Anybody own Vintage Celestions ??

[ditton works]

Celestion SL6 “Ditton Works” special edition.

 

[Rapide]

Trying to identify quality British vintage Small speakers for a kitchen system... as I find I spend a Lot of time there. Shelf space is not deep and is limited... currently a KLH Model Eight tube radio is driving 1970's Celestion Ditton 10's (second series, 4-6 ohm). The Dittons sound quite good... especially after alcohol clean and then treatment of the surrounds with CaiKleen rubber cleaner and rejuvenator. (photo) Wondering if the earlier 1960's Celestion 10 Studio Series (15 ohm)... or later Ditton 11's would be better than my current 10's. Another option would be to buy a pair of Spendor S3/5.. but not sure if they would be a step up or step down from the Celestions. (Update 6/14/2021.. bought ex cond pr of S3/5... marginally better in couple ways to 1970's Ditton 10's .... but they better be for 4x the price of 10's.)
(5/23 update: Sold the 3/5's and kept the Ditton 10's.. some elusive quality about the sound of the 10's .. you just leave them on longer. Just bought Linn Kan I's to compare. The Quest continues.)

While early Ditton workers are still with us... would be interesting for them to identify and contribute to a list of what all the inspection codes mean. The front of my Ditton 10's and back of grills are covered with mysterious codes and initials. Just thinking.

 

[Halli]

I have a pair of Ditton 66's (paid all of CDN$25 for them, and I'll take them to my grave if need be, or give them to my kids to give to their kids, etc). Amazing doesn't begin to do them justice. I also have a pair of Celestino County C's in mahogany, which are really very charming and warm - those were CDN$40 the pair - they provide something akin to a tube sound to my ears and I'm going to hook them up again to what I think will be a perfect amp for them - a Harman Kardon 385i 30w/ch receiver I'm very fond of. They can't take a lot of power, and the HK is robust and highly detailed, almost clinical, so I think the warmth of the County C's will provide the perfect balance. I also have a set of DL6's I don't listen to as much as they deserve, and have had several Ditton 110s which, though fantastic for vocals and jazz, just didn't have enough reach into the lower registers, and I have always enjoyed them for a while, then sold them off (usually for more than I paid).... but I did keep one pair of Ditton 110 tweeters, which I will build into something interesting because they're very sweet sounding.

 

[ditton works]

Useful video for Celestion owners..

Plenty of other Celestion Videos too.
SL600 vs SL600si

Any Celestion Questions?
I can be found here too

https://www.facebook.com/Ditton-Works-114479213723916/

 

[maxchau]

Here are some photos of 7000 FYI. They are "fast" sounding due to ribbon tweeter and well integrated 2.5 way crossover. I believe the top woofer plays from 900Hz to 650Hz. But not sure how did the crossover achieve that.

 

[tuberadios69]

I've a pair of Celestion 3's in the spare bedroom and a pair of wood grain (IE-not black) SL6si's in my office system (at home). I love both pairs. I am driving the SL6si's with an upgraded Dynaco ST70. The Celestion 3's get little use now but everyone who has ever heard them has tried to get me to sell them (nope!).

 

[kangatheroo]

Hey there,

what a lovely discussion here on these beautiful speakers. I got myself a pair of Celestion UL8 for christmas - and they sound lovely - although they need recapping (some frequencies are really off). Now I am a bit confused. Some people say to go all Polypropylene foil capacitors for recap - and others say to stay with Electrolytic capacitors to "keep the original measurements". Any ideas on that? I would love some more openess and clarity in the sound too - but I don't want to destroy the "little club intimacy" they produce. Any input is appreciated!

Got some quite fitting stands too:

Celestion UL8

• kangatheroo
• Mar 3, 2022

 

[Pete B]

@ditton works Nice video on the sound differences between the SL600 and Si version.
Do you know where one might find crossover schematics for these?
Also, do you know if the crossovers for the SL600 (and Si) were very different from the SL6 and SL6Si?
I have a pair of SL6, and one SL6Si.
One SL6 tweeter is open circuit, and the Si woofer has a cracked edge.

 

[kangatheroo]

View attachment 2207809 The Dittons sound quite good... especially after treatment of the surrounds with CaiKleen rubber cleaner and rejuvenator. (photo) .

Hey @Rapide - what exactly did that do to the sound?
I am curious as I am thinking about give my UL8s some treatment.
Thanks and greetings!

 

[Rapide]

Just a touch deeper and less muffled. Not everyone would notice. Hopefully I am extending the life of the surrounds, reducing tendency to crack and split, restoring a little softness. I remove woof, pre-clean surround with 95% alcohol, let dry and treat both sides couple times, give drivers a day for CaiKleen soak in. I think the cleaning and treatment worthwhile... esp front of surround which is more exposed to smoke, UV radiation, ozone and other aging pollutants. Haycross Audio (Matt) recommends UK based Carbusonic (sp?) rubber treatment.. which is not avail in USA..

