to stock. Might have to reveneer them, too, as they are a little rough around the edges but they have veneer on the front baffle with the Celestion logo on them so it may only be tops, bottoms, sides and front facing that get it. Great sounding speakers for sure.
 
I would love to hear some of the passive radiator Ditton designs. The 44 and 66 are supposed to be pretty great.

Celestion seems to have had a bit of a thing for using smaller drivers and finding ways of extending the bass with passive radiators or transmission line designs. I've got to admit it's nice having the slim cabinet in our little 1450 square foot house.
 
Holy cow....there's a pair on auction right now. I don't think I've ever seen them listed before.
 
I happened upon a Craigslist ad for some Celestion 300 speakers...They're being pushed by a pair of Dynaco Mk III monoblocks.

I am not a fan of the MKIII's but that is likely a great combo. Celestions of that era are a bit soft on the top end which would pair nicely with those amps.
 
Speakers make the most difference. I have a restored pair of OLA's and while they sound ok, I do find them lacking. To me they sound better at higher volumes. I have them connected to a Tubes4hifi
ST-70, similar to your MKlll's. To be fair I don't have tone controls in my preamp.
 
Holy cow....there's a pair on auction right now. I don't think I've ever seen them listed before.

Yes, but they're pickup only. Nice price though.

I am not a fan of the MKIII's but that is likely a great combo. Celestions of that era are a bit soft on the top end which would pair nicely with those amps.

Whatever is going on it sounds great. I'm pretty new ti hifi and, therefore, not so knowledgeable but I know that the Celestions sound amazing to us and that I can sit and listen to them for hours.
 
Yes, but they're pickup only. Nice price though.



Whatever is going on it sounds great. I'm pretty new ti hifi and, therefore, not so knowledgeable but I know that the Celestions sound amazing to us and that I can sit and listen to them for hours.

The MKIII amps always seem a bit brash and in your face (to me, w/ the stock front-end) and why they pull it off with your Celestions.
 
Speakers make the most difference. I have a restored pair of OLA's and while they sound ok, I do find them lacking. To me they sound better at higher volumes. I have them connected to a Tubes4hifi
ST-70, similar to your MKlll's. To be fair I don't have tone controls in my preamp.

We don't have tone controls either. We swapped from the Advents to the Celestions and it made an intimidate improvement, IMHO. For whatever reason people seem to thing that the Advents are better with solid state. That may be true or not, I do not know. One thing for sure is that the Advents go way louder. The Celestions are pretty insensitive speakers, literature quotes them at 84 dB but that stereo tends to play softer stuff more in chill mode.

My garage stereo tends to play more rock and roll for a variety of reasons and I think the Celestions/Dynaco would be terrible there. That setup has an sold state Harman Kardon 690i with Pioneer BS22s and a sub. I was listening to Steve Miller loud in the garage yesterday and then listened to the same cut on the Celestions, not as good I have to say. But the normal folk, First Aid Kit and M. Ward kind of "in the house music" is beautiful on the Celestions but, I think, not as good on the Harmon Kardon.
 
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The Celestions seems like their own loudness button. The things that's amazing to me about them is that they seem to have good bass sound at lower levels that seems missing to me in some other setups. It's not "wub wub" or rattle the china bass but it just seems present in a way that's not there otherwise at moderate listening levels we prefer. Their sound seems easy and natural. It's like they do great with cellos. It's not real basement bass but that lowish bass sounds good without cranking. The highs are there, nice and separated and clear. In all it's a winner.

I am not sure if this is true or not but I think their "small faces" increase the stereo sensation. So the frontal area which is producing sound is small and pretty compact. I also found them to be position sensitive. The tansmission line vent was at floor level and ear facing, so lifting the speakers and moving them 2 feet from the wall & placing them on risers helped and it also got the midrage/woofer speaker above the "clutter line" of furniture. Although I could get the Advent's tweeter over this level the woofer was always below it.
 
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