July 29, 2025 update: Now have (4) stacked Ditton 10’s driven by McIntosh 4100 for better bass and overall presence.

 

[Pete B]

Does anyone know where I might find a history about Celestion speakers covering
the SL6, SL6S, SL6Si, SL600, SL700?

 

[coonmanx]

Hey there,

what a lovely discussion here on these beautiful speakers. I got myself a pair of Celestion UL8 for christmas - and they sound lovely - although they need recapping (some frequencies are really off). Now I am a bit confused. Some people say to go all Polypropylene foil capacitors for recap - and others say to stay with Electrolytic capacitors to "keep the original measurements". Any ideas on that? I would love some more openess and clarity in the sound too - but I don't want to destroy the "little club intimacy" they produce. Any input is appreciated!

Got some quite fitting stands too:

Celestion UL8

• kangatheroo
• Mar 3, 2022

I would go with poly films. Why not?

 

[Pete B]

Work on my SL6 pair:
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/celestion-sl6.992260/#post-15519769

I'd sure like to see the crossover schematic for the SL6S.

 

[S. Pupp]

I would go with poly films. Why not?

I forget in which forums, but I recall reading of the disappointment of people who replaced the electrolytic capacitors with film capacitors. The sound was not as good after the switch. The manufacturer of the originals is still in business. I emailed a retailer in England (Falcon? I can’t remember - it was 2015) who said he regularly ships them to people in the US.

 

[S. Pupp]

Work on my SL6 pair:
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/celestion-sl6.992260/#post-15519769

I'd sure like to see the crossover schematic for the SL6S.

You and me both.
I’d rather get the capacitors prior to taking my SL6S speakers apart.

 

[Pete B]

I forget in which forums, but I recall reading of the disappointment of people who replaced the electrolytic capacitors with film capacitors. The sound was not as good after the switch. The manufacturer of the originals is still in business. I emailed a retailer in England (Falcon? I can’t remember - it was 2015) who said he regularly ships them to people in the US.

My pair of SL6 have two film caps and two NPE caps.
I also have a single SL6Si and it has a much simpler crossover with all film caps.
Simpler because the aluminum tweeter does not require a notch filter or the series
inductor to tilt down the top end - perhaps also because they wanted a bit more top end.
Edit: The aluminum tweeter is the same in all of the SL models, as far as I know, the SL700
is measured here in the Stereophile review where a 10 dB dip can be seen at about 15 KHz,
and a 10 dB peak at about 23 KHz. The dip starts falling fast above 10 KHz which is strongly
audible even to old people. See Figure 1: I'm not impressed with this "improved" tweeter:
https://www.stereophile.com/content/celestion-sl700-loudspeaker-1991-measurements
I have 3 of the aluminum tweeters and will try to measure them, JA's measurement looks
like a defective tweeter.

I found an SL6S crossover for sale on ebay that looks nearly identical to my SL6Si
except for the S having all NPE caps in contrast to all films for the Si. The tweeter
pad resistor is the same at 3.3R 10W, the tweeter cap values are the same at 4 and
6 uF. I can't read the woofer crossover value on the S so not sure on that one. The
Si board has a slightly different layout, I assume to handle the larger film caps. Both
have tweeter inductors that look the same with very fine wire.
I've heard that the S sounds better than the Si and so far they don't seem to be very
different and I'm not sure if the claim is just a myth.

Edit: A friend outboarded his SL6S crossovers and loaned one to me for measurement.
Woofer inductor (has a different part number) is 2.8 mH, and on my SL6Si the woofer
inductor is 2.6 mH. Everything else is the same. Tweeter inductor is .25 mH.

I'm going to start a new thread on the differences where I'll show pictures of the crossovers,
and schematics if I have time.

 

[Pete B]

I'm measuring Celestion woofers today and a friend asked me to check out
the crossovers and drivers in his SL700 s which have the Aerolam cabinets. I
removed the 4 allen screws around the woofer and tweeter and the trim ring on
the woofer will not budge. It falls off of the SL6 type. I've been told that the
Aerolam bends and is damaged easily so not sure if it's safe to pry against it.

My SL6Si has a VERY sticky material similar to finger caulk around the tweeter
plate, and if this is smeared on the woofer plate it will be very difficult to get off.

Anyone been inside these?

 

[Slosh MaGee]

The DL10's.....in fantastic shape. Have the grlls as well. Have had them for years. Haven't used them much though.

 

[ditton works]

Does anyone know where I might find a history about Celestion speakers covering
the SL6, SL6S, SL6Si, SL600, SL700?

I’ve done history of the SL series on YouTube